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We always started early preparing for Pesach. Father would make wine himself, about a month before the holiday. He bought raisins in Chelm, soaked them in something and then hid it in the hay. And then I’d go rummaging around in the hay, to see if those raisins hadn’t found their way there by any chance, and I’d eat them. There was a separate set of dishes just for Pesach: pots, plates, glasses, spoons, forks and knives. There wasn’t much to use those knives for, but there they were. All that was kept in the attic all year, packed in straw so nothing would break, and then on the day before – Erev Pesach – we’d unpack them, wash them, and scald them as well. During the holiday I’d ask the four questions – that’s a section [of the seder], and then we’d have the seder dinner that Mother had made: chicken soup with matzah-meal noodles. I always liked the soup best, and still do. All week we’d eat only Pesach food: no bread – Mother wouldn’t bake any – just matzah.
They made matzah in our village. Everyone would buy flour – I remember it was always already measured out, 16 kilos each. Then they’d lay out two wide boards lengthwise, and two crosswise, and they’d ask the neighbors to help – my mother and her sisters too – and if that wasn’t enough they’d ask some other girls as well. They told them how to do it – not to turn it over, just to knead it and roll it out over and over. And they’d do it, and when it was baked, there was a big basket about a meter high, almost completely filled with matzah. Then they took it to this fellow who had a machine for grinding and sifting the matzah, and that’s what Mother made pancakes and noodles out of. We ate potatoes too: chicken soup, and potatoes for the main course. So we didn’t miss bread – maybe just a little for a day or two, but then we got used to it. We didn’t go hungry. Sometimes Mother made potato pancakes, and we could drink tea. If there was any food leftover after Pesach, we didn’t throw it out – we’d eat it with bread, since after Pesach that was allowed. It was just one week of strict discipline.
They made matzah in our village. Everyone would buy flour – I remember it was always already measured out, 16 kilos each. Then they’d lay out two wide boards lengthwise, and two crosswise, and they’d ask the neighbors to help – my mother and her sisters too – and if that wasn’t enough they’d ask some other girls as well. They told them how to do it – not to turn it over, just to knead it and roll it out over and over. And they’d do it, and when it was baked, there was a big basket about a meter high, almost completely filled with matzah. Then they took it to this fellow who had a machine for grinding and sifting the matzah, and that’s what Mother made pancakes and noodles out of. We ate potatoes too: chicken soup, and potatoes for the main course. So we didn’t miss bread – maybe just a little for a day or two, but then we got used to it. We didn’t go hungry. Sometimes Mother made potato pancakes, and we could drink tea. If there was any food leftover after Pesach, we didn’t throw it out – we’d eat it with bread, since after Pesach that was allowed. It was just one week of strict discipline.
Period
Location
Pogranicze
Poland
Interview
Michal Warzager
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