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During the summer months poor people in Subcarpathian Ruthenia [16] used to go on "yarche". They didn't call it begging, but yarche. They were so-called schnorrers [Schnorrer: a beggar, the Yiddish term schnoder means "to contribute" – Editor's note]. Mostly young people.
They used to walk around. They'd only stop there where they knew Jews lived. Older people were embarrassed, the younger ones simply came and asked if we didn't have money and something to eat. The older ones that used to come were from Poland too, and once we even had someone from Romania.
They always had a letter of reference from the rabbi of the town they were from that they had to arrange their daughter's wedding, that they'd lost their job, or had someone ill who needed an operation So that was charity.
Practically the first place they went after they got off the train was to the rabbi. He'd tell them that begging was forbidden in the town. My father had one community member who he'd charged with collecting money for the schnorrers.
His name was Mr. Schonfeld. He was an older man. He'd go from one family to another and collect money. In the meantime they'd sit at our place and got fed. Every day my mother would buy, and I'd carry home, as long as I was at home, eight liters of milk.
Twice each week, we baked three huge loaves of bread at Lichtenstein the baker's. I used to take them to the baker's on a wheelbarrow in this basket. That's all we had at home, which means that she couldn't feed them that much.
They got a huge piece of bread and white coffee. The white coffee wasn't even normal coffee, just a some roasted rye and milk. Two spoons of real ground coffee would be added to a liter of milk.
We prayed only at home and at the synagogue. It never happened that we'd pray on the train, for example. Once, when I was still a little boy, we went to visit someone in Spisske Podhradie. The way used to be through Magura [Spisska Magura is a spread-out sedimentary mountain range of the Outer Western Carpathian Mountains.
Spisska Magura used to be a lumbering and sheepherding region – Editor's note]. You used to go through a forest. Each coachman had a weapon hidden under his seat, because robberies still took place there. We set out on the trip early in the morning. On the way we stopped. My father got off the coach, went off to the side, put on his tefillin [tefillin: prayer straps – Editor's note] and prayed.
They used to walk around. They'd only stop there where they knew Jews lived. Older people were embarrassed, the younger ones simply came and asked if we didn't have money and something to eat. The older ones that used to come were from Poland too, and once we even had someone from Romania.
They always had a letter of reference from the rabbi of the town they were from that they had to arrange their daughter's wedding, that they'd lost their job, or had someone ill who needed an operation So that was charity.
Practically the first place they went after they got off the train was to the rabbi. He'd tell them that begging was forbidden in the town. My father had one community member who he'd charged with collecting money for the schnorrers.
His name was Mr. Schonfeld. He was an older man. He'd go from one family to another and collect money. In the meantime they'd sit at our place and got fed. Every day my mother would buy, and I'd carry home, as long as I was at home, eight liters of milk.
Twice each week, we baked three huge loaves of bread at Lichtenstein the baker's. I used to take them to the baker's on a wheelbarrow in this basket. That's all we had at home, which means that she couldn't feed them that much.
They got a huge piece of bread and white coffee. The white coffee wasn't even normal coffee, just a some roasted rye and milk. Two spoons of real ground coffee would be added to a liter of milk.
We prayed only at home and at the synagogue. It never happened that we'd pray on the train, for example. Once, when I was still a little boy, we went to visit someone in Spisske Podhradie. The way used to be through Magura [Spisska Magura is a spread-out sedimentary mountain range of the Outer Western Carpathian Mountains.
Spisska Magura used to be a lumbering and sheepherding region – Editor's note]. You used to go through a forest. Each coachman had a weapon hidden under his seat, because robberies still took place there. We set out on the trip early in the morning. On the way we stopped. My father got off the coach, went off to the side, put on his tefillin [tefillin: prayer straps – Editor's note] and prayed.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Singer Alexander