Schooling

Gross names his cheder teachers and says teachers used a stick. He describes the school day: early morning cheder, then Hungarian state school, and cheder again until evening. He lists what was studied (Humash, Rashi, Gemara, Tosafot), and says he later learned to read the Torah, and he still remembers some of it.

Smajovics talks about a rabbinical court case in his hometown against two men, and about the hardship for their wives and children. He recalls Red Cross parcels, and that the Czech teacher decided which children received clothing and books. He tells how the boys gave concerts and recitations to raise money and went on a trip to the forest paid for from the funds, with milk brought for poor children.

Smajovics talks about language use in the Soviet Union after the war. He and others spoke Ukrainian at work, Yiddish at home, and many Jews' children could not speak Yiddish. His own children, though, learned Hungarian from newspapers he ordered, and his daughter could work as she could read, write and speak the language. Kerler then asks for another song.

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.

Herbst says he last studied Jewish subjects during his year in Vişeu de Sus, at a yeshiva with some two hundred and fifty students (?). He and Kerler mention larger yeshivas in Pressburg and Cluj. Kerler explains his own interest in collecting Yiddish and then asks Herbst for more about Berlebash.

Herbst recounts how a physicist invited him to work at a physics institute, with a trial month, and how a doctor friend had helped him find work and a post. He says it was hard because the others were highly educated, and mentions kosher supervision.

Kerler asks why Pearl left his village. Pearl answers with an episode in Tállya: a man told the police how fast the Germans were winning, and the Catholic teacher at the school told the children the war could still reverse. Three days later a mail carrier told Pearl what was going on, and he left for Budapest.

Blobshteyn talks about his religious education: the tutor in the 1930s and cheder, long hours in summer, and prayers recited without understanding the Hebrew. He says that the village melamed was chosen for being healthy and strong. Kerler asks about Tisha B'Av, and Blobshteyn explains that children threw burrs at girls' hair and beards, and a boy with long hair might have to have it cut.

Doman and Kerler discuss differences between Yiddish and Hungarian Yiddish-German, including some words (Sukkot, travel to Vienna), and Doman's learning of German in school. He says his mother and grandmothers were strictly Orthodox and spoke Hungarian. He explains that Hungarian Jews' language shifted after emancipation in 1867, with women first. They also discuss Polish and Galician Jews in Hungary, such as those from Munkács and Ungvár, who spoke Yiddish and quickly learned Hungarian.

Samadi recalls attending cheder from the age of three until eleven and then a talmud torah in Újfehértó (Yiddish Ratsfelt), which he places a short distance from Debrecen. He names the rebbe there and his gabbai. He says his mother wanted him to learn Yiddish well so he could talk to Jews everywhere, and a later visit to Florida shows this.

Reti and S2 talk about the Purim play and the other, summer play. They discuss how the plays were staged in a hall or school, with warm air for the heat of the desert scene. They also cover how non-Jews came and saw the play, the story being told first in Hungarian, and Reti's schooling in a non-Jewish school as there was no Jewish school in the village. Kerler ends by asking about Hungarian poetry from school.

Reti recalls school and Reformed prayers and a Christian blessing recited before meals, and the Hungarian words he had to say when passing a cross or roadside shrine. Kerler and S2 ask about words for such things (a cross, a church) and what they were called in Yiddish and Hungarian. Questions on terminology are intermixed with Reti's recitation. At the end Kerler asks about a man who sang and served in the army in Israel.

Galambos and Kerler talk about stale noodles, then about America and Canada, democracy and Israel, and how the United States has helped Israel. They go on to talk about the Jews of Debrecen, Romania, and Galambos's learning of Hungarian. Galambos says he spoke only Hungarian at school and Yiddish at cheder.