Tag #127324 - Interview #97610 (Jak Rutli)

I would go to the Ashkenazi synagogue in Yüksek Kaldirim when I was little.  I used to go to Heyder (after school Hebrew classes) for two years, after school.  They would give classes to prepare for bar-mitzvah every day in Yüksek Kaldirim.  There was the rabbi Segal, there was Rav Shapira.  Usually Yiddish was spoken, the reading was in Hebrew.  We translated the Hebrew we read to Yiddish.  When my father died, I went to temple every morning for 11 months.  Kaddish is very important for us.  When my father died, it wasn’t like it is now, a rug used to be placed on the floor and we would sit on the floor for 7 days, that is how it needed to be done for mourning.  I was working then, there was a boss, Hamburger, he was Ashkenazi too, he was on a trip.  I was alone in the office, I would sit on the floor.  But 2-3 days later, I had to go and see if there was mail or telegraphs, so they put ashes but thin ashes into my shoes so I could not walk comfortably, I had to be sitting for seven days.