Tag #123027 - Interview #90376 (Lazar Abuaf)

In winter we took our baths in our room that was heated by a large brazier made of copper.  We took our baths especially on the Sabbath day, that day we would remove the rug of our livingroom to a corner, my mother would bathe us first since we were little, then my older sisters would bathe, and herself last.  This was the system: We would carry the water that we heated up in large pots in the kitchen to the pan we had in our livingroom and cooled it down with the addition of a little cold water, (we would either sit in this pan or stand up), the rest of the cooled water we would keep in another pan next to us, as we soaped down, we would use a cup to rinse ourselves with this water, after the supplies were gathered, the floor would be dried and the rug replaced.  My mother would finish the housework with the help of my older sisters, prepare the food for the Sabbath, set the table and light our Sabbath candles.  Then we would be ready to greet the Sabbath and we would wait for the hour of my father’s return from work (even though he was very religious, after he opened the winestore, he could only get home at 8:30).  We would pull the table to one corner so my father could bathe, remove the rug again, pour the hot water in the pan, of course because it was the only warm room in the house, we would be in the room too.  We would chat while my father bathed in his underwear, when he said to us “Ari ari arsh”, we would turn our backs to him, in this way he would finish his bath, put his towel around himself and dry up, we would wait until he dressed up in a corner and said “Ari ari arsh” to us and us boys would put the rug, table and chairs back to their places, and my older sisters would bring our food.  Of course it saddened my father a lot to greet the Sabbath late like this, what a pity that he could not manage otherwise, he could not close up his store earlier, he had developed a certain clientele and he had to respond to them.  Because my father missed the prayer in the synagogue being late from work, he would recite the evening service after he finished his bath, we would listen to him, following him taking his seat at the head of the table, we would recite the Kiddush, and eat our meal.  When my father had only one hardware store, everything was more in order, for example on Fridays we would take our baths, wear our clean beautiful clothes and go to the synagogue with my father, on our return, my mother would have prepared our table, we would bless the Sabbath with songs and eat our meal.  On Sabbath evenings, before we went to bed, we would call in any neighbor passing by who was not Jewish and ask him to turn off our lights.

On Saturday mornings, we would wear our clean, beautiful clothes again and go to the synagogue with my father.  Leaving the synagogue, my father would invite his closest friends home, and we would eat our meal all together.  My mother would have prepared things like borekitas [similar to empanadas, crescents of cheese or eggplant filled dough], boyikos [baked round cheese pastries], bulemikas [curled phyllo dough pastries filled with cheese and vegetables], there was no need to warm them up, we would not light a fire that day anyway.  After the breakfast, accompanying people who played the lute (because all my family had beautiful voices and because they knew how to enjoy life) we would sing either religious Hebrew songs or songs from Turkish Art music.