The bar-mitzvah ceremony of our grandson

I, Nesim Alkabes, was born on July 21st, 1920 in our brick home that was 30 m. further from Galata Kulesi [A neighborhood on the European side where Jews congregated in the beginning of the 20th century] with the help of a midwife. 

I met my wife Erna Adoni, who was born on December 25th,  1924 and raised in Kadiköy, in 1947 at a party given by a mutual friend, and we liked each other.  Because she is a graduate of St. Benoit like me, she speaks it as well as I do. When we decided to get married, Erna was 22, and I was 27. We married at the Zülfaris Synagogue on August 10th, 1947 [On the European side, in Karaköy, where the Jewish museum is located now]. Erna and I had three daughters from our union. Our oldest daughter Sara was born in 1948, Rosita in 1950, Stella in 1954. All three of our daughters attended elementary school in Isik Lisesi. Sara and Stella finished Saint Benoit French highschool later on. Rosita, on the other hand, graduated from Robert College. After completing their education, our oldest daughter Sara, married Erol Penso following 8 years of dating, on March 29th, 1970, in Neve Shalom. 

Two years after their wedding, our first grandson Ceki was born in 1972. In this photograph, we had celebrated our first grandson’s bar-mitzvah in Taksim, in the hotel that is The Marmara hotel now.  Ceki has now been married to a nice girl for two years, Niso on the other hand is engaged, G-d willing we will marry him in December.