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This school building still stands. Today we insist that it remain a monument, a museum to the generation of Jews that passed through that school. Jewish life took place there.
Aragon was the central church [synagogue] in Bitola. The other churches [synagogues] were apartments that had been renovated for this purpose. I know of two or three that were either renovated basements or apartments and used as churches [synagogues]. Aragon was built to be a church [synagogue].
For a month after my father died I went to church [synagogue]. I went to the church [synagogue] close to the Jewish community. It was a basement that was renovated into a kal. I had to go to tikkun every morning. Avram Hason, an illiterate pope [Jewish religious functionary] and our friend, picked me up every morning. He read [recited] everything but didn’t know how to read. In Bitola we had books that were printed in Hebrew. There were people who were literate and knew how to read and there were people, like Avram, who read prayers but were illiterate. He knew what was on each page but he didn’t know how to read it. I knew how to read Hebrew. I learned Hebrew in religion classes in school. The prayer that I needed to read for a month I read from the book. That is when I realized that he does not know how to read. He did it all by memory. That was the way the popes [rabbi] were in Bitola at the time. A modern pope [rabbi] came, that was Moris Romano’s father [Rabbi Avram Romano]. Before him there was Djaen [10] and others but I didn’t know them.
I knew Rabbi Romano because he was my religion teacher in school. Hakham Romano was a regular man with a small beard. He didn’t wear a robe or fez. Avram [the hakham mentioned above] and the other chazzanim, who were half literate, wore fezes. When they went out to buy something they went out in those robes, black long coats with black fezes on their heads. He didn’t wear that tallit; that he wore in church [synagogue].
Aragon was the central church [synagogue] in Bitola. The other churches [synagogues] were apartments that had been renovated for this purpose. I know of two or three that were either renovated basements or apartments and used as churches [synagogues]. Aragon was built to be a church [synagogue].
For a month after my father died I went to church [synagogue]. I went to the church [synagogue] close to the Jewish community. It was a basement that was renovated into a kal. I had to go to tikkun every morning. Avram Hason, an illiterate pope [Jewish religious functionary] and our friend, picked me up every morning. He read [recited] everything but didn’t know how to read. In Bitola we had books that were printed in Hebrew. There were people who were literate and knew how to read and there were people, like Avram, who read prayers but were illiterate. He knew what was on each page but he didn’t know how to read it. I knew how to read Hebrew. I learned Hebrew in religion classes in school. The prayer that I needed to read for a month I read from the book. That is when I realized that he does not know how to read. He did it all by memory. That was the way the popes [rabbi] were in Bitola at the time. A modern pope [rabbi] came, that was Moris Romano’s father [Rabbi Avram Romano]. Before him there was Djaen [10] and others but I didn’t know them.
I knew Rabbi Romano because he was my religion teacher in school. Hakham Romano was a regular man with a small beard. He didn’t wear a robe or fez. Avram [the hakham mentioned above] and the other chazzanim, who were half literate, wore fezes. When they went out to buy something they went out in those robes, black long coats with black fezes on their heads. He didn’t wear that tallit; that he wore in church [synagogue].
Location
Bitola
North Macedonia
Interview
Beno Ruso