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I remember the synagogue. I visited it mainly on high holidays like Rosh Hashanah, [Yom] Kippur, Pesach and not so much on Fridays. If we had ever been there on Friday it was when the visit was initiated by granny Dzhamila and grandpa Isak, who came to live in Sofia in 1919.
When some holiday was approaching my parents would buy me a new piece of clothing. After that, dressed in our best clothes, we went to the synagogue. Women went up to the balcony. I was present at my uncle Mois Beniesh’s wedding in the synagogue, or midrash maybe, in Odrin street in 1935. Uncle Miko got married when he was very young – only eighteen years old – to Milka, in 1928, a year before I was born. My mother was a witness at uncle Mois’s wedding. I remember that she was very elegant, wearing a fox fur borrowed from a friend of hers. I got startled when they broke the glasses during the nuptial ritual. This is the only thing I remember. My mother became very attached to her sister-in-law Rebeka, who was extremely beautiful. The two of them had a very close relationship throughout the years.
On Jewish holidays we convened mainly with uncle Mois and his wife Rebeka. I remember Pesach and Purim. For Purim mum liked to prepare a cake with walnut filling, she shaped the cake into the first letters of the names of my two aunts – Rebeka and Milka and gave it to them, no matter whether we convened with them or not. I don’t remember if there was any masking at Purim. Three weeks before Pesach mum would clean the house thoroughly, she washed all the clothes and scrutinized for breadcrumbs.
When some holiday was approaching my parents would buy me a new piece of clothing. After that, dressed in our best clothes, we went to the synagogue. Women went up to the balcony. I was present at my uncle Mois Beniesh’s wedding in the synagogue, or midrash maybe, in Odrin street in 1935. Uncle Miko got married when he was very young – only eighteen years old – to Milka, in 1928, a year before I was born. My mother was a witness at uncle Mois’s wedding. I remember that she was very elegant, wearing a fox fur borrowed from a friend of hers. I got startled when they broke the glasses during the nuptial ritual. This is the only thing I remember. My mother became very attached to her sister-in-law Rebeka, who was extremely beautiful. The two of them had a very close relationship throughout the years.
On Jewish holidays we convened mainly with uncle Mois and his wife Rebeka. I remember Pesach and Purim. For Purim mum liked to prepare a cake with walnut filling, she shaped the cake into the first letters of the names of my two aunts – Rebeka and Milka and gave it to them, no matter whether we convened with them or not. I don’t remember if there was any masking at Purim. Three weeks before Pesach mum would clean the house thoroughly, she washed all the clothes and scrutinized for breadcrumbs.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Reyna Lidgi