Emilia Kushnir’s grandfather, Shloyma Shenderovich

My maternal grandfather, Shloyma Shenderovich. The photo was taken in the town of Rechitsa in Minsk province in 1910 by photographer Blyumin.

My mother's father, Shloyme Shenderovich, was born around 1863.  He came from a very large family with many children. He had brothers named Zalman, Yakov, and Israel (all younger than him), and sisters named Tsira Frenkel, Fanya Katsnelson, Basya Gukhman, and Nesya Babinskaya. About them I know only that Aunt Basya lived and died in Baku, Azerbaijan, and Aunt Nesya died in 1974 in Kiev at the age of 90.

They all lived in Belarus and my grandfather's mother let my grandfather run the business his father had owned. I think he was the 1st Guild merchant. After his death, responsibility for all their large family rested on the shoulders of my grandfather, Shloyme Shenderovich.

My grandfather was not a fanatic, but he was a religious man. In Kiev they did not have a flat of their own, they rented a room at 11, Borisoglebskaya. I remember grandfather praying every morning. He put on his talit and those boxes on ropes, I forgot their names (Editor's note: tefillin). He also wore a yarmulke. My grandmother wore an artificial braid with a black lace cap to keep her head always covered according to the Jewish religious tradition.  My grandfather died in 1937. 

To all his children grandfather gave a secular education. I don't know how to explain it, but none of his children was religious. The family spoke Yiddish at home.