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Of course, Pesach was a favorite holiday. Preparations started approximately a month in advance from making matzah. It was a big village and it took this long to make matzah for all Jewish families. There was a house with few big stoves near the synagogue. Few women were hired to make matzah. The rabbi checked them for cleanness. They had to cut their nails short. They got clean robes and everything necessary for making matzah. The rabbi watched the process of matzah making. They made dough, rolled it and put in the oven quickly within maximum 15 minutes from the moment of making dough to putting it into the oven, or else the dough became no good for making matzah. Each family brought flour and ordered how much matzah they wanted. My father ordered 50 kg matzah for our big family. It was only allowed to store matzah in a locked wooden box. The box was taken to the attic where our special crockery for Pesach was stored. It was not allowed to take matzah to the houses where there was still bread. Then the house was thoroughly cleaned. On the eve of Pesach all bread was removed from the house. If there was a lot of bread left it was given to non-Jews. Then a symbolic check up was done: my mother placed pieces of bread into different spots and my father searched for chametz everywhere in the house. He swept each piece into a paper bag with a chicken feather. It was important for my mother to remember where she placed each piece of bread so that none was left in the house. When all of them were found my father took the bag into the yard where it was burnt. Then it was allowed to take matzah into the house and take down the Pesach dishes and crockery. Everyday dishes were taken away for the whole duration of Pesach. It was not allowed to store it in the attic since it was the place for Pesach dishes and matzah. We had a storeroom where we stored our everyday dishes and utensils. Nobody could enter this room during Pesach. It was locked for this purpose. My mother used special dishes at Pesach, we had enough of it. If a family didn’t have enough dishes or utensils they had to kosher their everyday kitchenware. There was a big fire made near the synagogue with a big bowl with boiling water. Everybody could bring their kitchenware and kosher it in the bowl. A shochet watched the process telling people when they could take their utensils out of the bowl.
My mother started cooking in advance. She fed geese for Pesach and they were called Pesach geese. They were kept in a small cage so that they couldn’t move around to grow fat. My mother stuffed them with food several times a day. When my mother roasted a goose for Sabbath, she removed the fat, melted it and poured it in a can. This fat was stored for Pesach and it was called Pesach fat. There were about 2 liters of fat from each goose. The can was stored in cool temperature in the attic. For Pesach my mother always made chicken broth with dumplings from matzah flour and eggs, gefilte fish and cholnt with meat, potatoes and beans. Every day we had roasted goose for dinner. Everything was cooked in goose fat. On the first 3 days of Pesach my mother made potato puddings. It was not allowed to have matzah pudding that we liked a lot before the fourth day of Pesach. On the first 3 days of Pesach even a drop of water shouldn’t have fallen on matzah. When 3 days were over we enjoyed eating matzah with milk. We also liked onions with hard-boiled eggs and goose fat and had this dish every day. My mother didn’t bake much. She made strudels from matzah flour with jam, raisins and nuts. She cooked for the first and last two days of Pesach. No work was allowed to do on the first and last two days. It’s the same as with Sabbath. Between the 3rd and 6th days it was allowed to do work about the house.
When everything at home was ready for the holiday we went to the mikveh and changed into fancy clothes. Even the poorest families tried to buy something new for their children. My mother covered the table with a white tablecloth with quotations from the torah embroidered on it. Besides traditional food there were hard-boiled eggs, a piece of roasted meat with a bone, kharoises – ground apples with honey and spices, horseradish, bitter greeneries and a saucer with salty water on the table. In the middle of the table there was the fanciest wine glass for Elijah [the prophet]. Father had the biggest wine glass and the children had smaller ones. Everybody had a wine glass and during the first seder was supposed to drink four glasses of wine. It had to be kosher wine that was usually bought at the synagogue. It was allowed to drink vodka: all vodka is kosher. For seder my father put on a long white overall called kippur. The head of the family, the one conducting the seder, They wore this kippur to the synagogue at Yom Kippur. My father reclined on a cushion and there were cushions on his back and on the sides. We all sat at the table. My father recited a prayer and said a blessing over the food. At first we ate greeneries dipping them into water with salt. My father took matzah and broke it to 3 pieces hiding the middle piece under a cushion. This piece of matzah was called afikoman. One of the children was to steal, hide it and then give it back to the father for redemption. One couldn’t end seder without this piece. Usually I managed to steal this piece from my father. My mother always told me to ask money for redemption and then she would help me to buy what I liked. After afikoman I posed my father 4 traditional questions. I said then in Hebrew and my father replied in Hebrew. Then my father told us the history of this holiday, how Prophet Moshe led Jews from Egypt and they wondered in a desert. My father told us how they made dough and flat cookies and baked them in the sun putting them on their shoulders. Then my father said a prayer and we started a meal. Younger children sometimes fell asleep at the table and my mother whispered to my father to hurry up since the children were sleepy. My father couldn’t talk and he only pressed his finger to his lips asking the mother to keep silent. During seder at Pesach the front door was kept open for Prophet Elijah to come in.
If a beggar came into the house the hosts would have never let him go without alms. If the family was about to have a meal, he was asked to join them. If a beggar came in between meals, he was given some food and tea and got some money and food to go. Beggars, who came in, also stayed for seder. There were many poor people in the mountainous areas of Subcarpathia and they often came to Kamyanske begging for money. They were Jewish beggars that came on Jewish holidays.
At Pesach Jews went to the synagogue every day. Everybody had a seat of his own paying an annual fee for it. My grandfather had the most expensive seat near the Torah and my father had a less expensive one in a middle row. When a boy grew up and was to attend the synagogue with his father after bar mitzvah, his parents also paid for his seat. Younger children who attended the synagogue with their mothers could go there for free.
From the second day of Pesach we visited my mother’s parents every day. They had a big yard, but when their nearly 60 grandchildren got together, it became overcrowded. My mother’s sisters and brother also visited their parents. They had big families, many children. There were tables with Pesach delicacies on them in the yard. My grandmother emanated happiness looking at her big family. This was the biggest family in the village.
My mother started cooking in advance. She fed geese for Pesach and they were called Pesach geese. They were kept in a small cage so that they couldn’t move around to grow fat. My mother stuffed them with food several times a day. When my mother roasted a goose for Sabbath, she removed the fat, melted it and poured it in a can. This fat was stored for Pesach and it was called Pesach fat. There were about 2 liters of fat from each goose. The can was stored in cool temperature in the attic. For Pesach my mother always made chicken broth with dumplings from matzah flour and eggs, gefilte fish and cholnt with meat, potatoes and beans. Every day we had roasted goose for dinner. Everything was cooked in goose fat. On the first 3 days of Pesach my mother made potato puddings. It was not allowed to have matzah pudding that we liked a lot before the fourth day of Pesach. On the first 3 days of Pesach even a drop of water shouldn’t have fallen on matzah. When 3 days were over we enjoyed eating matzah with milk. We also liked onions with hard-boiled eggs and goose fat and had this dish every day. My mother didn’t bake much. She made strudels from matzah flour with jam, raisins and nuts. She cooked for the first and last two days of Pesach. No work was allowed to do on the first and last two days. It’s the same as with Sabbath. Between the 3rd and 6th days it was allowed to do work about the house.
When everything at home was ready for the holiday we went to the mikveh and changed into fancy clothes. Even the poorest families tried to buy something new for their children. My mother covered the table with a white tablecloth with quotations from the torah embroidered on it. Besides traditional food there were hard-boiled eggs, a piece of roasted meat with a bone, kharoises – ground apples with honey and spices, horseradish, bitter greeneries and a saucer with salty water on the table. In the middle of the table there was the fanciest wine glass for Elijah [the prophet]. Father had the biggest wine glass and the children had smaller ones. Everybody had a wine glass and during the first seder was supposed to drink four glasses of wine. It had to be kosher wine that was usually bought at the synagogue. It was allowed to drink vodka: all vodka is kosher. For seder my father put on a long white overall called kippur. The head of the family, the one conducting the seder, They wore this kippur to the synagogue at Yom Kippur. My father reclined on a cushion and there were cushions on his back and on the sides. We all sat at the table. My father recited a prayer and said a blessing over the food. At first we ate greeneries dipping them into water with salt. My father took matzah and broke it to 3 pieces hiding the middle piece under a cushion. This piece of matzah was called afikoman. One of the children was to steal, hide it and then give it back to the father for redemption. One couldn’t end seder without this piece. Usually I managed to steal this piece from my father. My mother always told me to ask money for redemption and then she would help me to buy what I liked. After afikoman I posed my father 4 traditional questions. I said then in Hebrew and my father replied in Hebrew. Then my father told us the history of this holiday, how Prophet Moshe led Jews from Egypt and they wondered in a desert. My father told us how they made dough and flat cookies and baked them in the sun putting them on their shoulders. Then my father said a prayer and we started a meal. Younger children sometimes fell asleep at the table and my mother whispered to my father to hurry up since the children were sleepy. My father couldn’t talk and he only pressed his finger to his lips asking the mother to keep silent. During seder at Pesach the front door was kept open for Prophet Elijah to come in.
If a beggar came into the house the hosts would have never let him go without alms. If the family was about to have a meal, he was asked to join them. If a beggar came in between meals, he was given some food and tea and got some money and food to go. Beggars, who came in, also stayed for seder. There were many poor people in the mountainous areas of Subcarpathia and they often came to Kamyanske begging for money. They were Jewish beggars that came on Jewish holidays.
At Pesach Jews went to the synagogue every day. Everybody had a seat of his own paying an annual fee for it. My grandfather had the most expensive seat near the Torah and my father had a less expensive one in a middle row. When a boy grew up and was to attend the synagogue with his father after bar mitzvah, his parents also paid for his seat. Younger children who attended the synagogue with their mothers could go there for free.
From the second day of Pesach we visited my mother’s parents every day. They had a big yard, but when their nearly 60 grandchildren got together, it became overcrowded. My mother’s sisters and brother also visited their parents. They had big families, many children. There were tables with Pesach delicacies on them in the yard. My grandmother emanated happiness looking at her big family. This was the biggest family in the village.
Period
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Yacob Hollander
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