Childhood Memories In The Sukkah

October 2013HenyaChaiet-100

 

 

Ah gooten un gehzunter yor alleh meineh Yiddish lehenershaft un frynt. (A good and healthy New Year to all my Yiddish readership and friends.)

Ich vil eich dertzalen vegen mein zaydes sukeh. (I want to tell you about my zayde’s sukkah.)

Yeder yor glych nauch Yom Kippur fleckt der zayde tzuzamen shtelen zein sukeh. (Every year right after Yom Kippur my zayde would put up his sukkah.)

Err haut dos gehmacht fuhn bretter un zeh flegen zich tzuknaytzen tzu avet laygen. (He made them from wooden boards and they would fold up to store.)

Mein baubeh fleckt bah shanen dee sukeh mit ah forhang ahf dos klehneh vindeh un klehneh eppelach fuhn zayer baim. (My grandmother would beautify the sukkahwith little curtains on the window and she hung crabapples from their tree.)

Yeder nacht flegen zeh einladen ayn tauchter un eareh kinder essen in zayer sukeh. (Every night they would invite one [of their five] daughter[s] and her children to eat in their sukkah.)

Shabbos nauch shul flegen dee gantzeh mishpokhe zein tzuzamen far Kiddish in der zaydes sukeh. (Shabbos after shul the entire family would have Kiddish in zayde’ssukkah.)

Mein zayde fleckt essen un shlaufen in der sukeh. (My grandfather would eat and sleep in the sukkah.)

Daus zeinen meineh gooteh zichroynes fuhn dem leiber yomtov sukahs. (These are my good memories of the loving holiday of Sukkos.)

Henya Chaiet is the Yiddish name for Mrs. A. Helen Feinn. Born in 1924 ten days before Passover, her parents had come to America one year prior. They spoke only Yiddish at home so that is all she spoke until age five when she started kindergarten. She then learned English, but has always loved Yiddish and speaks it whenever possible. Chaiet lived in La Porte and Michigan City, Ind., from 1952 to 1978 and currently resides in Walnut Creek, Calif. Email: afeinn87@gmail.com

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