Norma & David Zwaig
Norma: ‘We moved to St Albans in 2010 to be near our children. David left the fur trade at the age of 40 and became an antiques dealer. I was a hairdresser but became a social worker specialising in elderly care after being horrified at the care received by my beloved Nana Lily, who had Alzheimer’s.
I enjoy volunteering at the Sunflowers multi-faith baby and toddler group at St Albans Masorti Synagogue.’
David: ‘This is part of a translation of my grandparents’ betrothal, or engagement, document from Lodz in Poland, dating from around 1900: “Vraham Zweig, father of the bridegroom, agrees to pay dowry for the bride and provide her with bedding for Sabbath and festivals. Mrs Rachel Leah, mother of the bride, will offer gifts to the bridegroom and provide the bride with clothes for Sabbath and festivals.” The document on the right is a Ketubah, or wedding contract, written in Aramaic.'
‘My grandparents came to England in around 1900, after their marriage. My grandfather was a kosher baker in Stoke Newington. My parents had met in a fur factory in London where my father was a cutter and my mother a machinist. During the Second World War, my father was a fire watcher stationed at the dome of St Paul’s Cathedral. After the war he built a bungalow on the Brocket Estate in Hatfield.’
Norma: 'This is our Ketubah, or Jewish marriage certificate. David and I met whilst on holiday in Belgium in 1962 when I was 16 and he was 19. It was love at first sight. We got engaged the following year and then married in 1964 at West London Synagogue.’
