Aron Ishakh with his brothers Solomon and Samuel


These are the three Ishakh brothers: my future husband Aron, Solomon and Samuel. The picture was taken during the anti-Jewish Law for the Protection of the Nation - in Ruse in 1942. Aron is to the left, while his brother Moni [Solomon] is to the right; Sami [Samuel] is in the center, between them.

My husband has also a sister called Rebecca. At the beginning of the 1940s they became half-orphans, because their mother got affected with cancer and died. One year after her death, their father married another Jewish woman, Shlima and moved to Sofia. His four children remained in Ruse all alone. The three brothers then started selling balloons in the streets, since they didn't have money for a living.

Aron, being the eldest, had also worked various things to earn the living of his brothers and sister. In 1940 however, he was sent to a forced labor camp near the village of Mikre, Lovech region. He was already 18 years old then. I met him long after that - after the Law for the Protection of the Nation.

My husband's brothers have the fate of emigrants. They left for Israel in 1948. Later, Moni became a tradesman, while Sami chose to be a turner. At present they both live in Holon, Israel. Solomon Ishakh has two sons, while Samuel Ishakh has two daughters. Their sister Becky [Rebecca] is happily married in Israel and her surname now is Levi. She also has two daughters.   

What I further know about my husband's family is that unlike me, he is a native Ruse citizen. His maternal grandfather, Aron Eshkenazi, was the son of Silistra's rabbi. When our compatriots moved to Israel and we remained here without a chazzan, it was he who read the prayers in the synagogue. His maternal father on his turn was a well-known tailor in Ruse. My husband's mother was also a dressmaker. They were very poor, especially after her death, since his father, Gavriel Ishakh, had to earn the living of his parents and four children and he was forced to sell what he produced for next to nothing.