Tag #154521 - Interview #78069 (semyon nezhynski)

My favorite holiday was Pesach. There was a big celebration. My mother saved money for Pesach. The Jewish bakery sold matzah for Pesach, but my mother often made it herself. She rolled the dough and then made little holes with a cogwheel. My mother also made lokshen, noodles for chicken broth. My parents bought chickens at the market and then father took them to a shochet. Mother boiled a chicken, made gefilte fish, tsymes, strudels from matzah flour and cookies. Those were rare delicacies for us. My mother cleaned the house thoroughly, swept out and burned all breadcrumbs. On the first morning at Pesach my parents went to the synagogue. When they returned my mother served a festive meal. It always started with a prayer. In the evening my father conducted the seder. During seder everyone was supposed to drink four glasses of special red wine. Adults dipped matzah into the wine and ate it. There was an extra glass for Elijah 8 the Prophet. The back door was kept open for him to come into the house. My brother asked our father the four traditional questions [the mah nishtanah]. Then our parents prayed and we sang traditional songs. There was no bread allowed in the house during Pesach. On the second day we visited our relatives and had guests at home.