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When I visited Israel, I thought that seeing these beautiful festivals I would remember those times when we had been celebrating at home. But festivals are not observed there either. Here [in Maramarossziget] people used to observe festivals consistently, even after the war [World War II], when there were still living Jews.
They weren’t much too religious Jews, but we used to observe the holidays according to the custom. But in Israel I told my sister-in-law, ‘Come with me to the synagogue so that I discover your traditions.’
It was the day of Simchat Torah, when the autumn festivals are ending, when they take out the Torah and they dance with the Torah. ‘Oh, are you still observing this nonsense?’, she says: ‘Why should we go to the synagogue?’ She doesn’t light candles, she doesn’t observe Sabbath. All this in Israel, on the sacred land. She says, ‘We can’t live on this’, that is the religion. They are all great patriots, that’s true. But they don’t observe religion.
They weren’t much too religious Jews, but we used to observe the holidays according to the custom. But in Israel I told my sister-in-law, ‘Come with me to the synagogue so that I discover your traditions.’
It was the day of Simchat Torah, when the autumn festivals are ending, when they take out the Torah and they dance with the Torah. ‘Oh, are you still observing this nonsense?’, she says: ‘Why should we go to the synagogue?’ She doesn’t light candles, she doesn’t observe Sabbath. All this in Israel, on the sacred land. She says, ‘We can’t live on this’, that is the religion. They are all great patriots, that’s true. But they don’t observe religion.
Period
Location
Israel
Interview
Golda Salamon