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In our family, from all the Jewish holidays we observed only Pesach [the interviewee is speaking about the period 1944-1989]. I always bought matzah. However, very often my wife or I were at work and we couldn’t celebrate the holiday. I have two children: a boy and a girl. Their names are Leon and Tamara. I haven’t brought them up in the spirit of Jewish traditions. They only know the names of the Jewish holidays and some words in Ladino. They have rarely visited the Jewish club. My grandchildren have even less knowledge about the Jewish holidays. I have never spoken in Ladino with my wife.
My son graduated in Electrical Engineering from the Technical School in Dupnitsa and currently he works in a chemical-pharmaceutical plant. He was sent on business trips to Germany for the purpose of importing machines for the plant several times. My daughter works in the Patent Office in Sofia. My children are married to Bulgarians. My son Leon is married to Tanya, who works as a kindergarten teacher. They have two children: Andrey and Beatrica. My daughter Tamara is married to Yordan Simeonov, who is a department chief at a metallurgical plant. They have one son, whose name is Sabin. He works in a bank and meanwhile he continues upgrading his qualification as an economist.
My sisters and I corresponded with each other on a regular basis after they left for Israel. I visited them in 1977. It was my only visit there. I didn’t have any major problems in terms of permission to travel to Israel. We couldn’t travel freely in those times and I had to submit an application to the militia and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I visited Israel together with my wife. I was at my sisters’. We hadn’t seen each other for ages and it was very moving. One of my sisters lives in a village above the Keneret Lake, and the other one in a suburb in Tel Aviv. Both of them are already widows. Their children don’t know Bulgarian. My sisters also visited Bulgaria more than ten years ago.
My son graduated in Electrical Engineering from the Technical School in Dupnitsa and currently he works in a chemical-pharmaceutical plant. He was sent on business trips to Germany for the purpose of importing machines for the plant several times. My daughter works in the Patent Office in Sofia. My children are married to Bulgarians. My son Leon is married to Tanya, who works as a kindergarten teacher. They have two children: Andrey and Beatrica. My daughter Tamara is married to Yordan Simeonov, who is a department chief at a metallurgical plant. They have one son, whose name is Sabin. He works in a bank and meanwhile he continues upgrading his qualification as an economist.
My sisters and I corresponded with each other on a regular basis after they left for Israel. I visited them in 1977. It was my only visit there. I didn’t have any major problems in terms of permission to travel to Israel. We couldn’t travel freely in those times and I had to submit an application to the militia and to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. I visited Israel together with my wife. I was at my sisters’. We hadn’t seen each other for ages and it was very moving. One of my sisters lives in a village above the Keneret Lake, and the other one in a suburb in Tel Aviv. Both of them are already widows. Their children don’t know Bulgarian. My sisters also visited Bulgaria more than ten years ago.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Sabat Pilosof