Tag #153077 - Interview #94113 (Yevgenia Kozak)

I believe my both grandfathers were raised Jewish: they studied in the cheder, but this was all education they got.  My maternal grandfather Shloime-Yoina Mitzel, born in 1870, was a high-skilled cabinet maker. Mama told me my grandfather made not only solid and usable, but also beautiful furniture. My grandmother Etl Mitzel (I don’t know her maiden name), my mama’s mother, studied midwife’s vocation and became a good midwife. Many babies in Bershad entered this world through her kind hands. She taught young mothers to bathe and swaddle their babies. She handled the navel string and taught mothers to take care of their babies. Granny Etl was always busy with either her midwife’s business or having to look after someone’s baby – it’s amazing how she managed to raise her own eight children: four sons and four daughters.