Lev Dubinski’s mother Maria Dubinskaya

My mother Maria Reizis, photographed on her 17th birthday in Belaya Tserkov, 1910.

My maternal grandfather Meyer Reizis was born in a town near Belaya Tserkov in 1864. He finished cheder, but he didn't continue his studies. He was smart and though.  He worked at a mill sorting out bags with grain and then he became an assistant accountant in an office.  His wife Liya was born in a town near Belaya Tserkov in 1867. After the wedding the newly weds moved to Belaya Tserkov. My grandfather earned little for sorting bags and my grandmother kept cows and sold dairies. They had five children.

My mother Maria Reizis was born in 1893 in Belaya Tserkov. My mother was beautiful and smart. She was one of the best pupils in the grammar school in Belaya Tserkov. She finished grammar school with honors. When in 1915 the Pale of Settlement was abolished my grandfather Meyer decided to move his family to Kiev. He wanted his son Moisey to get a good education and arrange successful marriages for his daughters.