Tag #153016 - Interview #78263 (Michael Kotliar)

My mother had special fancy dishes for Pesach that she kept in a box during the year. She also bought a live chicken that she took to the shochet who worked from home. All religious Jews knew his address. He was an old man and not afraid of any discontent from the Soviet authorities in case they found out that he did this job. My mother made chicken broth, gefilte fish, honey cakes and strudels for Pesach. My parents always had matzah on Pesach. Their four children and their families came to visit them on Pesach, and they were happy to have a family reunion. At Chanukkah my father gave all children Chanukkah gelt. When I think of my parents I understand how Jewish traditions and rituals have been preserved throughout centuries. I'm often reproached for not knowing prayers when my parents were so deeply religious. I reply that at that time my faith was Marxism- Leninism. I had different values back then. I feel so sorry now that I didn't learn more about Jewish traditions and rituals from my father, but I was a communist and believed in the ideals of communism. That's my only excuse.