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My father was religious, but my mother was not. She observed Jewish traditions, but she did it to please her parents rather then following her own convictions. On Fridays my mother prepared for the Sabbath. She baked two challah loaves: one for Friday and another one for Saturday. On Saturday it was not allowed to stoke a stove or light kerosene lamps. A Christian neighbor came to our houses to do this work for us. Our mother cooked for two days on Friday. She left food for Saturday in the oven. On Friday morning one of the children took a chicken to the shochet to have it slaughtered. Mother made chicken broth with noodles, strudels and carrot tsimes [Stew, usually made of carrots, parsnips or plums and eaten with potatoes]. In autumn when fish was inexpensive she bought fish from farmers to make Gefilte Fish. On Friday evening when our father came home from work we all prayed and our mother lit candles. Then we prayed again saying greetings to Saturday and sat down for dinner. We only had chicken and other delicacies at Sabbath and on holidays. Or father worked on Saturday morning. Saturday was a working day in the USSR and it was mandatory to come to work or he might have been fired for missing work. However, after work he put on his black suit to go to the synagogue. He had a tallit and tefillin. Our mother didn’t go to synagogue. It was a small one-storied synagogue where women didn’t go.
We celebrated Pesach at home. Preparations started long before the holiday. Mother made a general clean up and thoroughly washed and cleaned the kitchen. Then she started making matzah. Few other Jewish women came to our house to make matzah. They made dough and rolled it. They had to knead dough promptly. Maximum 18 minutes from the time water was added to flour to the moment of putting dough into the oven was allowed for dough. Beyond this time this dough could not be used for making matzah. It was supposed to be rolled out only on one side. My sisters and I were always eager to do this work. I was allowed to do it once. I rolled out the dough and turned it over. Somebody noticed it and I was told to leave the kitchen: the dough was not to be turned over, it was against the rules. I didn’t know all rules, but if one of them was broken it could make the dough non-kosher. Our mother had a special ring to make little holes in the dough. Then the dough could be put in the oven. It always took several days to make matzah. Every family needed a lot of matzah since it was not allowed to eat bread through 8 days of the holiday. When matzah was ready we took fancy crockery from the attic. We also walked the house with a goose feather looking for breadcrumbs and if we found any we swept them onto a sheet to burn them in the oven. Our mother made a lot of food at Pesach. My sisters and I always looked forward to this holiday. It was a rare opportunity to eat delicious and sufficient. Our mother ordered us to crash matzah in a mortar. This flour was sieved to be used for cooking. Mother made strudels and honey cakes from it. She made dumplings for chicken broth from bigger pieces of the matzah leftover. Mother cooked with goose fat at Pesach. Mother also stuffed chicken neck with flour, onions and chicken liver. It was very delicious. Our mother also made gefilte fish, puddings and goose stew.
Our father conducted seder when the first star arose in the sky on the first day of Pesach. Our father was sitting at the head of the table with his tallit and tefillin on. Since there were no boys I posed four traditional questions to our father. I didn’t know Hebrew, but I learned these questions by heart and my father explained their meaning to me. Then our father recited a prayer and we waited impatiently until he finished. We couldn’t wait to start eating. Adults drank four glasses of wine. Children had water with few drops of wine in our glasses.
We celebrated Pesach at home. Preparations started long before the holiday. Mother made a general clean up and thoroughly washed and cleaned the kitchen. Then she started making matzah. Few other Jewish women came to our house to make matzah. They made dough and rolled it. They had to knead dough promptly. Maximum 18 minutes from the time water was added to flour to the moment of putting dough into the oven was allowed for dough. Beyond this time this dough could not be used for making matzah. It was supposed to be rolled out only on one side. My sisters and I were always eager to do this work. I was allowed to do it once. I rolled out the dough and turned it over. Somebody noticed it and I was told to leave the kitchen: the dough was not to be turned over, it was against the rules. I didn’t know all rules, but if one of them was broken it could make the dough non-kosher. Our mother had a special ring to make little holes in the dough. Then the dough could be put in the oven. It always took several days to make matzah. Every family needed a lot of matzah since it was not allowed to eat bread through 8 days of the holiday. When matzah was ready we took fancy crockery from the attic. We also walked the house with a goose feather looking for breadcrumbs and if we found any we swept them onto a sheet to burn them in the oven. Our mother made a lot of food at Pesach. My sisters and I always looked forward to this holiday. It was a rare opportunity to eat delicious and sufficient. Our mother ordered us to crash matzah in a mortar. This flour was sieved to be used for cooking. Mother made strudels and honey cakes from it. She made dumplings for chicken broth from bigger pieces of the matzah leftover. Mother cooked with goose fat at Pesach. Mother also stuffed chicken neck with flour, onions and chicken liver. It was very delicious. Our mother also made gefilte fish, puddings and goose stew.
Our father conducted seder when the first star arose in the sky on the first day of Pesach. Our father was sitting at the head of the table with his tallit and tefillin on. Since there were no boys I posed four traditional questions to our father. I didn’t know Hebrew, but I learned these questions by heart and my father explained their meaning to me. Then our father recited a prayer and we waited impatiently until he finished. We couldn’t wait to start eating. Adults drank four glasses of wine. Children had water with few drops of wine in our glasses.
Location
Ukraine
Interview
Evgenia Gendler
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