The wedding of Samuel and Neli Beniesh

This is the wedding of my brother, Samuel Sinto Beniesh. His wife, Neli Samuilova, is a Jew from Sofia, who was interned to Ruse during the Law for the Protection of the Nation. In the picture they are in the upper center (Neli is in the dotted dress and Samuel is next to her.)

From right to left, from above, one can see my uncle Salomon and my childless aunt Malvina from Varna. My sister-in-law's parents, Rashel and Samuil Samuilov, are sitting from right. My mother and father, Rashel and Sinto Beniesh, are sitting from left. In the center between the two old couples is my daughter Buena Yulzari. In the upper row from left to right you can see my sister Matilda, my husband and me. I am standing next to the bride.

My brother studied in a polytechnic high school in Varna. But he didn’t manage to receive higher education. He was a tradesman in Bulgaria. He immigrated to Israel in 1949 and had two families there. As a matter of fact, he married in Bulgaria and from his native Ruse he moved for a while to Sofia, where his first wife was from. Unfortunately I have no idea what my brother did for a living in Sofia. The only thing I remember is that in Ruse he helped out in our dad’s shop and produced small jewelry items, such as small mirrors, for example, which he sold. His first wife died in a car crash.

He remarried but his second wife also died, of leukemia. He had two daughters, both are from his second marriage, I think. The first – is married, with three children, already grown up. The second one didn’t marry, but she has a child. An adopted girl. My brother’s elder daughter is called Shelly and her husband – Freddy. Their three children are Nelly, Shay and Roman. The second daughter, Michal, works as a teacher at the University in Jerusalem, but I don’t know her subject.

In Israel, my brother Sami worked as an employee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was in charge of the people repatriated back to Israel, but I don’t know what exactly his occupation was. In any case, I think he mastered Arabic. He died in 1992 in an old people’s home, but I can’t say where exactly. Before that, however, he lived with his family in Bat Yam.