Milka Ilieva's granddaughters, sisters and daughters-in-law

These are my three sisters with my daughter Tinka and my granddaughter Maya shortly after she was born, that is in 1997. Maya is Rossitsa's child and Rossitsa is on her turn Tinka's daughter. From left to right one can see Tinka (with the blond hair), behind me is Sara, with the white hair (1920-2001). Next to her is my granddaughter Rossi, then Tanya and from the utmost right is my sister Ester.

My daughter Tinka has two daughters: Rossitsa and Tanya who suddenly decided to leave for Israel after 10th November 1989. After my granddaughters immigrated to Israel, my daughter also went there. She has been there for ten years already and lives in Bat Yam. Her second daughter moved to Tel Aviv, while her elder daughter came back to Bulgaria. Rossitsa's children are called Adam born in 2003 and Maya in 1997. Her husband's name is Zoar, an Arab Jew, and an intelligent boy.

I have been to Israel seven times. The first time was in 1982 when I went alone. My second visit took place in 1986. From 1989 on, I have traveled to Israel once every three years. I'm impressed that it becomes more and more beautiful there. I like the people, too. My brother-in-law is a Sabra. A wonderful person. Every morning he smiled at me, saying, 'Miluka kerez kadiyko? Uno Kadiyko? [From Ladino: Milka, would you like a cup of coffee? A coffee?] And he prepared for me a special coffee from selected sorts. His name was Herzel Karmel. He was my sister Jina's husband. I married before her, even though according to the tradition it was her turn to get married since she was elder than me. He was head of the municipality's transport department. He was our cousin; his and our fathers were brothers. However, as we know, marriages between Jewish cousins are allowed. As a matter of fact, his surname was Mashiakh. But the people in Israel made fun of this so much that he decided to officially change his surname to Karmel. ['Mashiach' means 'Messiah' in Hebrew.]