Muchnik provides personal information and talks about her family. Her father owned a leather/shoe shop and was also born in Orhei. Muchnik's mother was born in Chiştelniţa. Muchnik grew up with two brothers, both of whom moved to Israel, and one sister.
After Lemster's opening announcement, Muchnik gives her birth date and says she stayed in Orhei until the war. She names her father David Muchnik and his leather and shoe workshop, and her mother Golde from a village near Orhei. She names her grandfather Yosef, whose father was Moshe, and the grandfather's second wife, who left him for America. She also says there were four children, including two brothers who lie buried in Israel and an older sister Elke.
Names the grandparents and the grandfather's second wife who left for America.
Muchnik talks about her life, including education, before the war. She went to a Yiddish kindergarten at the age of three and then attended a Hebrew tarbut school for four years. Afterward, Muchnik studied at a Romanian secondary school and graduated in 1940. She worked as primary school teacher in Molovata between 1940 and 1941.
Muchnik recounts her schooling before the war. She attended a Yiddish kindergarten, then a Hebrew Tarbut school where she learned to read and write Hebrew but never Yiddish. She went on to a Romanian gymnasium, finishing in 1940, and then taught young children in the village of Molovata (?) until the war.
Muchnik discusses her childhood memories, as well as prewar holiday celebrations at home. She points out her father's observance and mentions that her parents were killed in Orhei during World War II. She then speaks about her family. Muchnik's older brother moved to Eretz Yisrael in 1930 and returned for his younger brother in 1935. She also touches upon childhood games.
Muchnik recalls her home and Jewish holidays, including the seder, and her father's devout observance. She says that during air-raid alarms at the start of the war he prayed at the window, and that both her parents were later killed. She mentions her sister studying in Bucharest, her older brother leaving for Palestine in 1930 and returning in 1935 for the younger brother, who was killed by terrorists in 1936. She says she had no playmates and played with picture cards and with an aunt.
Gives details on siblings' studies and on the younger brother's death in 1936.
Muchnik speaks about her school education at the local tarbut school and lists her awards, before talking about her secondary school education. She also describes her childhood home and friends.
Muchnik talks about her primary school, where she won prizes and a gold medal, and about difficulty gaining admission to the gymnasium. She describes the family home on the Jewish street in Orhei, with a balcony shared by three generations. She names girlfriends and one schoolmate, and recalls her teacher Yanovich and his grading of her and her sister.
Adds the home on the Jewish street, friends and teachers.
Muchnik addresses her education and work after World War II. She studied at a technical school and worked as financial consultant for thirty years. She then speaks about her family.
Muchnik says that after the war she studied at a financial technical school and worked as a finance specialist for her whole career, with her seniority counted as thirty years. Asked about songs sung by her mother, she says her aunt Beyle, whom she calls her second mother, spent more time with her and sang to her. She begins to recall a children's rhyme.
Muchnik sings Yiddish songs about ancestry and asking questions. She then sings "Vos vet zayn? (what will happen) and "Got hot bashafn himl mit erd" (God has created heaven and earth). Muchnik also briefly sings a Yiddish song about longing, before she sings a Hebrew song, she remembers from tarbut school. She then sings Yiddish songs about the kosher butcher's daughter and rebbe.
Muchnik sings or recites a series of Yiddish rhymes and songs. They include a humorous song on lineage, a riddle song about how an emperor sleeps and eats, a seder-style song, and a song of creation, Adam and Eve and the serpent. She also gives a short song about a headache and longing, a Hebrew school song from Tarbut, and a comic song about the shoykhet's daughter and a rebbe. Kerler and Lemster ask her to repeat some and ask where she learned them, and she does not remember.
Muchnik addresses religious customs at home. She points out the different prayer customs between herself and her father. She then recites the morning prayer "Modeh ani" and recalls prewar Passover celebrations at home.
Muchnik compares her own prayer habits with her father's. He prayed in Ashkenazi pronunciation, while she uses Sephardic (modern Hebrew) pronunciation from school. At Kerler's request she recites the morning prayer Modeh ani and a blessing, in the way he said them. She then recalls a childhood Passover seder, where she as the youngest asked the questions, and her parents' custom of inviting soldiers as guests.
Muchnik speaks about prewar religious life and holiday celebration, particularly Sabbath, in Orhei. She describes how her parents invited soldiers on holidays and mentions the family's Sabbath goy.
Muchnik describes how two Jewish soldiers from the barracks sat at the family seder, and how the household managed without a maid. She tells about their Moldovan non-Jewish helper Moshe Alekseyi, who carried water and did Sabbath tasks, and an anecdote about the wine of the plagues. She also tells of his belief that he was Alexander of Macedon. Lemster asks whether non-Jews spoke Yiddish, and she says she did not know any who did.
Adds the story of the Moldovan helper Moshe Alekseyi and Lemster's question about non-Jewish Yiddish speakers.
Muchnik describes Sabbath food in her family, including gefilte fish, of which she gives a recipe with onions cooked in water and then oil, egg and bread. Lemster asks about the ingredients. She also mentions an unfamiliar dish called pitshe, noodles, kugel and small cookies, and tells how her mother baked challah every Friday. The cholent was sent to a neighbour's oven or their own, and she recalls the family kitchen with oven.
Adds the gefilte fish recipe discussion and baking details.
Muchnik discusses her childhood memories of Simchat Torah celebrations at her grandfather's house. She also addresses prewar religious life and Hasidic locals. In particular, Muchnik recalls how her grandfather put visiting rebbes up.
Muchnik recalls Simchat Torah at her grandfather's house, where a room was turned into a prayer room and Torah scrolls were brought from the synagogue, with Hasidim at the table. She mentions that her father was not a Hasid. She also describes a rebbe who visited Orhei and was lodged each year in a room at her grandfather's house. People waited to receive the leftovers from his meal, and she carried plates as a child.
Adds the visiting rebbe lodged by her grandfather.
Muchnik talks about her adolescence. She was a member of the local underground group of the Zionist youth organization Gordonia. She then briefly talks about her life during World War II, before talking about Passover celebrations at home.
Muchnik speaks about the underground Zionist group Gordonia in the gymnasium years, which had the Hebrew name Kvutsa (?) and was visited by a representative from Chișinău. She recalls a blessing said to be given by a rebbe, and the start of the war. She and her sister left on foot while her parents stayed. Asked by Lemster and Kerler about Sabbath songs, she returns to the seder and her childhood effort to see Elijah the Prophet.
Covers Gordonia and the start of the war, and an Elijah memory.
Muchnik addresses prewar holiday celebrations at home, including Sukkot, Passover, Hanukkah. She describes the family's sukkah and lists Hanukkah dishes.
Muchnik describes the family sukkah built by her mother, with her father busy in his workshop, and her brother killed at about twenty. Meals were eaten there. She recalls Passover preparations, the special dishes brought down from the attic, the hungry day of Passover eve and her aunt feeding her. Asked about Hanukkah, she says her mother made various pastries and she describes receiving small sums of money for ice cream.
Muchnik discusses her childhood memories of holiday celebration of home. She mentions that her mother visited the local rebbe for advice. Muchnik then addresses prewar Purim celebrations.
Kerler asks about salting meat, and Muchnik says her mother sent questions to a religious judge when something was doubtful. She then recalls Purim on the Jewish street, with a costumed procession stopping at her father's house. She says she does not recall a Purim play, and remembers neighbour children saying a Purim rhyme to get coins.
Muchnik says she attended a wedding in a village before the war but remembers little, and neither klezmer nor Yiddish songs. She recalls Yiddish songs at weddings only after the war in Bender. Asked about Shavuot, she says green branches and dairy foods marked the holiday, and that her mother baked dairy pastries and bagels. Kerler and Lemster ask for names of the baked goods.
