Tag #133646 - Interview #100685 (Jozsef Farkas)

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.