Hello everyone,
Sand Dunes
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| Sand dunes |
Many of us must have seen photos or movies, showing the Sand Dunes of the Sahara Desert... This was what our new neighborhood, Givat Hulon (Hill of Sand) looked like There were about fifteen newly built houses, surrounded by mountains of sand. I was fascinated! Being used to the narrow sand strip next to the Mediterranean blue water of the beach in Tel Aviv, I was totally 'Awestruck', by the largeness and majesty of this "Ocean of sand", where our new home was now built on... It was a total total contrast between the Moshav and our previous dwelling Jerusalem, which was GREY with paved roads and side walks... The place 'Moshav' was GREEN surrounded by trees and vegetation...This new settlement called Givat Hulon (Hill of Sand) was located twenty minutes away from Hulon, the 'Large City'... The color of our new city, was pure solid Yellow, with mixed with Orange, during Sunset... The colors kept changing into different shades; depending on the time of day and the position of the sun...
Our new home was about twenty minute bus ride, from the 'Big' city of Hulon,where my brother and I were going to school... We had to take two buses,which picked up more passengers, at several small settlements on the way to the Big city... By the time the bus (which usually came late) stopped to pick up or drop off passengers; I was always late to school... During the winter, fierce winds caused the sand to cover the road and the bus, was unable to reach our neighborhood...We had to wait for a bulldozer to come and clear it up, which could take several days... A strange collection of people lived in our new neighborhood... There were only eight families, mostly Concentration Camp Survivors... One of them as the Yakobovich family which escaped Germany, with two beautiful small blond daughters; Six years old Zlata and her younger sister Clara who was four...The girls looked just like their pretty mother Lotti ,whos Jewish husband Markus, was hidden in the basement of her parents house in Berlin, during the second World War... When the war was finally over they came to Israel...
One day as I was playing outside, I witnessed Lotti and her next door neighbor Mrs. Glikman, having an argument about hanging the laundry on the common clothesline, between their two houses. Actually it was Mrs. Glikman, who was having the argument... Lotti was a gentle woman, who would never raise her voice in anger, but Mrs Glikman, who was an unpleasant and bitter woman, was disliked by everyone in our new small community... At the beginning, people felt sorry for her because she lost her entire family in the Gas Chambers: Parents, Husband and Three children. Lotti lived next door to us,with her second husband and their son Peter, who was younger then me in a year. As time went by, the neighbors began to resent Lottie's mean spirit and ugly outbursts:"She Is Not The Only One who lost their familys in Hitler's concentration camps! This doesn't give her the right to lash at others!" They complaine...
I was playing outside one day, when Mrs. Glikman began to scream, berating poor Lotti for hanging her wet laundry on 'her portion' of the rope which they bouth shared... Lotti tried to calm her neighbor with her sweet smile and soft words. She pointed out that Mrs Glikman, didn't even have laundry on the line at the time... but Mrs Glikman's face, became a Mask of Hatred; "Go back to Germany, you filthy Nazi! You are not even Jewish! This country is for Jews Only! Go back and take your two Nazi kids!" I was shocked and ran home to my mom, crying and confused... I couldn't understand how could Mrs Glikman, be so Angry and Mean to sweet Lotti... "Ima, is it true that Lotti is a Nazi?" I asked my mother who was sweeping the constant thin layers of sand, which covered our porch..."No!" my mom said "Lotti is not Jewish, but she is not a Nazi! She actually saved her Jewish husband from the Nazis, by hiding him in her parents basement... Mrs Glikman is wrong! Not all Germans were bad, but we should not forget that the Nazi's killed her Whole Family, she has no one left and it probably made her a bit crazy...We should realy feel sorry for her..." But I was still confused; "So why are all the neighbors so mean to her?" I was asking... My mother sighed and walked away, mumbling that there are all kinds of people in this world...
Nazis
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| Nazi flag |
A week later, Clara our seamstress and neighbor next door, came to our house in order to make Alteration for some of Ima clothes, on our Singer Sewing Machine. I was sitting nearby, watching with fascination the seamstress, with several pins between her lips; crouching on the floor and was amazed, how she was able to talk without swallowing some of them! At one point, I heard her saying to my mother something which garbed my attention... She was explaining, that the reason she was able to stay alive in the concentration camp, was because she and her Identical Twin Sister, were taken to a special place, where the criminal Dr Mengale, was conducting Horrific Medical Experiments,on sets of identical twins..."One day my sister and I were crying for our mother, after all, we were only four years old! The Nazi Capo, who was in charge of the "Mengale's children program", dragged us outside and was pointing at the cloud of smoke, rising from the 'Crematorium' (were they burned the bodies) "You want your mother?! There is your mother!" He said to us.... Ima looked as if she was about to cry..."Is this is why you never married?" She asked gently. "Yes, what reason do I have to get married, after these Nazi Monsters took out my womb, for their terrible experiments?" My mother nodded her head, wiped her tears and reached out her arms to hug me...
A few houses away from our home, lived a Jewish couple from India, with their son Tomy, who was about my age... His parents who were very tall and dark, spoke English, with a British accent and kept themselves apart from the rest of the neighbors... The rumor was that Tumy's Jewish father, was a high ranking officer in the British army in India, before it's Independence. After the British left the country Tommy's Jewish parents came to Israel... They were very strange and had stranger rules and regulations Whenever my mother would invite Tommy to have lunch or diner with us, he would refuse, saying that he was forbidden to eat at other people's homes, unless he had a formal invitation... "What is a formal invitation?" I asked, but he shrugged his shoulders and said: "I don't know"... I was determined to help Tommy break this 'Stupid Rule!' "You live in Israel Xnow!" I said "You have to be like all the other kids here, otherwise no one would want to play with you! In Israel we always eat at each others house, what is the big deal?! You don't want the kids to think you are weird and laugh at you, do you?!" Some times after poor Tommy could no longer resist and ate with us, he would rinse his mouth, rubbing his teeth with the toothpast which I put on his finger and was asking me, several times, to smell his breath, to make sure his parents wouldn't find out he ate outside his home... I felt so sorry for him!
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Tommy was different from any other boy I have known before... He was extremely polite, shaking my parents hands whenever he came or left our house and thanking them for their kind hospitality... My fourteen years old brother Rami, was mimicking and making fun of Tommy's "Gentlemanly manners" It made me very upset and I asked my parents to make Rami stop it! I couldn't understand why my parents found it was very funny... Tommy and I would often climb to the top of an abundant Water Tower near by, making believe we were on an island which we found, after our ship was sunk by Pirates... We used a 'Make Believe' binoculars, to scan the horizon, hoping to spot a Ship, which will come to our rescue and take us home...
Even though I knew how Tommy's parents felt, about kids who eat at other people's homes, I didn't say "No" when I was invited to have dinner with them, when the two of us played in his house...At one point I saw Tommy's mother cringe, when I wiped my mouth on the back of my hand, rather then use the pretty embroidered white napkin, she gave me. "Didn't your parents teach you that people shouldn't wipe their lips with their hands?" She said with some disdain..."Why should they?״ I asked using my combative tone... After looking at me strangely, Tommy's mom said:"We learned from the British in India, that all civilized people use napkins when they Dine!" "Well, this is Israel, not England or India!" I answered "Here in Israel we don't use cloth napkins, only paper napkins!"xThe three of them were looking at me with Astonishment, but I was not done! X"Probably the kids in India, are not aloud to talk back to grown ups either! But my parents say, that in Israel we don't have time for such Silly Manners!" I said
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| Curry dishes |
E. My New School
It is hard to describe the rush of emotions, I was experiencing at that moment... The tenderness and love, which I felt for this 'small vulnerable creature', who chose Me, to protect and take care of him was indescribable! I remember the joy I felt, when my puppy stopped shaking after I stroked him and whispered in his ear how much I love him ...When I came home, my mother sent me to the neighbor, to get some milk for the new "baby" in our family...That evening, we found out that the puppy was not him but her! We named her Nava! (Biblical name for a pretty girl). From that moment on, my life changed I was not lonely any more! Even school was more bearable...The kids wanted to hear all my funny news about Nava and were laughing hard, when I told them how she stuck her head into a plastic container and was running all over the house, bumping into the furniture... I couldn't wait for the moment I get off the bus, run home and lie on the small area rug, with Nava jumping all over me, licking my face... My sweet Nava; I loved her so much!
Even though the kids in school, were much more friendly now, I still hated it...There was an influx of New Immigrants to Israel, from the Arabic countries and some of the the new students, could barely speak Hebrew... I was bored with the lessons which the poor, overworked teacher, was trying to teach where half of the students didn't even speak Hebrew... I began to hide in my desk the books I borrowed at the public library and was reading, while the frustrated teacher tried to teach the restless students As much as I hated being in school, I loved the public library, which was located next to my school Bus stop I would visit the library, twice a week and arm myself with books to take home. Reading, became my escape from the unfamiliar emotions, I began to experience as I was growing up; emotions I couldn't understand... I would later realize, that besides loneliness and isolation, I was also exposed to the growing tension at home... My parents were at war! Ima wanted to move and "Live next to "Normal and civilized people!" But my father's ego refused to let him admit,( even to himself) that he made a big mistake by allowing the cunning Real Estate Agent, convince him to buy a house, in this tiny God forsaken place promising, it is about to become even bigger then Tel Aviv!
Escaping school
One afternoon as I was sitting on a park bench, next to the public library, waiting for the bus to take me home, a brilliant idea crossed my mind: "Why should I keep on going to school, if I hate it so much? I would be better off skimping school altogether, sit on a bench in the park, next to the library and read books all day!" And so I did... Each morning after getting off the bus, instead of going to school, I would be spending my time in the beautiful park; reading books... From time to time I would used the empty swings, which usually had big lines of kids, waiting for their turn, then go back to reading (actually devouring) the books I took from the library, until it was time to take the bus home...Very few people had telephones in those days, our teachers were busy, having their hands full with new students, whos families who were expelled by their native Arab Countries, arrived to Israel Penniless...These 'new comers'; who could barely speak Hebrew, were having a hard time communicating with the rest of the kids in the class, since they did not speak Hebrew...
One day, I was observing the 'Madness' in my class, feeling very sorry for the poor young teacher, who was unsuccessfully trying to bring a bit of order, in to the classroom... I said to myself: X"If I get out of here, no one would know that I left!"X and I did... Over a month I would get off the bus, but instead of going to school, I would go to the park and was sitting on a bench, with one of the books I borrowed at the library... I began to read "Dickens stories, for young readers", which were translated into Hebrew and was Consuming other books like Treasure Island, Gulliver's Travels and Robinson Crusoe, devouring Arabian Nights, Russian Tails, the Secret Garden and enjoyed Hans Christen Anderson's stories like the Poor Little 'Match Girl', who was selling matches in a street corner, during one of the coldest Danish winters, before she froze to death... I became a compulsive reader, my mind was filled with images, of the heroes and heroines, I read about in the books... They became my best friends and I was no longer lonley!
Eventually my parents found out about my "Adventures"...To my great surprise (and relieve) rather then punishing me, they became very angry with my teachers and the school principal! The following day, they came to school with me, demanding to know, how could a child be missing from school, for so many days, without the teachers knowledge! The embarrassed Principal, who had a slight 'speech impediment, stuttered his apologies, spitting out some saliva as he spoke and promised my 'Raging Parents', that he will make sure, such things will never again, take place in his school! I expected some kind of punishment when we come home and was silent, during the long bus ride; which was not Typical to the 'Chatterbox' I usually was... At home, my parents put on a Stern Face and asked me to promise I will never run away from school! I remember standing very erect and solemnly promised, with my hand on my heart and promised... That night I heard. my Mom and Dad whispering in their bedroom: "Did you see how cute she was standing with her hand on her heart, swearing she will never run away from school" They giggled... "She is so adorable and has lot's of guts too!" My dad said proudly. "I bet she learned more from the Library Books, then she did in this Terrible School!" "That's for sure!" Mom agreed... I realized with amazement that there would be no punishment... Sighing with relief I closed my eyes and fell into a deep and peaceful sleep...
With Love and Light,
Shira
