The Brazilian neighborhood in Haifa: a wonderful story about an unforgettable shared life ○ Now the movie

(haipo) - About 60 years ago, 17 families from Brazil came to Haifa and settled in the triangle between Derech Hayam, Tamar and Agmon streets in Western Carmel. They were called "Aliyah Company A of Mapam from Brazil" and maintained a common and unique way of life, a sort of urban kibbutz.

Zeev Kulikovsky, 66, married, father of three children and grandfather of three grandchildren, was one of the children who grew up there in those days. Over the years, he collected many materials documenting that period, and in an effort to preserve her memories, fulfilled a long-standing dream and produced a film telling the story of the group's life together.

◄ 17 families from Brazil - Shared life in Haifa • Watch

The materials have accumulated

"I am a son of the generation of the founders of the company," says Zeev. "My father was one of the leaders of the company. We have lived there since I was an 8-year-old boy, I am the oldest son. Over the years, I videotaped common events that the members of the company had and kept the documentation. I also received photos and materials that were given to me by other members, and I kept them. I did not know that in the end I would I don't know when exactly this desire began to sprout in me, but when we celebrated the 45th anniversary of our arrival in Israel at a big event at Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, The kibbutz I am a member of, I shared with all those present that I wanted to make a film about the story of the company, but it was only an announcement, a few years later I felt it was right to start with the film.

How did you start producing the film?

"It was a dream, to tell and spread this story. I thought to myself: I have materials that I have filmed in the past, passion and energy, and friends from the company who collaborate, it's worth making a film. We started during the Corona. The first thing I did was look for funding. I tried to get money in all kinds of places , and it wasn't easy, since I'm not a well-known producer, we did a head start of the second generation (my generation, not the generation of the founders) and we reached a respectable amount. A fund of Kibbutz Hashomer Hatzair that gives grants to kibbutz members for creativity, poetry, fiction and cinema and I estimated that I would receive some amount from them, since I am a member of Kibbutz Hashomer Hatzair and also because the story is related to Kibbutz Mapam, and indeed they donated money to the production of Haser, in addition I also received a donation from my kibbutz.

It was the most modest production in history, the film cost about 11,000 NIS. At first I wanted to hire a professional director and cameraman, but I couldn't afford it financially. I turned to the late Oded Zantner, a member of Kibbutz Gan Shmuel who was a professional film director and produced many films. He agreed to work on the film and voluntarily. We hired a young and brilliant editor for the amount we could afford, Carmel Ilani. We received the video studio of Kibbutz Gan Shmuel free of charge, so basically everyone cooperated willingly."

How was the beginning?

"I wasn't able to interview all the friends, because some of them had already passed away. Two or three years before the start of production, I interviewed my father and Avraham Bloch in the shared lawn, because I was producing a documentary about my father, and I also feared that if I didn't do it, the friends would pass away. The first action with The beginning of the production was to interview two of the veterans, who were still alive. Later I interviewed Naomi and Barka Harpaz, one of the messengers and his wife who were involved in bringing the company to Israel. I had old videos about meetings of the second generation, a meeting on the occasion of 25 years of aliya and 45 years of aliya. I collected all the materials to be the basis for the film."

What was the next step?

"This was the tremendous work of the late Oded Zantner. He took all the materials, my base footage, went through them, selected clips, selected old photos and created a film script for the story. Then he worked together with the editor for hours and hours in the editing studio of Gan Shmuel and in the end an exciting film came out."

Did you do a joint screening?

"We waited until the corona allowed us to do the screening in an open space. The screening took place on the date of our immigration to Israel, May 28, 2021 (exactly 57 years since our immigration) at Kibbutz Gan Shmuel, in the courtyard of the firsts, it was very symbolic, the courtyard has existed since 1896. All members of the founding generation were invited to the screening Those who survived, members of the second and third generation and their families and members of Gan Shmuel invited Also the messengers and their families who brought our parents to Israel, the late Aharon Haranesh from Kibbutz Ruhama Baraka and Naomi Harpaz."

How were the reactions to the film?

"There was great excitement from those who experienced first-hand life in the Brazilian commune. But not only them. Everyone said the film was very moving. They also emphasized the great music that accompanies the film, Brazilian music. The film was dedicated to my mother Bella, who died young, and my father, Dr. Kulikowski, who extended Days for teaching us what true and practical Zionism is."

Is that the end of the story of the movie?

"No, I submitted the film to Jewish film festivals around the world. Happily, it was accepted to the Jewish Film Festival in Sao Paulo. A kind of closing of the circle. I went to the screening there, it was very moving. After the screening, there was a long conversation with those who came to watch the film. I also passed on a copy of the film To the Yad Yaari Archive, which is the archive of Mapam and the Young Shomer and to the Anu Museum, the Museum of the Jewish People, for activities and preservation for future generations in the archive and they are very Get excited."

what is the next movie

"As a member of the first Nahal nucleus (Omari nucleus) who rebelled against the path of settlement in kibbutzim and insisted on settling in the development town of Ma'lot, I thought of producing a film about our nucleus."

We faced together

Dora Dizitzer, who will be 100 years old in a few months, is one of the members of the group: "Those responsible for establishing the group are Avraham Bloch, Dr. Zvi Kulikovsky and Prof. Haim Lichtig," she says.

"We immigrated to Israel on 28/05/1964 from Rio de Janeiro (the members of the group came from Recife, Rio and San Paulo). We started organizing for the immigration to Israel 4 years earlier. We were a large group that wanted to immigrate to Israel, and we were members of MPAM. Even when we were in Brazil, we organized gatherings to get to know the country, preparations for professional conversions and appointed responsible for various fields. We were also looking for a job before moving to Israel.

The journey from Brazil to Israel took 28 days on Zim's ship "Theodore Herzl". The travel time was used for the Likud group and getting to know all the families more personally. When we arrived in Israel we were supposed to live in 4 buildings that were prepared in advance, but they were only ready a few months after our immigration. The buildings were at the intersection of Tamar, Agmon and Derech Hayam streets. Therefore, when we arrived in Israel, the agency received us and arranged for us temporary apartments in Kiryat Haim. We lived for 3 months in Kiryat Haim in the apartments of immigrants, then we moved to the 4 buildings.

The lives of 20 families who immigrated from Brazil were organized together. We had someone in charge of education, the common money, the work, the culture and the administration. Each family had its own bank account. Most of the members were professionals and successful in their profession. There were 2 doctors, a kindergarten teacher, math teachers, a chemist, 3 beauticians, attorneys, etc.

A librarian, without knowing Hebrew

"I am a librarian by profession," says Dora about her first professional steps in Israel. "I was among the founders of the library at the University of Haifa. When we were still organizing the group in Brazil, we had to go to the consulate. I explained there that I was a librarian, and the consul opened his eyes in surprise and said that he is used to receiving engineers, architects and doctors... Then he added that when I get to Israel we will see what can be done with this.

Indeed, at first I didn't know how I could fit in as a librarian, especially when I didn't know a single word of Hebrew. I was lucky and managed to integrate into the team that established the library at the University of Haifa, and I was also responsible for the communication with the architect who designed the university, who also happened to be Brazilian."

Purim was a Brazilian carnival

"They all settled in workplaces and learned the language," continues Dora. "We had someone in charge of culture, we held joint events and celebrated the holidays. We celebrated New Year's Eve like in Brazil and Purim like a carnival. For example, we had a children's choir. One of the members of the group was a pediatrician, and he helped us all. Our parents didn't know Hebrew very well, but they were Friends who were more proficient in the language, and they helped us with the school where the children studied. We brought a Hebrew teacher, who taught us at the club. Recently, in the shelter where I am living there, I met a tenant who once lived on Tamar Street, and remembered me from the shared residence."

"What was important was life together - the troubles and the joys together," says Dora. "We had the usual problems of any immigrant, but we faced them together. The bond between us was very strong, and we created a real community. It was very meaningful to be together. Me and another friend were the only ones left alive from my parents' generation. The children of my old friends come to visit me from time to time , and it's very exciting. After 19 years, I returned to Brazil to travel and visit libraries, and after two weeks I told my husband that I wanted to return home. It was very significant, because I was born and raised in Brazil, and yet I saw the State of Israel my house".

common cash register

"In 1962, a delegation arrived in Israel on behalf of the group, in which my father was a member," explains Dora's son, Yossi Dolev. "They were looking for a place to live and wandered around the country. The mayor of Haifa at the time, Abba Khushi, allocated an area for the construction of buildings for the immigrants. There were far fewer buildings in the Derech Hayam area then than there are today. We came to Israel during the recession, and there were families without a livelihood.

We had a joint fund, to which the working families transferred money, and the unemployed families took loans, which they paid back when we found work. My wife's grandfather, who was also in the group, was in charge of the joint grocery store. The grocery store had toilet paper, cans, coffee, sugar, flour and more. One of the parents would buy the groceries at Mashbir for the benefit of all the members of the group, and the members would buy from him.

We celebrated the holidays together. In Brazil it is customary to celebrate New Year's Eve with a race. The parents would organize a similar race from the buildings towards the Ben Yehuda Hotel, which was down the sea road, and run back. All the neighbors would come to look. The neighborhood was very cheerful, and they brought with them an active and noisy South American character.

We had a club in one of the buildings, set up by the parents, where they welcomed the neighbors. The parents would hold various meetings there, and we children would have parties, birthdays, bar mitzvahs and play ping pong. When we were growing up, we would have parties there on Friday nights and bring friends from the classes we studied in to dance with us."

Ilanot school is almost closed

"When we immigrated to Israel, the 'Ilanot' elementary school was about to close, because there weren't enough children. We were close to 40 children of all ages, it grew the school at once. The members of the group were involved in education at the school. Then we dispersed For high schools, urban God's, classes, in SMT, etc. As children we used to play soccer and we had a soccer team. We played against the neighbors we called the "Gentiles", because they were not from Brazil. The group organized Passover seders for new immigrants (not only from Brazil) in a hall in the Sheprintak neighborhood. Hundreds of immigrants would come. My father was the treasurer of the event and we put on a show with songs and dances. It was like that for several years."

childhood friends and also relatives

"One of the families returned to Brazil after a few months," adds Yossi, "another family moved to Tel Aviv after a few years because of a job for one of the spouses. Only after the children started leaving the houses, families started leaving the shared residence. My parents left the building Only in 2012. Instead of the family that left, another family arrived, not from Brazil.

There were several vacant apartments that were sold on the open market. But all in all, for several decades the friends lived together and led a community life, even now the bond between the families is preserved. We, the second generation, consider ourselves cousins. After the second generation grew up and left the houses, we met in different places for weekends. All the members of the group would come, all the parents, children and grandchildren. We (the second generation) meet every once in a while at the house of one of us. There is family closeness between all families. I am married to someone who used to be my neighbor. Her parents had siblings in the group, so in the second generation group we have cousins. We are childhood friends and also relatives. Of course, we also meet at family events."

Yossi claims that not only has the group improved the quality of life of the members, but there are also families who would not have been successful without the group and would have returned to Brazil. "The power of the group was very significant. Some of the families had no livelihood, not all of them would have lasted. There were those who came because they were swept into the process, the community had a lot of power. A large part of the second generation was also looking for further community life, this is some kind of motif that accompanies us. My wife and I live today in a community settlement in Meshgav."

A bold act by the parents

"At one of the meetings of the second generation," says Yossi in conclusion, "when we looked back at the bold act of our parents, great gratitude was expressed for choosing to immigrate to Israel in such a special way. We are aware of our Israeliness and being Zionists and do not take it for granted."