MDV 119 · Zoltan Galambos

Galambos gives the date and place of the recording and his own birth in Vaja in 1923. He names his father, born in Vaja around 1880 (?), who was a cabinetmaker, and says the family also had a shop and fields. Kerler also asks about the father's family name and double given name.

Kerler's questions about the father's name and the street address.

Galambos names his maternal grandmother, Chaye Shpitser, and says his mother came from Pusztadobos. He describes his long childhood day, from cheder before dawn through Hungarian school to cheder again until evening. He names his melamdim, Shlomo Pavel and Yosef Fridman, and the subjects taught, and says that at thirteen he went to the yeshiva in Putnok.

The names of the two melamdim and the subjects taught.

Galambos says he never knew his grandparents and describes tending the family graves in the Vaja cemetery. In answer to Kerler, he names his siblings, five sisters and three brothers (?), and says most died in Auschwitz. One sister who reached Palestine and a brother died after the war.

A full list of his siblings' names and their fates.

Galambos talks about the war years, when he was in a Hungarian labor service. He describes the earthwork he was made to do, digging large pits meant to stop enemy tanks. Kerler helps him find the Yiddish words for this.

Galambos answers Kerler's questions about cheder: there was no special chant for learning, and children learned to speak Yiddish and Hebrew and to write. He mentions that he goes to the synagogue every Sabbath despite poor health. He recalls playing in the courtyard with other children, and says the Vaja community had 41 families, a shul and a rabbi named Grinvald who died in the early 1930s.

The 41 families and the rabbi Grinvald.

Galambos says the Vaja Jews were not Hasidic and did not wear the shtrayml, only the shoykhet had one. He then discusses prayer and the shtrayml-wearing Jews of Munkács, with some doubtful words, and begins to talk about the Tosher rebbe. Kerler asks about the meaning of "shtrayml-wearing", and about the modeh ani prayer taught to children.

Galambos recalls people asking the Tosher rebbe in the Kisvárda ghetto what would become of the Jews. He says the rebbe answered that he could not tell. He sings or recites parts of a prayer-song, evidently "Habeit mishamayim", and a song about paper children, which he heard sung by a Polish Yiddish theater in Pest after the war. Kerler asks him to repeat the first song; the words are largely garbled in the transcript.

The two songs and the Polish Yiddish theater in Pest.

At Kerler's request Galambos chants the prayer for blessing the new month. He is asked about the Kaddish and says he does not say it without a minyan. He says that none of the 41 families in Vaja was Hasidic, that there were no wealthy Jews, and that the trades were tailors, shoemakers and shopkeepers. His father was a cabinetmaker with a shop and fields worked by non-Jews.

Kerler's questions on Hasidim in Vaja and on trades, and the family's fields worked by non-Jews.

Galambos speaks about the Sabbath goy who lit the fire each Sabbath and did not know Yiddish, and what his father said to him in Hungarian. He says Jews numbered 41 families and the non-Jewish population of Vaja was about 2,000, with 3,800 today (?). He mentions reciting a text from the prayer book (?) every Sabbath, the transcript is unclear on which.

The size of the Jewish and non-Jewish population.

Kerler asks whether Galambos could continue his studies after the war. He answers by describing what he saw of the Jewish catastrophe, and bitterly says the wealthy American Jews did not come to help the survivors. He says he has no relatives in Israel but his brother's son lives in New York and calls occasionally. Kerler then turns to questions about the evil eye.

The relatives in America.

Answering Kerler's questions about folk beliefs against the evil eye, Galambos says he does not remember such sayings and that Yiddish in Vaja was plain Hungarian-style Yiddish, not Polish. He mentions the Tosher rebbe's grandchildren who visited from Canada this summer. He criticizes the fund-raising of the Satmar rebbe's followers and recalls the Satmar rebbe Yoel Teitelbaum in Kleinwardein before the war. Kerler then asks about holidays.

The evil-eye questions and the visit of the Tosher rebbe's grandchildren.

Answering Kerler about prewar holidays in Vaja, Galambos says everyone went to the synagogue and held a Passover seder. He describes the comic Four Questions his father used to stage, and says he was the middle child and a twin. He speaks about Purim and recites at Kerler's request a rhyming Purim shpil verse, repeated for the recording.

The Four Questions and the Purim verse.

Galambos recalls the Yosef play, performed by Jewish children in Vaja before the war and lasting two hours. He says it was performed only on Purim, quotes a few lines from it, and says it is no longer performed. Kerler asks whether his mother or father sang; Galambos says no.

Galambos says his mother read the Tsene-rene at home, for his sisters and the neighbors, and Kerler asks when this was. He answers questions about the term baal shem and a "good Jew". He then reflects on the state of the world and prays for Eretz Yisrael, before starting to talk about the hardships of a yeshiva student.

The two terminology questions.

Galambos describes how hard yeshiva life was, with much study and poor students depending on a different Jewish household for meals each day. A song about yeshiva students is introduced here but is not clearly audible in the transcript.

The song is not clear in the transcript.