Tag #128057 - Interview #77994 (ester josifova)

We used to gather at my father's stepmother's for our greatest holiday, Pesach, to show her our respect. My maternal grandmother, who was a widow, used to come with aunt Tamara's, Miranda's and Uncle Moshe's families. Around 40 people used to gather. We arranged long tables with white tablecloths, left the doors open and put a lit candle on the window sill. This meant that if a hungry man passed by he was welcome to come in and join our table. The oldest in the family, my father, read the prayer in Hebrew. [Editor's note: Ester probably means the Haggadah.] He also translated the texts into Ladino. The oldest child in the family, my brother Moshe, was given a clean white bag into which the matzah was put. He had to hold it the whole night so that he would always remember how the Jews had saved themselves in the desert. That's how the story of the 40- year wandering of Moses in the desert and the exodus from Egypt was reconstituted.