Later expeditions, 2012–2018 › 2013 Expedition

AHEYM-2013-142 · Debrecen

Debrecen (Debretsin in the project's index) 2013-05-27 11 min · 5 stretches · 2 questions about words Yiddish 98%

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

Camera file from a 2013 session recorded in Debretsin (per the index), with no interviewee named. In the first part Kerler questions an elderly man about a Purim play he remembers (a Joseph play) and about a man named Shmuel who recited the Purim kiddush. The later part is a thin, hard-to-follow stretch in which Kerler and the man go through Hebrew or liturgical text and songs for Sabbath and holidays.

Stretches

00:00–01:35

The man recites or retells lines from a play in which a father enters with his twelve (?) sons or people, from all four sides of a house. Kerler asks him to repeat it and says the play lasted two hours.

before the war Purim Theater Stories, humor and sayings

01:35–02:13

Kerler asks when the Joseph play was staged; the answer is on Purim. The troupe went to a few villages and performed for non-Jews, two hours in each village.

before the war Purim Theater Jewish–non-Jewish relations

02:01–04:04

Kerler asks who recited the Purim kiddush; the man names Shmuel the shoykhet (?) from Rahats (?), before the war. They discuss a call to the Munka (?) synagogue and a man who spoke nonsense. They also discuss non-Jews who worked among Jews and spoke Yiddish.

before the war Purim Religious life (general)Synagogue and prayer Jewish–non-Jewish relations Yiddish language and dialect · Rahats (?), Munka shul (?)

04:00–05:37

The man says that only Yiddish was spoken at home. Kerler asks what a man called Kasn (?) looked like, medium height and thin. The man says he visited and gave blessings, coming once a year; a mikveh is mentioned.

before the war Yiddish language and dialect Religious life (general)Personal information

05:37–10:40

Kerler and the man go through Hebrew or liturgical phrases and songs for Sabbath, Purim, Rosh Chodesh and Hanukkah, with garbled repetition of words. Kerler seems to be checking pronunciation. No clear topic emerges, and Kerler mentions his computer and a train at the start.

Recitation Songs and music Religious life (general)Sabbath · Tishebov (?)

Questions about words

01:35
When was the Joseph play staged? — occasion on which the Joseph play was performed
02:01
Who recited the Purim kiddush? — name of the person

Series: 2013 Expedition
Recorded: 2013-05-27, Debrecen
Kind: conversational · prompts in Yiddish
Transcript: draft class, 983 words

Speakers, as the transcript identifies them

INFinformant
Elderly man who remembers the Purim play and the Purim kiddush from before the war; says Yiddish was the only language spoken at home (04:00). Identity not given in the transcript.
Dov-Ber Kerlerinterviewer
Asks about the length and timing of the play, who recited the Purim kiddush, and the appearance of a man; in the later part he reads and sings Hebrew-like text with the man.
UNKother
A single brief utterance at the start.

The interviewer's practice

Kerler repeats and echoes the man's words and asks follow-up questions; the later part is repetition of Hebrew-like text.

Notes on the transcript

File is mid-session. The informant's identity is not given. The transcript from about 05:37 on is mostly garbled; the content of the Hebrew or liturgical material is uncertain.

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