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My mother, Rashel Levi, was from Dupnitsa. She had been married before but her first husband perished on the front during the First Balkan War [3]. Thus she remained a widow with one daughter. From Dupnitsa she moved to Sofia, where her brother lived. There she searched for an opportunity to get married. And this is how my parents met. My father learned somehow about her, likewise she learned about him and he took her to Gorna Dzhumaya. They got married and every two years my mother gave birth to a child: she gave birth to six children. All my siblings were born in Gorna Dzhumaya, except for my eldest sister. The story of my family, which I’m about to narrate began in the town of Gorna Dzhumaya, where my family lived until 1925.
My father used to be a rabbi in Gorna Dzhumaya. The rabbi played a very significant role in such [small] places, as he used to perform all the rituals. He not only read the prayers but also slaughtered the animals, circumcised the boys after their birth, and conducted wedding ceremonies. I don’t know why my father decided to settle in Vratsa, moreover it seems to me that I had never asked him, but during the 1920s many emigrants from Macedonia settled in Gorna Dzhumaya and there were a lot of murders. My father got scared of these things and in 1925 my family moved to Vratsa.
My father was the only one in the town to perform Jewish religious customs: beginning with the reading of the prayer on Friday and Saturday as well as all the holiday rituals. Moreover, he was also a shochet: he used to slaughter the animals and provided meat for the Jewish community. When he slaughtered the animals he used to bring home meat and pluck from the slaughterhouse. We were fed up of eating liver and pluck as when he slaughtered the animals he always brought such things. In accordance with our custom he made us put liver and heart on a plate and take it to other Jewish families. It’s also done during the holiday of Purim.
My father used to be a rabbi in Gorna Dzhumaya. The rabbi played a very significant role in such [small] places, as he used to perform all the rituals. He not only read the prayers but also slaughtered the animals, circumcised the boys after their birth, and conducted wedding ceremonies. I don’t know why my father decided to settle in Vratsa, moreover it seems to me that I had never asked him, but during the 1920s many emigrants from Macedonia settled in Gorna Dzhumaya and there were a lot of murders. My father got scared of these things and in 1925 my family moved to Vratsa.
My father was the only one in the town to perform Jewish religious customs: beginning with the reading of the prayer on Friday and Saturday as well as all the holiday rituals. Moreover, he was also a shochet: he used to slaughter the animals and provided meat for the Jewish community. When he slaughtered the animals he used to bring home meat and pluck from the slaughterhouse. We were fed up of eating liver and pluck as when he slaughtered the animals he always brought such things. In accordance with our custom he made us put liver and heart on a plate and take it to other Jewish families. It’s also done during the holiday of Purim.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Yosif Avram Levi