The story of Gizela - Afik Shiraz. Abinun Shmuel

I do not believe in God since the war and do not keep commandments, and still, there are habits that have been minted in me from childhood and I cannot do them otherwise. For example, my mother avoided cutting nails on Thursday as they begin to grow on Saturday. When she cut the nails, she would skip her fingers: Thumb – Forearm – pinky and then go back to her finger - toe. (Fingers: 1, 3, 5, 4, 2). Why? - I have no idea, but to this day I cut my nails this way. When I eat some fruit for the first time this season, I have to say "we were alive" (a pray). Another habit that I continue to do today is bringing an egg, sugar, salt and bread every time a new baby is born or on housewarming: egg, to have a full life, sugar, to have a sweet life, salt to have tasty life, and bread that will never be missed . This is my connection to my mother.

Family members tell of Baba

Shmuel

Mother is only one and I am a single son to my mother, no brothers nor sisters.

I remember that as a little boy my mother called me - "maza" – an indulging kitten. There was no shower nor bathtub, so a tub was filled with the water, a pot boiled water were poured into the tub and when the water was lukewarm, in pleasant heat, she bathed me in the tub. At the end of the bath she wrapped towel over me, huged and singed to me:

In a free translation: (from Serb to English)

Zima, zima, E pa ŝta je Zima, zima ni je lav Zima, zima, pa neka je Zima, zima, neboji se ko je zdrav

Cold, Cold, so what Cold, Cold, it’s not a Lion Cold, Cold, let it be Cold, Cold, doesn’t afraid who is healthy

My father, I remember, was more serious and stricter. The clothes, that my father stitched, were considered elite in terms of their quality and finish. He sewed clothes for me too and I looked like being dressed in a suit, even when I went to kindergarten. From him I inherited the love for order. When I was in school, my mother sat next to me to encourage me to study. Many years later, I realized that she loved to study with me, what she couldn't study in her youth because of the circumstances.

There are a number of foods that my mother made which I loved especially as a child and as an adult too:

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