Vladimir and Rumiana Beraha with their sons Rossen and Avishay

This is a picture of my son Vladimir Beraha and his wife Rumiana Beraha with their sons Rossen and Avishay celebrating the birthday of the younger one, Avishay. The photo was taken in Bat Yam in 1999. My wife and I have two sons: Vladimir Rafael Beraha and Ilya Yakov Beraha. We raised them to feel Jewish. Vladimir was born on 30th May 1951 in Sofia. He graduated in machine engineering from the Higher Institute on Mechanization and Electrification of Agriculture in Ruse. Before that he was a labor service man in Svishtov, where he got a severe form of colitis, which he still has. Vladimir has been in Israel with his family for eight years now. They live in the Bulgarian colony in Bat Yam, the suburb in Tel Aviv. My son's wife is Bulgarian. Her name is Rumiana Beraha, nee Stefanova. She is an engineer. She was born in Lom and my son and she met in the school for ship construction in Ruse, where they both studied. They married in 1979 or 1980. They have two sons: Rossen and Avishay. Avishay is a student, who is now twelve years old. When Vladimir's first son was born, he asked me whether they should name him Rossen Vladimir Rafailov, instead of Rossen Vladimir Beraha. This question is very important for every father and son: to take the family name - in this case Beraha - or Rafailov, after me, for the continuation of the kin. I chose the family name, of course, because I strongly believe that the family name should be preserved. It should be known so that our heirs know where they come from. Rossen was born in 1981 and Avishay in 1991. At the moment he is a student of the sixth grade, he studies in a high school in Israel. Every summer Avishay comes to Ruse for the vacation to spend it with his grandparents.