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On holidays we sometimes convened with the family of my good friend, Viska Lazarova, and the mother of another friend and neighbor of mine who lived in the apartment house next door, Eti Rahamimova, used to make wonderful pastel – pasty with beef – and she would invite us.
For Yom Kippur, the house was cleaned, the fasting called taanit, started in the evening. We usually went to grandpa Isak, for a last meal so to say, at about 6 o’clock so that the fasting could start afterwards. It started in the evening and continued throughout the following day and then in the evening, after the visit to the synagogue, we could eat something. During the day we would smell a quince with cloves stuck into it so as not to faint because it was usually hot at [Yom] Kippur even though it was in September.
The first thing we had to put into our mouths after the fasting was bread dipped in oil so that it could easily slide into the organism. After that came the traditional hen with rice. There was a tradition to make kapora [Kapora is an old tradition, which required a rooster to be spun above the man’s head and a hen or pullet above the girl’s or woman’s head, a prayer was read, the idea being to transfer all the sins from the man to the animal after which it should be slaughtered. A new type of kapora nowadays is to give money with the same purpose in the synagogue. It is then distributed among the poor.] for [Yom] Kippur using a white pullet which had been bought in advance and kept in the house for some time. Before taking it to the synagogue to be slaughtered, my grandpa Isak would spin it above my head. The slaughtering of the animal was a torture for me because I usually got attached to the animal while it was at home. Usually it was my mother, who took the chickens to the synagogue, but once she was busy and I was sent to take two chickens to the synagogue. They were in granny’s garden. I dropped them because I was afraid and they started running. It was good that a man helped me to catch them. And I took them to the synagogue with grief in my heart. There was a special place for the sacrifice and a special shochet – a person who slaughters the animal in the most painless possible way. After the animal was slaughtered it was left so that the blood could flow out of it because the meat had to be cleansed of it.
For Yom Kippur, the house was cleaned, the fasting called taanit, started in the evening. We usually went to grandpa Isak, for a last meal so to say, at about 6 o’clock so that the fasting could start afterwards. It started in the evening and continued throughout the following day and then in the evening, after the visit to the synagogue, we could eat something. During the day we would smell a quince with cloves stuck into it so as not to faint because it was usually hot at [Yom] Kippur even though it was in September.
The first thing we had to put into our mouths after the fasting was bread dipped in oil so that it could easily slide into the organism. After that came the traditional hen with rice. There was a tradition to make kapora [Kapora is an old tradition, which required a rooster to be spun above the man’s head and a hen or pullet above the girl’s or woman’s head, a prayer was read, the idea being to transfer all the sins from the man to the animal after which it should be slaughtered. A new type of kapora nowadays is to give money with the same purpose in the synagogue. It is then distributed among the poor.] for [Yom] Kippur using a white pullet which had been bought in advance and kept in the house for some time. Before taking it to the synagogue to be slaughtered, my grandpa Isak would spin it above my head. The slaughtering of the animal was a torture for me because I usually got attached to the animal while it was at home. Usually it was my mother, who took the chickens to the synagogue, but once she was busy and I was sent to take two chickens to the synagogue. They were in granny’s garden. I dropped them because I was afraid and they started running. It was good that a man helped me to catch them. And I took them to the synagogue with grief in my heart. There was a special place for the sacrifice and a special shochet – a person who slaughters the animal in the most painless possible way. After the animal was slaughtered it was left so that the blood could flow out of it because the meat had to be cleansed of it.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Reyna Lidgi