Selected text
We sang many Jewish songs. I had a wonderful voice and my father enjoyed singing with me. There were special songs for each holiday. Here is a song for Sukkot:
[sings in Yiddish, it sounds like she doesn’t remember the words]
‘Sukkot holiday is when Jews make a hut from planks that they cover with dry sticks (sunflower) and there is a Jewish man sitting inside and singing. Then he says that it is such a decrepit hut that it can be blown down by wind, but since he is a Jew he will keep sitting there and singing’.
By the way, we didn’t have a special sukkah made in the yard. We used a special fore room with lifting roof where we had meals on this holiday. There was also a special table where we had meals only on this holiday.
There was another song that we sang:
[sings in Yiddish]
‘It rains, but then it stops raining, but there is water flowing from roofs; I’ve made a boat and let it sail. All of a sudden the wind carried it away. My little boat, where did you fly? To warm countries where birds sing and flowers bloom. Little boat, take me with you, please! Please take me with you!’
Those were joyful holidays when many people came to the house: all children and their friends. They sang and danced. It was a lot of joy to have a big family at that time. All children were treated with love. We celebrated all nights through Pesach singing songs and drinking wine. At midnight my mother opened the door and every newcomer got some wine. This was a custom.
My father composed a song at Purim. He came from the synagogue, greeted my mother with the holiday and sang:
‘Agit jontov faj man dir mider megile ih vur dijunsef agite pecire. Non shtende droufon bin der flash. Ejn gibt far bar na Gymentash’
‘You shall not get off like this: put a bottle of vodka on the table and give me hamentashen for a snack’.
[sings in Yiddish, it sounds like she doesn’t remember the words]
‘Sukkot holiday is when Jews make a hut from planks that they cover with dry sticks (sunflower) and there is a Jewish man sitting inside and singing. Then he says that it is such a decrepit hut that it can be blown down by wind, but since he is a Jew he will keep sitting there and singing’.
By the way, we didn’t have a special sukkah made in the yard. We used a special fore room with lifting roof where we had meals on this holiday. There was also a special table where we had meals only on this holiday.
There was another song that we sang:
[sings in Yiddish]
‘It rains, but then it stops raining, but there is water flowing from roofs; I’ve made a boat and let it sail. All of a sudden the wind carried it away. My little boat, where did you fly? To warm countries where birds sing and flowers bloom. Little boat, take me with you, please! Please take me with you!’
Those were joyful holidays when many people came to the house: all children and their friends. They sang and danced. It was a lot of joy to have a big family at that time. All children were treated with love. We celebrated all nights through Pesach singing songs and drinking wine. At midnight my mother opened the door and every newcomer got some wine. This was a custom.
My father composed a song at Purim. He came from the synagogue, greeted my mother with the holiday and sang:
‘Agit jontov faj man dir mider megile ih vur dijunsef agite pecire. Non shtende droufon bin der flash. Ejn gibt far bar na Gymentash’
‘You shall not get off like this: put a bottle of vodka on the table and give me hamentashen for a snack’.
Period
Location
Smela
Cherkaska oblast
Ukraine
Interview
Sarra Nikiforenko