Tag #127876 - Interview #98363 (Aron Ishakh)

My children were raised to feel Jewish by their grandparents, Menahem and Roza Alfandari, my wife's parents, who were quiet people. They were very religious and observed all the traditions. They taught my children about Jewish cuisine and our holidays: Pesach, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Lag ba-Omer. They observed them at home. Of course, we also went to the synagogue. There were three synagogues in Ruse; two for Sephardi Jews and one for Ashkenazi Jews. Various religious rites were performed in the two Sephardi synagogues, which were called the ‘small’ and the ‘big’ synagogue. During the week the prayers were performed in the small synagogue. My family usually went to the big synagogue. On Erev Sabbath and on Jewish holidays the Torah was read in the big synagogue. In it every family who had paid a voluntary fee had their own seat. On prayer days such as Pesach, Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, women also came into the synagogue and sat separately from the men on the balcony.