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He was religious, kept the holidays, but he could create a lively atmosphere around himself.
My Neufeld grandfather, when he had dinner at our house in Kolozsvar on Fridays, there was a small prayer which he said in a monotonous voice in Hebrew and then everybody sat down for dinner. This was quite different in Ilonda, where my uncle used to sing. He was a good-looking, pleasant man and had a beautiful baritone voice. He was singing the prayer and we, the children, had to sing with him and he used to say, 'You are singing false, better keep quiet.' He was a lively, bohemian person. He cared about the children.
At Tabernacles, when the nuts were ripe and the children were playing with them, he joined us. The game went like this: the nuts were lined up and from a given distance, one had to aim at the line with a rounder, bigger, less wrinkled nut and gain as many nuts as one could knock out of the line. It was quite normal for Uncle Naci to have three or four children around his neck. His eighteen siblings had thirty-six children and out of those ten or fifteen were always in Ilonda on holidays.
On Saturdays, when Sabbath was coming to an end we, the children, watched the sky and the one who saw the first three stars rushed into the house. There were small rows: 'It wasn't you, but I who saw them first!' we would argue, but those weren't serious rows. My uncle created a great atmosphere among the children, pacified them and at the end they got candies or chocolate.
When the children announced that the three stars appeared there was always a small ceremony. They lit a flat, colored and plated candle, my uncle sang a prayer and holding the lit candle, he walked, singing, in a serpentine route around the house with the children lined up behind him. Even then he made it fun, for instance he would turn around and bump the line or as he was walking he would cut across the line.
My Neufeld grandfather, when he had dinner at our house in Kolozsvar on Fridays, there was a small prayer which he said in a monotonous voice in Hebrew and then everybody sat down for dinner. This was quite different in Ilonda, where my uncle used to sing. He was a good-looking, pleasant man and had a beautiful baritone voice. He was singing the prayer and we, the children, had to sing with him and he used to say, 'You are singing false, better keep quiet.' He was a lively, bohemian person. He cared about the children.
At Tabernacles, when the nuts were ripe and the children were playing with them, he joined us. The game went like this: the nuts were lined up and from a given distance, one had to aim at the line with a rounder, bigger, less wrinkled nut and gain as many nuts as one could knock out of the line. It was quite normal for Uncle Naci to have three or four children around his neck. His eighteen siblings had thirty-six children and out of those ten or fifteen were always in Ilonda on holidays.
On Saturdays, when Sabbath was coming to an end we, the children, watched the sky and the one who saw the first three stars rushed into the house. There were small rows: 'It wasn't you, but I who saw them first!' we would argue, but those weren't serious rows. My uncle created a great atmosphere among the children, pacified them and at the end they got candies or chocolate.
When the children announced that the three stars appeared there was always a small ceremony. They lit a flat, colored and plated candle, my uncle sang a prayer and holding the lit candle, he walked, singing, in a serpentine route around the house with the children lined up behind him. Even then he made it fun, for instance he would turn around and bump the line or as he was walking he would cut across the line.
Period
Location
Ileanda
Romania
Interview
Gyorgy Neufeld