This is my maternal grandfather Zalman Blehman. This photo was taken in Odessa in 1910.
My mother's father Zalman Blehman was born in Sloboda village, Lepel district, Vitebsk province. He is registered as a farmer in my mother's birth certificate. I don't know when my grandfather moved to Odessa, but his children were born in Odessa after 1895. My grandfather was very ill. He was bedridden 14 last years of his life. I was bout four years old when we came to see grandmother Dora and grandfather Zalman in 1926. My grandfather was in his bed. I remember that he had a big beard. I was afraid of my grandfather and was peeping through a chink. One had to cross my grandfather's room to get into other rooms, but I never went there and cannot say how many rooms they had. There were many children in my mother's family. They weren't a wealthy family. They lived in Lidersovskiy Boulevard, present Belinskogo Street. My grandfather kept few cows in an annex facility. I think they fed cows with hay. My grandparents sold milk to buy everything the family needed. I think that before my grandfather fell ill he looked after cows himself and my grandmother was helping him. They spoke Yiddish to one another. My grandfather died in 1927. He was buried in the Second Jewish cemetery in Vodoprovodnaya Street. This cemetery was removed in the 1960s. I don't know whether my grandfather Zalman was buried in accordance with Jewish traditions.