Tag #116749 - Interview #83161 (Etta Ferdmann)

Everybody in Narva knew my grandmother and deeply respected her. She was a very religious woman. In spite of living from hand to mouth, she also found a way to help the poor. She said, no matter how bad your life was, there would always be somebody whose life was even worse. She found people like that and helped them the way she could. Of course, she observed all Jewish traditions and taught her children that. Sabbath was always marked at home as well as other Jewish holidays. Grandmother went to the synagogue and took the children with her. I cannot say that we were as pious as grandmother, but we were religious and followed traditions.

Only Yiddish was spoken at home. All the children knew Russian and Estonian. Grandmother spoke Yiddish, and she knew some phrases in Estonian to have a small talk with her neighbors. Grandmother was a very strict and autocratic woman, a true head of the family. Even when the kids grew up, they respected her a lot. He word was the law. There was only one case when somebody disobeyed Grandmother. I will tell you about it later.