It has been twenty years since the last public worship took place in our small Jewish community in Zilina. Rebe Zev Stiefel from Piestany took an opportunity of the High Holidays time (Rosh ha shana, Yom kipur …) and held a religious service for us. We cannot forget to mention his wife and his little daughter, who accompanied him. The meeting took place in the synagogue in Dlabacova street, Sunday October 5, 2008 (Tishrei 6, 5769) at 5:30 p.m.
The service and rebe Stiefel’s singing only proved his reputation to be an excellent synagogue singer. We sang along (at least we tried) three songs and rebe has told us some stories regarding High Holidays in between the songs. The end of service was marked by the sound of sofar.
Small refreshments were served afterwards and we could taste some of rebe wife’s cakes. There were some typical cakes for this season, especially for Rosh ha shana. For instance carrot cake, honey cake and apple cake (there are some recipes for typical Jewish meals in Slovak at our web page as well). Apples with honey were also a part of the refreshments indeed. Many individual discussions were held with the rebe for the rest of the evening.
This festival evening was a success and we are looking forward to seeing rebe Stiefel in Zilina at a meeting we are organizing in a short time. The detailed information about next meeting will be announced in writing in time.
