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My brother Davit was introduced to Luiza, the cousin of one the group members, Yashar Kalvo, and started dating her.
My brother Davit took my older sister Fortune everywhere he went, in this way she fell in love with a member of the group, Sabetay Farsi. Sabetay, even though he felt close to my sister, considered her only a friend because she was the sibling of a group member. In the meantime, a family from Ortakoy asked permission from my mother to match a young man to my sister, however my sister did not even want to meet this young man, she was seriously in love with Sabetay. This situation continued for a while as a one-sided crush, finally my sister’s mood, her lack of appetite, her lack of interest in everything, started to upset my mother and father. They said to my sister: “My dear daughter, what is it? We notice you are more down and sad every day? Let us take you to the doctor, so he can examine you well, what do you think?”
My brother Davit understood the problem since he knew my sister so well and went to Sabetay and said, “Look, my dear Sabetay, my sister Fortune likes you a lot, yet you pretend like she doesn’t exist. Do you find her so repulsive that you do not approach her?” Sabetay: “How is that possible? I like her too but because she is your sister, I could not approach her and open up the way I wanted to. Of course I would like to get to know Fortune better”. When everything was out in the open, my sister dated Sabetay who was a typesetter in a small printing house for a while. (Unfortunately I do not know his education level) My family accepted Sabetay immediately, because he was a very good, honest, humble and pleasant person. When I say dating, don’t think about the dating that goes on today, there was no such thing. Only once a week, in general on Sundays, there was a gathering place called “Hemla” in Balat [a Jewish neighborhood on the European side] that the community owned. My older brother would play there every Sunday with his friends, dance, chat and eat and drink the cakes and lemonade that were offered. The young couple got to know each other this way.
My brother Davit took my older sister Fortune everywhere he went, in this way she fell in love with a member of the group, Sabetay Farsi. Sabetay, even though he felt close to my sister, considered her only a friend because she was the sibling of a group member. In the meantime, a family from Ortakoy asked permission from my mother to match a young man to my sister, however my sister did not even want to meet this young man, she was seriously in love with Sabetay. This situation continued for a while as a one-sided crush, finally my sister’s mood, her lack of appetite, her lack of interest in everything, started to upset my mother and father. They said to my sister: “My dear daughter, what is it? We notice you are more down and sad every day? Let us take you to the doctor, so he can examine you well, what do you think?”
My brother Davit understood the problem since he knew my sister so well and went to Sabetay and said, “Look, my dear Sabetay, my sister Fortune likes you a lot, yet you pretend like she doesn’t exist. Do you find her so repulsive that you do not approach her?” Sabetay: “How is that possible? I like her too but because she is your sister, I could not approach her and open up the way I wanted to. Of course I would like to get to know Fortune better”. When everything was out in the open, my sister dated Sabetay who was a typesetter in a small printing house for a while. (Unfortunately I do not know his education level) My family accepted Sabetay immediately, because he was a very good, honest, humble and pleasant person. When I say dating, don’t think about the dating that goes on today, there was no such thing. Only once a week, in general on Sundays, there was a gathering place called “Hemla” in Balat [a Jewish neighborhood on the European side] that the community owned. My older brother would play there every Sunday with his friends, dance, chat and eat and drink the cakes and lemonade that were offered. The young couple got to know each other this way.
Period
Location
Beyoğlu/İstanbul
Türkiye
Interview
Lazar Abuaf