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My parents weren’t very religious. They observed some common rituals. On Friday night my mother would clean the whole house, if you could call our home a house. She always made some kind of cheese pastry, no matter how poor we were, and some soup. We always had that on Friday night, except during the time we were interned. On Saturday, the men went to the synagogue, but my mother didn’t. I don’t remember if my father went to the synagogue. They didn’t have any special role in the Jewish community, nor were they involved in politics. Not all of our neighbors were Jews, but most of them were. Our relations with them were very good. I remember that after my father’s death when we moved to our second house on Shar Planina Street, the landlords there were Jews and we often gathered together under the vines in the yard during the summer.
My parents communicated mostly with Jews, except for my father at his workplace. They usually visited other Jewish families. I remember that when a holiday like Pesach, Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah came, my grandmother Buka was very strict and gathered all the family at her place. I remember a long narrow table arranged with everything the rituals required. We all went there and by the time we were allowed to eat after the prayers, I was already starving. For Jews family is very important. On all holidays the family should gather at the place of the eldest member. And my grandmother observed those traditions strictly. We didn’t go on vacations because we couldn’t afford it.
My mother’s sisters lived in Sofia until we were interned [see Internment of Jews in Bulgaria] [9]. She had three sisters. They were all housewives, and she also had one brother. My mother’s sisters were Berta, Ameli and the eldest one: Ermana. My mother was second after Ermana, then Ameli was born and Berta is the youngest. Her brother was born between the third and the fourth sister and his name was Avram. They all lived in Sofia in the Jewish neighborhood. My uncle Avram was a tailor. Berta’s husband was a barber, Ameli’s husband sold some goods on a cart, I don’t remember what exactly. Ermana’s husband was injured during a war, but still worked as a tailor. They all had many children. I can only tell their numbers, for example Ermana had three sons and one daughter, Ameli had two sons, and Berta had one daughter.
My parents communicated mostly with Jews, except for my father at his workplace. They usually visited other Jewish families. I remember that when a holiday like Pesach, Yom Kippur or Rosh Hashanah came, my grandmother Buka was very strict and gathered all the family at her place. I remember a long narrow table arranged with everything the rituals required. We all went there and by the time we were allowed to eat after the prayers, I was already starving. For Jews family is very important. On all holidays the family should gather at the place of the eldest member. And my grandmother observed those traditions strictly. We didn’t go on vacations because we couldn’t afford it.
My mother’s sisters lived in Sofia until we were interned [see Internment of Jews in Bulgaria] [9]. She had three sisters. They were all housewives, and she also had one brother. My mother’s sisters were Berta, Ameli and the eldest one: Ermana. My mother was second after Ermana, then Ameli was born and Berta is the youngest. Her brother was born between the third and the fourth sister and his name was Avram. They all lived in Sofia in the Jewish neighborhood. My uncle Avram was a tailor. Berta’s husband was a barber, Ameli’s husband sold some goods on a cart, I don’t remember what exactly. Ermana’s husband was injured during a war, but still worked as a tailor. They all had many children. I can only tell their numbers, for example Ermana had three sons and one daughter, Ameli had two sons, and Berta had one daughter.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Adela Nissimova Levi