Matvey and Sabina Loshak

This is me with my wife, Sabina. I met her when I was studying at the Uzhgorod University. Sabina was born in Chita region, Russia, in 1934. Sabina, like me, was brought up in a Jewish family and received a good education. But our families never were religious, so neither my wife nor I know Jewish traditions, religion or language. We lived at a time when it was not very safe or fashionable to be religious and attend a church or a synagogue - some people even lost their jobs because of that. Nobody could tell us about Jewish traditions. After graduation, we came to live in Kiev. I was sent to work at the plant of cemented-carbide tools. I was ordered to organize a laboratory; later, this department grew into the Institute of Hard Alloys. Sabina, despite her philological education, worked as a music teacher, because it brought more money.