Salary withholding: "My family and I are about to starve!"
It opens with a moving letter: "To the Community Committee, Haifa. Subject: Loan to the 'Zikron Yosef' School in the Estate. Honorable Sir, I, the undersigned, a teacher at the school in the 'Estate' on Mount Carmel, hereby inform your Honor that since the 'Estate' has not paid me the salary due to me for my work at the neighborhood school for the past five months, I and my family - seven people - are about to starve to death, if you do not come to my aid with a loan on account of the salary, until the 'Estate' gets its act together and can pay me the salary it owes me according to the contract dated October twenty-third, 1927. My salary is ten Israeli pounds per month.
"Seventeen regular students study at the school. The students' parents are unemployed workers, and cannot afford to maintain the school, and I have no one else to turn to, except for His Honor, who would have mercy on my family and enable us to survive by means of a loan until the colony gets back on its feet. With great respect."
This moving letter was published by educationist Daniel Bacharach in the journal of the Haifa History Association. The letter was written in Iyar 1929, 96 years ago. Its author is none other than educationist Yosef Segal, who is the great-grandfather of... the man from "Hadashot 12," Amit Segal.
Ice Age
It's hot, very hot these days. Who doesn't think about some cool breeze in the face?! Or some ice block to take the heat away? Well, go get an ice block these days!
But it used to be different: they used to sell ice on the streets, with large metal tongs that had to hold a quarter of a block.
And why did I remember this story? Because the mayor of Haifa, Abba Hushi, and the director of the Ministry of Agriculture in Haifa and the Northern District, Mr. Shekhnai, announced in June 1951 to ice consumers in Greater Haifa: "Due to the rapid growth of our city's population, ice consumption has increased to such an extent that the ice factories cannot supply it.
"In order to ensure regular distribution and prevent crowds, hassle, and unfair distribution - ice will be sold to residents six days a week, except for Tuesday, when ice will not be sold to consumers."
"The sale of ice on Tuesday will be intended exclusively for hospitals, clinics, children's institutions and other essential institutions, including stores that sell perishable food. Consumers are asked, for their own benefit, to refrain from stockpiling perishable food items every Tuesday of the week."
"Good, because it's close"?
In the book of Proverbs, chapter 10, verse XNUMX, it is explicitly stated: "Better is a neighbor near than a brother far away." The residents of a house in the Bat Galim neighborhood in Haifa must have believed this. They probably hoped that if their brother was not around, at least their neighbor would be okay. But they were disappointed.
And so they wrote in a letter to the police in 1972: "To our great regret, we must contact you again regarding a hotel license, which the landlord requested.
"We, the undersigned, are absolutely opposed and for these reasons: He currently rents out rooms in two apartments that belong to him, but these tenants are always extremely dubious people. Three Arabs now live in one apartment there, as well as one or two ladies, who return home in the wee hours of the night, between 2 and 3, usually drunk and making endless noise."
And what pain did these residents have? Quote: "We have children of all ages, especially teenage girls, who are afraid to go home alone. We think it is unhealthy to raise children in such an atmosphere. Also, it does not add respect to the city, let alone the neighborhood."
And so they ended their letter to the police: "In the hope that you will understand our situation and do something to improve the atmosphere and prevent these things." And here appear the names and signatures of the seven families of the residence. How does this story end? I don't know.
Inspired by the Haifa of old – created with artificial intelligence (live here)
And wow, even when talking about history, you're using AI nonsense. Can't you find real historical photos?
All the AI really ruins the desire to read, a sky full of scrambled images in every article
You wrote beautifully about Yosef Segal.
It is also worth writing about his son, Yedidia Segal, who was kidnapped, tortured and murdered by leftist Haganah members in Haifa, simply because he belonged to the Irgun. He was murdered when he was just 18 years old. The boy who was the first child born on Mount Carmel. A story that has been well-kept secret for decades.
You can read it in the book 'Not Just a Civil War' written by Hagai Segal.
Nice to remember