Ivan Barbul with his sisters Betia Rybakova, Riva Rybakova and Nehoma Abramovich

This is me, Ivan Barbul, with my sisters. This photo was taken in Rezina in 1936. From left to right: Betia Rybakova, Riva Rybakova, Nehoma Abramovich. My sister Nehoma was born in 1922, Riva in 1924, then came Betia in 1926, and my brother Shmil in 1936. On 12th December 1929 I was born in Rezina, my parents named me Isaac. We lived on the first floor in a two-storied house. We bought this first floor from the owner of the house who lived on the second floor. However, she didn't recognize our ownership. I remember this was some disputable issue for her and there was some tension between us. Aunt Riva's parents lived in a beautiful big two-storied stone house next to ours. We had no garden or even a yard. There was a shed adjoining the house where my parents kept a goat. When the times became hard, the family sold the goat. We weren't wealthy considering that ours was a big family. My father worked in a cheder and our relatives from the USA supported us. My father gave private lessons at home. The pupils were of different ages, but they studied together. My father made me attend their classes and I remember that all of them were older than me. The community and the boys' parents must have paid my father for his work. I still meet people, who tell me that my father was their teacher in the cheder. He was strict, but I don't remember him beating his pupils.