Voice/Vision Holocaust Survivor Oral History Archive

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Henry Konstam - October 25, 1991

Let me ask you one quick. What was a Friday night like in your house?

It was Shabbos.

So tell me about it.

Oh, light the candle and make Kiddush and you know, did a, eat a meal as a, a Orthodox uh, Jew does live. We still do that here.

Did you go to shul for, on Friday nights?

Oh yeah. Friday night we went to shul and, and Saturday morning and Saturday afternoon. Three times a day.

And at the Shabbos meal, would you sing?

Zemirot, yeah, yeah. Very...

Anything else?

Was uh, very, we didn't know any other way of life. It was Hasidic, you know, and uh, you know we lived a religious life.

Were you Hasidic, any particular sect?

Ger. Ger Hasidic, yeah. It was the largest, that was the largest movement.

Did you have contact with other Hasidic movements?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Was Alexander, was Suchatsov, there was Strikivah. There was uh, many other kinds...

So were the relations always pleasant?

Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

No arguments?

Well, some individuals could have. But uh, the way of life was uh, were all the same group. It was just little different system, you know. But there's no... I.... I never had any problem.

Any Zionist groups?

Oh yeah, there were Zionist groups. There were Zionists and... We belonged to the Aguda.

You were from the religious Zionists.

Hm?

So there were religious Zionists.

Well uh, they were uh... No, not necessarily. They uh, uh, uh... They actually were uh, opposite to, to the Zio...

They were anti-Zionists.

No, they are... They, they all, they all for Israel at the time, but the uh, uh, their uh, philosophies were not the same. The Zio... it was Zionist but not religious. And the uh, uh Aguda was all religious, you know.