Bela Ishakh together with a group of UYW members

On the photo my elder daughter Sonia Ishakh is wearing a pioneer's tie as all other children at her age during the totalitarian period. This photo was taken in 1961 in Ruse where she was born.

My children were brought up in line with the Jewish traditions by their grandfather and grandmother Menahem and Roza Alfandari. They were very religious people, observed all the traditions and thought very highly of the Jewry. That means they strictly observed Jewish rituals on holidays and on Sabbath.

My parents passed on to my children their knowledge, firstly, about the Jewish cuisine and, secondly, about our holidays Pesach, Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah, Sukkot, Lag-ba-Omer. They celebrated these at home. Of course, we used to attend services at the synagogue, but rarely. I mean, we visited the synagogue only for the high Jewish holidays, such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Chanukkah, Pesach, Sukkot etc.

My daughter was a clever and calm child. Later she graduated from the mechanical technical school 'Yuriy Gagarin' in Ruse and married a Bulgarian, whose first name, unfortunately, I can't remember. At present my daughter's name is Sonia Grigorova.

Now she works in her native town for Shalom, being also the chairwoman of the economy commission at 'Shalom'. I think this is an achievement, having in mind the high level of unemployment in Ruse. As an economy commission chairwoman, she is in charge of the collecting of rents from the organization's estates that were left. These funds go for support to the local Jewish organization.