Mariasha Vasserman and her family

This is our family. From left to right sitting: my mother Dayle Vasserman (nee Gordon) and my father Hertz Vasserman. Standing from left to right: my elder sister Sore-Reyze Goldman (nee Vasserman), I and my brother Perets Vasserman. The picture was taken in Tallinn in 1940. My father had a store called ?Gold, Clocks, Crystal? before 1940. The building of that store is still there. The store was in downtown Tallinn, on Viru Street. It was a busy street, so there were a lot of customers at the store. Father was respected in town; he was thought to be an honest tradesman. Of course it attracted the customers, as they knew they wouldn't be swindled in Father's store. Mother was always being constantly busy. She helped Father in the store. The three of us went to the Jewish lyceum on Karu Street. At present that building belongs to the Estonian Jewish community. At that time there were two private Jewish lyceums. One of them, where we went to, had the teaching in Ivrit, the other one in Yiddish. When Perets was in the junior grades of that lyceum, some subjects there were taught in Russian; when my sister went there, all subjects were taught only in Ivrit. Ivrit wasn't spoken at home. All of us were enrolled in Zionist organizations by school. There were Maccabi, Hashomer Hatzair, Betar. My elder sister and I joined Maccabi. We were focused on physical training. We had good gymnasiums and different circles. There were several groups in every circle for children of different ages. I remember when I was attended training classes in Maccabi, there was another group with adult, very beautiful girls. Isaac Goldman, my sister's future husband was also in Maccabi. He was a great sportsman, a member of the Maccabi team. In November 1940 my elder sister got married. She met her future husband, Isaac Goldman, in the lyceum. They were classmates and had been in love for a long time. My sister was married in a chuppah in the Tallinn synagogue. Rabbi Aba Gomer led the wedding ceremony and gave them the ketubbah. Then their marriage was registered in the city hall. It was a mere stationary procedure. We had a wedding party at home. There were not a lot of guests, just close friends and relatives. It was in the Soviet time, so there was no way the newly-weds could have rented a separate apartment. My sister and her husband lived with us. Isaac was a good expert. He worked with jewelry, silver in particular. My sister kept on studying at the Arts Institute.