מאגר סיפורי מורשת

Man of Earth finds home

 I was born in 1929 in South Africa.

My parents met in Palestine and that's where I was conceived .My father died when I was young and I took the surname of my uncle who adopted me, Shakenovsky. I went to school at age 6. The school was in a small town in South Africa, and there were 2 languages; English and Afrikaans.

From my childhood and school years I remember the following: Drawing an apple with a pencil, reading fairy tales, playing with marbles, running races and even fighting a little bit.

When I was 12 years old, I played tennis and football. In high school I played rugby. I was also fond of athletics, so I was running miles. In South Africa we have another system of measurement like in England, for example, km for miles and kg for pounds.

Also we didn’t have a uniform (?) it was only for girls. And there were a lot of relationships between us. When I was a teenager I liked to dance jive in parties on Saturdays, the cinema in our town was open once a week and I managed to go every week. In the 12th grade my friends and I were singing hunting songs. The teacher that saw it, sent us to the principal.

We were punished, beaten with a strap for disobeying the teacher. My teacher and I had a lot of disagreements through my school years. But the same person that punished me gave me the inspiration for all my life.

I met my wife when I was in university on the tennis court. It was the beginning of summer. I was there with friends, I didn't know her.

I had never been a good player, but she was. She was a really popular girl and I wanted to go out with her, but she was always busy and didn't accept until one time she finally agreed to have coffee together. I was 23 and she was 21 when we got married. We have 4 children: 3 sons and 1 daughter.

I started my career being a criminal judge, but it was hard for me and I changed to be an ordinary judge.

When we first came to Israel I wanted to work and I went to learn Hebrew but it was very hard and we went back to South Africa for a few years and then we came back to Israel.

Our children are already adults and also made their own careers and families. Our oldest son now is 63 years old. He lives in Sydney and works as maxillofacial surgeon. He was studying in Africa, England and later in Israel. About his family – he has 2 sons and 2 daughters and he also has 2 grandchildren.

Our second son made a career of a medical doctor, but unfortunately he passed away. He has 2 daughters.

Our third son made a career of advocate. Now he lives in Australia. As for his family – he has 3 children and 4 grandchildren.

Our daughter spent all her life in Israel. She lives in a town, named Kochav Yair. She works as an English high school teacher. She has 3 daughters of ages 24, 28 and 30. They served in the army and 2 of them were officers.

Our youngest grandaughter made a career in the army as a paratrooper, she guides new soldiers. She was among 120 soldiers who received a special award from president Peres. She also works as a flight attendant in El Al. Now she is studying international relations in college in Hertzliya.

I'm very proud of my family, but I'm sorry I can't understand everything they speak in Hebrew.

As for retirement, I understand the age limit that gives younger people a chance to prove themselves and innovate in different ways and fields of work and study. However, I'm sorry that judges cannot have their job for life as it is in The United States.

I recommend taking up a hobby, for example gardening as I enjoy these days as well as volunteer work. I teach English to retired people so giving makes my time meaningful.

I have trouble keeping up with the digital age. I was fine with the computer emails and such but with the smartphones…

It reminds me how when we were kids the toilet was not indoors or how fascinated my mother in-law was to see the garage gate open by remote control. But young people like you were born into this hi-tech so you use it naturally.

 הסיפור של הנרי שקנובסקי

הזוית האישית

גושה, סשה, רימה, קטיה, אליזבט – מקשיבים לסיפורו של הנרי שקנובסקי ומתעדים אותו.