Tag #120750 - Interview #100343 (Meer Kuyavskis)

Brother and I liked Jewish holidays very much. First of all, the workshop was closed and our apartment was to ourselves. I loved Pesach most of all. First of all, long before the holiday, it could foretaste it, being in festive spirits. The apartment was thoroughly cleaned- windows were washed, curtains, tulles, tablecloths were laundered. We had a very beautiful table dishes and silverware. Pots and pans were koshered – the fire was made right in the middle of the yard, where all those utensils were placed in a huge pig iron pot. Father bought a bottle of kosher wine for the holiday. Probably it was our annual doze of alcohol as on other occasions we did not drink. Matzah was brought from the synagogue in a big hamper covered with white cloth. During the first evening of the holiday father carried out Pascal sedder, reclining on the pillows. Afikoman was hidden under it. We pretended that we could hardly find it. Father made it so that Benjamin found it as he was younger than me and in general he everybody’s favorite. Benjamin also asked four traditional questions regarding the holiday. At the end of sedder father left a glass of wine for prophet Iliah. Mother flung the door open and father prayed for the prophet to come. He tried to rock the table stealthily. The wine spit and father gladly said: «Well, Ilia came in our house!». Then he turned to mother and said: «You can close the door now!». We started feeling perturbed saying that we had not seen the prophet, but father used to say that we should have looked better. At night we all went to bed, and elder brothers tied to outsmart each other to drink the wine meant for Iliah. The fete did not end with the first sedder. It lasted for the whole week. All that time we used to stroll in the yard, only coming home to eat. Mother fried matzah, made pancakes from it, baked all kinds of pastries. It was a real treat for us. As a rule, we went to the grandfather for the second sedder. During the week we also came to see mother’s brothers. At times they visited us.