Tag #148872 - Interview #91383 (Raya Teytelbaumene )

Pesach was the main holiday of the year. Father brought matzah from the synagogue and since that time there was a festive atmosphere in the house. All children were given presents on the occasion of the holiday. While I was small, as a rule I was given a new dress and patent leather boots. All dishes we had been using during the year were placed in a large sack and taken to the garret. We weren’t allowed to touch them during the holiday period. Father brought Paschal dishes from the garret, which were used exclusively for Pesach by our family and Aunt Chaya’s family. For the first seder usually people got together at our place, as my mother cooked better than Chaya. Father led the seder, reclining on the pillows. He was clad in festive attire. We already knew that the afikoman was under the pillow and found it. We asked the question about the origin of the holiday by turns: I, Yudita and Tuvia.

Apart from the usual dishes there were the following ones on Pesach: bitter herbs, eggs, matzah and others. There was no bread at all, but there were a lot of matzah dishes: kneydlakh, tsimes and casserole. For desert Aunt Chaya brought an unsurpassable matzah cake. It was the best thing she cooked. It was year in, year out the same holiday, the same traditions, but for some reason we were anxious about it, expecting something new and unusual. I started liking Jewish holidays when my brothers Chaim and Boruch left home. My brothers would come home, when all Jews were eager to come home.