ROOTS RADIO EPISODE 6: A TALE of TWO GRANDMOTHERS (YASMIN and RIVKA)

Translated from Hebrew

Yasmin: Hi Grandma, how are you?

Rivka: I’m good, thank you!

You moved to Israel when you were six. Tell me about this experience—how was the transition for you?

I remember we were on the roads and on the way to the Aliya Gate. (The Aliya Gate was an absorption settlement and an immigrant camp in Israel.) On the plane to Israel, they gave us matzaH bread to eat since it was Passover. They took us to an immigration camp in Pardes Hanna, and we lived in tents. Everyone was in tents in the endless sand—there was nothing but sand and tents back then. There were a few kids in the family. There was my little brother Beni, and another brother who was one year old.

Where in Iran did you come from?

They took us from Shiraz, where I lived in Tehran.

Your mother is from Shiraz, so where is your father from?

Darab.

You also told me once that you had difficulties with the tent in winter, right?

When we arrived in Israel, there was lots of rain. The tent flew away from the winds, but then they came and fixed it for us. We lived like that for two, three years in tents, and then we moved somewhere else into barracks that had been built for us.

Got it, and why did your family give you the name “Rivka”?

My family was religious, and the name “Rivka” is from the Bible. In Persian my name means “Iran.” In Iran, they used to give the Jews two names.

Because you had to hide your Jewish name?

Exactly. Out there they used to call me “Iran;” my brother's Iranian name, for an example, was “Hoshrou” and his Jewish name was “Benny.” My two bigger brothers made aliya two years before us—they had been taken to a kibbutz when they were 9 and 11 years old. They were separated from our parents, and only after two years, my brothers met us again and saw our parents.

I have a question, what does being Jewish mean to you?

Being Jewish, to me, means keeping Shabbat, eating kosher, and celebrating holidays. It's fun!

So you're saying to celebrate all the holidays and Shabbat with joy and happiness?

Yes.

What has been a guiding influence to you in your life?

My parents.

What did they teach you?

They taught me everything you need to know about life. My father, rest in peace, used to take me every Shabbat, when we used to live still in barracks, and he brought from Iran a Torah in which I read the parashah in Farsi but with Hebrew letters.

This must have been probably hard for you to read in Hebrew, because you didn't know the language.

Yes, and when our house burned down, everything was burned. My father didn't take anything from Iran with him, only the bible. He said all the things we had were “tame”—or, spiritually unclean. Only the Torah books he took with him. And then our house in Israel got burned and we were left with nothing.

Your house got burned right after you moved from the tents to the barracks?

After a few years.

How did you handle this situation?

I was in high school, about 13 years old. We were handling it okay; right after school we worked in agriculture, we were picking and collecting oranges, potatoes, and more. This is how we lived and got paid.

And after the house burned down, how did you stay positive?

We were young and always thinking positive.

From what age did you start working?

From the age of 11, 12, I was skinny and told them I can work. I asked them to take me to work. The agriculture work was next to our house. And almost the whole neighborhood lived like that—I was not the only one who worked from that age.

I have another question: Because of these difficult and unprecedented times we live in now, many young people are confused, have lost their jobs, and perhaps can't think positive anymore. How do you advise them to maintain with a healthy mind?

Think positive because it all will be good. It is just a period of time, and it will pass. Only think about your good things. We had hard times in the past and we thought positively, and then everything was good after all.

Did you always think positively? When living in tents and when you’re house burned down?

Always, and we were happy. We said it will pass and it passed. We were very happy to finally move to Israel. It's the Jewish country.

Wow, that's so beautiful! Thank you so much, Grandma.

I hope this will help you and the listeners!