Tag #151783 - Interview #84041 (Yacob Hollander)

Chanukkah was children’s favorite holiday. My mother lit another candle every day. There were no candles sold in the village and they were to be brought from Irshava or Mukachevo. Candles were sold at Yom Kippur, but at other times only wealthier people could afford to use them. My mother used a potato. She cut its bottom to make it solid, made a hole, poured some oil into it and placed a little wick. It worked for a candle. Every day mother added another potato. All relatives and acquaintances visiting us gave us Chanukkah gelt. This money was supposed to be spent for gambling, but we saved the gelt and gambled with nuts or candy. We bought sweets or toys for this money we got. When I was about 12, I bought a cigarette for this money and smoked it in the attic. This was the only cigarette in my life. Besides my feeling giddy and dizzy, my younger brother Avrum smelled the tobacco and reported to my father. Though my father didn’t often beat us, this time he beat me with his belt so hard that I never felt like smoking again. My father beat me again, when my mother sent me on errand to our Ukrainian neighbors. They were sitting at the table eating pork fat and bread. I couldn’t resist the temptation, asked them for a slice of bread and fat and ate it. Probably this pork fat tasted even more delicious to me for being a forbidden thing. I don’t know how my father got to know about it, but he tied me to a table leg and beat me with his belt. My mother was screaming and yelling that he would kill me. So I remember these 2 incidents. In general, we had a strict father and preferred our mother to hear about our misconduct.