High Holidays

[Text: Rachel, a survivor from Skarżysko, Poland was one of six children with a large and very close extended family. She recalls High Holidays celebrations with her relatives.] 

Rachel Fox: It wasn’t a rich life, like here. But it was a very pleasant life, very family oriented. We were very close. And we cared a great deal for each other. The house was always full of relatives, a lot of cousins, a lot of uncles and aunts from both sides of my father’s and my mother’s family. So, it’s very pleasant memories. Many more, but it was hard. They couldn’t obtain the visas.  

Interviewer: Tell me something about a typical family celebration? You said you had a lot of relatives in your house all the time.  

Rachel Fox: A typical family celebration, well, for example, if they came for the High Holidays, some of my aunts came to our house, and they started to prepare for all the young. They did baking, a lot of baking. And, well, you felt how it was just marvelous when it felt so good.  

Interviewer: How many people would you have, let’s say?  

Rachel Fox: Well, we were eight in our family. But sometimes we did it on our own, and then afterward the family came for dessert, to be together. And well, somehow, we always had company, for the meal or after the meal, because we are very close with all of them.