Hana Shlemovich's family

This is a picture of my mother's family. From left to right sitting are: the husband of my Aunt Sima, Aunt Sima Gilberg, my grandmother Inda Gilberg, my grandfather Haim Gilberg, Sheiva Gilberg, the wife of my Uncle Ilia Gilberg, and the wife of my mother's brother Israel Gilberg. Standing are my mother Hana Shlemovich, my Aunt Reizl Gilberg, my Unlce Velvl Gilberg, my Uncle Ilia and my Uncle Israel. Beside my grandmother and grandfather are Aunt Sima's children. The photo was taken on my grandmother's birthday in Mohilev-Podolsk in 1916. My mother came from a poorer family than my father, but her family paid attention to giving education to their children. All the children finished secondary school. Sima and Israel studied at the Jewish school for eight years, and the other children studied at the Russian school. After school Israel finished medical college and became a nurse. Nurses didn't have the right to operate at that time, but they were qualified to prescribe treatment. Velvl finished financial college and became an accountant. Ilia, the youngest, finished the same college. The daughters didn't continue their studies after school. My grandfather believed that women had to learn to do housekeeping and get married. My grandparents celebrated Sabbath and Jewish holidays and went to the synagogue every week. The boys studied at cheder and the girls were educated at home. They spoke Yiddish in the family, but all children also spoke fluent Russian. Mohilev-Podolsk was a pretty big town, and my mother and her sisters and brothers socialized with many young people. Of all my mother's sisters and brothers only her older sister, Sima, grew up to be religious.