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My father also had two decares of grapevines near the town. [Decare: a unit for the measurement of area, generally used for land area. One decare is the same as 10 ares, which is the same as 1000 square meters. The decare is not widely used, except in Norway and many of the formerly Ottoman countries.] My father made wine out of the grapes. He also made at least 40-50 liters of ‘rakia’ [plum brandy], out of the plums. He loved drinking ‘rakia’ from time to time, but he never drank too much. He also had a field in one of the neighboring villages, where they grew tobacco when they were young and stored it for sale. They also grew maize back then. Both my grandmother and my grandfather also bought land to cultivate, although they had jobs. When my father earned more money, he would always go and buy some land. Jews had this habit – they thought that the best way to preserve money was to invest it in land. I don’t know what happened to this land, whether it was sold or nationalized; I just don’t know.
I remember many stories about my grandmother Klara. She lived until she was 104 years old and until the very end she was strong and working. She helped my father with his business which was very dirty work and my mother refused to help my father. What’s more, this kind of work can’t be put off, because the meat goes bad. In such cases, we all helped my father, all the children and my grandmother. I remember that when she turned 90, she made a ritual. All her relatives and acquaintances gathered at home to sew the dress in which she would be buried. That was an interesting ritual, I don’t know if it was performed for the men as well. It was a real celebration – everyone sang and danced. In fact, we buried her in that dress when she died.
I also remember an interesting story about her funeral. She was buried in the Sofia Central Jewish Cemetery. We asked the Rabbi of Sofia, Daniel Zion [2], to perform the ceremony, but when he found out how old she was, he said that no sad songs should be sung about her, only wedding, joyful ones. That must be the ritual when burying people who had lived for so long. But we weren’t able to observe it, because a young woman was also buried on the same day and the rabbi had to pay respect to her age in the ceremony. That took place in 1954 in Sofia. In Dupnitsa grandmother Klara was famous as a healer. She was very good at setting dislocated legs and arms. I don’t know how she did it, by some kind of massage. She was very religious: she went to the synagogue in the mornings and observed all Jewish traditions.
I remember many stories about my grandmother Klara. She lived until she was 104 years old and until the very end she was strong and working. She helped my father with his business which was very dirty work and my mother refused to help my father. What’s more, this kind of work can’t be put off, because the meat goes bad. In such cases, we all helped my father, all the children and my grandmother. I remember that when she turned 90, she made a ritual. All her relatives and acquaintances gathered at home to sew the dress in which she would be buried. That was an interesting ritual, I don’t know if it was performed for the men as well. It was a real celebration – everyone sang and danced. In fact, we buried her in that dress when she died.
I also remember an interesting story about her funeral. She was buried in the Sofia Central Jewish Cemetery. We asked the Rabbi of Sofia, Daniel Zion [2], to perform the ceremony, but when he found out how old she was, he said that no sad songs should be sung about her, only wedding, joyful ones. That must be the ritual when burying people who had lived for so long. But we weren’t able to observe it, because a young woman was also buried on the same day and the rabbi had to pay respect to her age in the ceremony. That took place in 1954 in Sofia. In Dupnitsa grandmother Klara was famous as a healer. She was very good at setting dislocated legs and arms. I don’t know how she did it, by some kind of massage. She was very religious: she went to the synagogue in the mornings and observed all Jewish traditions.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Leon Mordohay Madzhar