Herbst provides personal information and speaks about contemporary life in America. Herbst was born in Bornobash (Yiddish: Berlabashe), which is small village located between Trebušany and Rakhiv in the Transcarpathian region.
From the machine transcript
Opening chat with Kerler about the recording and the date; Herbst then gives his Hebrew and Hungarian names and says he was born on the eve of Passover in 1925 in Berlabash, a very small village between Rakhiv and Trebushany. He discusses the names of the village in different languages and the changing states that ruled the area (Hungarian, Czechoslovak, Soviet, Ukrainian), and says he lived there until the war. Early in the passage he also comments on American aid to Jews after the war.
opening exchange about American help to Jews after the war and the Hungarian/Slovak/Soviet/Ukrainian names of the village
Herbst discusses his childhood memories and his family. He grew up with four sisters and three brothers. According to him, approximately eleven families lived there.
From the machine transcript
Herbst describes the tiny Jewish community of Berlabash, which had a minyan and about ten to twelve families, and his own family of eight children. He tells how his sisters sewed and knitted for local women, how his father worked as a small-time local judge who travelled on foot over the mountains, and how the family ran a small shop. He names his grandfathers, and two brothers learned trades in Brno and Rakhiv.
his sisters' sewing and knitting for income, his father's work as a local judge, and his brothers' training as carpenter and tailor
Herbst speaks about his life before the war. He attended religious school (cheder) in Rakhiv and lived at his uncle's house. Herbst describes how he went to eat at several people's home ("esn teyg"). Herbst studied at the elementary school in Berlabashe for four years, before moving to Rakhiv. Herbst also attended a yeshiva high school for one year in Vişeu de Sus, Romania, (Yiddish: Oyber Visheve), where his sister lived. After graduating from this school, he began his yeshiva education in 1937.
From the machine transcript
Herbst recalls how at about age ten or eleven he went to cheder in Rakhiv, sleeping at the melamed's house and eating 'days' with different families, including a rich sawmill owner. He attended four classes of the school in Berlabash, then a year in Rakhiv and a year in Oyber-Vishev (Vișeu de Sus), where his sister lived and he was near a large yeshiva. He recounts a fight in which yeshiva students drove off hostile attackers.
the story of the attack on the yeshiva students and their defence with boards
Herbst discusses his childhood memories in Berlabashe. He recalls how he gathered berries in the woods on Tisha B'Av.
From the machine transcript
Herbst describes the mountains and river near his childhood home, where children gathered wild blueberries, raspberries and strawberries. He tells how they picked on Tisha B'Av, when fasting, and made them into syrup and jam, and how a group made noise to scare off bears. He then says he went to work at the sawmill and that war began after his bar mitzvah.
picking berries and the bears, plus the beginning of his work at the sawmill
Herbst talks about his life during World War II. He worked as lumberjack and shares his work experiences in different places. In one episode, Herbst describes how he encountered a bear. He also mentions how he saw wolves during his childhood.
From the machine transcript
Herbst recounts his work at a sawmill and on forest paths in the mountains, as a youth too young to be registered. He tells of an encounter with a bear that jumped down while he stood pressed to a wall, and of wolves that once threatened the family's animals in winter. Kerler asks about the sawmill, sawdust and the Tisza river.
the bear and wolves stories, and the sawmill work done as an unregistered youth
Herbst speaks about his family. His mother was born in Romania. He then shows photographs of his parents. Herbst then describes his childhood home, including where his family set up a sukkah.
From the machine transcript
Herbst names his mother Perl and says she came from Romania; his paternal grandfather came from Berlabash. He shows Kerler photographs of his parents and sisters and names the four sisters and describes their looks. He describes the house where the family lived, with a cellar and a movable-roof sukkah, and mentions a neighbouring family that delivered logs from the mountains.
he shows photographs of his parents and sisters and describes the sukkah and house layout
Herbst speaks about his work as lumberjack, before speaking about his brothers. Herbst learned to be become a cobbler.
From the machine transcript
Herbst explains how logs were sent down the mountain with warning shouts, the dangers involved, and how the sawmill owner placed orders for boards. He names his brothers' trades: one a carpenter, Shimon a tailor who also worked at the sawmill, and says he himself learned to be a shoemaker.
Herbst talks about prewar Sabbath celebrations, including food customs, at home. He maintains that his family barely ate meat and no fish at all.
From the machine transcript
Herbst describes Sabbath in his parents' home before the war: his mother baking challah and bread in the early morning, cholent and kugel baked in the oven, and thin flat breads. Meat was not always affordable and there was no fish, so mock fish was made, with farfel as a side. He recalls a neighbour, a butcher, who survived the camps and now lives in Brooklyn.
a butcher neighbour who later was with him in the camps
Herbst speaks about life during World War II. He was deported to Auschwitz, together with a childhood friend. Before his deportation to Auschwitz, Herbst stayed in the 45:34 ghetto, sleeping at a cemetery for six weeks. After his arrival in Auschwitz, Herbst was sent to the Mauthausen and then Irrsee concentration camps. In Irrsee, Herbst worked as forced laborer at a quarry, building a tunnel toward Ebensee. He was liberated by the American army in Mauthausen in 1945.
From the machine transcript
Herbst recounts the deportation: in April 1944 the family was taken to the ghetto in Mateszalka (?), where for six weeks they slept in the open at the cemetery, then to Auschwitz in the first transports with a childhood friend. He declined an offer to be hidden and went with his family. He later worked on a tunnel, came to Mauthausen, and was liberated there by the Americans on 5 May 1945.
an offer of hiding that he turned down and the first meal of pork
Herbst speaks about his liberation and addresses German restitution.
From the machine transcript
Herbst speaks about the days of liberation in Mauthausen, when he was too weak to go to the window, and answers Kerler's question about the tunnel built under a river and into the mountain. He says the Germans paid for the work for two years under American occupation. Kerler then steers him back to Berlabash and Rakhiv before the war, and Herbst says his voice is tired, so they take a short break.
Kerler's question about the tunnel and the short break at the end
Herbst speaks about his childhood memories, particularly games. He also addresses his father's observance and charity. Herbst recalls different fruits.
From the machine transcript
Herbst recalls childhood games with a wooden top, sleds and skis on snow, and speaks about Hungarian and Yiddish words at home. He tells of his father, who did not eat before reciting Psalms, welcomed poor guests and wanderers, and kept few books. He recalls eating paprika and tomato for the first time at an uncle's home in Rakhiv, and fruit such as apples and plums.
his father's religious routine, hospitality to poor guests, and first tasting paprika and tomato
Herbst speaks about languages spoken at home. He then addresses regional differences among communities, before talking about his religious education in Rakhiv. Herbst then describes Sabbath dinners at a rebbe's home.
From the machine transcript
Herbst talks about the languages and communities of the region, comparing Ruthenian, and Maramureş Jews with those of other places, and says there was little culture in his area. Kerler brings him back to cheder at Rakhiv, followed by yeshiva, bar mitzvah and Friday evenings at a young rebbe's home in Oyber-Vishev (?). He returned home in 1938 when the Hungarians moved in, and recalls his studies of Talmud and Hebrew texts.
languages and regional differences among Jewish communities, and Sabbath at a rebbe's table
Herbst tells a joke about observant Jews on Yom Kippur. He then sings a comical song about a woman going to a rebbe. Herbst remembers both from his time in Rakhiv.
From the machine transcript
Herbst tells a joke about guests in a small town on Yom Kippur eve who needed a cantor, and recites a chant. He then tells a joke about a childless woman who went to a rebbe for a blessing, and sings a comic song about it, both remembered from his time in Rakhiv.
Herbst sings a song about local rebbes. He then speaks about prewar religious life.
From the machine transcript
Herbst recites a humorous rhyme about the Hasidic rebbes of Sighet and Spinka: one goes to Sighet for a cow, to Spinka for a bride. Kerler asks him about it, and they discuss going to rebbes, who were also called 'good Jews'. Herbst mentions the Kalov rebbe, whose descendant lives in Israel, and Kerler asks whether the song was known at his home; it was not, and he heard it only in Budapest. Kerler ends by asking about the word 'baal-shem'.
The rhyme is about the Sighet and Spinka rebbes; the segment also includes talk about the Kalov rebbe and Hasidic followers.
Herbst answers questions about cultural terminology. He then sings a Yiddish song about poverty and homelessness.
From the machine transcript
Kerler asks Herbst about cultural terms such as 'baal-shem' and 'dibbuk' (placed in Prague, with a question about the golem). Herbst then sings a song about a destitute man who sleeps on boulevard benches and is woken by a policeman's stick. Kerler has him repeat it line by line to write down the words. Herbst says it was brought by a cousin from Sighet; Kerler then starts a question on 'barkhes' and challah.
Kerler has the song repeated line by line for transcription, and the words 'baal-shem' and 'dibbuk' are asked about.
Herbst answers questions about cultural terminology, before addressing regional differences among the communities.
From the machine transcript
Herbst answers a question on whether his family said challah or 'barkhes'. Kerler asks where in Hungary Jews spoke Yiddish; Herbst names small towns in the north of the country, among them Tokaj and Kalov, where there were many Yiddish-speaking Jews, and the talk turns to Slovakia. He says he would rather talk about the hard postwar years another time. Kerler thanks him and asks for a religious saying he remembers.
Herbst recites sayings from the Torah. He then describes contemporary Yiddish clubs. Herbst also recalls how his father received guests.
From the machine transcript
Herbst recites a rabbinic saying about honouring the place, and Kerler asks about the sense of 'makom' as God. Herbst describes a Yiddish club in Budapest and how he speaks Yiddish words to Jews he meets in the street. He recalls the prewar poverty in which his father still invited passing guests to eat while going without himself, and says he now offers food to anyone who comes. Kerler also talks about making a copy of the recording for him, and finally asks about Purim.
Besides the sayings, the segment covers the Budapest Yiddish club and the father's hospitality during prewar poverty.
Herbst speaks about prewar Purim celebrations and recalls a Purim sphiel. He then speaks about regional differences between Ukraine and Hungary.
From the machine transcript
Herbst says people went to see the Purim play and recites a Purim rhyme, with Kerler asking about a word in it. Kerler mentions his own trip to a Carpathian place, and Herbst mentions a man who came from the Carpathians. Kerler asks whether Jews in southern and western Hungary spoke Yiddish. Herbst replies that Hungarian Jews were called 'Hungarian donkeys' and Carpathian Jews 'Polish', and he explains Hungary as 'mameland'. Kerler ends by turning to Passover and the four questions.
Herbst recites a Purim rhyme and explains how Hungarian and Carpathian Jews referred to each other.
Herbst addresses prewar Passover celebrations. He then shares religious sayings.
From the machine transcript
Herbst describes the prewar Passover custom of neighbours visiting each other to hear how each conducted the seder, with a remark about the eggs. He gives a sayings-style wish for the coming year and the Messiah, recited at the seder, and speaks of very pious Jews. Kerler then begins a question about a dialect word for coming together.
Herbst answers dialectological questions from the AHEYM Yiddish linguistic questionnaire.
From the machine transcript
Kerler asks Herbst for the Yiddish expression for 'to meet' or 'come together'. Herbst gives forms of 'tsunemen' and 'trefn zikh', and Kerler notes that his own speech says 'tsam-'.
Herbst speaks about the contemporary community. He then addresses his life after the war. Herbst worked as nuclear technician at an institute of physics for forty years. He then talks about contemporary friends and shows newspaper articles.
From the machine transcript
Herbst and Kerler discuss people in the community today, especially a man nicknamed Tsures-bachi who prays in a synagogue on Csekonics(?) street, and others whom Kerler names. Herbst recalls a few postwar months in Debrecen working in a hospital, and says he then worked for forty years as a technician at an institute of physics and received a recognition from the academy. He talks about a friend near Donetsk who wrote him a warm tribute, and about Professor Scheiber, whose books Kerler knows. He also tells of a woman visiting from Israel who criticised Carpathian Jews, and recalls his son's bar mitzvah.
Gives details of his forty years as a physics-institute technician, the friend and Professor Scheiber, and the Debrecen hospital months.
