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We made a general cleanup of the house before Pesach. Our fancy crockery that we only used at Pesach was stored in the attic. We took it from there before Pesach and kept it in the boiling water. Everyday utensils were taken to the attic.
We bought matzah in the Nyumberg bakery. That matzah was different from what they make nowadays: those were round-shaped thin flat cookies baked on charcoal in ovens. It was such yummy matzah! Present-day matzah has a different taste. The recipe is the same: water and flour, but the taste is different. The matzah of my time was crispy and I enjoyed eating it. Present-day matzah is like straw, far from what I remember.
We didn’t have any bread at home throughout the eight days of Pesach. Mother cooked traditional Jewish food at Pesach: chicken broth with matzah, fried chicken or geese, stuffed gooseneck, pudding with matzah and eggs and strudels with jam, nuts and raisins. We only had kosher food at Pesach.
We spent both seders at Aunt Cecilia’s home. We visited them after the synagogue in the morning and stayed almost until the next morning, the end of seder. Her son Altrey, the one who converted to Lutheranism during World War II, was very religious at that time. He conducted the seder. They had a big room and a table big enough for all of us. The family got together, said a common prayer [broche] and then sat down to a meal.
During seder each of us including children was to drink four glasses of wine. Of course, children had small glasses. In the center of the table there was an extra glass for Elijah the Prophet [5]. The front door was open for him to come into the house.
It didn’t usually happen that people stopped working throughout the eight days of Pesach. Only on the first and the second day when the first and second seder was conducted nobody worked. On the other days a person could decide for himself whether he needed to do some work or not.
Our father worked from the third day of the holiday to the last, eighth day. There were tourists coming to town and they needed a bus to transport them. My father made an arrangement with his colleague to have the first two days off at Pesach. When my father was at work my mother and I visited relatives and had guests at home.
We bought matzah in the Nyumberg bakery. That matzah was different from what they make nowadays: those were round-shaped thin flat cookies baked on charcoal in ovens. It was such yummy matzah! Present-day matzah has a different taste. The recipe is the same: water and flour, but the taste is different. The matzah of my time was crispy and I enjoyed eating it. Present-day matzah is like straw, far from what I remember.
We didn’t have any bread at home throughout the eight days of Pesach. Mother cooked traditional Jewish food at Pesach: chicken broth with matzah, fried chicken or geese, stuffed gooseneck, pudding with matzah and eggs and strudels with jam, nuts and raisins. We only had kosher food at Pesach.
We spent both seders at Aunt Cecilia’s home. We visited them after the synagogue in the morning and stayed almost until the next morning, the end of seder. Her son Altrey, the one who converted to Lutheranism during World War II, was very religious at that time. He conducted the seder. They had a big room and a table big enough for all of us. The family got together, said a common prayer [broche] and then sat down to a meal.
During seder each of us including children was to drink four glasses of wine. Of course, children had small glasses. In the center of the table there was an extra glass for Elijah the Prophet [5]. The front door was open for him to come into the house.
It didn’t usually happen that people stopped working throughout the eight days of Pesach. Only on the first and the second day when the first and second seder was conducted nobody worked. On the other days a person could decide for himself whether he needed to do some work or not.
Our father worked from the third day of the holiday to the last, eighth day. There were tourists coming to town and they needed a bus to transport them. My father made an arrangement with his colleague to have the first two days off at Pesach. When my father was at work my mother and I visited relatives and had guests at home.
Period
Location
Liptovsky Mikulas
Slovakia
Interview
Kurt Sadlik