The story of the Cherniavski family, veterans of the Hadar Carmel

My work as a documenter of life stories invites me to encounters that are both fascinating and exciting. Such were my meetings in the last few months with Mira Cohen nee Cherniavsky, who is about to turn 100, whom I interviewed for the purpose of this article, a special and optimistic, inspiring woman. 

For over three years I have been sharing with you here the stories of the older generation in Haifa and its surroundings, along with perpetuating the stories of those who are no longer with us, in order to preserve their legacy. This time I chose to tell about the Cherniavsky family, veterans of Hadar HaCarmel, an important and lesser-known chapter in the human history of Haifa, accompanied by photos from the past.

Nalivsky and Chernyavsky, roots in Russia

Ivgenia-Ivy-Genia (below: Ivy), was born in Odessa toKatrina וJacob Nalevsky. At the end of her high school studies, she went to study medicine at the University of Geneva in Switzerland. In order to allow their daughter to study under favorable conditions and at the same time practice playing the piano, her parents rented a large apartment for her in Geneva.

Between the study benches, Ivy met you Aaron, son of a bird וMichael-Chaim Cherniavsky (Tcherniavsky), born in Kharkiv (1887), who also came to study medicine. Two years later, Aaron decided to switch to studying physics and, being an excellent student, won many scholarships. In 1912, Aharon completed his studies and was awarded the degree of Doctor of Physical Sciences by the University of Geneva. For several years he served as an assistant in the physics institute at the university and in 1913 he was appointed there as a physics lecturer, a position he held until he immigrated to Israel.

His scientific work at that time earned him the "Davy Award". At the same time, the friendship between Ivy and Aaron deepened and in 1913 the two decided to get married.

Haim Weizman, a member of the class in Geneva

Ivy and Aharon did not grow up in Zionist homes, but when Chaim Weizman, Aaron's classmate, told them with shining eyes about Palestine, they were convinced to immigrate to Israel. To Aaron, that's what Weizmann promised, reserved from his position as director of the physics laboratory at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Weizmann himself, as is well known, immigrated to England at the end of his studies and later became a famous Zionist figure and the first president of the State of Israel.

In 1919, about a year after the end of the First World War, Aharon immigrated to Israel filled with enthusiasm for his new position. He excitedly told the people he met that he was on his way to Jerusalem to start his job as the director of the laboratory. How great was his astonishment, when he heard from his interlocutors, that another vision was due, since the cornerstone for the laboratory had indeed been laid, but the university itself had not yet been established... Disappointed, he remained in Tel Aviv to look for work.

Ivy's request to receive a certificate (permit to immigrate to the Land of Israel) was refused by the British, "on the suspicion that she would be influenced by her communist brother and spread communism in Israel." Her denials did not help because she had no other choice...only a few days later the matter was settled with the help of Weizmann and Ivy immigrated as well She moved to Israel and joined Aaron. They settled in Tel Aviv and rented an apartment in a small house opposite the Herzliya Gymnasium.

Ivy's hats

Ivy, who from her youth was used to wearing elegant clothes befitting the affluent home where she grew up, arrived in Palestine equipped with a huge box with her best outfits: long dresses and a matching hat with a mesh covering the face as well as a fur coat, as is customary in the European winter. Ivy's modesty, which was unusual in the Land of Israel of those days, led to her being chased by groups of giggling young Arabs who used to approach her as they competed to see who would be able to lift the net over her face. Along with her difficulties adjusting to the new place, the incessant bullying made her life miserable.           

Moshe Shertok (Servant)

One day, he arrived Moshe Shertok (Later Server), who was friends with Aharon, to take Ivy to Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai's celebration ceremony at Mount Meron, so that she would know another angle of life in the Land of Israel.

"When I grew up, my mother told me that she cried all the way back home." you remember mira, Daughter of Ivy and Aaron. "She was frightened by the large crowd, the overcrowding, and above all, the "halakah" ceremony, the shaving of the religious children's heads when they reach the age of 3. She had never seen anything like this. "Where did I go?" she asked father in fear. "If this is Palestine, let's run away from here!" , Father, upset as well, tried to calm her down." The cultural diversity piled up difficulties on Ebi, but slowly and gradually she acclimatized and got used to life in Palestine and even learned the Hebrew language.

Establishment of the "Association for Continuing Education in Science", Sara's birth

After it became clear that Weizmann's promise could not be fulfilled, Aharon was hired as a part-time physics teacher at a girls' seminary in Tel Aviv under the direction of Yitzhak Epstein as well as in the Hebrew gymnasium.

In May 1921, the Arabs rioted in Jewish Tel Aviv, Jaffa and other settlements with acts of murder, violence, rape and looting (riots XNUMX). This was the largest scale of riots that the Jewish settlement had known until then. Following the disturbances, Aharon was appointed by Meir Dizengoff to head a committee that would deal with the victims The many and all their needs.

In the same year she was born in Tel Aviv Sarah, the eldest daughter of Ivy and Aaron. a bird, Aaron's mother, who was widowed a second time, immigrated to Israel and joined the family to help raise her granddaughter.

During this period, Aharon was among the founders of the "Association for Further Education in Science" in Tel Aviv, which was established in order to be a kind of public university that enables the study of science for all those who are hungry for knowledge.

After the association encountered financial difficulties, the proposal of Shmuel Pevzner, one of the founders of the Technion and the head of the Hadar Carmel Board, was accepted, to house the association's scientific library in the Technion building in Hadar Carmel in Haifa. Later it was the basis of the Pevzner Library in Haifa.

In 1923 the association migrated to Haifa and from there it continued its activities through the teachers of the Reali School and the Technion, most of whom worked voluntarily, led by the chairman of the association, Dr. Arthur Biram.  

Aharon was called to host Prof. Albert Einstein in Israel, 1923

Thanks to his status as a respected doctor (and later professor) of physics and among the first to teach chapters of the theory of relativity back in Geneva, Aharon was asked at the beginning of 1923 to serve as the host and companion of Prof. Albert Einstein during his visit to Palestine, a visit intended to help his friend Chaim Weizmann promote the establishment of the university Hebrew in Jerusalem.

Although, it was a great honor for Aaron, but since his wife was about to give birth to their second daughter, he asked to be released. She kneeled down Olga to the Belkind family, The wife of the Zionist activist Yehoshua Hankin, a midwife by profession. "There are many children, but there is only one Albert Einstein!" she said to the father," says Mira. "As a professor designated to teach physics at the Technion that is about to be established in Israel, you must accompany the famous physicist"! In doing so, she convinced him to accept the assignment, hoping Because the date of birth will "cooperate" and be delayed.     

Mysterious mystery: Where did the picture of Albert Einstein go?

The visit, which lasted several days, was crowned with great success. This was the only time Prof. Einstein visited Israel. On his return to his country, he sent his friend Aharon as a token of appreciation a framed photo with his portrait that includes a personal dedication in his hand.

Shortly after the visit of the great scientist, on March 20.3.1923, XNUMX, Olga was born with the help of the midwife Baby Miriam, and below: Mira. Little Mira was not sent to kindergarten. She acquired the craft of writing and her knowledge in the first years of her life by imitating her older sister.  

Later, Mira gave the framed photo of Prof. Einstein to Dedatek, who resides in the Technion Institute building in Hadar HaCarmel. "Dad admired Prof. Einstein and taught his teachings with great appreciation. I felt that the Technion building where Dad taught and loved so much, is the right place where the moving picture he received should be hung," says Mira.

"The picture was hung on the entrance floor of the Madadek but over the years it "disappeared", she continues painfully. "For years I have been having conversations and correspondence with officials in the Medadek institution who have changed over time and each time they reject me with evasive answers. Along with the great financial value of the photo with the personal dedication, the photo for me first and foremost has a huge emotional value. It is fitting that such an important picture that was donated to the scientific institution should hang on its walls, or at the very least be returned to its owner."

Maybe one of the readers will be able to shed light on the mysterious mystery and make Mira happy?

The Cherniavski family moves to Haifa, summer 1923

In 1923, the dream of establishing the Hebrew Technion began to take shape, thanks to the activities of many personalities, including Chaim Weizman, Arthur Biram, Henrietta Sold, Shmuel Pevzner, Alexander Brewald and others. Dr. Biram contacted Aaron Cherniavsky and invited him to teach at the Reali School and the Technion Institute that is about to be established in Haifa.

In the summer of 1923, a few months after the birth of Mira, the Cherniavsky family packed up their belongings and left Tel Aviv. "We went on our way by train from Tel Aviv to Haifa: father, mother, grandmother Tsifora - father's mother, my sister Sara, me and of course also the assistant, whom her mother never agreed to give up." Mira says.

"Dr. Biram housed us in temporary quarters at the boarding school of the Reali. The apartment was spacious, we were five people in a one and a half room apartment, but strangely enough, the kitchen was very large. The big kitchen symptom from those days affected my mother and every time we moved during our lives she asked for the kitchen to be small..." 

At first, Aharon taught physics at the Reali School in Hadar HaCarmel, which was located next to the Technion building and a year later, with the opening of the Technion, which then included two departments: architecture and civil engineering, he served as the first lecturer for physics and theoretical mechanics, and later as the director of the physics department. In 1927 Aharon was appointed director of the Technion and held the position for about two years. In 1929, Aharon resigned from his position and asked to return to his great love - teaching physics.

A pleasant childhood on Frishman Street in Hadar Carmel

Some time after the family's move from Tel Aviv to Haifa, Aharon purchased a large plot of land on Frishman Street, a small street in the Binyamin Garden area of ​​Hadar HaCarmel. "The street in the "Nachla" neighborhood, as it was called by us, was a wild area with hedgehogs, scorpions and snakes running around," recalls Mira. Later, Mira and her sister brought animal "gifts" to the nature teacher, Pinchas Cohen, which made him very happy and earned them high marks.

Pinchas was a family friend and a special person. In his home in Hadar HaCarmel, he raised a hyena as a pet and used to take him for an evening walk on the street, tied on a leash. "Once, Pinchas and his wife invited us to dinner at their house. Suddenly, the hyena started running around the dining table making strange noises. We were all so frightened! My parents, who excelled in table manners, raised their feet on the table in fright..." 

When the construction was finished the family moved to their new house and a few years later the house was expanded. The Cherniavski family lived on the fourth floor and the other six apartments were rented out by her parents.    

Mira remembers her childhood as pleasant and fun. From time to time the family members traveled in horse-drawn wagons for a joint recreation with their friends from the Epstein family to bathe in the sea in front of the German colony. "More than once the horses slipped on the steep descent and we had to get out of the wagon and help get them on their feet," recalls Mira. 

The parents showered warmth and love and gave their daughters everything they asked for. Even Mira's many acts of mischief, at home and at school, did not earn her anger or raising her voice. "Over the years," says Mira, "I understand that the total indulgence made it difficult to face various challenges later in my life." 

On Seder night, Ivy and Aaron invited a group of about twenty students who studied at the Technion to spend the holiday at the Cherniavsky family's house. "The style at home was great, Mira recalls. "Mother, grandmother and the helper cooked large quantities of food as a team, put them in jars and covered each one with a beautiful "tulle" cloth and mother sewed beads on the edges. Father made sure that everyone had the banks and was very happy. I, who was a young girl at the time, enjoyed spending time in the student section."

The attempted kidnapping of little Sarah foiled by Grandma Tsipora

The area around the Cherniavski family home was not yet built. "One evening," says Mira, "when Grandma was sitting in the childhood room, she noticed to her astonishment a pair of hands reaching into the room and trying to forcibly pull my sister Sarah through the open window. Grandma did not lose her temper and with her screams drove away the insolent Arab woman who tried to kidnap my sister. 

Since that traumatic evening, Grandma made sure to walk around the house every night before going to bed. Father's pleas did not help - she insisted on walking in the dark alone. Grandma was a strong, knowledgeable woman who was not afraid of anything. 

Herzl Street in the mid-1920s was also sparsely built. As far as I remember, there were single houses in it at that time. When Sarah and I wanted to go for a walk in the street, we were not allowed to do so alone. Some time after we moved, land was purchased further down the street and the houses of the Levko and Krupnik families were built."   

Close connection with the Weizman family

At that time it came from Russia Rachel-Leah Chamerinsky, Haim Weizman's mother, with his sisters and brothers and settled on Melchet Street in Haifa. A close bond was forged between Rachel and the Cherniavski couple and every Saturday Ivy and Aaron used to visit her house with their daughters Sarah and Mira who used to call her "Grandma Rachel". Yael, the eldest daughter, befriended Sarah and the young, Container, became a close friend of Mira. More than once, the mischievous Mira was a partner in the cousin's pranks helped, later, the president of the country...

Later she got married Gita, one of Rachel Lehmandes Tovia Donia's daughters. Gita founded the Conservatory of Music and educated a whole generation of musicians, mainly pianists and violinists and breathed cultural life into Haifa. 

Mira, who started learning to play the cello with a private teacher, moved on to study with Donia at the conservatory and was the first cello student in Haifa. That's when the amusing nickname "Mirachelo" stuck to her. Over the years, Mira played many compositions with her mother and sister, with her mother and sister playing the piano and Mira playing the cello. Bachello, by the way, continued to play until the age of 93, when she gave it to a relative. 

The naughty Reali student

When it was time for Mira to go to first grade, her parents enrolled her in the Reali School, which was located in the courtyard of the old Technion in Hadar Carmel. 

While Sara was a comfortable and disciplined student, her sister Mira used to disrupt the lessons and regularly received low grades and was punished by being expelled from the class in the humanities subjects she did not like. More than once she was even sent to the principal's room, Dr. Biram, for her disturbances. In the real subjects, however, Mira achieved good results.   

At the same time, Mira was surrounded by friends who liked to visit her house. They played together in class, jump rope, five stones and more. Her friends' nickname, Mickey, accompanies her to this day. Her father, says Mira, used to host his fellow teachers at the Reali School in the family home. "Dr. Biram once said about me in my presence to my father: "At school - I can't stand her, outside of school - I love her." "Over the years we have become very good friends," says Mira proudly. "To this day, I carry a picture of my father with Dr. Biram in my wallet."

Mira "makes trouble" for the physics teacher

Since physics was defined as a compulsory subject in the curriculum at the Reali School, Mira studied in lessons with her father. Physics was not her favorite, as was reading the writings of Tschernihovsky and Bialik. The result in the certificate, she testifies, is not long in coming...

"Once, out of the ordinary, I decided to invest in studying for one of the physics exams," says Mira with a mischievous smile. "Indeed, my test was excellent and I had only one mistake, but when the physics teacher returned the tests in class, I was amazed to find out that I was only given a grade of 7. When I saw this, I got up from my seat and in front of all my classmates I said: "Sir, you gave me a low grade"! But I did a good test!"

The whole class laughed and Dad said in a firm tone: "At your age you should also know arithmetic." I tried to argue, but father ordered me to sit in my place.

"Before I sit down, I ask my lord to raise my grade", I didn't give up. "Well, sir, he's not raising my grade, so we'll settle the accounts at home... and my classmates, of course, burst out laughing... to Dad's credit, he wasn't angry with me, neither in class nor at home. He just said I didn't behave properly."

At that time Mira was the apprentice of Baba Sordin In the tribe of Scouts "Meshotetti BeCarmel" which has its operations in a shack at the corner of Balfour and Nordeau. chief of the tribe, Lion bound, was Mira's math teacher at the Reali school, she was expelled from his classes more than once for incessant chatter...

Aharon goes to Switzerland on the Technion mission, 1929

In those days, the continued existence of the Technion relied on donations and often the lecturers were not paid. In 1929, Aharon went to Switzerland with an important mission: to convince the major donors on whom the Technion's activities were based, to withdraw their demand to teach in the institution in the German language. 

In view of the events of 1988 and the tense security situation in Israel, Ivy and her daughters moved to her sister's house Is not and her husband No In Tel Aviv during Aharon's stay in Switzerland. Grandma Zipora, says Mira, preferred to stay alone at home in Haifa and host two Jewish families from Wadi Nisnas. She took care of feeding and sheltering them until the tension calmed down a bit.

Even before moving to Tel Aviv, 16-year-old Mira volunteered to treat the wounded who were evacuated to a makeshift hospital that was set up at the Reali School in Hadar HaCarmel. She helped bathe and dress the patients and even wash their clothes and wash the floor to maintain hygiene in the place. 

During his mission in Switzerland, Aaron sent his family postcards with amusing drawings and an educational message, one of which I have included here.

Aharon Cherniavsky is appointed as a professor at the Technion

In January 1939, Aharon Cherniavsky was appointed as a professor at the Technion and was elected as a member of the Technion's first council of professors. In the letter of appointment given to Aaron, the director of the Technion wrote:

"I congratulate my lord on behalf of the management of the Technion (that's how it was written in those days) and the teachers' council for his election and am happy with him that he had the privilege of being one of the first members of the professors' council, the establishment of which symbolizes an important stage in the development of the institution that is dear to all of us."

Shlomo Carney, later a professor at the Technion, with whom I spoke, remembers very well Prof. Aharon Cherniavsky, his admired physics teacher at the Reali School and later in his graduate studies at the Technion, in the early fifties:

"He was a revered and respected teacher," says Lee Shlomo. "Every lecture of his was a rare gem. A giant in his generation. A humble man, he always had a warm and heartfelt smile on his face. He spoke eloquently and clearly, taught abstract topics in physics in a fascinating way." 

In 1954 Prof. Cherniavsky retired from his job at the Technion. Since then he continued his scientific work and devoted part of his time to teaching at a school for children affected by paralysis and at the Technion he continued to lecture on the history of science.

Among his writings: An Introduction to Mechanics (1936), The Transformations of Energy in Nature (1965), Albert Einstein - His Life and Teachings (XNUMX), Between Science and Religion (XNUMX).

Aharon Cherniavsky, one of the first teachers at the Technion and the founder of its foundations, died in January 1966, at the age of 78. He is commemorated on a street named after him in the Neve Shanan neighborhood in Haifa.

Youth in Haifa in the thirties and forties

In the thirties of the last century, wealthy people traveling from Haifa to spend the weekends in nightclubs in Beirut was a matter of routine. The Charbiansky family used to travel from time to time to Beirut and Damascus to visit Aaron's friends from his studies in Geneva. 

Among Mira's many friends in Haifa as a girl were Jews, Englishmen and Arabs. At Christmas and New Year's Eve, Mira and her sister went on a one-day trip with a group of friends, English and Arabs. The casino club in Bat Galim, where she learned to dance, was one of Mira's favorite places to hang out.   

From time to time Mira used to go out to spend time with her friends and with the two sons of her family Fuller the British, whose father built the refineries. "We loved going to watch movies at the Ein Dor cinema and the Carmel-Ganim cinema," she recalls. "Thanks to them, my English improved miraculously."

The good relations were undermined with the outbreak of the events of 1936-1939 (the Great Arab Revolt) and were replaced by tensions and violent clashes between the parties.

"One day, my friend and I were walking from the neighborhood of Ahuza to Hadar Carmel. Suddenly, an Arab guy approached us with a stick in his hand. He attacked us, beat us and stole our wallets. We were left without money. We continued walking and saw Mr. Horowitz, my history teacher, walking down the street with his wife. We were sorry, I turned to them and asked them for money for the bus ride home. Mr. Horowitz opened his wallet wide and said: "Take as much as you need." To this day, I am very grateful to him for that. Even though I gave him a lot of trouble in class and once he even caught me copying in an exam, when I needed his help, he showed himself with the breadth of his heart."      

Among the victims in the incidents was also Tovia Donia, Gita's husband, whom Sarah and Mira knew well, who was killed by gunfire on the King's Road (later Independence Street) on his way home from a day's work in Acre. 

The dream that went away, a model for a short time, certification as a baronette

Ever since she was a child, Mira dreamed of studying medicine. "I had a lot of dolls and I loved to heal them. I pushed medicine into them, gave them enemas and what not... In those days in Palestine there was no official institution to study medicine but I insisted and rocked my parents.

When father's relatives from England came to visit Israel, I told them about my dream and they suggested that I study medicine in England and live in their house. My parents didn't like the idea that I would travel far, but in my own way, I was determined. 

During the sixth grade, I told my father that I needed private lessons in physics, chemistry and English. Father put everything I needed at my disposal: he himself taught me physics, Prof. Elisha Netanyahu taught me math, prof Kellogg From the Technion he taught me chemistry and an English teacher who lived on Jerusalem Street completed my studies in English. I was determined to pass the exams successfully and get accepted.  

At the end of the sixth grade, I took the "Matrioculation" English exams held in Jerusalem and passed them successfully. I got permission to study in England! But then, just before my trip, the Second World War broke out and the studies were cancelled. It was one of the few events in my life when tears flowed from my eyes. My dreams are gone."

Following the cancellation of the trip, Mira decided to undergo training to work as a waitress. For the purpose of certification, it was required to complete studies in chemistry and other subjects. Every morning she walked from Frishman Street to the Technion building in Hadar and joined Prof. Kalugai's chemistry class and the physics class taught by her father.  

"One day, on my way to the completion studies at the Technion, I met my friend on the street Laura. Laura told me that the photography course she is taking is looking for a model to model for the photography. I didn't hesitate for a moment. Instead of going to school, I turned on my heels and joined her. In the days that followed, I was photographed by Laura and her friends for the course from every possible direction. I enjoyed the experience and even won an album full of photos in which I was photographed as a model. At the same time, I returned to study the training courses and in the end I successfully passed the exams and was certified as a lieutenant." 

World War II, Mira enlists in the British army

In 1941, Mira graduated from high school. For about two years, she worked in temporary jobs, including at the Pevzner Library and at the "Magan David Adom" branch, which was run by a family friend, Dr. Nissenbaum.

The days were the days of the Second World War and in 1943 Mira decided to enlist in the British army. "Besides my inherent sense of adventure and my desire to contribute to the war effort and take care of the sick, I felt that this was an excellent opportunity for me to get out of the pampering environment that enveloped me at home," says Mira.

It was an amusing coincidence when it turned out that on the same day her sister Sara also informed her parents of her decision to volunteer for the draft, without the two of them talking about it.

The first to enlist between the two was Mira. In February 1943, Mira reported to the recruiting office on Mokhles Street (later Y. L. Peretz) in Hadar. From there, the young recruits were taken to training in the Serfand camp (Zrepin). A month later, her sister Sarah also enlisted.

As part of the ATS, the women's corps in the British Army in World War II, the women served in a wide variety of roles, including storekeepers, clerks, telephone operators, cooks, truck drivers, ammunition inspectors, military mail workers, anti-aircraft searchlight operators, military hospital workers, From anti-aircraft activity and more. 

Aharon, who knew Mira's adventurous nature, equipped her with a stack of pre-made postcards with the inscription: "I'm fine, everything is fine, warm greetings" and asked her to hang one of the postcards in the mailbox every few days to reassure the parents.   

Apprenticeships at the British Serfand camp

In Sarafand, Mira shared a large room with about 20 female trainees. In view of the fleas that roamed the mattresses, the girls had to be sprayed with DDT every few days. On the first night, when her friends in the common room sat on the beds and cried, Mira, who was not a crying partner, unwittingly became the oldest in the group.

When the girls were allowed to choose major jobs where she would work until the internships began, Mira exercised practical judgment: while her friends chose an office job, she convinced her friend Rebecca Passman to join her in cleaning the toilets. This job, a mira version, however unpleasant it may be, will allow them to leave the base at an early hour and will earn them many free hours. Indeed, it was. The two performed the task quickly and went out every day in uniform to Tel Aviv, where they were received as heroines...

Mira remembers the internship period in Serfand as an entertaining time in which she met new friends and had a variety of experiences.

Mira serves in Beirut and Sidon and later at a base in Gaza

At the end of the clerical course, Mira was assigned to serve in Beirut and was driven there in a large truck with some of her friends for the course. In Beirut, I was happy to meet some familiar faces from Haifa who were mobilized earlier.  

Initially, she was assigned to the position of building manager, which included supervision of the girls serving in the various positions, and she was promised the rank of corporal. After her pleas to work with patients, Mira was attached as an auxiliary force of a military hospital in Sidon, Lebanon. The work also included carrying heavy loads, which did not suit her thin body, and due to an injury to her leg, she was transferred a few months later to the main office of the hospital, where she assisted in handling the conversion of money into British, Syrian and other currency.

Because the problem with her leg was getting worse, it was decided to transfer Mira to serve at the British Deir Sneed base in Gaza, where there was an orthopedic clinic that allowed her to receive continuous medical care. It was a camp where the British soldiers underwent training before going to the front in Europe. At the base, ATS soldiers served in a variety of roles, including truck drivers and clerks. Luckily for her, Mira won a special affection from the officer in charge of the 20 female soldiers who served in the camp, who happily sent her by train to the courses held in Egypt.

Along with the criticism voiced over the years towards the attitude of the English, Meera tells me that she and her friends experienced good treatment from their commanders at the British base in Gaza. Thus, for example, her request to allow her to bring her dog to the base was answered to her joy in the affirmative. "Atom", who emerged into the world on the day the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, was given a large kennel at the base on which his name was registered. "When we went out to the morning parade," Mira recalls with a smile, "the dog "Atomski Cherniavski" sat next to me in the parade and became a soldier in the British Army..."

In the base complex, a school was established by the British colonel for female soldiers who did not finish their studies at the school before being drafted. Mira and her friend Hana, volunteered to teach as part of it girls who immigrated to Israel as part of the "youth migration" and to assist in completing their education.    

In return, Mira asked to learn Italian, with the help of one of the Italian POWs in the fenced POW camp in the base compound. To her surprise, her strange request was answered in the affirmative. Every day in the afternoon the captive was brought Curneau and taught her her favorite language. To her amazement, many years later, on a trip to Italy with her husband, Mira randomly met Curnau and his wife...

Dangerous adventure

Mira's sense of adventure led her to convert train and bus travel into hitchhiking to Tel Aviv and Haifa on the weekends. One case, she especially remembers:

"I hitched a ride with a British military vehicle. On the way, while driving, the driver tried to start with me. I demanded that he stop. Fortunately, he did stop, but from the bottom to the bottom. It was near the mosque, a hostile Arab village. As soon as I got out of the vehicle, they started approaching me quickly Dozens of Arabs. Luckily, a military jeep passed by and its driver, a British officer, broke into the mob and ordered me to get on the jeep quickly. We started driving, and when I told him about my events, he chased the driver, managed to arrest him and brought him to trial. He also took care of bringing me to the bus station in Tel Aviv and from there I went home. Of course, I never told my parents anything about the incident, which almost ended differently..."      

Towards the end of her service, Mira worked in office assignments at Camp Schneller in Jerusalem. In a course at Camp Schneller, she befriended Carmela, later Yigal Yedin's wife. In July 1946, after three and a half years of service in the ATS in which she enjoyed every moment, Mira was released from the service.  

 Sara Cherniavski joins her sister at ATS

Sara, who enlisted a month after her sister, was assigned to serve in office jobs in Cairo. There she met a British officer named George Vernon Kennedy Burton From Ipswich. The two fell in love and married in Cairo. After the wedding, Sarah was released from the army and George returned to fight at the front and was released six months later. Sarah moved her residence to England, where the two started a family and happily raised their children.

Sara's marriage to a British gentile caused a scandal in the Haifa public of those days and more than once anonymous letters of abuse were sent to the Cherniavsky family, expressing anger that she had "moved from one territory to another", as they put it. Fearing for her life, Sarah made it a point to arrive in the dark during her visits to Israel. Other times, met with the family abroad.  

Yael, Haim Weizman's niece, says Mira, who was a close friend of her sister Sara, was harassed in a similar way, after she also married a Brit. Many years later she returned to Israel, with the help of her brother, Ezer Weizman. 

Sara died in 1995 at the age of 74. Six months later, her husband also died.

Mira is hired as a nurse at the "Rothschild" hospital

A few months after her release from the British army, Mira decided to exercise her training as a lieutenant. She successfully passed the entrance exam and was accepted to the staff at the "Rothschild" hospital laboratory in Haifa. Her work, which she loved very much, included taking blood from patients and testing it with the laboratory equipment. At one point, Mira asked to join the "Hagana" organization, but the hospital refused because they needed laboratory assistants.

Mira remembers a particularly traumatic experience from the day when the wounded from the massacre of the Jews in the refineries were brought to the hospital and all the medical teams worked around the clock. Along with the difficult sights, she had to take blood from the wounded and calmly inject them with medicine. In 1951, Mira contracted typhus in the hospital from one of the patients and had to stop her work. At that time, she was already married and did not return to her job as a waitress.

Mira Vihiel (Hila) Nishaim, 1950

You Yechiel (below: sorry) Cohen Mira met at the Levin family home through a relative, Lola (Olga), Danny's mother. Love was sparked between the two and in January 1950, about six months after they met, the two got married. Mira says that she won a lovely man, a great father and a wonderful husband. In one of their many trips around the world, the first bud of the salt collection was born, which today numbers hundreds of items. With דני and his wife Tali, Mira keeps in close contact and is full of appreciation for their concern for her.

Mira and Haila decided to hold the wedding at the Cherniavski family home on Frishman Street in a limited format with the participation of only 32 guests. The canopy was very valuable Kaniel, rabbi of Haifa at the time, in the living room of the house.  

When they were invited by their parents to stay after their marriage to live in their spacious house, Hila, in his good nature, conditioned it by paying half of the bills. The day after the wedding, while the two were walking the streets of Hadar, a street photographer asked for permission to photograph the happy couple. The photo remained forever as a pleasant souvenir.

Hila Cohen, Holocaust survivor from Latvia

Yechiel (sorry), Ben Avigdor Cohen (Kahan), born in Riga/Latvia in 1911, a member of a religious family, graduated from a Hebrew school in Latvia. When the German invasion of Latvia began in World War II, Hila's mother realized that the lives of the Jews were in danger. She quickly packed some valuables and entrusted them to the gentile neighbor with whom the family was friendly. Among the objects was a gold chain that the mother used to wear and a decorated cigarette box.

Due to his required profession as a chemical engineer, he was employed by the Nazis during World War II in the Buchenwald labor camp along with his brother, Aaron. About a hundred members of his family, children and adults, women and men, including his parents, all perished in the Holocaust, including his brother Aharon, who was shot and killed in front of Hila's eyes in the labor camp, a gruesome sight that he has never been able to forget.

Hila managed to survive in the camp until he managed to escape to the American occupation zone. At the end of the war, he spent a period of time in a displaced persons camp in Italy, where he worked on translating the documents of the survivors from Russian, German and English into the Hebrew language, in preparation for their immigration to Israel.

One day, Hilah was informed that a Latvian citizen had come to look for him. How great was Hila's excitement when he saw his neighbor from Riga in front of him! It turned out that at the end of the war, the Latvian neighbor had been looking for Hila for a long time, in order to personally deliver to him the valuables that his mother had left in his hands for the shift. Later, on her 80th birthday, Mira gave the necklace to Tali, so that it would continue to be passed down as a moving symbol from generation to generation.     

In 1948 Hila immigrated to Israel. He was accepted into Hamad (Science Corps), the first Israeli arms industry that was involved in the production of ammunition for the War of Liberation. After that he worked at "Dashnish" in the field of ammonia, but after he became ill due to the increased exposure to dangerous substances, he moved to teach at the laborant school, which was located in the current location of the municipal school Thursday in Haifa.

Throughout his life Yehiel did not tell anything about his experiences in the Holocaust and even asked not to be asked about it. Later, when he was on his deathbed, he saw his brother's image in front of his eyes and called his name.

In 1995, after 45 years of happy marriage and lots of entertainment, Hila passed away at the age of 84.

Michael, in memory of a lovely boy

On October 5.10.1952, XNUMX, about two years after the marriage of Mira and Hila, their son was born, Victor Michael (Vitya). After his birth, the family decided to move to Tivon. "We decided to reflect in Michael's name also the memory of Hila's family that perished in the Holocaust," says Mira. Hence, his full name was: Avigdor Victor Vicia Cohen Kahan Cherniavsky".

"Michael was a charming and talented boy and knew how to speak Hebrew and Russian from a young age. One day, when he was two years old, a woman stopped us in the street who heard us talking to each other in Russian and asked where we came to Israel from. Michael sat down in the cart and said clearly: Victor Avigdor Cohen Kahan Cherniavsky! Later on , by the way, it turned out that it was Mrs. Pasternak, the wife of the well-known writer. 

Michael was a very talented boy and excelled in his studies. He was especially interested in number theory and liked to sit with his father in front of the logarithm board. Tragically, when Michael was 8 years old, he died of a serious illness.

After Michael's passing, Mira and Haila decided to leave and return to Haifa and bought a house in Western Carmel, in a neighborhood that was under construction. Mira, whose English language became commonplace after serving in the British Army, began teaching private lessons in English and mathematics at her home. Her name as a teacher preceded her and to this day she keeps in touch with some of her students. In this house, where Hila and Mira lived with her parents, Mira still lives today.

Aharon, Mira's father, did not recover from his heavy grief over the death of his grandson and in 1966 he passed away. Her mother, Evie, died in 1980, at the age of 90.

Mira proudly says that throughout her life she did as she pleased and did not consider "what they will say". Even today she makes sure to "take life easy" and enjoy as long as possible. In four months Mira will celebrate her hundredth birthday. I wish her a continued enjoyable, healthy and inspiring life, full of joy and optimism. 

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