Part One: The Foundations of the Volftsun Family 29
Yet he was in an environment where he could
pray with a minyan (quorum, or minimum
number of Jewish adults, required for prayers)
and attend Jewish ceremonies. Shlomo
breathed easier, knowing he had a job and a
place to live. But he was also torn because his
family was far away. He worked hard, spent
little on himself, and saved his salary in order
to bring his family to Moscow for a better life.
But there were setbacks. At one point, there
was an accident in which two fingers on his le
hand were cut off. His days as a lathe operator
were over. He did receive some disability
payments, but not at 100 percent of what he
earned. He had to take a lower-paying job.
Nonetheless, by 1935 Shlomo was able to
return to Gorodok to retrieve his family. Iosif 's
memory of this reunion is touching. Most of
his life, Iosif remembers, Shlomo had a beard,
as was the custom of Jewish men. When Shlomo
returned om Moscow, he returned without
a beard. "I liked it very much," Iosif recalls. "I
hugged him and kissed him and enjoyed the
sensation of skin against skin, flesh
against flesh."
Back in Moscow, the entire family lived in a
room of an apartment provided by the JOINT-
built factory. It was very crowded, and in the
winter, terribly cold. But many people had
nowhere to live, so the Volsuns felt lucky.
They knew conditions would improve. Hava
got a job to bring in much-needed extra
income for the family.
The older sisters, Ida and Rosa, as well
Above: Inna Moldavsky, Grisha
Moldovsky, Rosa Udler, Moisey Udler,
Iosif, Ida, Manya, and Slava (Ida's
son); ont row: Lena Moldavsky, Rita
London, Lev Volsun, and Fima London
in Moscow, 1959. Ida came om
Tomsk, Siberia, for vacation.
