Tag #146776 - Interview #83398 (Ninel Kunina)

Berta always celebrated all the Jewish holidays with lighting of candles and prayers, as she was the wife of a religious man. Her husband, David Greben, had his own seat in the Synagogue [8], and every time we got together in their large 40-square-meter room in Leningrad with the whole big family to celebrate both Rosh Hashanah and Pesach. There were a large number of people: our family – my mom, me, a baby in Mom’s arms, the four-year-old Volodya, my brother, and Dad –, the family of Father’s brother Samuel; plus David had a brother, so he came too with his wife and their three sons; the family of my father’s sister Nina. Her husband Isaac died early, in 1936, and her whole life long she was good friends with her husband’s sister and brother. Thus at the table about 40 persons were gathered! There they sang Jewish songs and danced hand in hand with each other, Daddy danced putting his thumbs in his underarms. But all this was done quietly in order not to attract attention of the neighbors, and David, who was a pious Jew, never wore a beard or side locks.