Welcome Sister Yolan, Brother Yuda!

Brit Milah Brit Milah, or "covenant of circumcision", is performed on a Jewish male eight days after he is born. The procedure is performed by a mohel -- a person who has mastered the set of Jewish laws regarding circumcision and received extensive practical training. The mohel removes the baby's foreskin and draws blood from the reproductive organ, after which the baby is given a Jewish name. More...

Then fall came. My older brother Sanyi was in elementary school and my younger brother Bela attended Hebrew school. I was already six years old and finished with kindergarten, yet my mother did not allow me to go to first grade because I was too skinny for her! So this was a sad time for me. My dream of obtaining knowledge had to be postponed. Whenever I could, I asked my parents to help me learn to read and write, and they were happy to oblige.

I spent quite a bit of time around my mother these days. I noticed that my mother washed some baby clothes together with our regular laundry, and asked her if she could give me some of these clothes for the toy baby I made myself. She said she could not. My mom looked somewhat heavy, so I asked her if this meant she may have a little baby - she answered yes! I dared not use the word "pregnant", as my mom would have reproved me for using this word.

I played one afternoon with my self-made rag-doll, and saw my cousin Katalin at our gate about to enter the house for a short visit. Being a very shamefaced girl, I was afraid she would laugh at me when she saw me playing with the rag-doll. I quickly sped off with the doll and hid behind the "restroom" at the other side of the house, staying there for a long time until I was sure my cousin had left.

We were now four children - my two brothers, my younger sister named Yolan, and myself - with the fifth child soon to be born. One sunny afternoon, an unknown lady with a handbag came to our house. We bombarded her with questions about the bag's contents - is there a little baby inside the bag for us? "No", she said, the stork would bring us the baby. While we had no idea how a baby comes to this world, the idea of a big bird bringing the baby sounded far-fetched. No doubt, my mother was resting in bed with great pains all the while, but she suffered quietly without saying a word. I never heard my mom complain, not then, and not even during the catastrophic Holocaust period. With her fine character, she gracefully bore whatever suffering Providence brought her way.

A little later my mom sent me to fetch my father. He was busy playing cards with a few of his friends in a coffeehouse owned by the Gold family, near Nadudvar's central market. I was really hurt when he did not come home right away. With his wife asking him to be by her side when she gives birth, he should have come home immediately. He sent me home with the message that he would be back in time, and indeed he was. He took all us children to Aunt Roza's house, where we slept very little that night. I recall jumping joyfully on the beds with our cousins the Elfenbein boys.

The following morning, we came home to find our mother in bed with a nice little baby boy in the crib. My mother stayed in bed for a couple of days, with nurse coming every day to take care of her. My father went to his business early in the morning and my two brothers were at school, leaving me to carry water from the street to our house for the nurse to use. I peeped through the keyhole to see what the nurse did to my mom.

When our newborn baby brother became eight days old he was circumcised by a mohel named Blau (or maybe Lefkovits) who also slaughtered animals for the Jewish community and served as cantor at the Temple. In accord with Jewish law, only a well trained man is allowed to slaughter animals - with his experienced hands and knowledge, the animal suffers minimally.

A big celebration marked the circumcision of our baby brother, who received the name Yuda Andor (Laslo). The event took place on the holiday of sukkot, so we had a really joyous celebration in our sukkah and courtyard, filled with people who came to share in our gladness. I still remember how glad I felt that day with so many guests, especially the little boys surrounding me with their flattering comments.

© David Muskal, 2001