The Kalaora family

The Kalaora family took this picture before my brother Izak left for Israel. So this farewell photo was taken in 1948 in Sofia. Firstly my brother Izak left, shorty after, my other brother Jaques Kalaora left too. My parents left for Israel in 1953. Down on the right are sitting my parents Donna and Avram Kalaora. To their left is my brother Izi [Izak]. My wife Berta and I are behind them. My parents were very nice people. Illiterate. Deeply religious, my father more so. They were poor. During the Law for the Protection of the Nation the Jewish municipality had given my family 2,000 levs because my father could not support us. My parents got along very well with their neighbors. Their friends were Jews and the neighbors - both Bulgarians and Jews. Some of my father's friends were Greeks and Turks. But I cannot remember any concrete names or people. I remember only that the relations between them were excellent. For example, we lived in a house with a yard, but neither the door of the yard or that of the house were ever locked. Such were the relations between the people - pure, peaceful and nice. I have five brothers and one sister. All my brothers had interesting lives. Yosif moved to Argentina in 1930. He died in Buenos Aires in 1953. David emigrated to France in 1929 and lived in Paris. Perets also lived in France and died there in 1997. Jacques and Izak emigrated to Israel in 1948. My parents also moved there after 1953. So, only my sister and I remained in Bulgaria.