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My father’s father was Yitzhak Rozental, and his roots are from Lithuania. According to what I was told, he was born there, he lived there and he died there. I was only 16 when my father died. They must have lived through a lot but unfortunately I don’t know anything. In our community [the Ashkenazi community] it was customary to name a child after a dead person, they wouldn’t give a child the name of a person if that person was alive. So if a grandfather is alive, the grandson is not named after him; only if he is dead. So I got the name of my mother’s father.
They must have been working to earn a living but I have no idea what they were doing. Maybe they were tailors. I don’t know which languages they knew. I think they spoke Yiddish.
I think my father’s father had a beard, I saw it once in a photo. I don’t know in what kind of house they lived in or what kind of furniture they had. What I do know is that my father’s father left their house in Lithuania and ran away. Either when the Russians came or when communism came, in the 1875’s, I am not sure which, they left and ran away. Before those years Lithuania was independent, but then the Russians came and they left. My father went to Egypt but I don’t know if it was with his whole family or just him. I don’t know what happened to his family. I just know that my father went to Egypt, there he met my mother and they got married in Egypt.
My father’s mother’s name was Zelda. My grandmother did not wear any wigs like the Orthodox ladies, she wore the clothes that were in fashion at the time. They did wear hats though, they would never go out without a hat.
They must have been working to earn a living but I have no idea what they were doing. Maybe they were tailors. I don’t know which languages they knew. I think they spoke Yiddish.
I think my father’s father had a beard, I saw it once in a photo. I don’t know in what kind of house they lived in or what kind of furniture they had. What I do know is that my father’s father left their house in Lithuania and ran away. Either when the Russians came or when communism came, in the 1875’s, I am not sure which, they left and ran away. Before those years Lithuania was independent, but then the Russians came and they left. My father went to Egypt but I don’t know if it was with his whole family or just him. I don’t know what happened to his family. I just know that my father went to Egypt, there he met my mother and they got married in Egypt.
My father’s mother’s name was Zelda. My grandmother did not wear any wigs like the Orthodox ladies, she wore the clothes that were in fashion at the time. They did wear hats though, they would never go out without a hat.
Period
Location
Egypt
Interview
Jak Rutli