Tag #151583 - Interview #78173 (Seraphima Gurevich)

I spent every summer vacation with my grandmother Sylka in Polonnoye. I played with the local children and my cousins that also spent the summer with our grandmother. I got used to the Jewish way of life when I stayed with my grandmother. She didn't force any religious ideas or dogmas on us. She understood that I was being raised as an atheist. She told me quietly about Jewish history and traditions. She used to pray quietly and light candles, but I took little interest in that. I got used to Yiddish and began to speak it a little. I loved my grandmother dearly. She was a very kind, nice, beautiful and wise woman. I loved everything about and around her. Everything that was Jewish became close and very dear to me thanks to my grandmother. During my stay in Polonnoye I heard Sholem Aleichem's stories, which my grandmother read to me, translating them from Yiddish into Russian. Since then Sholem Aleichem became one of my favorite writers. My grandmother told me Biblical stories and stories from the history of the Jewish people. My grandfather didn't work in those years. He played with us and read to us. He was always busy doing things about the house. Before meals he retreated to his room (I understand now that he went there to pray), then he sat at the table to have a meal with his family. On Saturday he and my grandmother had a rest and spent time with the children reading to them and playing with them.