Tsyliya Spivak

This is a photo of me. This photo was taken on our relatives' wedding in 2003.

I was very happy with my husband. We had an interesting life going to the cinema, to theaters and spending vacations at resorts. I had everything I ever wanted. I was always in public as a teacher and later deputy director at school. I joined the Party and was secretary of the Party unit. I wouldn't have made a career otherwise. I always dressed in trend and beautifully.

My daughter Ella, her husband and daughter Yelena moved to Israel in 1990. My granddaughter Yelena, born in 1977, got married very young in Israel. In 1996 my Ella called me and said: 'Mother, congratulations on your having great granddaughter Daniel-Nehama!' When I heard that my granddaughter was named after my mother I burst into tears of happiness. Naum went to Kiev to obtain a visa for me and sent me to Israel for a month. So I visited my daughter and saw my great granddaughter. I admire Israel, it's just amazing! It's a civilization in a desert created by its people. However, I wouldn't stay to live there: the climate is hard and besides, I love Ukraine. It is my home. It's familiar and dear to me.

In the recent years my husband and I didn't work. We've become Hesed clients. Then they offered me to host the 'warm home' cooking meals for older Jews and having them come to my home to eat. Surprisingly for myself I agreed to do it and since then my husband and I gave a lot of our strengths to Hesed. They provided food products to me, but I also bought some to make my cooking delicious and variable. I participated in a few seminars for Hesed volunteers. Only at my old age I learned about many Jewish traditions and holidays. Now I know what needs to be cooked for each holiday and I make it for my family. Of course, I haven't become religious, but this all is very interesting to me. A Jewish newspaper issued in the south of Ukraine wrote about our 'warm home' calling it the best one. Regretfully, my Naum died half a year ago. I am in the mourning and I miss him so much, but I always remember that Naum liked me to look nice and be among people and I try to pull myself together. I often attend Hesed to listen to interesting lectures and concerts. My children and friends do not let me feel lonely.