This is my family. Standing from left to right in the second row: my father's brother Izia Kats, my father's sister Frieda, aunt Dora's son Tsalel, uncle Sasha Medynch, mother's sister Zhenia Medynch, my sister Rebecca Kats, aunt Dora's daughter, Rebecca, my father Mendel-Leib Kats, my mother Sarah-Maria Kats, my father's sister Slava. From left to right in the first row: my mother's sister Dora, my grandmother Rosa Videtskaya, my cousin Semyon Medynch, my grandmother Shprintse Kats, I, Tsylia Liatun, my father's sister Mina and her son Khenakh and my father's sister Ella Lat and her daughter Rebecca. The photo was taken in the yard of our summer-cottage in Yurmala near Riga in 1935, when we got together for some family holiday.
When all our relatives gathered there were 62 of us. My mother told me this number. We had a traditional family that observed all covenants of the Torah. We only bought kosher food and had kosher dishes and utensils. We spoke Yiddish in the family and said prayers in Hebrew. All Jewish and family holidays we celebrated at home and all our relatives came to us while my father was the richest among them.
