In memory of Vida Peraḥya Yitzḥak and Donna Kapon
Dolly Asher of Perahya tells she was born in 1934 in the city of Thessaloniki. Her grandfather, Haim Perahya, was a rabbi in Thessaloniki and his brother, Gabriel, was Jewish Court judge (Av Beit Din). Her grandfather passed away in 1939 and her grandmother came to live with them. Her father used to smoke on Shabbat, but out of respect to his mother, he used to smoke at the building’s corridor. On Shabbat no fire was ignited, and food was preserved from Shabbat evening to keep it warm. Dolly never went to a Jewish school, but a Greek school. She never learnt Hebrew, but when her children were born, she sent them to a Jewish school and they had a Bar Mitzva (the son), and Bat Mitzva (the daughter). She and her husband insisted on a Jewish life. During the Holocaust, Dolly lost both of her grandmothers and grandfathers, as well as many other loved ones: two of her father’s brothers, her mother’s sister- aunt Sharina- and her family, and others.