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I went to yeshiva after middle school. Mainly my father wanted it, but my mother agreed with him. I had already taken part in the Talmud Torahs (advanced religious Jewish primary school), where there was yeshiva preparation. Soltvadkert was next to us, and the yeshiva where I studied for the first year was there. There was a Rabbi in Soltvadkert who dealt with the bochers. There were 20-25 of us. We learned about two big books of the Talmud, one was the Beytza (Egg). The second book was, interestingly enough, the Nida (Menstruation). We took about one zman (semester) to learn one of those books. I learned them by heart. I had a very good intellect.
I didn’t have to rent a room in Soltvadkert, because my uncle lived there, my father’s brother, and I lived with my cousins. It was fairly far from the yeshiva. Antisemitism was already there, there were fights; they’d wait for us after lessons and throw rocks at us, and things like that. The bochers didn’t wear kaftans (robes), but were dressed normally. I was 14-15 when I went there. I wore a shimish cap, and my payot were usually put up behind my ears so they wouldn’t be obvious.
But I didn’t eat every day at the cousins’ house, just on certain days. Friday and Saturday were their days. We took care of our own dinners. We had money, our parents gave it to us. We would go to the grocery and buy margarine or something there was no doubt about from the kosher point of view. We didn’t shop in kosher shops, but in the grocery. Every sort of thing that we could prepare was there.
I did two zmanim in Soltvadkert and afterwards two zmanim in Paks. My brother was there with me. It was his first year in the yeshiva. We lived together in a rented room in Paks. There were people there who rented rooms to bochers. Imre had only two zman in the yeshiva, in Paks. Afterwards he went to a Jewish gardener in Kiskoros and learned gardening.
After Paks I spent two zmanim in Mako. We had a little storm-lamp, and we would divide up the days. Each one of us had a day when we had to go through the town in the morning, at dawn, summer and winter, and wake everyone up. We’d go wherever there were bochers. We would sing a special song two or three times. The bochers would get up and go to the mikva and dip into the cold water, and the lessons would start in the beys medresh (study house). We had breakfast after an hour and a half, or two, and then continue studies until noon. Then we’d go “eat days,” and then study more, and that’s how it went until evening.
The yeshiva had a Shas, all the 36 volumes of the Talmud, which we could study. There were also summaries everybody could use. Everybody had to tackle the same topic. We could study alone or in groups.
There were chazer bochers who were more educated and had been studying in yeshiva for longer. Naturally they handled the youngest. Later everyone became independent and took care of his own business. In Mako there were also Rosh yeshivas, head students who controlled the others, helped them if they had a problem and also acted as judges in internal disputes among students. After the second zman I was made a Rosh yeshiva. We made sure that everything happened as it should, if it turned out that they had to hold a court session. We had no diplomas that we were Rosh yeshivas, but the others would go to us if they had problems or disputes, for us to solve.
I like to recall the Mako yeshiva the best. Somehow because of its religious content, it taught its students at a far higher level than the rest. Paks wasn’t at such a high religious level as Mako. Mako was a lot more religious. There were two communities there, and a Neolog (Conservative) community too. My relatives were among the more religious, though one was a baker, and the other an onion-dealer. The Mako relatives were from my mother’s side.
I didn’t have to rent a room in Soltvadkert, because my uncle lived there, my father’s brother, and I lived with my cousins. It was fairly far from the yeshiva. Antisemitism was already there, there were fights; they’d wait for us after lessons and throw rocks at us, and things like that. The bochers didn’t wear kaftans (robes), but were dressed normally. I was 14-15 when I went there. I wore a shimish cap, and my payot were usually put up behind my ears so they wouldn’t be obvious.
But I didn’t eat every day at the cousins’ house, just on certain days. Friday and Saturday were their days. We took care of our own dinners. We had money, our parents gave it to us. We would go to the grocery and buy margarine or something there was no doubt about from the kosher point of view. We didn’t shop in kosher shops, but in the grocery. Every sort of thing that we could prepare was there.
I did two zmanim in Soltvadkert and afterwards two zmanim in Paks. My brother was there with me. It was his first year in the yeshiva. We lived together in a rented room in Paks. There were people there who rented rooms to bochers. Imre had only two zman in the yeshiva, in Paks. Afterwards he went to a Jewish gardener in Kiskoros and learned gardening.
After Paks I spent two zmanim in Mako. We had a little storm-lamp, and we would divide up the days. Each one of us had a day when we had to go through the town in the morning, at dawn, summer and winter, and wake everyone up. We’d go wherever there were bochers. We would sing a special song two or three times. The bochers would get up and go to the mikva and dip into the cold water, and the lessons would start in the beys medresh (study house). We had breakfast after an hour and a half, or two, and then continue studies until noon. Then we’d go “eat days,” and then study more, and that’s how it went until evening.
The yeshiva had a Shas, all the 36 volumes of the Talmud, which we could study. There were also summaries everybody could use. Everybody had to tackle the same topic. We could study alone or in groups.
There were chazer bochers who were more educated and had been studying in yeshiva for longer. Naturally they handled the youngest. Later everyone became independent and took care of his own business. In Mako there were also Rosh yeshivas, head students who controlled the others, helped them if they had a problem and also acted as judges in internal disputes among students. After the second zman I was made a Rosh yeshiva. We made sure that everything happened as it should, if it turned out that they had to hold a court session. We had no diplomas that we were Rosh yeshivas, but the others would go to us if they had problems or disputes, for us to solve.
I like to recall the Mako yeshiva the best. Somehow because of its religious content, it taught its students at a far higher level than the rest. Paks wasn’t at such a high religious level as Mako. Mako was a lot more religious. There were two communities there, and a Neolog (Conservative) community too. My relatives were among the more religious, though one was a baker, and the other an onion-dealer. The Mako relatives were from my mother’s side.
Period
Location
Hungary
Interview
Jozsef Faludi
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