My family had been living in the territories of the Ottoman Empire for four centuries, practising the professions allowed to Jews. In the nineteenth century, I know for certain that my great-grandfather resided in Constantinople, as Istanbul was called at that time, and traded in Bohemian glass and crystal, refined objects highly appreciated in the Middle East and Europe. Unfortunately, political upheavals and the shifting of trade centers towards the west also affected my ancestor's business. He accepted the proposal to move to Egypt, which became the new hub of trade after the opening of the Suez Canal, but being very old by then, he stopped working, leaving the choice of new professions to his children. As a memento of his years among crystal goblets, delicate glass chalices, and richly decorated vases, he brought with him only a precious set of twelve large glasses, each adorned in every groove with a pattern of gilded leaf. At his death, there were only nine left, just as there were nine of his sons and daughters. Each inherited one of these goblets and passed it on to their eldest child or first grandchild. Descendants disagree on whether owning one of the goblets brings luck or misfortune (and who knows why they should be imbued with exceptional powers!), and therefore some display it prominently in the living room, while others, though keeping it jealously, hide it away at the back of a drawer... Now I am the one who owns the glass inherited from my father and I display it in all its sophistication, preparing to pass it on to a youngster completely immersed in video games, to whom unfortunately the words "Bohemian crystal" do not evoke the luxury of empires of past centuries, and Bohemia could be like Shakespeare's one, a wild country by the sea!