My father studied in a general Ukrainian school, the only school in Dorobratovo. [Editor’s note: It must have been a Ruthenian school. Ukrainian and Ruthenian are similar languages and the official Soviet policy after 1945 was the denial of the separate Ruthenian identity; they were regarded Ukrainian and the Ruthenian language a Ukrainian dialect.] There was no cheder in the village. My grandfather taught his children to read and write in Hebrew and taught them prayers. They only spoke Yiddish in my father’s family. They spoke the Subcarpathian dialect of the Ukrainian language called Ruthenian with their non-Jewish neighbors.
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Yacob Hollander
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I remember my grandfather Yankl a little. He was a short and stout man and had a thick beard and payes. My grandfather always covered his head. He wore a kippah at home and a hat to go out. Probably, at that time all Jews had their heads covered. Even in the morning, when a Jewish man got up, he could only make 3 steps without a head covering. On weekdays my grandfather wore his work clothes. He had a long black jacket to wear on Sabbath and Jewish holidays, when he went to the prayer house or synagogue. All I remember about my grandmother is that she was a short and thin old woman wearing a black kerchief as low as her brows and black clothing.
My grandfather was a cabman transporting people and loads. He had beautiful horses and a phaeton decorated with carvings.
Kamyanske was a big village of about 350 houses. There were about 150 Jewish families. It was a wealthy village: families had a lot of land and kept livestock. Jews dealt in crafts and trade. Jews also owned taverns and inns. There were wealthier Jews who owned bigger stores selling fabrics, shoes and more expensive food products, but most of them were selling consumer goods: flour, butter, cereals, herring, sugar, matches, kerosene and whatever else villagers needed. There were Jewish shoemakers and tailors. They owned small shops. They didn’t hire employees preferring apprentices and this was beneficial to both sides. Parents didn’t pay for their children’s training. Each craftsman had 4-5 apprentices. It took 3 years to become a shoemaker or a tailor. In the first year of training apprentices helped their masters about the house fetching water or cutting wood – whatever errands their masters gave them to do. When the first year was over, apprentices began to do simple work and in the third year apprentices started working, but their masters didn’t pay them for work. Tailors received orders and did measurements and their apprentices made garments. Christians dealt in farming in Kamyanske farming the lands and keeping livestock.
About one third of all Jewish families in Kamyanske were Hasidim [4]. There were two big synagogues in Kamyanske: one Hasidic and one for all other Jews. Hasidim also had a shochet that only did slaughtering for them. Hasidim had their own life staying aside from other Jews. Women went to the synagogue on Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. They had seats on the 2nd floor.
About one third of all Jewish families in Kamyanske were Hasidim [4]. There were two big synagogues in Kamyanske: one Hasidic and one for all other Jews. Hasidim also had a shochet that only did slaughtering for them. Hasidim had their own life staying aside from other Jews. Women went to the synagogue on Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. They had seats on the 2nd floor.
There was no anti-Semitism in Subcarpathia and in Kamyanske in particular, during the Austro-Hungarian and the Czechoslovakian rule. [First Czechoslovak Republic] [5] Generations of people of different nationalities were living side by side learning to be tolerant and respect each other’s faith and religion. Jews were treated with special respect. People believed them to be smart and close to God. Occasionally Ukrainians addressed a rabbi to solve their disputes. The rabbi never refused to provide assistance, and his advice was valued and followed. Once our neighbors addressed the rabbi to advise them on a balk between their fields that they kept arguing about. Another time four brothers asked the rabbi to teach them to share their father’s heritage. They had argued for months before they turned to the rabbi for advice. I don’t know what the rabbi decided, but the brothers never lived peacefully from then on. They lived in our street and so I know about this case. Of course, there were other cases, but I only remember these two cases after so many years.
My grandfather and grandmother were religious and observed Jewish traditions. They raised their children religious. My grandfather was short and had a big beard with streaks of gray and payes. My grandmother was short, fatty and cheerful. She had her hair cut. When going to the synagogue on Sabbath or on holidays, my grandmother wore a wig, but at home she covered her head with a black kerchief. My grandmother always wore black clothes. My mother wore clothes of different, though, dark colors, but not my grandmother. She wore ankle-long skirts and long-sleeved shirts. The only difference of my grandmother’s clothes was that they were woolen in winter and cotton in summer. She had a fancy black silk outfit for the synagogue. My grandfather only wore black clothes too. On weekdays he wore a black suit with a jacket and put on a long jacket and a long coat to go to the synagogue. He wore a kippah at home and a black hat to go out.
My parents met each other in a traditional manner: through matchmakers, shadkhanim. It was not necessary for a couple to see each other before their wedding. Shadkhanim got information about families with young maids and young men of marrying age. Only rich boys matched rich girls. Wealthy young men never married beautiful, but poor girls. A shadkhan would have never made any arrangements for of this kind. Shadkhanim informed families when they had a match for their children. If both families came to an agreement, a shadkhan introduced the parents and they negotiated and arranged a wedding. As a rule, a bridegroom saw his bride only after the wedding ceremony. After a rabbi conducted a wedding ceremony under the chuppah, the newly weds were to sip wine from one glass. The young husband sipped the wine and then gave the glass to his wife. She lifted her veil to sip her wine and it was only then that the man saw his wife’s face. It was forbidden to see her face before this moment. Perhaps, this rule was not always followed, but that’s how it was in my childhood. Jewish traditions were observed more strictly in villages than in towns. In towns young people could meet and walk hand in hand before their wedding, but this was unimaginable in villages. If people didn’t have a traditional wedding, but registered their marriage in the mayor’s office, the public didn’t recognize this marriage. They believed those young people to be living in sin.
My parents got married in 1919. Of course, I don’t know what kind of wedding my parents had, but I presume it was a traditional Jewish wedding. Though my mother was the youngest daughter and the last one to get married in the family, she received a good dowry. My grandfather gave her a house where we lived before World War II and 8 hectares of land. My grandfather provided dwelling to all of his daughters. My mother’s 2 sisters and 2 brothers lived in Kamyanske besides my mother. Two other sisters and a brother lived in Shalanki village [66 km from Uzhgorod, 650 km from Kiev], near Kamyanske. One of my mother’s sisters moved to live with her husband in Michalovce not far from Uzhgorod but already in Czechoslovakia [today Slovakia]. The rest of my mother’s sisters emigrated to America in the 1910s. They stayed in touch with the family and sent money and parcels to their parents.
The house my grandfather gave to my mother as dowry was made from air bricks. There were 2 rooms, a fore room and a big kitchen in this spacious house. There was a big yard with a shed, a chicken house and a cowshed. We had cows, bulls and horses. My mother kept chicken and geese. There was an orchard and a small vegetable garden where we grew greeneries. My father built an annex to the house where he opened a small store selling goods from salt to kerosene, everything people needed in their everyday life. Our customers lived in our and neighboring streets. This store didn’t bring much money, but still it added to the family budget. My father worked in the store alone and my mother helped him every now and then.
My parents got married in 1919. Of course, I don’t know what kind of wedding my parents had, but I presume it was a traditional Jewish wedding. Though my mother was the youngest daughter and the last one to get married in the family, she received a good dowry. My grandfather gave her a house where we lived before World War II and 8 hectares of land. My grandfather provided dwelling to all of his daughters. My mother’s 2 sisters and 2 brothers lived in Kamyanske besides my mother. Two other sisters and a brother lived in Shalanki village [66 km from Uzhgorod, 650 km from Kiev], near Kamyanske. One of my mother’s sisters moved to live with her husband in Michalovce not far from Uzhgorod but already in Czechoslovakia [today Slovakia]. The rest of my mother’s sisters emigrated to America in the 1910s. They stayed in touch with the family and sent money and parcels to their parents.
The house my grandfather gave to my mother as dowry was made from air bricks. There were 2 rooms, a fore room and a big kitchen in this spacious house. There was a big yard with a shed, a chicken house and a cowshed. We had cows, bulls and horses. My mother kept chicken and geese. There was an orchard and a small vegetable garden where we grew greeneries. My father built an annex to the house where he opened a small store selling goods from salt to kerosene, everything people needed in their everyday life. Our customers lived in our and neighboring streets. This store didn’t bring much money, but still it added to the family budget. My father worked in the store alone and my mother helped him every now and then.
We spoke Yiddish and sometimes Hungarian at home. We spoke only Yiddish to our parents and between us and outside we spoke more Hungarian. We also knew the Subcarpathian dialect of the Ukrainian language called Ruthenian. Most Ukrainians in Kamyanske spoke Ruthenian.
My parents were religious and observed Jewish traditions. My father had a big beard and payes. On weekdays my father wore a black suit and had a long black jacket for the synagogue. My father always covered his head. He wore a kippah at home and in the store and a hat to go out. My mother wore a wig to go to the synagogue on Sabbath and Jewish holidays, to brit milah celebrations or weddings. Women didn’t wear wigs at home. My mother wore a kerchief at home. Girls had their hair cut before going under the chuppah. Married women didn’t wear their hair long. Many of them like my mother ordered wigs to be made from their own hair. My mother’s sisters and her brothers’ wives wore wigs.
My grandfather went to the synagogue 3 times a day. He was very strong physically. Even at the age of 90 he didn’t change the routines of his life and attended the synagogue three times a day without escort. He didn’t have breakfast before going to the synagogue in the morning, but he drank a shot of self-made plum brandy of about, called Palinka in Hungarian. A bottle of it lasted for about two months. When he came home from his morning visit of the synagogue he had a mug of fresh milk. In the afternoon he spent 2-3 hours at the synagogue again. Then he had dinner. My grandfather cared for me a lot. I escorted him to the synagogue on Saturday. I carried his book of prayers and a tallit, and on Sunday he gave me some change for helping him. My mother’s sister owned a confectionery store and I ran to buy sweets in her store.
There was a big Jewish community in Kamyanske. Every Thursday members of the community made the rounds of wealthier Jewish families collecting money for the needy. They bought fish and chicken to give them to poor Jews to celebrate Sabbath decently. They also collected money for the poor before holidays. My grandmother also patronized 10 poor Jewish families. She kept oxen and their milk is delicious and very healthy. At least, there was a belief that it was. My grandmother milked the buffalo and I delivered this milk to these families for their children. My grandmother gave me some change for this errand. On Friday morning she sent me to take flour for Saturday challah bread to these families. My parents also supported a poor Jewish family who were our neighbors. My mother always sent one of us to take milk to this family after she milked cows in the morning. My parents provided to them few bags of potatoes and onions for winter. Of course, I felt sorry for these poor hungry children and their mothers, who worked themselves to the bones to feed their numerous offspring, but I felt neither sorry nor sympathetic with the fathers of these families. I was perplexed by their conduct. They didn’t want to work believing that it was indecent. They stayed at home studying the Torah and reading religious books. This was their pastime. They felt content with the food and worn clothes they got from the community. Their children were hungry and slovenly, but they believed that their fathers were doing an important thing reading. Their sons also grew up with the conviction that there was no need to work. It was necessary to read the Torah and the God would take care of their food and clothes. I thought and think now that it is wrong. Only those who cannot work due to their health condition or age must have support, but there is no need to support idlers.
I remember that there were few Jewish communists in Kamyanske. I saw two of them. They were no different from other Jews having beards and wearing black clothes. Once they began to argue about a book by Lenin [6] at the synagogue. They attended at the synagogue and it didn’t contradict their reading of Lenin’s books and grow fond of communist ideas. Adults said that they wanted Subcarpathia to join the USSR. I don’t remember any details. I was just a boy and took no interest in politics. In general, Jews were not interested in politics, except for few of them. Religion was the Jewish policy and this was all they cared about. There were no Zionist organizations or Zionist clubs for children and youngsters in the village. Rabbis governed all Jewish activities and they would have never tolerated such things. Rabbis would have closed any Zionist club, even if it was opened in the village.
We followed kashrut strictly at home. My mother had special crockery, utensils and tableware for meat and milk products. One could not even imagine having a glass of milk after a meat dish before 6 hours passed while it was allowed to have meat one our after a milk dish. Meat was bought only from shochet. When a Jew was going to slaughter a cow, a rabbi came to inspect the cow and recite a prayer. Then a shochet came and conducted quite a ritual to make the meat kosher. Only after a prayer and begging pardon for sins he slaughtered the cow. Jews were only allowed to eat the front part of the cow. The rear part was not kosher and the meat was sold to Christians. Shochet had a special facility where he slaughtered chicken. It was always overcrowded and there was a lot of noise: the chickens cackled and their owners spoke loudly to one another. The shochet also identified whether a chicken was kosher or not. If he said that the chicken was not kosher, it had to be given to non-Jews. Not even the poorest Jew would have eaten this chicken.
Housewives made bread at home once or twice a week depending on how big the family was. In each house there was a big Russian stove [7] with an oven. Every housewife knew how long she had to stoke her stove and how long it took for her bread to bake through. Most housewives baked bread on Friday morning since they had to bake challah bread for Sabbath as well. On Friday morning my mother always baked corn bread: it is delicious only while it’s fresh. She baked challah bread from the highest quality flour and bread for every day from lower quality flour. She pushed a baking tray with bread inside the oven and closed the door with clay. My mother always knew when she had to take the bread out: it was covered with crispy goldish crust. She kept it covered with flax cloth during a week and it never grew stale or mould.
After baking bread my mother started cooking. First she made food for Friday: gefilte fish, chicken broth, potato pancakes and carrot tsimes. My mother kept geese and we always had a roasted goose for Sabbath. Then she put a pot of cholnt into the oven for the next day. She also closed the door to the oven with clay and the stew was kept there until the next day.
On weekdays my mother did all housework herself, but on Friday she always invited a Ukrainian woman to help her with washing. On Friday she always changed bed sheets. My mother had a lot of work to do before Sabbath. Se had to go to the mikveh before the first star appeared in the sky. On weekdays we washed in a basin at home, but on Friday all went to the mikveh. In small villages men and women took turns to get washed. Our village was big and there was a big mikveh. There were two buildings, one for men and one for women. There were 4 bathtubs and a swimming pool in each building. At first it was necessary to get washed in the bath and then dip into the swimming pool three times. On Friday morning all water was drained from the swimming pools. The swimming pools and bathtubs were washed with milk. The rabbi watched the process. Then the rabbi said a blessing and it was allowed to fill the swimming pools with water. There were steel stoves plunged into the swimming pools to heat water. They started the stoves and added wood from above. I went to the mikveh with my father and brothers. Before going there my mother washed us in a basin, but we still had to wash with soap in a bathtub before jumping into the swimming pool. There were bath house attendants in the mikveh watching the order. When the boys became naughty the attendant threatened to throw us out. Of course, it never came to that. After the swimming pool we had to get dressed quickly since my father didn’t like waiting.
When we came home from the mikveh, my mother had everything ready for us. She had also returned from the mikveh and wore her fanciest dress. Then we sat at the table, my mother lit candles and recited a prayer over them. Then we prayed together and started dinner. When the candles were lit, it was not allowed to do any work until the evening of the next day when the first star appeared in the sky. It was not allowed to put down the candles they were to burn down. There was a poor Ukrainian family living nearby. The mother of this family came after dinner to clean the table and light the lamps. [shabesgoy] On the next day she came several times to start the stove, take out the pot with cholnt and milk the cows and oxen. My mother always gave this neighbor this Saturday milk. On Saturday morning we went to the synagogue. The boys under 8 years of age went to the synagogue with the mother and then, when they grew older, they went with the father. The adults were not allowed to eat till they came from the synagogue, but the children did not have to follow this rule. The adults had to start praying in the morning. They stayed at the synagogue till late afternoon. It was not allowed to do any work on this day. If one touched anything, but the book of prayers, he had to wash his hands three times. On Saturday it was not allowed to eat alone, apart from the family. Everybody sat together at the round table and took to dinner after a prayer. After dinner the family sat around the father and he read the Saturday section from the torah to us explaining it or told us something of the Jewish history. Then he went to the synagogue. When he returned home, the family sat down to supper. My father conducted the Havdalah service: Havdalah means “separation” and is a service used to separate the holiness of the Sabbath from the rest of the week. There was a glass of wine on a plate and everybody had his own glass for wine. Everybody drank wine; even younger children got a little to wet their lips. My father lit a candle, poured some wine into his glass and said a blessing over the wine. Everybody had to sip wine and pray. Then my father poured wine into a saucer and put down the candle in wine. Then everybody wished each other a good week. Only kosher wine made by Jews was good for Havdalah. Subcarpathia is the country of vineyards, and almost every family made wine, but one had to make sure of its kosher compliance before buying it even from a neighbor. Therefore, Jews either made their own wine or bought it from others Jews who made kosher wine and whose wineries were inspected by a rabbi who issued permits for wine making.
On weekdays my mother did all housework herself, but on Friday she always invited a Ukrainian woman to help her with washing. On Friday she always changed bed sheets. My mother had a lot of work to do before Sabbath. Se had to go to the mikveh before the first star appeared in the sky. On weekdays we washed in a basin at home, but on Friday all went to the mikveh. In small villages men and women took turns to get washed. Our village was big and there was a big mikveh. There were two buildings, one for men and one for women. There were 4 bathtubs and a swimming pool in each building. At first it was necessary to get washed in the bath and then dip into the swimming pool three times. On Friday morning all water was drained from the swimming pools. The swimming pools and bathtubs were washed with milk. The rabbi watched the process. Then the rabbi said a blessing and it was allowed to fill the swimming pools with water. There were steel stoves plunged into the swimming pools to heat water. They started the stoves and added wood from above. I went to the mikveh with my father and brothers. Before going there my mother washed us in a basin, but we still had to wash with soap in a bathtub before jumping into the swimming pool. There were bath house attendants in the mikveh watching the order. When the boys became naughty the attendant threatened to throw us out. Of course, it never came to that. After the swimming pool we had to get dressed quickly since my father didn’t like waiting.
When we came home from the mikveh, my mother had everything ready for us. She had also returned from the mikveh and wore her fanciest dress. Then we sat at the table, my mother lit candles and recited a prayer over them. Then we prayed together and started dinner. When the candles were lit, it was not allowed to do any work until the evening of the next day when the first star appeared in the sky. It was not allowed to put down the candles they were to burn down. There was a poor Ukrainian family living nearby. The mother of this family came after dinner to clean the table and light the lamps. [shabesgoy] On the next day she came several times to start the stove, take out the pot with cholnt and milk the cows and oxen. My mother always gave this neighbor this Saturday milk. On Saturday morning we went to the synagogue. The boys under 8 years of age went to the synagogue with the mother and then, when they grew older, they went with the father. The adults were not allowed to eat till they came from the synagogue, but the children did not have to follow this rule. The adults had to start praying in the morning. They stayed at the synagogue till late afternoon. It was not allowed to do any work on this day. If one touched anything, but the book of prayers, he had to wash his hands three times. On Saturday it was not allowed to eat alone, apart from the family. Everybody sat together at the round table and took to dinner after a prayer. After dinner the family sat around the father and he read the Saturday section from the torah to us explaining it or told us something of the Jewish history. Then he went to the synagogue. When he returned home, the family sat down to supper. My father conducted the Havdalah service: Havdalah means “separation” and is a service used to separate the holiness of the Sabbath from the rest of the week. There was a glass of wine on a plate and everybody had his own glass for wine. Everybody drank wine; even younger children got a little to wet their lips. My father lit a candle, poured some wine into his glass and said a blessing over the wine. Everybody had to sip wine and pray. Then my father poured wine into a saucer and put down the candle in wine. Then everybody wished each other a good week. Only kosher wine made by Jews was good for Havdalah. Subcarpathia is the country of vineyards, and almost every family made wine, but one had to make sure of its kosher compliance before buying it even from a neighbor. Therefore, Jews either made their own wine or bought it from others Jews who made kosher wine and whose wineries were inspected by a rabbi who issued permits for wine making.
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.
One month before Rosh Hashannah the shofar was played after a morning prayer at the synagogue. It produced loud sounds heard at quite a distance. On this holiday families went to the synagogue in the morning and had a meal when coming home. There were apples and a bowl of honey to be on the table. We dipped apples into honey and ate them. We also dipped challah into honey on this day. Rosh Hashannah is a joyful holiday.
Yom Kippur came after Rosh Hashannah. Before the holiday it was necessary to visit all acquaintances asking their forgiveness and pay back all debts, get rid of all sins, basically. In the morning the Kapores ritual was conducted. A white roster was used for men and boys and girls and women were to have a white hen. Its legs were to be washed and tied. Then a prayer was said and the hen was turned over the head with words: ‘May you be my atonement’ in Hebrew. Then this hen was to be slaughtered. Its head was cut, then one had to take this head and say: ‘Death for you and life for me’. Then these hens were given to the poor. Nowadays they conduct Kapores with money at the synagogue. They turn money above the heads and then give this money to the poor. Yom Kippur started when the first evening star appeared in the sky. It was necessary to have a substantial meal before since at Yom Kippur it was necessary to fast. Children started to fast after they had bar mitzvah. In the next morning people went to the synagogue. Men wore their white kippurs. People took candles with them. They were burning a whole day and they produced fumes and people even fainted occasionally. When the first evening star appeared in the sky, the prayer was over and people went home. The fast was over and they could have a meal.
The next holiday was Sukkot. Preparations began after Yom Kippur. There was a sukkah built in every Jewish yard in Kamyanske. We had pre-cast panels and it was easy to assemble a sukkah for us. There were branches placed on the roof of the sukkah. There was not to be too many branches. When the sukkah was ready its roof and walls were decorated with branches and flowers. Children made decorations from color paper. We learned it at home and at school. Decorations were placed inside. It looked very nice. A table and chairs were brought into the sukkah. People had meals and prayed in the sukkah during this holiday.
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.
Before Purim we started making masks from soft paper for Purimspiels. We glue together few layers of paper to make it take the shape of a face. Coloring the mask was most important. We keep it a secret what kind of masks we were to have at Purim. Everybody also prepared a piece to perform at Purim. Children traveled from one house to another with their performances. They got some change or sweets for their performance. My mother changed her paper money for Purim and had a plate full of change at home. Older children made bigger performances and younger children sang or danced. Of course, we didn’t go to poor houses and didn’t stay long in a house. Sometimes it happened that 10-12 children came to a house at the same time. It resulted in fighting. Or older boys asked me to show how much money I’d collected and when I did they took it away from me. So there was nothing left, but crying and reprobate myself for being stupid. Then shelakhmones was taken to houses. There was a nice napkin on a tray and sweets on it: pies, honey cake, nuts, candy and another napkin to cover it. Shelakhmones was taken to relatives, friends, and neighbors. Children also got some change for bringing shelakhmones. We had many relatives and I preferred to visit wealthier relatives with shelakhmones. Once I got enough money at Purim to make my dream come true and buy a ball. We usually played with a ball that we made from cloth.
At the age of 5 I went to cheder. There were about 10 cheders in Kamyanske: for Hasidic children, for wealthier and poorer families. There were cheder schools for girls where they learned to read and write in Yiddish, studied the Hebrew alphabet and prayers. Every Jewish woman was to know prayers and be able to read them. They didn’t learn to translate prayers from Hebrew into Yiddish and they didn’t understand what they were reading.
Of course, my parents weren’t rich and I went to a middle class cheder. There was a melamed in each class. There were 15 boys in my class. We started studying the alphabet and then in the 2nd grade we started reading prayers. In the 3rd grade we were reading Torah and translated into Yiddish what we read. In the 4th grade we started to have discussions on the Torah. Melamed was paid for his work. Every day he came to one of his pupils to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the family. There was a ‘stick’ order in cheder. Melameds had bamboo sticks and if a melamed thought that a pupil hadn’t done his homework, he put him on his lap and hit him on his back as many times as he thought proper. It didn’t make sense to argue with him. If one of us did, the rebe complained to parents and then the boy got his portion from his father at home for daring to argue with the rebe. Classes started at 7 am. My mother woke me up at 6. It was dark in winter and I begged my mother to let me stay at home, but my mother still made me get up crying from feeling sorry for having to send her 5-year-old boy to school. We stayed in cheder till afternoon, then came home for lunch and went back to school to have classes till evening. I didn’t have time left to play with other boys. My life became even more difficult when I went to a Czech school at the age of 6.
Of course, my parents weren’t rich and I went to a middle class cheder. There was a melamed in each class. There were 15 boys in my class. We started studying the alphabet and then in the 2nd grade we started reading prayers. In the 3rd grade we were reading Torah and translated into Yiddish what we read. In the 4th grade we started to have discussions on the Torah. Melamed was paid for his work. Every day he came to one of his pupils to have breakfast, lunch and dinner with the family. There was a ‘stick’ order in cheder. Melameds had bamboo sticks and if a melamed thought that a pupil hadn’t done his homework, he put him on his lap and hit him on his back as many times as he thought proper. It didn’t make sense to argue with him. If one of us did, the rebe complained to parents and then the boy got his portion from his father at home for daring to argue with the rebe. Classes started at 7 am. My mother woke me up at 6. It was dark in winter and I begged my mother to let me stay at home, but my mother still made me get up crying from feeling sorry for having to send her 5-year-old boy to school. We stayed in cheder till afternoon, then came home for lunch and went back to school to have classes till evening. I didn’t have time left to play with other boys. My life became even more difficult when I went to a Czech school at the age of 6.
It was a state school for boys and girls from different families. There were Jewish, Ukrainian and Hungarian children at school. Czech children went to a grammar school where their parents paid for their education. There were two of my cousins going to this same school. We had classes in Czech. There were religious classes for Christian children and Jewish children were allowed to miss these classes. Our Christian schoolmates were envious of such privilege that we had. I didn’t get along with Ukrainian boys and often fought with them. I had payes. My mother wanted to cut them shorter, but my father didn’t allow it. Other boys often pulled me by my payes at school. Once they drove me mad and I threw a stone hitting my offender on his head. He started bleeding and the teacher who rushed to the scene called my father to school. When my father heard about the reason of this conflict he said it wasn’t my fault and that he would not make me apologize. The teacher told this boy to apologize and from then on nobody pestered me again.
We had conflicts with Ukrainian boys beyond school as well. The village stood on the Borzhava River. It was a small river with clean water where we bathed in summer. Adults didn’t often come to the river. We baked potatoes in the ashes of a fire that we made on the bank. Sometimes Ukrainian boys captured us. They kept us for a while and one of them used to apply pork fat on our lips.
There was no anti-Semitism at the beginning of the Hungarian rule, but already in 1938 the first anti-Jewish law [7] appeared. According to this law, any enterprise with over 10 employees could employ maximum 20% Jews. [In 1938 the ’First Jewish Law’ was accepted by the Parliament and introduced in Hungary; it restricted the number of Jews in the liberal professions, in the administration, and in commercial and industrial enterprises to 20%.] Next year suppression began. Authorities expropriated Jewish shops, stores and factories. They were either to be transferred to non-Jewish owners or given to the state without compensation. Though my father had a small store and he was the only employee there, he had to give it away. There were rough restrictions for Jews in higher educational institutions. There were work battalions organized: Jews were not recruited to the army. There were also other anti-Jewish laws. In 1939, when anti-Jewish moods grew stronger, my parents decided it would be better for my sister to leave.
I turned 13 in 1940. The rebe began to prepare me for bar mitzvah. I had to prepare a short report on the Torah and learn the 54th article of the torah that each boy had to recite at his bar mitzvah. Besides, the rebe taught me to put the tefillin on my hand and head. The training took three months. I was an industrious pupil for my father to not feel ashamed for me. The bar mitzvah took place at the synagogue on the first Saturday after my birthday. My parents brought treatments. There was a table and some vodka and snacks on it at the synagogue. I had a tallit put on me for the first time in my life at my bar mitzvah and I became of age.
I finished school in 1942. My father decided that I had to learn a profession and I became a shoemaker’s apprentice. My training lasted 3 years. In my first year I made wooden nails for fixing shoes, washed the shoes to be repaired and helped the shoemaker’s wife about the house. She told me to fetch water, cut wood and start the stove. I also had to look after the baby. I helped her to do washing and sweep the floors. My father didn’t pay for my training. I had meals with my master, and came home in the evening. In my 2nd year I began to learn the shoemaker’s business. However, my mother kept insisting that my father took me back home and he gave up finally. He decided that I had to go to yeshivah, a higher Talmudic school. Yeshivas trained rabbis and melameds for cheder schools. There was no yeshivah in the village and I entered one in Munkacs. I lived in a hostel sharing a room with 3 guys. We had free clothing and meals. We studied all day long and did homework in the evening.
Since 1941 the anti-Jewish laws grew stronger. [The Third Jewish Law, introduced in 1941, was based on the Nuremberg laws, and defined the term ’Jew’ on radical racist principles. It placed Hungarian Jewry in a most disadvantageous position in every sphere of political, economic, cultural, and social life.] Jews were recruited to work battalions to do the hardest work. [When Hungary entered WWII in 1941 Jews, together with others considered as political enemy, were recruited to special labor battalions that were not given arms.] Many work battalions were sent to the front line to dig trenches and construct defense facilities. There were hardly any survivors in such battalions. In 1943 Jews were ordered to wear yellow badges on the chest and the back. Shortly afterward they were replaced with yellow stars. It was not allowed to go out without them. Any soldier could shoot a Jews who were not wearing their badges. The Hungarians behaved outrageously. They could chase the Jews out of the synagogue or enter the mikveh and chase people away without letting them to get dressed.
I studied in the yeshivah for a year. It was closed in 1944 and I returned home to Kamyanske. In late 1944 Hungarian gendarmes came to every Jewish house ordering Jews to get packed for the road. They allowed taking 10 kg of luggage, food and clothing, per person. The Jewish gendarmes convoyed us to the station where we boarded railcars for cattle transportation. There were 70 of us in each railcar. We were taken to a ghetto in Beregovo. There were Hungarian gendarmes to meet the train in Beregovo. We were convoyed to the ghetto. Our family was taken to the ghetto in a brick factory formerly owned by Wais, a rich Jewish man. There were my parents and brothers and sisters, except my sister Roza who was with my uncle in Budapest. My grandmother and grandfather Klein, my mother’s parents, were with us. Life conditions in the ghetto were terrible. There were big barracks made from planks with 2-tier wooden beds for the people. There were 2-3 individuals on each bed. Those who didn’t fit in the barracks were accommodated in big tents for soldiers where they had to sleep on the ground. There were no toilets and there was sewage around the barracks. There was a terrible smell. My mother’s father, my grandfather Isroel, died in the ghetto. Unfortunately, we were not allowed to leave the ghetto and my father made arrangements with local villagers and gave them his and my mother’s wedding rings and they took the corpse of my grandfather to Kamyanske where my grandfather’s Ukrainian neighbors buried him. Of course, they didn’t bury him according to the Jewish ritual, but they buried him in the Jewish sector of the cemetery. They showed me his grave when I returned to Kamyanske after WWII. I visit his grave every year.
We stayed 3 weeks in the ghetto and then the Hungarian gendarmes put us on a train taking us across Slovakia to Poland, to the Auschwitz concentration camp. We knew where we were going, but we didn’t know that Auschwitz was an extermination camp. There were talks among people in the train. We were told that they were taking us to work. When the train arrived at Auschwitz we were getting off the train one after another. There were German soldiers and doctors in white robes near each railcar. My mother, my two brothers, my younger sister and grandmother Ghita were taken to the side where there were women with children. My father was told to go to another side and I was told to go with my mother, but I grabbed my father and went with him. The doctor who was sorting people out looked at me and waved his hand letting me go. Later I got to know that my mother, the children and grandmother Ghita were exterminated in a gas chamber on tat same day. They told people they were going to the bathroom, ordered them to undress and gave them soap and towels. They left their things behind and went in to wash. The doors were locked and then let the gas in. There were Jewish inmates working in gas chambers. When they got exhausted they were also exterminated in gas chambers. Those inmates searched people’s clothing for money and jewelry. The doors of gas chambers were opened 10 minutes later to make sure there were no survivors. Then a crew of inmates loaded corpses onto platforms to take them to the crematorium.
My father and I were also taken to the bathroom. While we were washing they took away our clothing and didn’t give us any in return. They kept us naked for 3 days. We already knew that our family had perished. Other inmates told us that Germans exterminated those who couldn’t work immediately. I was lying on a plank bed sobbing. My father couldn’t hold back his tears. We had some thin soup three times a day and no bread.
My father and I were also taken to the bathroom. While we were washing they took away our clothing and didn’t give us any in return. They kept us naked for 3 days. We already knew that our family had perished. Other inmates told us that Germans exterminated those who couldn’t work immediately. I was lying on a plank bed sobbing. My father couldn’t hold back his tears. We had some thin soup three times a day and no bread.