Ludvipol: A Modern Shtetl
Jewish life Jewish Life
The only day of the week I got up early without being prodded was on Friday mornings, when my mother baked challah from the dough that had been set to rise the night before. Especially for me, she would take some of the dough, flatten it into a circle, put it into a frying pan, and bake it in the oven. After it was baked, I dunked it into freshly rendered chicken fat with a lot of greivenes (crack- lings) and crisp fried onion. This was my favorite treat. Every household used to bake its own challah for Friday night and, at the same time, challah dough pastries. Flour was put in a wooden tub, much like the kind of tub used for bathing a child, and divided into two piles. I remember vividly that one pile was for the challah, and certain ingredients were added to it. The other flour, for the pastries, was mixed with oil, butter, cinnamon, and sugar. My mother also made pastries from plain dough. The plain pas- tries came out of the oven lighter in color than the fancy dark cin- namon and sugar pastries. Being a bit of a fussy eater, I liked the plain ones better. My mother would tease, “What’s wrong with this boy? He prefers plain pastries!” Every Friday, some extra pastries and challot were baked for the poor and for one or two households who needed a hand. All the Jewish holidays were celebrated scrupulously in Ludvipol. My family spent holidays together. We went to synagogue togeth- er, although the women sat separately. Pesach (Passover), Rosh Ha’Shana (the Jewish New Year), and Yom Kippur were consid- ered the three major holidays. Houses were painted and thoroughly cleaned for these holidays. We children most liked Pesach and Rosh Ha’Shana because we always got new clothing. Since our family was well-off, we gave our clothes to the needy, rather than passing them down within the family. We played games with walnuts or filberts, and the winner would go home with a pile of nuts. During Elul, the month before the Jewish New Year, both adults and children reflected upon their actions and thoughts during the past year and tried to make amends with their fellow townspeople.
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