This is our family. Sitting, from left to right: my sister Raya Abramson, born in 1937; my mother Nina (Nehama) Abramson, nee Brener, born in 1907, is holding my son Gersh; my father David Abramson, born 1901; my father's sister Rosia, born in 1903. Standing: I, Rosa Vexler, nee Abramson, born in 1927; David, the son of the sister of Nehama's father, born in 1940; my father's sister Nehama, born in 1905. This is my family gathering on my son's birthday in 1952 in Mogilyov-Podolsky.
We talked Yiddish at home when we were on our own. If there was a visiting neighbor we switched to Ukrainian to make him comfortable.
My sisters and I grew up in a religious family. My parents were deeply religious and I am grateful that they gave me faith in God. My father and mother celebrated Jewish holidays and helped the poor. My mother strictly followed the kashrut: we had pottery for dairy and meat productsand we followed strictly the rules of kosher food.
We grew up during the period of the Soviet power. We didn't go to Jewish school or had no Jewish teachers. Our father and mother filled up our souls with spiritual knowledge. We spoke Yiddish, but we couldn't write or read. Mother taught us to follow Jewish traditions and have positive attitude towards other people. My mother taught me from my early childhood to share what I had. She told me to take something you cooked to the poor before you sit down to have a meal. I still follow what my mother taught me. She also taught me to treat people nicely, not to waste energy on incorrigible people and help other people wherever possible.
My father's sister Nehama lived in Mogilyov-Podolskiy after the war. She was a dressmaker at a shop. Her husband perished at the front and she had no children. Nehama was a religious woman. She had a house and arranged a pray room in it. The synagogue was closed and Jews got together in Nehama's house to pray on Saturday and Jewish holidays, Authorities probably didn't now anything about it. She died in 1984.
My father's sister Rosia got married before the war. She had a son - David. Rosia's husband perished at the front. She and her son were in evacuation in the Ural. After the war she and her son returned to Mogilyov-Podolskiy. In 1973 Rosia and her son emigrated to Israel. I don't know whether she is still alive.