The wedding of Marim and Iacob Haller

This is I, Marim Haller, with my husband, Iacob Haller, when we married. So the photograph was taken here, in Botosani, in 1946.

My husband was recommended to me by David Kesler, my cousin in Dorohoi. My husband was a teacher in Dorohoi, and my cousin knew him well. My cousin came with him to our house in Botosani. I went out with him for a walk, and [on returning] when he entered the house, he said: 'We are engaged.' And actually it wasn't long afterwards that we got married. We saw and liked each other. At first sight. We knew details about each other beforehand from this cousin of mine. I knew what he did for a living, what sort of person he was, how he conducted himself. Mother was very fond of him.

His name was Iacob Haller, he was from Siret. He was 1 year older than me, he was born in 1914. He graduated the Faculty of Natural Sciences in Cernauti. At the time when I met my husband, his parents weren't alive anymore. They were 2 siblings: his sister and him. His sister's name was Rebeca. She lived with my mother after I got married. And she left to Israel afterwards. She didn't marry.

I got married in 1946. I had a religious ceremony performed, in Margulies' house. He was actually my sponsor at the wedding. They wedded me. They had 4 rooms, and that's where my wedding was held. They brought a chuppah there, and Burstein performed the wedding. He was a Ruf [rav], he wasn't a rabbi. A Ruf who also performed chores - the slaughtering of animals for meat, kosher, what have you… [Editor's note: The Ruf or Rof is a pronunciation variant of the Rav which has the same word root as the Rabbi. The difference between the two (mainly in the 20th century) is that the Rabbi is who was anoint, the Rav is who is an expert in the Jewish traditions, for instance, he is a important Talmud scholar. The Rav is an honorific title and not an authorized one. He could decide about dubious kashrut issues, because he had enough knowledge about it.] The wedding sponsors hold you arm in arm under the chuppah, the groom stands still and you turn around him together with the sponsors. Afterwards a drink is given, the husband drinks, then you are given to drink. That's how the ceremony went. A wedding contract was drawn up [ketubbah] - I still have it, I ran across it the other day. And there were guests, a feast, people ate, just like at a wedding. The guests were relatives, acquaintances. There weren't many people. There were, say, enough persons to fit into a house.

Photos from this interviewee