Bella Kisselgof 's grandfather Shymon Rivkin

My grandfather, Shymon Rivkin, in Gorlovka, outside the house of my mother's sister, Luba, in 1929. My grandfather Shymon Rivkin was born in 1870. I know little about his family. He had a few brothers. At age thirteen, the boys were to study a profession. After my grandfather had his bar mitzvah, his father offered him a choice of three professions - shoemaker, tailor or blacksmith. My grandfather chose the profession of blacksmith. He was an apprentice at first, and then an assistant until he became a very good blacksmith. When he started earning enough money to provide for the family he married my grandmother Riva. My grandparents were religious people. They led a traditional Jewish way of life. On Fridays they went to synagogue and my grandmother lit candles at home. They celebrated Jewish holidays in the family. I don't know the details but I believe my grandmother prepared for the holidays as thoroughly as her mother Bruha. I remember my grandmother's little gomentashes, triangle pies with poppy seeds, that my grandmother made for Purim. This was in Enakievo when she visited us. I remember my grandfather praying when he was visiting us in Enakievo. I had to leave the room, but I could look through the doorway to see how he put on his thales and tefillin to say his prayers. Grandfather died in the 1950s.