This photo was taken in Mannheim, Germany, some time in the mid-1930s.
My father is the cute little boy in the middle, sitting next to his brother.
The couple behind him are my grandparents.
Notice the traditional German Shabbos Lamp hanging in the corner.
I guess not much had changed since 1867, when Moritz Oppenheim painted this scene:
I sure do love succahs with pine needles.........
16 comments:
Cool...what are the round things that are hanging? Would you know what was used for s'chach?
Such a fantastic pic! Thanks for sharing.
I can't clearly see what exactly the round things are but my guess is they might me onions.
It's a Minhog among certain Bnei ashkenaz to put them in a Sukko for decoration. Why? In Hebrew it's "batzal" - which is an allusion to "betzel kenofecho tastiraynu"...
Thanks for sharing this amazing picture! In addition to the photo's historical value, I like the cute expressions on your father and uncle's faces as well as the obvious love your grandparents a"h had for each other!
Chag samei'ach to you and your family!
Jehoschua -
What a fascinating thought....
I'm checking in to it.
PinkDevora -
Nice to see you popping in for a comment again! Chag Sameach
Mrs. S. -
I had the same thoughts when viewing that photo. I never met my grandparents and photos like these give me a feel for who they were as a family. Chag Sameach and thanks for the comment!
I thought of the onions, but they look kind of large and I thought (from the link) that it was more of a French Minhag:
http://kayj.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251&sid=da32b0b587ce91b91942f078f61eb0fd
But maybe...
@YDL
You are correct. However, the Elsaß is not classic French Jewry - for the longest part it was part of German speaking territories (to this day a great deal of people there speaks Elsassian which is a South German dialect).
The custom can indeed mainly be found in South West Germany - however, when certain families (such as mine) moved North (or elsewhere) they took it along...
Hence you even find it Berlin, albeit not as a widespread custom but more among certain families.
Alright, we are 6 hours ahead...
Einen guten Jaumtauw für alle!
Thank You
A very beautiful picture.
Do you know what the metallic objects hanging on the walls are? Could they be sefer torah silver breast plates?
WAdsworth3 -
I wish I knew...
I'm in the process of trying to find out.
I'll keep you posted.
Fun pictures.
In my family - we hang jars of: honey, oil, wine, flour, and, milk. Anyone do the same? Any one know why??
Just curious...
I shared this idea of onions hanging in the sukkah with my family no yom tov and everyone thought it was very interesting.
my grandmother is a yekke, and grew up in berlin. she says she doesn't remember hanging onions in her sukkah so maybe it was just a minhag of some there...
RE: 1/2 Yekke
I looked around and did not find anything (which means nothing), but:
All of these foods are speciifically mentioned in regard to EY.
Honey/Milk - eretz zavas chalav u'dvash,
Oil - olives, wine - grapes, flour - wheat (or any of the other 7 minim that can be made into flour). So maybe that's why...or maybe not.
YDL -
If I'm not mistaken, the flour and oil etc. has more to do with the korbanos....
The Gemara in succah 10a says that one should decorate his Succah with "decorated cloths, and hang nuts, almonds, peaches, pomegranates, grapes, wheat, wine, and oil". so there is the source for wine and oil.
hey, my grandparents also lived in Mannheim till 1933. What were yours' names?
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