Behind every woman stands a woman - My Women's Day
For me every day is women's day. But this day in particular, is a reminder of the lifestyle of brave, strong and determined women I grew up with, by their side.
I grew alongside and with a mother who did not give up on her heart's desires, while integrating into a new country, a new language, a new society.
Leotard and the Samson Institute
I remember the day we walked down Herzl Street. Mom was looking for a black bodysuit.
"Mom, why do you need a black leotard, you're not going to the ballet like me." Mother answered me: "I signed up forSamson Institute on Arlozorov St, I will train there every week.'
Mom bought a black bodysuit and I accompanied her to the gym. We went down the stairs from the street Kinneret Straight to Arlozorov Street, we went up a little, and on the first floor I saw the sign in the distance: The Samson Institute.'
lost girl
A group of women wearing black leotards stood in a line, just like me and the girls in our group at "Hapoel" behind the Tamar cinema.
My mother, later entered the category of the children with the "lost childhood", wandering from infancy, hard looks that never let go.
My aunt, who was seven years older than her, carried her on her back in the frost for tens of kilometers, in the mountains, in the forests.
Hiding under the bed in an orphanage without breathing, without food.
Little girl, lost girl. A girl who watched her grandfather and grandmother being thrown into mass graves.
"He who does not help himself..."
Mother immigrated to Israel during the youth migration and immediately integrated herself as an Israeli and a beautiful kibbutznik.
She always told me and every time again:
"He who does not help himself, God will not help him."
This is how she led her life, this is how she directed our lives.
Language and books
Mother learned the Hebrew language by herself. Her language was eloquent, precise, rich and lyrical. She did not give up books at home.
"Hannah, today we're going to Rubinstein." This is a great bookstore on Gaola Street. "I heard he got some new books, let's go see"
We walked, both facing from Kinneret street to street Hapoel, Tamar Cinema To our right, continue to the street redemption.
We entered the store, it had a very special smell. Maybe of wood, maybe combined with dust. A tiny store full of books and stationery.
Grandma will tell the jokes
Mr Rubinstein He knew Mom well and immediately took out for her from the high wooden shelf, a new joke book that Grandma had ordered for me.
I was so happy. Grandma always told me jokes and now, you can read to me.
I heard mom asking him to sign her up for a new series about to be released: "The World of the Bible for a Child".
And so mother slowly built a great library for us.
'Friend of the Readers'
Mother did not give up, stopped on the way back at the store next to the Tamar Vashama cinema "The reader's friend".
This store was used as a library for "journals" in German.
Borrowing newspapers, weeklies, monthlies.
I already wanted to get home.
Mother sat down among shelves full of German magazines. her native language. Old magazines went up a little, those who wanted to read new magazines paid a very high price.
I remember very well their names, the elegant, inviting and intriguing cover, the color photos on smooth, shiny paper that were sometimes spread over two or three folded pages. "Quick", "Stern" "Bunte" and more and more. When we came up from the street Hapoel, to the street Kinneret Mom told me which sheets she chose, what intrigued her and decided what she would like to borrow next time.
Five year old reads in German
When we returned home, mother opened the magazines with reverence. The glossy and colorful pages gave me no rest. I immediately asked my mother to sit next to her in bed and look at them with her. Mother carefully preserved the integrity of the pages, "after all, more people should enjoy the brochures," she explained to me.
That's how we sat and drank in bed at lunchtime. Mom reads in German, I ask questions and Mom explains to me. I ask about people, about kings and queens, about spectacular color photographs of places whose landscapes I did not know. That's how I learned who Elizabeth Queen of England was, I saw magical pictures and realized that it was the Kingdom of Monaco, the Persian Shah and his wife Fara Diba also intrigued me. Mother told every time a little about life in these countries, and I, a five-year-old girl, with big, black eyes, gobbling, gobbling and insatiable.
This is how I learned to read German at the age of five.
'The corner for mother and child'
Mother Sarah sings very beautifully.
I was in preschool. I remember that we slowly went up Balfour Street. To our left, a radio shop.
Mom went into the store, the seller turned a knob and another knob, played us great tunes, and we went home.
After about a week, I came back from kindergarten, already up the stairs I heard music. When I entered the house, he had a radio in the corner.
Mom listened to the show every day "The corner for mother and child", learned new songs and taught us.
She sang to us in the shower, she sang when she was busy in the kitchen, and little by little we joined in as well.
What wonder that at the age of eight we already went to a concert by the Haifa Symphony Orchestra? Children's concert in the municipal theater building.
An open heart and shining eyes
In the sixties he was already walking the streets of Haifa in a Beetle with a convertible top!
She served as a secret consultant to her companies.
No decision was made without a conversation over a cup of coffee in the small kitchen around the Formica table.
Mutual help and an open heart with shining eyes were her routine.
When I think today about Women's Day, a day when I received a gift of life - my young granddaughter - I thank the women who accompanied me, Women of kindness and action, determined, benevolent to the world, some of whose work you can read about in my book 'A girl from Haifa' And here, on the live site here.
Hannah, you are very talented at bringing the past to life. Thanks to your writing, I too return to the realms of my childhood. And once again I feel a sense of loss that I did not get to know your mother. But I know you and I do not have a book, and you are also an inspiration to the daughters of your family.
Thank you very much, dear Gilat
You do know my mother through me.
It's good that she left such solid footprints to follow.
I enjoyed reading. I grew up in Haifa. My mother was also born in Haifa. She was a wonderful and meaningful mother.
Yes
Blessed are we🙏🏻
To read and marvel at the mental strength of survival and action, without which everything would look different or there would be nothing at all. This is a true resurrection.
exactly
People go their own way.
Good evening, I read what you wrote. I am also a native of the same neighborhood. I was born and grew up on Akiva Street. Regarding the bookstore, in my opinion
At the time you're talking about, Rubinstein still didn't own the bookstore
The person who founded the bookstore was Moshe Nimand, a neighbor we called him Moshe from the books and newspapers
I grew up with this store and we also exchanged books there
Rubinstein was later
God bless my friend the reporter Hana. Indeed, I remember very well the days of Adalida on Herzl Street and the dancing during the independence holidays. It is important for us as Haifaites to support the continued work of the Haifa Municipality for the sake of nostalgia and the future of our dear city Haifa. Have a nice evening and a happy Purim