Torda was liberated on 4thOctober 1944. The Hungarians and Germans retreated and the Romanians and Russians came in. They bombed Torda from two directions.The Hungarians and Germans from Kolozsvar, while the Romanians and Russians from Nagyenyed.Torda is in a valley, and the two armies bombed it from above, so Torda was in ruins.
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Jozsef Farkas
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The actual war began on 30thAugust 1944, when the Hungarians and Germans came in and reached Nagyenyed [Aiud, 37km south of Torda]. After the Hungarians came in, we had to wear the yellow star [10] for 37 days and a curfew was imposed on us. There were no such things before. That period was very tense.People feared each other. First we didn’t know who these cock feathered people were, but we feared them very much, and always ran away from them. They were very nasty, if they didn’t like something, they immediately began to beat and hit people.
When the Hungarians came in, and the Romanians blew up the Aranyos Bridge, the bridge gave way and the Hungarians built a pontoon bridge. An enormity took place there. The Hungarian authorities sent a squad of forced laborers there to build the bridge. They cut down stumps for the bridge from the park nearby, and one time a big stump tumbled on two forced laborer boys. One of them was 18, and the other 25. And they weren’t dead yet, when the commander, who was probably an ensign, ordered immediately to put them in sacks and they were buried right there. They weren’t even dead yet. Then, in March-April 1945, a few young men from Torda exhumed them, and took them to the cemetery and buried them there.
When the Hungarians came in, and the Romanians blew up the Aranyos Bridge, the bridge gave way and the Hungarians built a pontoon bridge. An enormity took place there. The Hungarian authorities sent a squad of forced laborers there to build the bridge. They cut down stumps for the bridge from the park nearby, and one time a big stump tumbled on two forced laborer boys. One of them was 18, and the other 25. And they weren’t dead yet, when the commander, who was probably an ensign, ordered immediately to put them in sacks and they were buried right there. They weren’t even dead yet. Then, in March-April 1945, a few young men from Torda exhumed them, and took them to the cemetery and buried them there.
But in Torda we were witnesses to some secret things. Once, when I was ready to go to Israel, this teacher, Magda Frenkel, sent me word to visit and talk to her, because she felt that she was going to die.I always really appreciated her, so I went to Kolozsvar. She moved there from Torda after the war, and lived there in the Gyorgyfalva district.She said,‘Joska, do you remember I didn’t let you in that room ? ’She mentioned a room from the school. I answered,‘Well, miss, I remember, but you know, I never ask questions. You told me not to enter, so I didn’t go in there.’Then she said,‘Well, you should know that there was a secret printing shop, where they used to print passports which were taken by others via Ajton [Aiton, 18km north of Torda] from Torda to Kolozsvar, to save Jews. This was the reason why I didn’t let you in. ’These passports were smuggled mainly by the people who were working at the Cerc Teritorial [Regional Office]. This is how they called the office where young soldiers were recruited.
Among others, the cousin of my friend, Abraham, called Jakob Abraham, who was older than me, smuggled some of these passports. Every border had to be passed illegally. Once they caught him, took him to prison, they had him before the court and sentenced him to death. He managed to escape because the events of 23rdAugust 1944 took place, and he was absolved. Eszter Goro, the girl I took an examination in 1943 with, was also involved in saving the Jews. There were two pathways where Jews used to flee: one of them was near Torda Szentlaszlo [Savadisla, 23km south-east of Kolozsvar] and the other near Ajton. There were honest villagers who saved the Jews during the night.
Among others, the cousin of my friend, Abraham, called Jakob Abraham, who was older than me, smuggled some of these passports. Every border had to be passed illegally. Once they caught him, took him to prison, they had him before the court and sentenced him to death. He managed to escape because the events of 23rdAugust 1944 took place, and he was absolved. Eszter Goro, the girl I took an examination in 1943 with, was also involved in saving the Jews. There were two pathways where Jews used to flee: one of them was near Torda Szentlaszlo [Savadisla, 23km south-east of Kolozsvar] and the other near Ajton. There were honest villagers who saved the Jews during the night.
I wasn’t aware of the Northern-Transylvanian situation because my father fell sick and our only problem was how to save him.My mother treated my father, my sister was at school in Nagyvarad, and we, the two boys, managed the household.We did the shopping, cleaned up, cooked, did the dishes, washed, we practically did everything to ease my mother’s burden.My father received some kind of an allowance from the factory, but even then my mother had to sell things from the house.We had very many nice and precious silver candlesticks, and she sold those.
When the legionaries [9] started the ‘rebeliune’ [rebellion in Romanian] on 22nd-23rdJanuary 1941, the authorities considered them rebels, and anywhere there was any disorder, they didn’t hesitate. The gendarmerie from Torda also shot a man dead during the rebellion, at the haymarket. There was a square on the current road towards the Torda Gorge where they shot a man in the head for I don’t know what reason. As far as I remember his name was Coman.
There weren’t too many legionaries in Torda then, but they tried to do everything against the Jews. They hung printed publications on the stores: ‘Atentiune, magazin jidovesc!’ [Attention, Jewish store!]. They tortured some people only because they had a beard and payes. There were some anti-Semitic manifestations. When we went to school, there was always a group of pupils from the apprentice school, coming from or going, and they used to beat us everyday because we were Jews.
After liberation one of them became my friend and I asked him, ‘Hey you, why did you beat me up everyday ?’ He answered, ‘That was the custom then.’ They had an educator who was an earnest legionary, he made them report how many Jews they had beaten up, and so they had to beat us everyday. So he wasn’t hostile at all, but he used to do this. His name was Ioan Ros, and in the end we became friends. But he became a district attorney, then a public prosecutor of Sebes and Szaszvaros, and later the deputy public prosecutor of Deva, and finally the Secretarul Sfatului Regional Deva [Secretary of the regional council from Deva].
There weren’t too many legionaries in Torda then, but they tried to do everything against the Jews. They hung printed publications on the stores: ‘Atentiune, magazin jidovesc!’ [Attention, Jewish store!]. They tortured some people only because they had a beard and payes. There were some anti-Semitic manifestations. When we went to school, there was always a group of pupils from the apprentice school, coming from or going, and they used to beat us everyday because we were Jews.
After liberation one of them became my friend and I asked him, ‘Hey you, why did you beat me up everyday ?’ He answered, ‘That was the custom then.’ They had an educator who was an earnest legionary, he made them report how many Jews they had beaten up, and so they had to beat us everyday. So he wasn’t hostile at all, but he used to do this. His name was Ioan Ros, and in the end we became friends. But he became a district attorney, then a public prosecutor of Sebes and Szaszvaros, and later the deputy public prosecutor of Deva, and finally the Secretarul Sfatului Regional Deva [Secretary of the regional council from Deva].
Then in 1940 or 1941, right after the Hungarians occupied Kolozsvar [see Second Vienna Dictate] [6], the border was at the Felek [Editor’s note: between 1940 and 1944 Torda belonged to Romania, the border was approximately 20km from Torda]. They threw us out of our house because they established the CNR [Centrul National de Romanizare – the National Centre of Romanization] in our house. This organization addressed the problems of the refugees who came back from Hungary. We rented a house on the other side of the Aranyos River. I remember the owner had ten houses: five of them on one street and five on the backstreet, and he rented those ones, so we were able to rent one of them.We stayed there until the end of the war. Right after the takeover, when Antonescu [7] came to power, my father lost his job because he was a Jew [8]. He fell sick then, around 1943. Of course this worried him, and only aggravated his condition.
At first we lived in our house, but then the requisitions began. They considered we had some places we didn’t use.And since these weren’t used, they requisitioned them in order to ensure lodgings for the Romanian Army.And they accommodated an army-surgeon in our two small rooms; this happened around 1938-1939. I remember his name was Traian Dumitrescu and he was a colonel. He also had access to the kitchen, and had a private, called ‘ordonanta’ [in Romanian], who cooked for him. There was nothing we could do, we had to acknowledge all this and stand at attention.
My mother tongue is Hungarian; we used to speak in Hungarian at home, because both my parents attended Hungarian schools. We [the children] attended Romanian schools, so we spoke fluent Hungarian and Romanian. And in the meantime, I learned Yiddish in the hajder [cheder]. It seems I inherited the gift for languages from one of my ancestors, because when I was a student, I also learned German with the rabbi’s daughter, Szarah Wesel. And so I knew German, too. I also studied French in school. And this turned out to be very helpful. While traveling abroad, I was never alone, I was always with a group, and they never had to send an interpreter with me, because I interpreted in French and German for the whole delegation. My daughter has the same gift. She speaks Romanian, Hungarian, Hebrew, English and French. And my grandchild knows almost all these languages, too.
Romania
One of my best friends in Torda was Juliusz Abraham. He was older than me and we had another friend, Emil Taub, who was between us age-wise. Abraham was born in 1927, Emil Taub in 1928, and I in 1929. We did all kinds of dirty tricks together, what else could young people do ? We played sports: we used to swim and played table tennis. We used to go to the salt-bath in Torda, which was a very famous, old salt-bath.There was a huge cool water basin there, and for a while there was thermal bath also. We didn’t go bathing to the Aranyos River, because we were afraid.
We were afraid especially between 1940 and 1944, because we never knew when we would get a beating. We could have met anyone, and if they felt like it, they could beat us.And our parents didn’t advise us to go to the Aranyos. We used to go to the salt-bath, which was enclosed and people had to buy a ticket to get in, and there were cabanas there as well.
We were afraid especially between 1940 and 1944, because we never knew when we would get a beating. We could have met anyone, and if they felt like it, they could beat us.And our parents didn’t advise us to go to the Aranyos. We used to go to the salt-bath, which was enclosed and people had to buy a ticket to get in, and there were cabanas there as well.
We were four, and one of the parents came with us. I remember there was a girl called Eszter Goro, she was older than me, but I prompted her in geography.We stayed in a hotel, went to the high school from there, and they examined us at the school. It took a few days, because we had to be examined for each subject, in Romanian.There they allowed us to pass the examination for the first and second grade of middle school [corresponding to the fifth and sixth grades today].
In the 1943-44 school years I was at home and preparing to go to Temesvar for the examination from the third grade of middle school. But in the meantime the events of 23rdAugust 1944 took place and they let me pass the examination of the third grade of middle school in the commercial high school in Torda, by extramural studies. And based on that, in the fall I was able to enter the fourth grade, and I finished the forth and fifth grades in the commercial high school. And after my father died, I had to leave school again, because I started to work. But in the meantime I finished the sixth, seventh and eight grades of the high school [this corresponds to the 10th - 12thgrades today] through extramural studies, and I graduated in 1949.
In the 1943-44 school years I was at home and preparing to go to Temesvar for the examination from the third grade of middle school. But in the meantime the events of 23rdAugust 1944 took place and they let me pass the examination of the third grade of middle school in the commercial high school in Torda, by extramural studies. And based on that, in the fall I was able to enter the fourth grade, and I finished the forth and fifth grades in the commercial high school. And after my father died, I had to leave school again, because I started to work. But in the meantime I finished the sixth, seventh and eight grades of the high school [this corresponds to the 10th - 12thgrades today] through extramural studies, and I graduated in 1949.
I entered the Romanian kindergarten, and parallel to that I went to the Jewish confessional kindergarten, as well. There was a confessional elementary school there, and this had an office, then there was the cheder, where we learned only Judaism. I attended that, too.I finished elementary school in the confessional school, where we learned everything in Romanian. The teacher was a Jewish man: Uncle Grossman. He was our teacher in all the four grades. He was also the headmaster.I finished elementary school there, in good circumstances. This happened exactly in 1940. Then I took the exams for the commercial high school in Torda, I was in the top four. One of my classmates, the son of a printer, was better than me, and we knew that he had graduated with nine marks. There were four of us with 8.66. But there were two pupils, one of them was the son of a general, and the other the son of a colonel, and they jumped ahead of us with 9.66 and 9.33, respectively. And when they posted the results, there was my result of 8.66, but they didn’t admit me because in the meantime the anti-Jewish laws [5] had been adopted.
Then they extended the Jewish confessional school to seven grades. If one wasn’t admitted to high school, he/she could continue the studies there.A new teacher came, she taught the fifth, sixth and seventh grades.Her name was Magda Frenkel, and she was Jewish. She was a small, short, crippled woman, and a spinster.But she was very smart, and taught all the disciplines.I attended the confessional school for three more years, between 1940 and 1943, so I finished the seven grades. A few parents gathered then, and in 1943 we took the exams for a confessional high school in Temesvar.
Then they extended the Jewish confessional school to seven grades. If one wasn’t admitted to high school, he/she could continue the studies there.A new teacher came, she taught the fifth, sixth and seventh grades.Her name was Magda Frenkel, and she was Jewish. She was a small, short, crippled woman, and a spinster.But she was very smart, and taught all the disciplines.I attended the confessional school for three more years, between 1940 and 1943, so I finished the seven grades. A few parents gathered then, and in 1943 we took the exams for a confessional high school in Temesvar.
We had a custom, before the war, of course, which during the war had spread: the Jewish boys who came from the countryside to school in Torda used to eat each day at a different family and they didn’t have to pay for the meal. There were two boys who came to eat at our place. One of them came on Sunday, the other on Tuesday.They ate the same food as we did, and they ate well, thank God.We, the children, were on very good terms with them, they used to stay after dinner and we used to play together.One of the boys, Markovits, I don’t remember his first name, was originally from Rod [today Rediu, 20km north of Torda]. The other one, Goldstein, was originally from Jara [today Iara, 30km west of Torda].
There were very interesting stories related to this. In 1945, at the age of 15, my cousin, Joska Hertzlinger, who was born on the same day as me, left his parents and ran away with Markovits; the boy who used to eat at our house. And, very strangely, through Italy, I don’t know how, by some ships, they got to Israel. That was part of the British Empire then, and they were captured and put in jail. In the end, they were released and my cousin went to a kibbutz, while the other boy joined the army. He had managed to climb his way through the army, it seems that he was a natural at it, and advanced very well and became a general. In the end he became ramatkal: chief of the general staff of Israel. It’s a rule in Israel, that every position is time-limited, and when this expires, there is no possibility to extend that. When his term was over, he became the military attache of the embassy in Washington, where Yitzhak Rabin was the ambassador. After he came home, I spoke to him through my cousin. He lived his life in such conditions. In Israel he changed his name to Manachen Maron and he still uses this name.
The other boy, who was originally from Jara, became deeply religious. One time we went with my cousin to Haifa, his wife was employed in a factory there, and we went to see her. Someone rushed to me, ‘Hi Joska…’ and so on … I got scared and said, ‘Tell me, why do you think we are on such good terms?’ He then said, ‘Don’t you remember that I used to eat at your place every Tuesday?’ He was working in that factory as the meshgiah: ritual supervisor. This position also exists in the canteen in Kolozsvar.
There were very interesting stories related to this. In 1945, at the age of 15, my cousin, Joska Hertzlinger, who was born on the same day as me, left his parents and ran away with Markovits; the boy who used to eat at our house. And, very strangely, through Italy, I don’t know how, by some ships, they got to Israel. That was part of the British Empire then, and they were captured and put in jail. In the end, they were released and my cousin went to a kibbutz, while the other boy joined the army. He had managed to climb his way through the army, it seems that he was a natural at it, and advanced very well and became a general. In the end he became ramatkal: chief of the general staff of Israel. It’s a rule in Israel, that every position is time-limited, and when this expires, there is no possibility to extend that. When his term was over, he became the military attache of the embassy in Washington, where Yitzhak Rabin was the ambassador. After he came home, I spoke to him through my cousin. He lived his life in such conditions. In Israel he changed his name to Manachen Maron and he still uses this name.
The other boy, who was originally from Jara, became deeply religious. One time we went with my cousin to Haifa, his wife was employed in a factory there, and we went to see her. Someone rushed to me, ‘Hi Joska…’ and so on … I got scared and said, ‘Tell me, why do you think we are on such good terms?’ He then said, ‘Don’t you remember that I used to eat at your place every Tuesday?’ He was working in that factory as the meshgiah: ritual supervisor. This position also exists in the canteen in Kolozsvar.
There were far fewer Jews in Torda than in Des, but, nevertheless, the synagogue was full all the time. It’s true that the synagogue in Torda was much smaller than the one in Des. As far as I remember, there were approximately 400 Jews in Torda.[Editor’s note: Imre Szabo mentioned 200 community members in his work quoted above.]But there is no community life now in Torda. They are attached to Kolozsvar, and a more than 90-year-old doctor lives there, and maybe two other people. The sexton from Torda had the most accurate record about the Jewish community there as he knows by name where people are buried and what their occupation was.The sexton is a Romanian man, younger than me, and has a very interesting name. His name is Porcila.He inherited this job from his father. I knew his father, too. There’s a rule in the Jewry that they pay for the sexton’s house and taxes, and he only pays for the utilities: gas, electricity and water.There are specific rules related to the cemetery, for example, it’s forbidden to go to the cemetery on Sabbath.
Romania
There was a mikveh in Torda, but we never went there. We had a bathroom at home and weren’t that religious to consider it necessary. There was also a kosher slaughterhouse in Torda, behind the yard of the synagogue. We called it ‘sakteraj,’ and we used to take our poultry there to be slaughtered. It was a classic slaughterhouse, but only for poultry. There were hangers and a floor-drain for the blood.People used to take there all kinds of poultry: hens, chickens, turkeys, geese and ducks, to be slaughtered.People also used to take there calves. Cattle were slaughtered at the town slaughterhouse, but also by a shochet.We had chickens, geese, ducks and turkeys at home. The servant used to take them there and bring them back [from the shochet’s place].Before World War II my mother always had a help at home: a servant.An older spinster was the servant for a while. She lived in the underground dwelling.There was a period when we had a young girl originally from Gyorgyfalva and she had a special bed in the kitchen. During the daytime it was used as a table, and when it was extended, it became a bed.We had several servants [in time].
There was a famous rabbi in Torda [in my childhood]: Dr. Albert Wesel. He later became the chief rabbi of Transylvania. Everyone expected the rabbi from Szatmar to be elected, because it was tradition, but Wesel was a very well-known scientist and in the end he was chosen. [The chief rabbi, Albert Wesel, who, by his wisdom, consideration and noble thinking took the lead of the official regional orthodox organization, i.e. he’s the president of the national orthodox organization since 1932, before assuming the leadership of the Transylvanian Jewish religious community, founded an association including ten counties from Transylvania. Machike Hadat, goals:deepening the religious life.He supported the Talmud Torahs of the poorer communities and the religious institutions.Imre Szabo, the Jews from Transylvania, Kadima publishing house, Cluj, 1938, p.224.] He died around 1943-44. He was the rabbi of Torda until then. His son-in-law, Adler, became rabbi after that; he married one of Wesel’s daughters. Another one of his daughters, Szarah or Szuri, tutored me in German, but she had a few more sisters and brothers. I used to go to their place; the rabbi’s house was in the yard of the synagogue. It wasn’t a big house: they had two or three rooms. She tutored several children. There were occasions when we were two or three at the same time. I think her parents pushed here to do this.We had to pay for this, of course.
Nowadays, I could see it, especially because I’ve traveled to Israel many times, the bar mitzvah has become as important as a hatuna [wedding ceremony]. They make such a fuss about it. In my time it was almost nothing, formerly everything went strictly according to the rituals. I remember we used to go to the synagogue, and I had to read a part of the Torah which I had to learn in advance; the chazzan taught me and that was all. There wasn’t any celebration at home. This happened in 1942.This used to take place when the boys turned 13, because according to the Jewish laws, a Jew became an adult after he turned 13, not 18.The Jewish boys were taken to the synagogue for pre-prayer only after they turned 13, to be part of the minyan.I had my own tefillin, my father taught me to tie it, because I had to wear it every time I went to the synagogue after my bar mitzvah.
Romania
Yom Kippur was the highest holiday. It was a general fast then.In the evening my father blessed the supper, and then we ate. Then we went to the synagogue, came back, and didn’t eat or drink anything until the next evening, until the stars came up.And most of the people spent the day in the synagogue.There was a typical Jewish supper the next evening.We had false fish for a side-dish, they looked like dumplings, but it was made from poultry breast. They minced the poultry breast and mixed it with vegetables; it was very delicious.Then there was meat-soup with boiled meat, with chulent.
Sometimes Aunt Edit and my grandmother were with us, but we had no guests from outside during holidays.We always celebrated it at our home, because our house was bigger.It was part of the ritual that we had bitter herbs, horseradish or parsley. There were potatoes, boiled eggs and some vegetables, green onion or radish: we had to eat these on Seder eve.And they always gave us a little glass of wine; we had to drink a little wine after each prayer on that evening.They gave the children, as well, but they didn’t drink it.Not even the adults drank it, because drinking wasn’t a habit in the family, they only drank for the ritual’s sake.The children’s joy was the afikoman: the adults hid it first [they put it away], then the children had to find it, steal it and then [after the supper] they ate it.We had to wash our hands several times during the supper, there was a bowl prepared for this.
I remember that we also had that ritual in our family with different utensils for Pesach, and we kept them in a separate fach [Editor’s note: ‘fach’ is a German word. It means compartment or shelf] in the loft. This meant that there was a place in the loft, enclosed with wiring and locked, and we only kept the Pesach utensils there. My mother didn’t let anything else be put there.And before Pesach, my mother used to take all the utensils from the house into the cellar, and she brought down the Pesach utensils from the loft. If, by accident, some utensils were missing, she burnt them out in the stove [those we used daily] in order to be able to use them at Pesach. And at the end of the holiday, she gathered and washed them, and we took them back to the loft. The foundation of Pesach was the matzah.It must be started by removing any kind of bread from the house, and during Pesach people are only allowed to eat matzah.While my father was still alive we used to observe Seder eve at home.
Purim is a high holiday, exactly 30 days before Easter.The essence is that a daughter of a king, Esther, saved the Jewry.She pulled some strings around the royal family, because there was a man called Haman who wanted to exterminate all the Jews, but Esther saved them.This is the essence why Purim became a high holiday.On this occasion children used to wear fancy dresses, and when we were children, we used to get together in the yard of the synagogue.Each family cooked and baked, they baked many pastries, and this too symbolized the high holiday.
Romania
According to the current conditions, my family can be considered as half religious. In a word, they didn’t wear beards or payes, but they weren’t atheists. The women from the family didn’t wear short hair. They covered their heads with a muslin shawl only when they went to the synagogue, because that was the ritual in the prayer house. But they didn’t wear a shawl at home or on the street. In our home, especially while my father was still alive, candle lighting on Friday evening was a rule, and so were the Friday and Saturday suppers. They strictly observed the Sabbath as far as baking challah and cooking chulent was concerned, i.e. both in terms of food and candle lighting.For Saturday my mother always cooked meat-soup and as a second dish we ate the meat which was boiled in the soup, and used to eat chulent, as well.At first there was someone who lit the fire on Saturdays in our house, but later my parents did it.My father always went to the synagogue on Saturdays and holidays, and we, the boys, went with him.He had his own seat in the synagogue, it was earned by bidding, and each year one had to buy their seat.My mother had a kosher household until the war, but bit by bit she gave it up.My father died, and then the rituals and kosher household stopped. There wasn’t even a shochet after the war in Torda.
My father was a true Zionist, and I found out later that he secretly sponsored Keren Kayemet Leisrael [4]. The Keren Kayemet was a money box where people put money used mostly for planting trees in Israel. This money box was always hidden in the house, so that the authorities couldn’t find it. A delegate came occasionally and emptied it. After I finished the seventh grade in the Jewish confessional school, the teacher had already told us about it and only then I realized what was going on. As for politics, my poor father died politically independent: he wasn’t attracted by the right, or left.
I became an orphan at the age of 15. The things I can remember, related to my father, happened during those years. He was a much disciplined clerk. He was the chief clerk in the ceramic factory in Torda, called Ceramic Factory of Aranyosgyeres [Industria de lut Giris-Aries in Romanian]. This belongs to Aranyosgyeres, formerly called Giris-Aries [today Campia Turzii in Romanian], and old people call it that even today. My father was a traveling salesman also. He took me along about two times where he was dispatched. The company rented a car, and we roamed here and there. I remember exactly when we visited Des: we even spent a night here.From here we went to Nagybanya, and wherever the factory had a tile depot, we stopped.He also took my brother along. We were very young then. He was very calm and thorough. I probably inherited many of his characteristics because I wasn’t unruly or short-tempered. I manage to keep my cool.
We lived in Torda, I grew up there. After my sister was born, my father went to work in America to make some money. This was quite common then.Many people from Transylvania [3] went to America. Some of them remained there, and some returned.He worked there for four or five years, and when he got home, he bought the house we lived in. I was born later.Our house in Torda was on Avram Iancu Street, at No. 19. This is the main road if coming from Kolozsvar, before the Catholic Church and theater. It was a family house with five rooms, a kitchen, a bathroom and a pantry. There were two separate small rooms, probably built as doctor’s offices. There also was an underground apartment and many cellars.The furnishing of the house was classic.In the bedroom there were two beds, side by side, opposite to them there were two closets.We lived in the same room with my brother, but we had separate beds: sofas.We had a large yard and garden. In the garden we had vegetables, many flowers and fruit-trees.In the yard we had a seesaw.We used to play Nine Men’s Morris, and dominoes. I don’t remember the other games, I just remember that I had no bicycle, but my friends did. I had always envied them.And in the end it wasn’t even possible because my father died.And I used my friends’ bicycles.
got the name Jozsef Sandor after my two grandfathers, Alexander Farkas and Jozsef Deutsch. According to our ritual, every newborn boy can adopt the name of his deceased grandfather.
The things I can say about the changes after 1989 are almost the same I can say about communism. I was very excited in every respect that now a new historical era comes. I don’t say categorically that it was a revolution or a takeover. It was a huge upheaval. But unfortunately, and this is probably the saddest part of it, the former communists and Securitate members remained in their positions and are flourishing. I’m positive. Most of them became businessmen, they had the best businesses. They knew when they could go with or without a passport, when they could bring in everything on earth tax-free in 1989-90. And they became the big shots, and, accidentally, I know a few names.
I had two reasons why I didn’t think about immigrating to Israel. Above all, my mother was alive. She remained a widow, and I didn’t even think about leaving her alone, because I was her favorite child, beside my elder sister and younger brother, as the middle one. Taking into consideration that she remained a widow, I thought it was my duty to stay with her and not to go away. Not even after I got married in 1956, to a Hungarian girl, whose parents were still alive, and she had the same attitude, she didn’t want to leave her parents. We were on very good terms with my wife’s family. And we carried on this way, my sister and my brother immigrated, but we remained behind.
I went ten times to Israel: First in 1978, then 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1994, when my sister died, in 2002 when my brother died, and three times after my daughter immigrated. I spent six weeks there this year. My wife was there two times, but she went separately, not with me. I’m not biased, nor with, nor against them, but I can say about Israel and I’m partly proud about it, that this small country managed to catch up with America in 57 years. Israel is a small America. There is everything in Israel; they even manufacture things that America buys from them. They buy much fewer things from the Americans. Not many were able to achieve this, but they [the people from Israel] did it, because they worked for it. I’m very impressed with Israel. Every time I went there starting in 1978, I found more and something new. Not to mention that when this high-tech picked up, I saw how this new technology has emerged in Israel just like in Silicon Valley in America.
How are the people in Israel? I have to tell you how they are, because there is an essential difference of opinion between me and my wife in this matter. My wife is noisy, but the people from Israel are noisy, too. And it is very hard to reconcile the opinions of noisy people. I’m used to it, and it doesn’t bother me. This is in their nature. They have gone through so much. There’s a Jewish proverb: if something happens, Jews won’t let themselves be massacred, or something, but they won’t let each other live when they aren’t fighting. In a word they are always quarrelling; this is how they live.
I went ten times to Israel: First in 1978, then 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1994, when my sister died, in 2002 when my brother died, and three times after my daughter immigrated. I spent six weeks there this year. My wife was there two times, but she went separately, not with me. I’m not biased, nor with, nor against them, but I can say about Israel and I’m partly proud about it, that this small country managed to catch up with America in 57 years. Israel is a small America. There is everything in Israel; they even manufacture things that America buys from them. They buy much fewer things from the Americans. Not many were able to achieve this, but they [the people from Israel] did it, because they worked for it. I’m very impressed with Israel. Every time I went there starting in 1978, I found more and something new. Not to mention that when this high-tech picked up, I saw how this new technology has emerged in Israel just like in Silicon Valley in America.
How are the people in Israel? I have to tell you how they are, because there is an essential difference of opinion between me and my wife in this matter. My wife is noisy, but the people from Israel are noisy, too. And it is very hard to reconcile the opinions of noisy people. I’m used to it, and it doesn’t bother me. This is in their nature. They have gone through so much. There’s a Jewish proverb: if something happens, Jews won’t let themselves be massacred, or something, but they won’t let each other live when they aren’t fighting. In a word they are always quarrelling; this is how they live.
Religion is a very relative thing. I have my own theory about this. I consider myself the most honest man in front of God, because I respect everybody’s religion. I can’t despise someone because one is like this and not like that, or deeply religious or an atheist, because one is orthodox, Greek-Catholic or Reformed. I respect everyone who believes in his religion. One must be very appeasable, in order to be able to respect everyone, and I respect them all, people who carry on with their religion. So I respect everyone, and I don’t disturb anyone. But there are some people who only go to church to show the people they are there. Not to pray, just to mark their presence. And this goes for every religion.
I kept the Jewish religion even after my marriage. I didn’t go every day to the synagogue, but I observed each holiday and attended the ceremonies, commemorations or any holiday: New Year’s Day, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Shavuot, and I was present at the Yiskor services, every time. We didn’t light candles for Sabbath. There’s an interesting thing that I found out just now, when I grew old. The candles on Friday evening were lit by the women, not the men. And I was scared in Israel when the partner of my daughter didn’t light the candle, but he showed his gratitude for the challah every Friday evening, and poured wine into a goblet, and said a prayer for that. After that everyone tasted the wine. In a word I’d like to say that only women light candles, and not the men. My mother lit candles. After she died, nobody lit candles in our house.
I always have my kippah with me. I think I bought it in Israel when I was there. When the men enter the synagogue, they have to wear a kippah on their head. The rabbis say you, the mortal, have to wear a kippah because you are not God’s equal. There must be something separating a mortal from God. And the kippah covers the head, the skull, and prevents direct contact with God. The rabbis explain it so. And I believe this, I’m not skeptical about it. [Editor’s note: In fact, the covered head is the symbol of respect for God. Joszef Farkas interprets this fact in his own way.]
The rabbi from Temesvar [Editor’s note: Dr. Erno Neumann, the chief rabbi of Temesvar] always used to come to Des for Chanukkah, and after he died, they sent a chazzan from Bucharest.On a scheduled day, we gather in the synagogue, in the small office.They light candles, one for each day of the holiday that has passed.Because we had to light candles for eight days, one on the first day, two on the second, three on the third and eight on the eighth.[Editor’s note: Jozsef Farkas didn’t mention the head candle, the shames, used to light the other candles, and they leave the shames to burn out with the other candles.]We celebrate the other holidays only in close companionship.We go to the lobby of the synagogue, not in the main room, and everyone prays as they can.
I kept the Jewish religion even after my marriage. I didn’t go every day to the synagogue, but I observed each holiday and attended the ceremonies, commemorations or any holiday: New Year’s Day, Yom Kippur, Pesach, Shavuot, and I was present at the Yiskor services, every time. We didn’t light candles for Sabbath. There’s an interesting thing that I found out just now, when I grew old. The candles on Friday evening were lit by the women, not the men. And I was scared in Israel when the partner of my daughter didn’t light the candle, but he showed his gratitude for the challah every Friday evening, and poured wine into a goblet, and said a prayer for that. After that everyone tasted the wine. In a word I’d like to say that only women light candles, and not the men. My mother lit candles. After she died, nobody lit candles in our house.
I always have my kippah with me. I think I bought it in Israel when I was there. When the men enter the synagogue, they have to wear a kippah on their head. The rabbis say you, the mortal, have to wear a kippah because you are not God’s equal. There must be something separating a mortal from God. And the kippah covers the head, the skull, and prevents direct contact with God. The rabbis explain it so. And I believe this, I’m not skeptical about it. [Editor’s note: In fact, the covered head is the symbol of respect for God. Joszef Farkas interprets this fact in his own way.]
The rabbi from Temesvar [Editor’s note: Dr. Erno Neumann, the chief rabbi of Temesvar] always used to come to Des for Chanukkah, and after he died, they sent a chazzan from Bucharest.On a scheduled day, we gather in the synagogue, in the small office.They light candles, one for each day of the holiday that has passed.Because we had to light candles for eight days, one on the first day, two on the second, three on the third and eight on the eighth.[Editor’s note: Jozsef Farkas didn’t mention the head candle, the shames, used to light the other candles, and they leave the shames to burn out with the other candles.]We celebrate the other holidays only in close companionship.We go to the lobby of the synagogue, not in the main room, and everyone prays as they can.
Romania
My grandson Paul attends high school, he finished the eleventh grade, and will graduate next year. There’s a very interesting system in Israel: starting with the tenth grade, they graduate [pass an examination] from two to three subjects each year. And by the time they finish the twelfth grade, they have those two to three exams from the tenth and eleventh grades, and they cumulate them with the exams from the twelfth grade and become graduates.
My daughter, Ariana, was born on New Year’s Eve in 1961. The wife of my friend was the clerk in the Stanca, and she said, ‘Look, I’ll register your daughter on 1stJanuary 1962, to be younger by one year.’ And according to the register she was born on 1stJanuary 1962. My mother-in-law’s family baptized my daughter according to the Catholic or the Reformed religion, I don’t know which one, but it was never an issue for me. Because as far as I remember, my father-in-law was Catholic, and my mother-in-law was Reformed, but this wasn’t a problem for us. While she was small, we spoke to her in Hungarian, and when she became a schoolgirl I spoke to her in Romanian. My wife spoke to her only in Hungarian as a mark of esteem for her grandmother, my mother-in-law. But my daughter grew up in our family, and I thank God she grew up so that she is more Jewish than me. We can say briefly that I’m not the fighter type. I do what I can, in silence, but my daughter is a fighter. And she fought for the Jewry, as well. I taught her what I could, and bought her the Jewish calendar translated into Romanian, every year. It contained many appendices, many things, and she learned them all. She graduated from the mechanical engineering department of the technological University in Kolozsvar. She was a member of the Jewish community, and used to sing in the choir and was the member of the choir in Kolozsvar, lead by Katalin Halmos.