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Maybe my father was not a total atheist, but he certainly didn’t practice. I remember he went to the synagogue only during Yom Kippur. He said to me once when I was maybe 12, that God’s place is in one’s heart. Human beings don’t have the strength within them to act justly and need to have an image of someone who leads them.
My mom, on the other hand, was an atheist and the specifically lay atmosphere in our home was her doing. She also liked to provoke. Once for our holidays we went to Krynica [a health resort in South-East Poland]. We stayed at a small pension. During our meals we talked in Hebrew, so all the guests knew we were Jewish. For the afternoon snack my mother always gave me a ham sandwich and specifically told me to go outside or to the park. People would stop me surprised and ask me, ‘So you eat ham?’ Jews were usually very careful and made sure not to do things that could surprise or irritate the non-Jews. But my mother wasn’t like that, she liked to be contrary. She wanted to demonstrate her protest against orthodoxy.
My mom, on the other hand, was an atheist and the specifically lay atmosphere in our home was her doing. She also liked to provoke. Once for our holidays we went to Krynica [a health resort in South-East Poland]. We stayed at a small pension. During our meals we talked in Hebrew, so all the guests knew we were Jewish. For the afternoon snack my mother always gave me a ham sandwich and specifically told me to go outside or to the park. People would stop me surprised and ask me, ‘So you eat ham?’ Jews were usually very careful and made sure not to do things that could surprise or irritate the non-Jews. But my mother wasn’t like that, she liked to be contrary. She wanted to demonstrate her protest against orthodoxy.
Period
Location
Poland
Interview
Noemi Korsan-Ekert
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