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We had a chazzan, who had graduated from Robert College in Tsarigrad [Bulgarian for Istanbul, Turkey]. After that he came to Vidin where he became a chazzan. He was a tall and handsome man. His name was Mois. Since I was studying French at school at that time, my parents insisted that I learn the language. So he gave me private lessons. He dressed in civil clothes when he went outside; he came to our house and I studied with him. After that he moved, I think to Israel, and our next chazzan was Avram Miko. His wife and he had very good voices and they performed some parts of the prayers using music from arias from operas by Verdi. I cannot exactly remember where he stood while singing. Probably he stood at the podium from where the prayers were read. We had a very good time at the synagogue. The prayers and the traditional Jewish weddings were very nicely performed in this way. The elder and the more pious ones protested a bit, but on the whole we all loved him, because he was a nice man. Then he left for Israel during the big aliyah in 1947-48 [see Mass Aliyah] [10], but he returned a couple of times to Bulgaria.
The Jewish school was a two-storied house. There were four rooms and an office used as a teachers' room on the first floor. There was an inner wooden staircase to the second floor where there were other classrooms. I remember five classrooms. There was also a yard. Adoni Koen was the headmaster and taught us Ivrit. He was a very strict teacher; the children treated him with much respect. The other teacher was Adoni Bito [mister], who also taught Ivrit, but he wasn't nearly as strict. There were also two or three female teachers. I remember most vividly Giveret Ernesta, who taught Bulgarian. She was a very pretty, plump woman, always smiling and kind to the children. I liked her a lot and long after I left Vidin, when we returned from time to time, I always visited her. The other teacher was Giveret Buka [miss], who taught us maths.
As most school curriculums in the country, ours included reading, writing and maths, which we called it 'calculation'. We studied Ivrit - reading and writing. I don't remember if we studied history, maybe some basic things. From the school subjects I preferred reading; I liked poems. Only Jews studied in that school. It was a Jewish municipal school, supported by the consistory. Bulgarians had other schools. Even in Kaleto there was a Bulgarian school where some Jews also studied. They came to our school for the Sunday classes in Ivrit. My brother also studied in the Jewish school in his first four grades. The school had a Hebraic focus, putting emphasis on the studies of Jewish history and Ivrit.
The Jewish school was a two-storied house. There were four rooms and an office used as a teachers' room on the first floor. There was an inner wooden staircase to the second floor where there were other classrooms. I remember five classrooms. There was also a yard. Adoni Koen was the headmaster and taught us Ivrit. He was a very strict teacher; the children treated him with much respect. The other teacher was Adoni Bito [mister], who also taught Ivrit, but he wasn't nearly as strict. There were also two or three female teachers. I remember most vividly Giveret Ernesta, who taught Bulgarian. She was a very pretty, plump woman, always smiling and kind to the children. I liked her a lot and long after I left Vidin, when we returned from time to time, I always visited her. The other teacher was Giveret Buka [miss], who taught us maths.
As most school curriculums in the country, ours included reading, writing and maths, which we called it 'calculation'. We studied Ivrit - reading and writing. I don't remember if we studied history, maybe some basic things. From the school subjects I preferred reading; I liked poems. Only Jews studied in that school. It was a Jewish municipal school, supported by the consistory. Bulgarians had other schools. Even in Kaleto there was a Bulgarian school where some Jews also studied. They came to our school for the Sunday classes in Ivrit. My brother also studied in the Jewish school in his first four grades. The school had a Hebraic focus, putting emphasis on the studies of Jewish history and Ivrit.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
sophie pinkas