Here I am together with my mother and her two daughters-in-law, the wives of my brothers Ruben and Faivel [also called Shraga]. The woman with the glasses on the utmost right is Ester whom we used to call Stela, the wife of my brother Ruben. Next to her is Shoshana, the wife of my younger brother Shraga. These days Shoshana worked as a hostess in a Bulgarian old people's home in Rishon Lezion. She has three children: Pnina, Hanita amd David. They also have three children each. Stela lived in Haifa and was a housewife. Stela has three children, too: Yosif, Sima and David.
My parents Yosif and Blanche Fridman both moved to Israel and are no longer alive. My parents were relatively religious, which means that they observed the Jewish traditions, but not every single detail of them. My father was of Ashkenazi origin, that is a Russian Jew, and my mother Blanche Israel is of the Sephardic Jews in Bulgaria. After they left for Israel, they lived in the town of Yagur.
I remember, of course, all friends who left for Israel. I went there on excursions a couple of times and met them. I have been to Israel three times: the first time in 1974 when my father was still alive. Then I saw all the sights, met all my relatives and I was very impressed. My other two visits were in the 1980s and 1990s. Now we still write to each other, they come to visit, we go there - so we still keep in touch with our friends and relatives in Israel.
