Four years ago, I was invited by Ruthie Oliva to her birthday celebration, where singer Rebecca Moses, Mercedes Sosa's aunt, performed beloved Latin songs. Ruthie, born in Argentina, was a happy and curious woman, with boundless energy and a diverse range of activities in the fields of painting, writing, acting, and more. After the event, I prepared an article about Ruthie's life. Yesterday (September 24), Ruthie was laid to rest in the Haifa cemetery, not long before she turned 94.
May her memory be blessed.
From Argentina to Haifa - teacher Ruti Oliva celebrates 90
The article originally appeared on 19.11.22
Yesterday (Friday 18.11.22) she celebrated Ruthy Oliva She celebrated her 90th birthday at Abba Khushi's house in Haifa surrounded by dozens of family members and friends.
"I am happy that I was able to enjoy the sunrise and sunset every day and the view from my window to the sea, in the pleasant company of the two Siamese cats that my daughter brought to me after Jackie's death," Ruthie said excitedly.
Along with the blessings from the family members, the pleasant ones Rebecca Moses, The aunt of the international singer Mercedes Sosa, and the musician Aviram, Rebecca's granddaughter, in wonderful renditions of favorite Latin songs.
Watch a video clip - Rivka Mozes and Aviram in Latin songs at Ruthie Oliva's 90th birthday party
Daughter of an ultra-Orthodox family in Argentina
She was born on November 19.11.1932, XNUMX to an ultra-Orthodox immigrant family in Buenos Aires, the capital of Argentina.
terror, Shaina Osovsky to home Cohen, was born in a small town in Lithuania. During World War II, Shaina hid with her mother in a remote Lithuanian village for three years, subsisting on potatoes and goat's milk. After a few years and under the pressure of her mother, Sheina joined a voyage of immigrants from Lithuania to South America alone. Later, Sheina received a message that many of her relatives, including her mother, were taken to the extermination camps and murdered in the Holocaust. The agony of leaving her mother behind never left her throughout her life.
With the help of Mutka, her cousin, Shaina took her first steps in Argentina. With his help, she met the rabbi in a match Ben Zion Osovsky, a widower, a butcher by profession, born in the town of Brisk in Lithuania who immigrated to South America before the war with the bachelors among his children. His other children and other relatives later perished in the Holocaust. Back in his hometown, Ben Zion was considered a respected "sacred vessel" and in addition to his extensive knowledge of the Gemara, he knew many languages in Burin, including Russian, Polish, Hebrew, Yiddish and Aramaic.
In a modest marriage ceremony at the rabbinical office, Sheina and Ben Zion got married and moved to "Villa Crispo", the Jewish immigrant neighborhood in Buenos Aires, where Yiddish was the dominant language. Shortly after the marriage, Shaina discovered to her delight that she was pregnant. Rachel, Their eldest daughter was born after a difficult pregnancy and a complicated birth. A year and a half later, her sister was born, Access to God (Griselda and later, Ruthie), named after the mother's aunt, who perished in the Holocaust. Three years later the elder daughter was born, Zishel'a (she improved).
Griselda-Ruthy's childhood in Argentina
Griselda was born when her father, the Rabbi, was about sixty years old. More than once she used to play pranks such as braiding her white beard or wearing his cap on her head. On rare occasions, he sat her on his lap and read to her from Bible stories.
Even when she was six years old, she drew inspiration from her teacher Christina, and dreamed of being like her, a dream that later came true and was a beacon for her educational path. When she was nine years old, she joined the "Ken" of the Zionist movement in Buenos Aires, where she was given a Hebrew name, Ruthie, which she carries proudly to this day.
When she was 12 years old, she provoked her father's wrath when she dared to argue with him after hearing him say: "I'm blessed that I'm not a woman." That day she decided that she would fight throughout her life for gender equality in all areas of life.
In Buenos Aires, Ruthie studied at the "Talmud Torah" school and at an Argentinian state school. The studies of the Bible and history in exile, connected her thickly to the homeland where she would arrive years later.
In her youth she became an instructor in the Zionist youth movement, attended a seminar for Hebrew teachers in Buenos Aires and worked as a teacher in a Jewish school in the city.
Getting to know Jackie, the immigration to Eretz Yisrael
At one of the meetings of the Zionist youth movement in Buenos Aires, Ruthie met Jacky (Yacob), nicknamed by his friends "the Frenchman". "He spoke enthusiastically about changes required in his opinion in the leadership of the movement," Ruthi says. At the end of the meeting, Jackie offered to accompany her home.
The next day, Jackie showed up at her house with the book they had discussed the day before, but Ruthie's father flatly refused to accept a secular Jew as her daughter's partner. Her stories about the hardships Jackie went through as a Jewish Holocaust survivor didn't help either. It was only after the father's death that Ruthie and Jackie became spouses, got married in a modest wedding and soon after, in March 1963, immigrated to Israel. "I came to Israel with holy joy, as a daughter who manages to finally return to her family's bosom, after a long and forced absence," says Ruthie.
At first, Ruthie and Jackie were sent to her home in Kiryat Haim. After a stay of over a year in Mebara, they were moved to an apartment in a building in the south of Haifa inhabited by new immigrants with families blessed with offspring and later moved to another building in the same neighborhood. Four decades later, they moved to another apartment in a high-rise building with an elevator.
Here, on the land of Israel, their three children were born. Over the years, they adopted a boy from Argentina, whom Ruthie knew when he was 5 years old, who became part of the family.
Upon immigrating to Israel, Ruthie continued her academic studies and worked as a teacher at the Open University, in the Hebrew studio and in elementary education classes in Haifa. For years, she engaged in voluntary activities to absorb immigrants from South America and Ethiopia, instilling in their hearts the love of the land and its heritage.
Even today, at the age of 90, Ruthie does not give up on herself. Her husband Jackie passed away, unfortunately, about five years ago. She looks ahead with energy and optimism and continues to study, create and write. She has not driven for about two years, but makes sure to attend lectures for retired teachers at Beit Abba Khushi and enrich her knowledge on a variety of subjects.
Grandma Ruthie pulls with the crafting pen
From the dawn of her childhood, Ruthie loved to read and write. In her high school, she participated in creative writing classes and the stories she wrote in Hebrew and Spanish kept piling up. At the same time, many of her stories were published in the Hed HaGamalai newsletter of the Teachers' Association. In the last decade, Ruthie decided to publish the stories. This is how her four books, written in Hebrew, were born. The fifth will be published in the coming weeks, this time in Spanish.
Her book "That's how I saw the world" deals with teaching geography concepts through stories. The book "Three Generations - Three Continents" (2015) describes her family's journey through three generations and through three continents: Europe, Argentina and Israel.
A year later, her book "Grandma Ruthie tells stories for children" (2016) was published, which brings together amusing and humorous stories from everyday life based on her experiences as a playful child, as a mother and as a devoted grandmother.
In 2017, another book from her pen was published, "The Careerist". This time it was a novel that tells the story of Galia, a handsome and ambitious young woman, who during her many struggles with life's challenges falls into a gripping novel.
During the event, Ruthie read the poem "Shevil Chai" penned by her, her version of the poem in Spanish by the poet Amado Nervo.
On the eve of the heroism of my days
I will proudly review the path of my life
For not disappointing me, just like that
And not the humble as a person
In false and false dreams
and in the struggles that were in vain
Because of the path I passed
With my own hands I paved it
I did get stabbed in the back
But when I sowed - I also reaped
And if my hands planted roses
Breathe the perfume in my nostrils
True, spring is not victorious...
The winter shiver is approaching
Without complaints I will fill my days
And I will continue to create until the end of my life
And who will give and love
Cast a wall on old age!
