English

Life in the maʿabara (absorption camp) ‘Shaʿar Haʿaliya’ and settlement in ‘Mekor Ḥaim’ in Jerusalem

Dedicated to my loving daughters and my dear family

Name of speaker: 
Malka Mizraḥi
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Nurse
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
79
Year of immigration: 
1949
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
Yaʿel Wecsler, Tali Heiman
Year of recording: 
2019
Translator: 
Nathan Himmelfarb

Translation: 

When we came to Israel, we were in tents. And…(for) a month. Then…they brought us food, and we stayed there for a month. After a month, they came…they said to my mother, “where do you want to go?”. She said to them, “Jerusalem”. “Why in Jerusalem?” (they asked). “My sister is there,” (she answered). “My sister came before me, and I want to be with her.” And she came to the transit camp…we stayed in the transit camp for seven years. (He) looked for a place (to live)…(but) there wasn’t (a place we could) go into. They dug a place so that we could go into and urinate, urinate and do something. And when there wasn’t water, I would go to Makor Haim to bring water for my mother. My mother…wanted…she went to work. And I would bring everything. The food…so there would be food at home. I (would) go to school. I went with (took) my brother to kindergarten. I would […] him…when we finished, I would bring him. I would run…when the water would come, I would run and run and run to bring water so that my mother would come and find that she had (water). She would go to work so that she could have money. Have money…so that she could buy us everything that we needed. 

 

Blessing to the family

Dedicated to my loving daughters and my dear family

Name of speaker: 
Malka Mizraḥi
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Nurse
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
79
Year of immigration: 
1949
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Conversation topics: Blessings
Documentation: 
Yaʿel Wecsler, Tali Heiman
Year of recording: 
2019
Translator: 
Nathan Himmelfarb

Translation: 

My granddaughter…is 34 years old. 34. And I love her very much. She…is older than all of them. Older than them. And I love her a lot. She just had a birthday. What can I say? May G-d give her everything. May she have…may her life be good. And I love her very much. You are…from all of my grandchildren, you are the oldest. And I love you very, very, very much. I have four children. Two girls and two boys. And all of them are old, grown up. And they have children, grandchildren. They…my grandchildren, I love them very much too. I have eight grandchildren. My oldest daughter has three, three daughters. And the (younger) daughter…the son, has three sons, my daughter. And the youngest (son) has two daughters. And I love them a lot, and they come to our place.

 

Fighting for Zionism

The recording was edited at The Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center 

Name of speaker: 
Zmira Sasson
Participants in the conversation: 
Yehuda ʾAvrahami
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Pensioner
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
67
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
Yehudit Henshke
Year of recording: 
2017
Translator: 
Nathan Himmelfarb

Translation: 

In 1968, the security service came to my house, took me and my three older sisters. They took us to the security department. Afterwards, we found out…what’s it called…they said (we were) spies. And of all those (people) who were hanged, we were part of them. I mean, from where did we know? We had someone (who was) a cousin of (Ahmad Hasan) al-Bakr. (The revolution was orchestrated by Ahmad Hasan) al-Bakr, Saddam (Hussein, and) Sa’d al-Tikriti. He was a friend of my father. My sister came crying to him. He said…he went…he said (to her), “you are spies”. She (my sister) said to me, “don’t speak!” (don’t say anything in your interrogation). I was in the women’s prison […] the manager was…Nuri Said’s secretary. She was, I mean…this manager of the women’s prison was Nuri Said’s secretary. At that time. And she made us stay…she was the manager of the women’s prison in Baghdad. So she was a bit lax with us. She could cook, twice a week people could come to see me, but my siblings…we didn’t know at all where they were.

 

Escaping Ben Gardane during the Nazi invasion

Dedicated to the Cohen Jonathan family throughout its generations 

Name of speaker: 
Shoshana Cohen (of Cohen Jonathan)
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Housewife
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
83
Year of immigration: 
1952
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
Tsila Cohen
Year of recording: 
2017

Jewish holidays

Name of speaker: 
Baḥla Sofer (Mazuz)
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Housewife
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
81
Year of immigration: 
1963
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
ʾOr Oḥana
Year of recording: 
2020

Shabbat and Rosh Ḥodesh

Name of speaker: 
Baḥla Sofer (Mazuz)
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Housewife
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
81
Year of immigration: 
1963
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
ʾOr Oḥana
Year of recording: 
2020

Women's work

Name of speaker: 
Baḥla Sofer (Mazuz)
Gender of speaker: 
Female
Occupation of speaker: 
Housewife
Age of speaker at time of recording: 
81
Year of immigration: 
1963
Speaker's country of origin: 
Speaker's community of origin: 
Language: 
Conversation topics: 
Documentation: 
ʾOr Oḥana
Year of recording: 
2020

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