Tag #157486 - Interview #100414 (Michal Warzager)

When Sabbath arrived, Father would put on his best clothes – Mother would change into holiday clothes too. We’d tidy the house a bit more carefully, since all week people had been tracking dirt in. We didn’t go to the shul on Friday; we had Sabbath supper at home. Mother would set out the two candles, say the prayer, and after that we’d eat. And Father would sit and pray. When it was time to stand up, we stood up, and I had to pray too. Just short prayers – about half an hour. On Saturday we went to shul, or if the weather was bad, if it was raining and we didn’t go, then Father made sure we said all the prayers at home.

There was no cooking done on Saturday; at 10 in the morning we’d eat the kichl [a kind of pastry that was frequently made in Jewish homes for Sabbath] that Mother had made earlier, and we didn’t make fresh coffee either, just kept it heated on the stove. Then after the prayers, Mother would open the oven and inside it there’d be soup with potatoes, bread and challah baked on Friday, and cholent. In the winter one of the neighbors would come around – a Pole – to help us on Sabbath. He was an old guy: he’d come around and keep the stove lit, so we’d have some heat. Father was very strict about not lighting anything on Sabbath, not even a cigarette. Well, he only smoked occasionally, on holy days when it’s permitted, like Pesach. He’d buy a packet of tobacco and roll his own.