(7Zal~:( r /<br > Life In A Carpathian Village<br > My mother， Yitla Fciga (Fanny)， was born in Szaphmca in thc Car<br > palhian area of Czechoslovakia in 189g. BeE)re World War 11<br > Szaphmea had a vibrant Jewish community， with many insdtution~ of<br > learning and a f， mlous lineage of rabbis.<br > Yilta Fciga and five other children wcre the [m~ducl of mv<br > grandlalhcr s lruilft~l second marriage which followed the death of hi~<br > firsl v，ifc at a oung age. Gr，mdfalhcr Melach， aflcr whom 1 am par<br > flail; ，alto d， ~:l，x a very energetic， handsomc man， well-respected ira<br > ， ~，zaph)nca by ，low and Gentile. Although obsclwant， hc was a modern<br > Jew who believed that (he study of Tah-nud alone was not enough and<br > that hard physical work and participalion in secular life wcrc of great<br > importance as wcll. Evcryonc in the family spokc Yiddish， but the<br > prcfcrrcd language in the household was Hungarian. Unlikc the wivcs<br > (51" I lasidic or Orthodc)x men， nay grandmc)thcr did not wear a wig. The<br > young men in the family， like nay grandfathcr， wcrc clcan-shavcn and<br > without the i~aYoth (sidclocks). Nor did they have t(~ wc~lr :icith (frin-<br > ge s) or v~unm//，c，s" (skullcaps). The girls alIcndcd social functions in<br > llliXt (.I t (ll/Ipally and wcrc t)ellllitlt:d IO Ilkive I~ellt， tczvt)ii，x.<br > As a y(u).g man， Gran，.Ip，i Mclaeh ， ，. ;is ;![>p)c)IIicc~I iu a [l，)v~E mill<br > ;I，d became proficicn( in ever，，， phase of lhc c ral~， l lc :，;~~，>~: t~，<， :~rnc ti，c<br > forcu)au of lhc samc mill and made a linc living i~>! hi:， ic~t~:.~， i:~rlaii.<br >As a re，sequence， all his children wcrc able lo allcnd both ， ，~ cutar a~i~i<br >religi()us xchools hcyolld what was lhcn custotnary for the children ，:!<br >a .It wish workiug man. Once the children finished their b:~sic sch~)ol-<br >in!:， cvc~v one of them， including (he Girls， had 1(5 learn it/rz~<k and be-<br >come sol f-su flicicnl.<br > l";mtl xv:> a brighl， xivacious， l)rclly child. She was known as the<br >hapl)y lillh ctum ~hcnm， who made everyone laugh. Nhc v， as loved bx <br >the ，. ntilc f;IInil;. ， hut cspcciaIly adorcd by her filthcr ，.，，he， anaong<br >olhcr IhiIlgs. admired he) for her tomboyish ))atucc. l lc did la~)t call her<br >