Yosif Levi, his brother Isak Levi and Rabbi Haim Meshulam

This is a picture taken in the Sofia synagogue at the beginning of the 1990s. I am to the right, next to me are Rabbi Haim Meshulam and my brother Isak Levi.

I have three brothers and two sisters. Isak is my eldest brother and he is a textile technician. He is a widower already with a daughter: Ema. They both live in Sofia.

The events in 1989 in Bulgaria and Europe: the opening of Eastern Europe, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the changes, are a contradictory moment, because it's wrong to deny everything which was done in socialist times, and at the same time some acts during socialism can't be justified. So, on one hand, the changes brought good things, and on the other hand they brought a lot of misery, because during socialism no matter that people weren't rich, they used to receive small salaries, which gave them the opportunity to go every year on vacation, they retired and led a calm and secured life as pensioners. Their pensions were enough to cover their expenses. In winter they used to pay almost nothing for heating, as at that time heating was only around five percent of one's income. I mean that socialism has its pros and cons.

Currently, I'm doing translations from Ivrit into Bulgarian and vice versa. I have a small room in the synagogue for that purpose. Of course, most of the work I do here is in favor of the synagogue. During the holidays I assist the rabbi, who is from Libya and sometimes I have to translate from Ivrit to the congregation present there. We have a tradition to gather in the synagogue on Sabbath.