This is my sister Ester's son, Simon Alfandari, with his wife Albena, their child and Albena's parents. From left to right are: Simon and his wife, their first-born child Aron. Next to them are Albena's parents: Dima and Dobri, who are of Bulgarian origin, and perhaps because of that I can't remember their family name. I am not sure of the time when the photo was taken - it was maybe in the 1980s.
I have two sisters whom I love very much. The first one is Victoria Markus, nee Alfandari, and the second is Ester Alfandari. Both of them are now in Israel. I was the youngest of all the three, but I was the first to marry.
During the totalitarian period my sister Ester lived in Sofia and immigrated to Israel in 1999. Now she lives in Rishon Le Zion. She is married to David Alfandari, who worked as a textile designer when he lived in Bulgaria. They are not religious. Their son, Simon Alfandari, is a doctor. At present, Ester and David are pensioners.
After the foundation of the state of Israel we all felt it as our country and our sympathies for the Jewish nation increased even further. During the wars in Israel of 1967 and 1973 we were regularly reading all kinds of commentaries on them in the Bulgarian press, although we didn’t believe in them at all. From the letters we received from our friends there, we knew that the war was incited by the Arabs. I have been to Israel only once – in 1989 – and I loved the life there. When I came back to Bulgaria I felt the difference at once. In fact, from all our relatives it was my husband and I who remained in Bulgaria.
