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I went to school in Kiskoros, where there was a Jewish school. The boys and girls went together. There were only two classes, younger kids in one and older kids in the other. My sisters went to middle school, like us boys. They finished the four grades, and then they learned the trade from our mother, helping her. In their free time they went to a Jewish house where young people would get together and do cultural things, and play sports.
Kiskoros was an Orthodox community. We all had payot (sidelocks), that we stuck behind our ears. Later, when we got into the yeshiva, we wore our payot out. I was a clever kid, I never did what you’d call homework. What I knew was what they’d explain to us in class. Regular school was something new for us, because we learned with entirely different methods, and completely different things than in the cheder(Jewish religious primary school).
We had school lessons in the morning, and then we stayed until 6 in the evening with the melamed (Jewish religious primary school teacher), who taught us our alefbeys (Hebrew ABC), and the Torah, and we learned the Rashi commentaries too. The cheder was a separate place next to the so-called little synagogue, and only boys went. We went to the melamed when we were 3 years old. At first we learned to read, but we didn’t know what the words meant. Then when we started learning the Torah, we translated it into Yiddish.
I met with Yiddish for the first time in the cheder. We didn’t speak Yiddish at home, we spoke Hungarian. Families usually spoke Hungarian, but if a problem connected with religion came up, they’d talk about it in Yiddish. Especially those who had studied more, they would even write letters in Yiddish. I could do that. So the kids didn’t really understand the language that the melamed taught, only if he also explained in Hungarian what he had said.
In the cheder you couldn’t not study because it was strict, it was quiet during the lessons, and the way he presented the lesson was interesting. Even little three-year-old kids couldn’t stand up or talk, they had to have control. And they did. It was such a natural thing that we were happy to do it. Everybody could hardly wait to get there before they were three years old. That’s the sort of reputation that cheder had, and that you had to study, it’s everybody’s responsibility. And kids were happy to go there because he sang the Torah especially musically. I was really interested in what we studied, and I learned it well.
Kiskoros was an Orthodox community. We all had payot (sidelocks), that we stuck behind our ears. Later, when we got into the yeshiva, we wore our payot out. I was a clever kid, I never did what you’d call homework. What I knew was what they’d explain to us in class. Regular school was something new for us, because we learned with entirely different methods, and completely different things than in the cheder(Jewish religious primary school).
We had school lessons in the morning, and then we stayed until 6 in the evening with the melamed (Jewish religious primary school teacher), who taught us our alefbeys (Hebrew ABC), and the Torah, and we learned the Rashi commentaries too. The cheder was a separate place next to the so-called little synagogue, and only boys went. We went to the melamed when we were 3 years old. At first we learned to read, but we didn’t know what the words meant. Then when we started learning the Torah, we translated it into Yiddish.
I met with Yiddish for the first time in the cheder. We didn’t speak Yiddish at home, we spoke Hungarian. Families usually spoke Hungarian, but if a problem connected with religion came up, they’d talk about it in Yiddish. Especially those who had studied more, they would even write letters in Yiddish. I could do that. So the kids didn’t really understand the language that the melamed taught, only if he also explained in Hungarian what he had said.
In the cheder you couldn’t not study because it was strict, it was quiet during the lessons, and the way he presented the lesson was interesting. Even little three-year-old kids couldn’t stand up or talk, they had to have control. And they did. It was such a natural thing that we were happy to do it. Everybody could hardly wait to get there before they were three years old. That’s the sort of reputation that cheder had, and that you had to study, it’s everybody’s responsibility. And kids were happy to go there because he sang the Torah especially musically. I was really interested in what we studied, and I learned it well.
Period
Location
Kiskoros
Hungary
Interview
Jozsef Faludi
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