Jewish life Life
L udvipol was a secular town with deep Jewish traditions. Most people were not particularly religiously observant by the stan- dards of Eastern Europe, but they lived fully Jewish lives. Every- one Jewish in Ludvipol followed the Jewish faith, the Jewish hol- idays, and Jewish customs. People consulted the rabbi when they had a problem. My family was modern, yet traditional. A mezuzah hung at the entrance to every room in our house. My father occasionally used to pray in the morning, and wrap the leather tefllin (phylacteries) on his arms. Naturally, we all went to synagogue on Shabbat be- cause this was our way of life. Our house was kosher and so was everybody else’s, but sometimes we children ate non-kosher foods outside the house. Our Christian maid probably lit the lamps on Shabbat, but we did not cook on Saturday. People observed and followed the rules, but were not ultra- Orthodox. Our town had no Hasidic population. Certainly, no one dressed like a Hasid, except for the rabbi, the shochet, and may- be one or two others who wore the hats or other clothes that the Hasidim wore. Married women did not cut their hair and wear wigs. Men did not have payess (ear locks). People wor e yarmulkas (skullcaps) when they went to shul, of course, but this was not a community where everybody dressed alike. Ludvipol had all the usual Jewish institutions. We had five syn - agogues, which were divided by social status and economic class. Everybody went to synagogue, especially on the holidays. There was the Beit Knesset Gadol (the Big Synagogue), the Shneiders’ tefillin
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