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I've already mentioned that my mother was from a very religious family and my father, on the other hand, wasn't all that religious. He attended synagogue only on Friday evening, or Saturday morning and also during the High Holidays. My older siblings rarely went to synagogue. Mainly, when they were already older and were deciding for themselves, their political orientation influenced them in this respect, as they were leftists. My father took me with him to services up until I was around 13 years old. But I've got to say, that every Friday at home we made kiddush, which is the inauguration of the Sabbath. We would light two candles and Mother would bless the barches. Accordingly, we also celebrated all the other Jewish holidays.
One of the first holidays was Passover, that was the Jewish Easter. We didn't eat bread or anything fermented. We kept the tradition of seder supper in our household. Then there was Shavuot, which was seven weeks after Passover. They were religious holidays, which are analogous with Christian ones. Then there was, there was basically New Year, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Those were holidays that were observed. Besides this, there were also two holidays that didn't have to be observed, which were Chanukkah - in memory of the Jews' battle against tyranny [the Maccabee rebellion against religious persecution initiated by Hellenized Syrians during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanus (2nd cent. BC)] and Purim, in remembrance of how Queen Ester saved Jews in the Persian Empire from the evil Haman. But those were only these halfway holidays, which didn't have any special ritual character. So that's what we observed. But as far as kosher food goes, we children had no compunction in buying ham or pork cracklings.
One of the first holidays was Passover, that was the Jewish Easter. We didn't eat bread or anything fermented. We kept the tradition of seder supper in our household. Then there was Shavuot, which was seven weeks after Passover. They were religious holidays, which are analogous with Christian ones. Then there was, there was basically New Year, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and Sukkot. Those were holidays that were observed. Besides this, there were also two holidays that didn't have to be observed, which were Chanukkah - in memory of the Jews' battle against tyranny [the Maccabee rebellion against religious persecution initiated by Hellenized Syrians during the reign of Antiochus IV Epiphanus (2nd cent. BC)] and Purim, in remembrance of how Queen Ester saved Jews in the Persian Empire from the evil Haman. But those were only these halfway holidays, which didn't have any special ritual character. So that's what we observed. But as far as kosher food goes, we children had no compunction in buying ham or pork cracklings.
Location
Slovakia
Interview
Alexander Bachnar