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Everybody fasted on Yom Kippur, even my parents, despite not being religious. I don’t remember us, the children, fasting. Another thing that impressed me was that there were days during the week when there was no cooked food, but on Friday night, on Sabbath, there were at least three cooked dishes. The holiday atmosphere could be felt. My father didn’t read prayers, because he didn’t know Hebrew, but we sang many songs in Ladino, which I still remember. My grandmother was the one who was most strict about observing traditions. She was very religious.
We had a very nice and big synagogue in Dupnitsa. The women stayed on the balcony. It wasn’t very high up. We had a shomer – Jacques Haim. He was loved by everyone. The Jews kept kosher. There were three or four Jewish butchers, including my father’s brother Aron. First the shomer went to see the meat and placed stamps on the kosher ones. For example, the beef rounds were not considered kosher and were not eaten. I don’t know if it was allowed to eat beef legs, but my parents did. Only my grandmother didn’t. So we bought the meat from Jews. Everything else we bought from other merchants in the town. There was no Jewish baker.
When we were children, one or two weeks before Purim, we gathered in groups and prepared a special program to perform in front of people when we visited them in their houses. We carried the Keren Kayemet [5] money box and for each song or act we performed they gave us money. There were three to five such groups in Dupnitsa and we entertained the people. We all wore masks. For Purim we always made various sweets, roskitas de alhashuv, filled with walnuts, sugar and something else, I don’t know what.
I vaguely remember celebrating Sukkot. I remember that we made a sukkah in the yard and in the yard of the synagogue, but I think that we observed this ritual only when we were young. We covered the shed with leaves and there was a table inside.
We had a very nice and big synagogue in Dupnitsa. The women stayed on the balcony. It wasn’t very high up. We had a shomer – Jacques Haim. He was loved by everyone. The Jews kept kosher. There were three or four Jewish butchers, including my father’s brother Aron. First the shomer went to see the meat and placed stamps on the kosher ones. For example, the beef rounds were not considered kosher and were not eaten. I don’t know if it was allowed to eat beef legs, but my parents did. Only my grandmother didn’t. So we bought the meat from Jews. Everything else we bought from other merchants in the town. There was no Jewish baker.
When we were children, one or two weeks before Purim, we gathered in groups and prepared a special program to perform in front of people when we visited them in their houses. We carried the Keren Kayemet [5] money box and for each song or act we performed they gave us money. There were three to five such groups in Dupnitsa and we entertained the people. We all wore masks. For Purim we always made various sweets, roskitas de alhashuv, filled with walnuts, sugar and something else, I don’t know what.
I vaguely remember celebrating Sukkot. I remember that we made a sukkah in the yard and in the yard of the synagogue, but I think that we observed this ritual only when we were young. We covered the shed with leaves and there was a table inside.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Leon Mordohay Madzhar