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Our Jewish education was our mother’s responsibility. My father knew only the Kiddush. He was illiterate but my mother knew almost everything. My mother taught us about the holidays, Roshana, Kippur, and Pesach. She was reading the Haggadah.
She was teaching my eldest brother Alberto and me from Purim until Pesach how to read the Haggadah. Our Haggadah was in Judeo-Spanish, not in Hebrew. I didn’t know Hebrew. I never learned it. So many times I went to Israel and I didn’t learn even a word!
We were attending the Monastirioton Synagogue [15]. Sygrou Street was full of Jews. My mother and Aruesti [16] were very dear friends. When they were building this synagogue, Aruesti because she was ill, asked my mother to supervise the workers and watch the ‘arabades’ [Turkish: two or four-wheel carriage used for the transportation of people or goods.]
She was standing there counting what they did. They made the best Cal [Hebrew: Kahal: flock or synagogue ] of Thessaloniki. It was built all with marble. At the entrance there was a big stair made with marble leading upstairs to the women’s section. My mother’s seat was in the first row because she had helped at the construction of the synagogue. This synagogue still exists because the Red Cross used it during the German occupation.
I remember the synagogue’s tevah the day my eldest brother Alberto had his bar mitzvah. In the morning he sang at the Cal. All the monks, the ‘frères’ from his school Saint Jean Baptiste de la Salle came. His fellow boy scouts also came because he was in a boy scouts team. Then we had a reception at our house.
The tables were set from the living room to the balcony. It was in September. The year I don’t remember. For one whole week my mother had ‘mosos de boda’ to help prepare pies for the reception. [Mosos de boda: Judeo-Spanish term for young men to serve as helping hands, occasionally in the preparation of an event.] In the afternoon we had a reception again. My parents’ friends came with their children. We were dancing all night long.
That night my father’s associate told him that he had spent so much money for just a feast for his son. My mother, who didn’t trust him in the first place, heard what he said. Then she said to my father that although he was the first to come to congratulate them, he had also said spoken ill of them.
She was teaching my eldest brother Alberto and me from Purim until Pesach how to read the Haggadah. Our Haggadah was in Judeo-Spanish, not in Hebrew. I didn’t know Hebrew. I never learned it. So many times I went to Israel and I didn’t learn even a word!
We were attending the Monastirioton Synagogue [15]. Sygrou Street was full of Jews. My mother and Aruesti [16] were very dear friends. When they were building this synagogue, Aruesti because she was ill, asked my mother to supervise the workers and watch the ‘arabades’ [Turkish: two or four-wheel carriage used for the transportation of people or goods.]
She was standing there counting what they did. They made the best Cal [Hebrew: Kahal: flock or synagogue ] of Thessaloniki. It was built all with marble. At the entrance there was a big stair made with marble leading upstairs to the women’s section. My mother’s seat was in the first row because she had helped at the construction of the synagogue. This synagogue still exists because the Red Cross used it during the German occupation.
I remember the synagogue’s tevah the day my eldest brother Alberto had his bar mitzvah. In the morning he sang at the Cal. All the monks, the ‘frères’ from his school Saint Jean Baptiste de la Salle came. His fellow boy scouts also came because he was in a boy scouts team. Then we had a reception at our house.
The tables were set from the living room to the balcony. It was in September. The year I don’t remember. For one whole week my mother had ‘mosos de boda’ to help prepare pies for the reception. [Mosos de boda: Judeo-Spanish term for young men to serve as helping hands, occasionally in the preparation of an event.] In the afternoon we had a reception again. My parents’ friends came with their children. We were dancing all night long.
That night my father’s associate told him that he had spent so much money for just a feast for his son. My mother, who didn’t trust him in the first place, heard what he said. Then she said to my father that although he was the first to come to congratulate them, he had also said spoken ill of them.
Period
Interview
Mirou-Mairy Angel