Sima at 8 months old

The other people in the photograph: Yuda Romano, Sima. It was taken in the home of my older sister. Meri Ciprut’s (maiden name Sarfati) engagement party. Now she is in Israel. In my lap is Sima. Luna Romano is on the very right. Sima had started walking. The two Ines’ are next to each other, the older one and the younger one in front. My older sister’s daughter and my daughter. My father Yuda Romano, was born in Edirne in 1905. My father first started to work as a secretary in the Edirne Jewish community. Later on he became a rabbi. But you cannot call that being a rabbi exactly. He worked as a philosophy teacher in Alliance Israélite Universelle in Edirne which was a foreign school. He was teaching philosophy classes in French. He raised a lot of students. The students he raised constantly came to visit him. He had another job also. My father started commerce, but he continued with the community work. He was serving as Grand Rabbi also. He worked as a cantor too. But he could not open the Sefer Torah as a cantor. Why: We managed a store together. I opened the store on Saturdays. And since he was my business partner, he said: "We sin on Saturdays, I cannot open the Sefer Torah in the synagogue on Saturday". But he raised important rabbis. He had more knowledge than rabbis. My father was excessively serious, very interested in philosophy, he was a good philosopher. My father was a true philosopher, they still remember his philosophy in Edirne. I inherited his principles too. He never thought negatively in his lifetime. He always thought positively. Let's think of good, may it be good, he used to say. When sometimes we would say something like it will be bad tomorrow, don't even utter it, he would say. Always think positive, he used to say. He never thought negatively and he did not let us either. My father died in Israel on March 2nd, 1988, and was interned there. He had an open sore on his face for thirty years. He had skin cancer. We are three siblings. My older sister Ida (Nee. Romano) Kasuto was born in Edirne in 1929. She is married to Sami Kasuto. Sami Kasuto was a grocer and seller of candy in Edirne. He was from Babaeskili. My older sister has two sons. One is Hanri Aaron Kasuto, the other Yuda Kasuto. They left for Israel in 1964 and 1966. Henri worked in Turkey quite a bit. He still comes and goes. Ida Kasuto currently lives in Israel. Her son Aaron died in Israel during the six-day war. My second older sister Rejina (Nee.Romano) Sarfati, was born in Edirne in 1932, she died in Istanbul in 1994. She studied in Ismet pasha elementary school. She attended junior high and highschool there too. She married Samuel Sarfati She had two daughters and a son. Meri and Ines are the daughters, Modi the son. Ines lives here. She is on the board in Goztepe Kultur dernegi(cultural association) now, Meri and Modi live in Israel. My older sister's husband worked in shipping in Edirne. Later he came to be with us. When my sister died he left for Israel and lives there. My older daughter Ines Romano, was born in 1964 in Istanbul, in Guzelbahche clinic. She grew up in Edirne. She finished elementary school, junior high, highschool and university in Edirne. She is a metallurgical engineer. She married Moris Aldish and has a daughter named Doris. Aldish family is also from Edirne. She had a very happy life in Edirne. The children grew up in open air and gardens. My younger daughter Sima is born in 1974. She was born in Istanbul too. She finished elementary school in Edirne. She attended junior high, highschool and university in Istanbul. She finished Beshiktash Anadolu Lisesi. She studied sociology in Mimar Sinan University. Currently she is a teacher in Marmaris. She is married to Tansel Chetin. She has a daughter named Melis. They live in Marmaris. She is married and has a daughter. My older daughter likes Turkish folk dancing a lot, there were some international competitions, she even participated in them. My younger daughter Sima also likes folk dancing, but she especially likes Israeli folk dancing. She even taught Israeli folk dancing in the Jewish highschool. My older daughter Ines was born in 1964, and in 1973, my younger daughter Sima. My wife struggled in Edirne for their education. She won entrance to Beshiktash Anadolu Lisesi (Besiktas Anatolia highschool) after finishing elementary school. We were obliged to come to Istanbul so my younger daughter could get a better education. My wife had to cut her ties to Edirne. We did not want to leave her alone in Istanbul. We helped her so she could study here. Then my older daughter got married. We came and went for her too. Our life was spent on the roads.