This is my grandmother Khaya Ribush, nee Moiseyevna, with people on vacation at the Kislovodsk health center. The photo was taken in the 1910s.
My father Maks Skoblo once bought his mother-in-law a ticket to this health center. She spent her vacation there and had this picture taken. She is surrounded by people, whom she met there. I know nothing about them - neither their names, nor their destinies.
Grandpa got married for the second time in 1907. His second wife's name was Khaya Moiseyevna. She came from the Baltic countries, but I know nothing about her family. She raised all small kids and gave birth to Lyuba, her own daughter, in 1908. Much later, she finally raised me, too. I always considered her my grandma. She wasn't a blood relative of mine; she was better than that! She was very kind, very attentive and religious. After grandpa died in 1925, Khaya moved from Pskov to her mother's place in Leningrad. When my mother was arrested in 1937 she joined us in exile in Kazakhstan. She returned from exile to Leningrad and lived with her other daughter. She died in 1952.
Khaya spoke Russian with a very strong accent. Her mother tongue was Yiddish. She was religious, attended the synagogue regularly, observed holidays and knew Jewish cooking traditions. While in Leningrad grandma stopped to go to the synagogue in order not to put her daughters on the spot, since religiosity was persecuted [see struggle against religion]. However, when we left for Dzhankoy in Ukraine in summer, she began to attend the synagogue as soon as it became possible.
