Later expeditions, 2012–2018 › 2013 Expedition

AHEYM-2013-075 · Baia Mare

Baia Mare 2013-05-19 10 min · 3 stretches · 1 questions about words Yiddish 100%

Not online: the recording is held by the project and is not on Media Collections Online, YouTube or archive.org. Everything below is a paraphrase of a machine transcript, the weaker of this site's two transcript layers — see how it was made.

Summary

A ten-minute camera file from the 2013 Baia Mare session, with Kerler and a man who seems to be a local community figure. The transcript is heavily garbled. It opens with a question about a custom of eating dairy food and an etrog-related tradition, then moves to an old synagogue or prayer house and its books and inscriptions, and to plans to restore and use the building.

Stretches

00:03–01:30

Kerler asks why a tradition exists of eating only dairy or a particular kind of food. The man answers that it is an old custom to eat certain foods. He links it to Sukkot, says a fruit is sent every year from Bucharest, and explains that it is bitter and sour. The details are unclear in the transcript.

01:30–04:04

The talk turns to a building and its books, and to something written on a wall or object. Kerler praises the Yiddish inscription, and they discuss letters in a mixture of Yiddish and German and the difficulty of finding people who still speak Yiddish. The scene is only partly recoverable.

04:04–09:35

Kerler and the man discuss restoring and repairing an old synagogue building. They mention costs, an agreement with a local figure, services on the Sabbath and holidays, and a small community that was allowed to remain after 1948. They also speak of winter use of the building, Polish, and a Lithuanian (?) connection. The man has begun preparing papers for the project. Many details are unclear.

Questions about words

  • 00:03
    Why does one eat only dairy dishes on that occasion? — the reason for a custom of eating dairy or a particular food