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Recording Content:
This recording is a continuation of a formal interview with David Abramovich Vider (b. 1922 in Sighetu Marmatiei). (Part 2 of 4. See MDV 514, MDV 516, and MDV 517)
Cities and towns mentioned on this tape: Kolomyya, Kosiv, Ivano-Frankivs’k, Hîrlau, Iași, Praha (Prague).
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00:00:00
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This tape is a continuation of a formal interview with David Abramovich Vider (b. 1922 in Sighetu Marmatiei). The tape begins with a discussion of the concept of “a giter yid,” (lit. “a good Jew) to whom Jews and non-Jews would go on pilgrimage to receive advice and/or healing. Vider describes how Orthodox Christians from around the region today come to him, calling him “dobryi evrei” (“a good Jew”), paying him, so the Jews in the Kolomyya synagogue will pray for them and thus solve their problems. Telling a few stories of such “pilgrims,” Vider explains that he writes the names of these Christians down in a special notebook and uses their money to pay for community celebrations. |
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00:11:06
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Vider briefly shares the history of the Kolomyya synagogue and how these pilgrimages began. He also talks about his two marriages: Vider’s first marriage was to a Communist Jewish woman; he is now married to a Christian woman from Kolomyya. Vider had no children with his first wife, nor did they get married under a “khipe” (wedding canopy) as she was a committed Communist. He shares some details of his difficult relationship with his first wife. Vider also mentions that he enthusiastically listens to records of cantorial music. |
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00:17:49
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Vider details his early education in the Jewish schools in Hîrlau where he studied in Yididsh in the morning and in Hebrew in the afternoon. School met six days a week, according to Vider, and taught Modern Hebrew similar to what is now spoken in Israel. Vider then sings HaTivka. |
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00:22:46
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He briefly mentions his “bal-mitsve” (“bar mitzvah,” or coming of age ceremony). |
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00:23:57
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Vider states that he remembers and recites the traditional blessings to be said upon hearing thunder, seeing lightening or a rainbow, and on other occasions. |
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00:25:58
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Vider describes a “pirimshpil” (Purim play) that he would put on with his brother in which he played a chimney-sweep and his brother dressed as a woman. He then recites the whole rhyming ditty they would sing and repeats it again for the sake of clairty. He explains how they performed this skit around the neighborhood in Hîrlau and Iași, and received money, candies and wine for their efforts. |
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00:31:01
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Vider recites what he refers to as another “pirimsphil,” a loshn-koydesh (Hebrew-Aramaic) and Yiddish song called “A gemakhtn got hobn zey” (“They have a manmade god”) based on a part of the Hallel service. |
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00:32:23
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He discusses his current health problems. |
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00:33:20
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Vider recites the lyrics and then sings a song entitled “Ven futer yakoyv iz geleygn oyf deym shteyn” (“When the Patriach Jacob Slept on the Stone”) which he remembers hearing from a cantor at a concert. |
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00:38:07
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Vider sings another song in Yiddish, consisting of a dialogue between a daughter and mother. |
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00:40:37
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Professor Kerler discusses the logistics of finding other interviewees with a woman from Hesed. |
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00:44:24
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Vider reads the loshn-koydesh portion of “A gemakhtn got hobn zey” from a prayerbook and then sings the song once more in full. |
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00:48:50
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He then sing another “pirimshpil” entitled “Got hot indz gegebn tsvey gite simunim” (“G-d gave us two signs”) that he and his brother used to sing while performing another skit dressed as a rabbi and his wife. Vider states that he learned all these songs and ditties from his father, who was well-educated and encouraged his children’s learning. Vider’s father was especially adept at mathematics, and Vider shows Professor Kerler how his father counted on his fingers in a special way. Vider then switches into Russian to demonstrate another mathematical trick that he learned from his father. |
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