Selected text
I’m not sure of the exact number of synagogues in Salonica while I was there. I only remember the synagogue to which my father took me on Friday evenings. It was large and nice. Naturally, there was a shochet, a chazzan and a rabbi, but I don’t remember their names. I remember mostly the shochet, because when I was a child he would slaughter a rooster above my head singing in Ivrit something I couldn’t understand. Unfortunately, I can’t say on which holiday we performed this ritual, probably Pesach or Yom Kippur. [The interviewee is referring to the kapores ritual of Yom Kippur.] But I was old enough to realize that it was some kind of a sacrifice.
As for the typical market day in Salonica, I could say with pride that I loved markets, probably because my father was the architect of the Salonica Hali [covered market]. While it was being built my father took me with him when he went on ‘inspections’ after the market closed. I remember how enthusiastically the merchants, who had already settled their goods in front of the unfinished Hali, competed for his attention. Most of them were Jews. Everyone loved him! Their love made me very happy and proud of my father.
As for the typical market day in Salonica, I could say with pride that I loved markets, probably because my father was the architect of the Salonica Hali [covered market]. While it was being built my father took me with him when he went on ‘inspections’ after the market closed. I remember how enthusiastically the merchants, who had already settled their goods in front of the unfinished Hali, competed for his attention. Most of them were Jews. Everyone loved him! Their love made me very happy and proud of my father.
Location
Bulgaria
Interview
Jul Efraim Levi