Tag #152768 - Interview #101503 (Vladimir Khalfin)

My grandfather’s family was religious. Every day, my grandfather went to pray to the only synagogue in the neighborhood. Grandmother joined him on Jewish holidays and Sabbath. My grandparents observed all Jewish traditions. Grandmother followed the kashrut strictly. She had specific dishes and utensils for dairy and meat products. She even washed her kitchenware with separate cloth. There was no bakery in Luchenets and my grandmother baked bread for a week and made hala bread for Sabbath. The only place to buy matzah for Pesach was in Kopaygorod, in about 30 km from Luchenets. My grandmother and other Jewish women got together in my grandmother’s kitchen to make matzah for all families. It took them quite a while since Jewish families were traditionally big and they needed a lot of matzah. Each family needed at least 16 kg matzah since it wasn’t allowed to eat bread or have any at home at Pesach. Grandmother had boards for rolling out dough, rolling pins and bowls for making dough. There was also a special wheel for making holes in matzah. Women worked in a team: one group sieved flour, another group mixed it with water in strict proportion, some kneaded dough and others rolled out dough. This process had to be very prompt since dough couldn’t be exposed to air for long. All families had big white linen bags used specifically for matzah. Grandfather conducted Seder at Pesach. My father posed traditional questions, but he didn’t tell me any details about the Seder night. All sons had bar mitzvah ritual when they turned 13.