Tag #150504 - Interview #78242 (Ruvin Gitman)

My mother continued to observe all Jewish traditions after we moved to Chernovtsy. She celebrated the Sabbath and Jewish holidays and went to synagogue. There was one synagogue in Chernovtsy at that time. It is still there and is the only one in town. My brother and I visited our mother with our families on holidays, but we didn't celebrate Jewish holidays in our families. If the authorities had found out, our careers would have been over. But anyway, we continued to fast on Yom Kippur. We were communists and couldn't follow the Jewish traditions. We celebrated Soviet holidays and got together with our friends and colleagues. All Soviet holidays were days off and we were glad to relax and meet friends.