Emanuil Yakov Farhi

This is my father, Emanuil Yakov Farhi. Below is the seal of the photo atelier B.M.Boyadjiau in Shumen. On the back there is another seal of the photo atelier, and the year 1908 is written in ink. My father was 23 years old and not yet married at the time. My father, a Ladino Jew, had a basic primary education and took part in the Balkan War and World War I. He was kind, tolerant and always ready to make a compromise. Everyone loved him because he helped people in many ways. His fellow citizens in Shumen called him ?bai [uncle] Manoli.? He was about 1.80 meters tall, thin, and he never put on weight. He wore suits, and under his trousers he wore a red wool girdle to keep him warm in the large and cold rooms where he worked. I remember that girdle very well; it was probably influenced by Bulgarian culture. He wore it until it was all in pieces, and then he bought a quilted jacket. He balanced the family and never went from one extreme to the other. When my mother got angry because of the family ? though that happened rarely ? he always found the right way to calm her down. He never missed the minyan, and he was always on time for synagogue services. This was an important duty for him. My father, Emanuil Yakov Farhi, and his brothers had two textile shops. At first, after the ranch was sold, the large Farhi family had dairy farms. Gradually they abandoned them ? I do not know why ? and started trading with textiles. One of the shops in the center of Shumen is still owned by the family to this day. The other one was sold.