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Recording Content:
The recording is the continuation of a formal interview with Dovid Abramovich Vider, born 1922 in Sighetu Marmatiei. (Part 3 of 4. See MDV 514, MDV 515, and MDV 517)
Cities and towns mentioned in this recording: Hîrlau, Iași, L’viv, Kizel.
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00:00:00
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Vider answers questions from Professor Kerler’s sociolinguistic and dialectological questionnaire. He also speaks about how his mother made “khale” (special bread for the Sabbath). |
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00:03:07
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Vider describes holiday observances in great detail, focusing first on Rosh Hashone, Yom Kippur and the recitation of slikhes (penitential prayers) done during that season. He also explains how sikes (Sukkoth, the Feast of Tabernacles) was celebrated and sings part of the “hoshone robe” services he remembers, comparing these observances to contemporary celebrations of the holiday. He also talks about how Chanukah and Purim were celebrated and the food and games that went with this respective holidays. |
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00:12:59
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Vider explains “shpiln in nis,” a gambling game involving nuts played by children during Passover and Sikes (Sukkoth). Vider talks about the different dairy food eaten during shvies (Shavuot) and shares a recipes for “plitnikes” (a sort of blintz). |
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00:18:26
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Vider shares his attitudes towards different dialects of Yiddish, and mentions the many Yiddish-speaking non-Jews he met both in Romanian and the Garagum (Kara-kum) desert in the Soviet Union. |
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00:21:32
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Vider recalls the local and visiting Yiddish theater troupes and circles in Hîrlau. He also describes the Yiddish and Romanian-language newspapers that were read in his youth and discusses Jewish interactions with Romanian anti-Semitic and fascist organizations in the prewar period. He mentions that there were many Zionists group in the towns in which he lived, including Gordonia (of which he was a member), and Shomer HaTsa’ir & Makabi (to which his brother belong). Vider then tells the short story of how his brother emigrated to Palestine after the war. |
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00:29:24
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Vider briefly discusses the Jewish bathhouse in his shtetl that was used as a mikve (ritual bath) by the town’s men on Friday night before shabes. From this topic, Vider and Professor Kerler discuss the origins and uses of the idiom “firn in bud arayn” (lit. “to lead somone into the baths”). Vider reminisces about the nignum (traditional wordless melodies) sung by his Rebbe. He then sings a loshn-koydesh (the Hebrew-Aramaic language of prayer and liturgy) song that his father would sing at the third meal before the end of shabes. |
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00:33:01
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Vider answers more questions relating to sociolinguistics and dialectology. |
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00:39:10
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Vider reports that he read a good deal of Yiddish literature in his youth in Romania, as his mother had poor vision and he would often read aloud to her. Vider’s mother was a “firzugerin” (women’s prayer leader) in the synagogue, and he describes how the women used to pray. |
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00:41:04
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Professor Kerler and Vider return to the sociolinguistic/dialectological questionnaire. Vider also details how he mother cooked and shares his recipes for “gefilte fish” and other foods. |
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00:49:26
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Vider briefly mentions what Yiddish literature he read before and after the war. |
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00:53:51
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Vider tells the story of how he learned to speak Russian and, on a related note, how he became a miner in the Soviet Union, in addition tot he other jobs he held. Vider answers further questions from Professor Kerler’s sociolinguistic survey. |
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