מאגר סיפורי מורשת

שמי מאיה, אני מתעדת את סבי בשפה האנגלית. שתי עובדות מעניינות על סבי שאביא בפניכם בעברית הן שסבא רמי נוהג לקרוא לי "מלאכה", זה נגזר מן המילה "מלאכית". בנוסף, הוא וסבתא גם נוהגים לדבר בפרסית כשהם לא רוצים שהאחרים ידעו על מה הם מדברים.

My grandfather was born in 1945 in Arak (Iran). They were a small community of Jews but had a great connection with one another, all because the children of the community had to go to a non – Jewish school in the morning but a attended a Jewish school at night.

my grandfather with his family

They were a family of four kids and two parents in a rented house which had only one bedroom and a living room. My great grandmother had to take care of my grandfather and his brothers all by herself because my great grandfather was always out of town for business.

my grandfather with his family

The children of Arak kept themselves occupied with building small buildings and would make a contest out of who made the most beautiful building. My grandfather is quite competitive and so when he turned 6, he would work at a fabric shop when one of the workers were on a break, just to cut some fabrics and decorate the building he would build. One day the store owner found out and he was extremely mad at him and never let him work at the shop again. At the age of 15, my grandfather studied in a mechanics school and had a huge notebook, and when he got older he used the same notebook when he became a teacher, until one day – some one stole it from him.

My grandfather used to start the day at the non Jewish school on 7:00 and finished on 14:00. At 16:00 all the Jewish kids went to the Jewish school until 20:00pm. They had to wear uniform, and even though they were poor and had no money, they had to wear a suit and a tie. The girls had to wear a black dress with a white collar. The only meal they served at school was half an orange and two slices of bread.

In Iran, getting good grades was important and my grandfather was an excellent student and studied hard. The only subjects they were taught were grammar and math. Because it was also a Muslim school – they were also learned about the “Koran”. During these classes, the Jewish students studied outside, even when it was freezing cold and snowing. So, one of the Jewish students' parents secretly brought them red wine for them to warm up. My grandfather’s favorite teacher was related to him by blood and would always treat him better than other students.

The differences between my school and my grandfather’s school are huge! When it comes to how teachers treat their students, punishing, the studying environment, the distance between the school and my grandfather house (it took an hour long to get to school). There’s no resemblance between my school and his school. The students used to respect their teachers very much. And they were also very afraid of them. The punishments were physical and hurt the children very much. They would tie the hand of a kid who misbehaved and would hit him in front of his class. There were no rewards (encouragements) on good behaviour or special classes for children with special needs. There were no field trips because the school had no budget. In Israel, they would work at an apple harvest in a kibbutz, and they used the money they made to fund the field trip.

my grandfather in his youth

When my grandfather came to Israel, he was 13 years old. He transferred to a school here. He knew Hebrew perfectly well thanks to the Jewish school he attended in Arak, which really helped him out with school and getting accepted by the society back then. My grandfather did not keep his diploma.

A Story of a Photo 

This is the photo that I’ve got from my grandfather. I chose this photo because I like this photo. The photo has taken in 1950’s. In the photo, you can see my grandfather Rami and his siblings Rachel, Yafa and Daniel. My grandpa has another brother called Albert and another sister who died of sickness on the way to Israel. At that time (1950’s) my grandfather and his family had Persian names. My grandpa’s Persian name is Nikpur. When they came to Israel, my grandpa and all his family changed their names to Israeli names.

Marriage – The Love Story of my Grandparents

My grandfather Rami met my grandmother Sara at 1967 through Sara’s sister who knew him. He met her for the first time at my grandmother’s house in Hod Hasharon, with an excuse that he had to come to fix her sister’s car. It was love from the first sight!

On the first date he took her to the movies and later they started seeing each other regularly. They would meet in the morning, talk in the afternoon and go out in the evening so they were together most of the day. About six months later, they moved into grandfather’s rented house in Kfar Saba. About a year later, Limor was born, their eldest daughter followed by four more children and 12 grandchildren. When Limor was one year old, they moved to Ashdod, where my grandfather taught high schoolers and my grandmother was the secretary in the same school my grandfather was teaching at. Nowadays they live in Gan Yavne.

About a year ago they celebrated their fifty years of marriage.

הזוית האישית

הסיפור תועד במסגרת תכנית הקשר הרב דורי בשילוב שיעורי אנגלית בבית הספר חט״ב אורט רבין בגן יבנה, התש״ף. התכנית נערכה בהדרכתה של המורה אילנה ויניצקי.