Tag #155072 - Interview #103673 (Ladislav Roth Biography)

My father was a neolog. Neologs were religious, but they didn’t have patriarchal looks.  They didn’t have a beard or payes, they didn’t wear a tallit or common for Jews round black hats  or black jackets. Only Hasidim looked that way. There were many Hasidim in Uzhgorod. They had a synagogue on their own and neologs went to another synagogue. [Neologs and Orthodox maintained separate communities in Hungary.] When I asked my father why neologs didn’t have as many Jewish holidays as Hasidim my father explained that it wasn’t necessary to observe all Jewish traditions. It was important to have a heart of a Jew and it didn’t matter how one dressed or what holidays one celebrated. It was important to identify oneself as a Jew and that was all.