The family of Lazar Aroyo

The family of Lazar Aroyo

This is a photo of the family of my brother Lazar Aroyo. It was taken in the 1950s in Israel. First from left to right is my brother's wife Rosa Aroyo, next to her is their daughter Oro, my brother and his wife's mother Miriam.

When my brother Lazar reached the age of 13 and seeing that my father couldn't support the family and send him to study, he decided to go to Pazardjik, where there was a school funded by the Zionist organization teaching agriculture and various crafts. After he studied two years in that school, around 1927, he left for Israel. He traveled two months until he reached the country. Together with other youths from Bulgaria, Poland and Russia they found the Ma'abarot kibbutz struggling with the Arabs, the marshes and poverty. Today the Ma'abarot kibbutz is quite advanced in all respects. My brother was in charge of repairs and maintenance of the cars and farming machines. He had learned that craft in Bulgaria in the school in Pazardjik, which was called 'HaTikvah' [Hebrew: Hope]. My brother Lazar married a Bulgarian Jew in the kibbutz. Her name was Rosa and she was a teacher in Ivrit in Yambol. They had two children - Gidon and Oro. They live in the kibbutz.

I was in my brother Lazar's kibbutz - the Ma'abarot kibbutz. He had a service station for machines. There were cars, harvesters, tractors and other agricultural machines in the garage, which were given to them by the state and had to be maintained. There were some people who were in charge of that there. My brother was building his house at that time. They lived in some kinds of sheds - big wooden houses, made of some material, which was very good. My brother had a bedroom, a corridor and a dining-room. Everything was very modern. The kitchens were small, but comfortable; they had everything - a refrigerator, freezers, dishwashers. I was also impressed by the organization and life in the kibbutz. Everyone worked what he or she could do best.

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