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My parents weren’t that religious. I’m not saying that they didn’t observe things. The way things were on Friday evening [Sabbath] was that there was a Sabbath supper during which we prayed. We baked barkhes. And also the annual holidays, when they were. They ate kosher up until 1942, while the butcher butchered poultry. On Saturday they attended synagogue. When I was attending high school in Nitra, I attended synagogue there. Now it’s very nicely fixed up; it was Neolog. That interested me more, because the Orthodox had a synagogue in Parovce [a Nitra town quarter – Editor’s note]. There was a choir there and they sang, which for me as a young boy was more interesting, they weren’t so religious. It was more accessible there. We observed holidays. During Passover [Passover: commemorates the departure of the Israelites from Egyptian captivity and is characterized by many regulations and customs. The foremost is the prohibition of consuming anything containing yeast – Editor’s note] we ate matzot. During those eight days, when we really didn’t eat bread at home, we ate matzot. We observed that mainly up to 1942. Even now, when it’s Passover, matzo flour is brought in from Israel. They sell it here in Nitra at the Jewish community. So even now we buy it and use it, it’s just not observed as strictly as it used to be. My parents were members of the Jewish community, but didn’t have any function in it. Back then everyone was a member, as a certain monthly due was paid. The Jewish community in the village or town functioned from that.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Bedrich Hecht