The story of Gizela - Afik Shiraz. Abinun Shmuel

scattered it in the garden, fearing that if the Germans did entering the town, they will blame all Jews for communism. Rabbi Levi survived the war and was later appointed Consul Yugoslavia in Greece under the Tito regime. The Jews of our town were divided into Sephardim and Ashkenazi and my family, counted on the Spaniards, used to celebrate the holidays of Israel accordingly, according to the tradition of the deportees of Spain. For example, the New Year customary was not to have breakfast but to stay in the synagogue, and only after the morning praying we would visit families and eat cookies. On the second holiday day, which was also my grandmother Justina's birthday (Justa), we used to come into her house after the prayer and there we ate together. I have already mentioned the sukkah in our garden which stayed all over the year and which in the summer; we would sit in to enjoy coffee and cake. In honor of Sukkot we used to decorate it and eat in it but not stay asleep, as Sukkot holiday was in the fall and there was a chance of rain. We noted Tu B'Shvat with eating Jaffa oranges, bananas and other fruits (should be Israeli fruit. Tu B'Shvat is called also the Holiday of the Trees) , while on Purim, we used to eat Rusquitas (dough stuffed with nuts) and wear masks on the face. In addition, we made Platikos, deliveries dishes (plates of sweets) and we distributed to the nearest neighbors. We celebrated Passover with my grandmother. We read in the Haggadah in Hebrew and Ladino and we ate Masas, some kind of hollow puffs, made of reserved wheat and eggs. The matzos were obtained from Zagreb and were round and large, unlike the square matzah used in Israel. On Shavuot (Pentecost), my mother would make Montezicos, a kind of sweet buns, cone- like mountain, with "stairs" on one side while on the opposite side were the "Tablets - the Ten Commandments" decorated with various pictorial forms - Shofar, Star of David, Oats (or spikes) and other holiday symbols. Another popular dish was "Roz-de-le-chi" - minced rice stew in milk or water with sugar and decorated with cinnamon in the form of a Star of David and inside it the word "Zion", while on Tisha B'Av, we were telling about the "Weeping Wall” (The Western Wall) and the destruction of the Temple. In addition to this, what is called the "period" - a particular day in July during which Spanish Jews were prohibited from drinking water for a period of two hours in the afternoon. On Chanukah, we would open the door and light candles on the menorah behind it, so they would not be seen from outside, in memory of the Inquisition period in Spain.

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