Tag #151812 - Interview #84041 (Yacob Hollander)

After the army I celebrated Soviet holidays. They didn’t mean anything to me, but they always celebrated them at work and I couldn’t ignore them. After returning from prison I never celebrated a single Soviet holiday. Since I was not a party member any longer I had nothing to lose and began to attend the synagogue regularly. I knew Jewish traditions well, could read in Hebrew and pray. Soon I took responsibility for the financial life of the community. The rabbi didn’t take over it and somebody had to be responsible for the funds. Some Jews left their houses to the community moving to Israel. We sold these houses and used the costs to support the poor. There were many of them in the Soviet times. I registered all expenses and every single item we bought for this money. Every three months I conducted a meeting to report on where the money went. Everybody could check these expenses. We supported people like Hesed supports them now.