מאגר סיפורי מורשת

שמי יהלי בן הרוש, אני משתתפת בתכנית הקשר הרב דורי השנה ובחרתי לתעד ולהביא את סיפורו של סבי, פרדיל.

סבי פרדיל, נולד וגדל בצ'רנוביץ שבברית המועצות. חיו וילדותו המתוארים בהמשך היו מורכבים ולא פשוטים, הוא נולד מעט לאחר סיום מלחמת העולם השנייה, כאשר העוני וההרס היו באזור שבו גדל. בנוסף, אביו נפטר כאשר היה ילד קטן, כל אלה יצרו תנאי ילדות קשים ולא סייעו לשיפור המצב, כך גדל והתחנך בתנאים לא פשוטים ובהמשך עלה לארץ ישראל והקים את משפחתה של אמי.

The Description of the Picture

סבא פרדיל בצעירותו – Grandpa Fredil in his youth

My grandfather – FRED

I chose this picture because my grandfather loved this picture. The picture was photographed in the Russian army, in 1966. In this photo, my grandfather wore an army black uniform. My grandfather always gets up in the morning and does exercises, just like he was younger.

My Grandparents' Favorite Dish

My grandfather favorite dish is couscous with vegetables soup. My grandmother always makes it on Fridays. (his wife) We go to her house and eat together around the table.

The ingredients: 1 kilo of semolina

For the soup: 2 zucchinis,  2 carrots, 2 potatoes, 1 celery, 1 parsley, 1 teaspoon of soup powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of black pepper.

The preparation of the recipe: Every week on Friday my grandmother puts the semolina in the boiling water. While the semolina is ready, she makes the soup- she peels the vegetable and cuts them into a big bowl. After that, she adds the spices and puts everything together in a big pot and let it brew for two hours.

When everything is ready – it has a great smell, and wonderful taste. My grandmother told me that her mother always made it to her family. We can see on her face the happiness that it makes her to make us this dish.

An item that my Grandpa keeps:

The item that my grandfather has kept for many years is a picture with his parents (circa 1950).

My grandfather's father passed away when my grandfather was 7 years old. This picture is one of the only ones left from his father. He is the eldest of his brothers who has a souvenir left from his father.

During the periods when my grandfather was a child, taking family photos was only with a professional photographer and it was not very often. At the time they would not own cameras because it was considered a valuable object and they did not have the financial option to purchase it. Therefore, this picture is a valuable item for him, as it is one of his childhood memories together with his father.

My Grandpa's Childhood:

My grandfather says he does not have many memories from childhood. My grandfather was born in 1947, about two years after World War II ended. He lived in the city called Chernivtsi which belonged to the Soviet Union at that time. The family lived in a small house with 2 bedrooms. Parents, he, his brother and grandfather. His grandfather died suddenly when his mother was taken to give birth to his younger brother (in 1952). His father died of a heart attack about two years later, in 1954.

All his childhood as an adult son to his mother, he had to help her maintain his younger brother.

My grandfather had to take his younger brother to kindergarten, at least 5 miles from home. When there was not proper transportation at the time, and he had to walk for a long time. His school was far from home and even there he had to walk.

The games he played as a child were mostly archery, hide and seek and they used to play in bottle caps when the railroad tracks crushed them and they would turn into tokens.

He remembers that his father was still alive, he took him to the market to buy a sled that was used by him in the snow. There was no money for games in their house and it was not customary to go and buy toys, they did not even have a ball.

The language spoken in their home was Yiddish and Russian. Between his parents and his grandfather, the language was Yiddish,

At school they studied Russian, his mother did not really know the language because before the war the area belonged to Romania so she knew Romanian well.

I learned that once upon a time my family had no financial means beyond basic food. It is very different from the reality of today that parents allow us far beyond.

I learned that the reality even outside the house where my grandfather lived was not simple, because it is about the period after World War II.

I learned that the place where my grandfather lived is today a center for the absorption of refugees in the war between Ukraine and Russia, as it is an area that belongs to Ukraine and is close to Romania about 30 kilometers from the border and this city has absorbed to this day about 250,000 Ukrainian refugees.

My Grandfather’s School Years

My grandfather lived as a child in the Soviet Union in the city of Chernivtsi. The school he attended was far from his place of residence. He used to walk for an hour every morning to get to school, as an older brother in the family he used to take his little brothers on his way to the kindergarten where they studied every morning. The school was located on the outskirts of the town of Chernivtsi. And there was no public transportation available. His family did not have a car and did not have enough money to fund every day for transportation to school or kindergarten so he and his brother had to walk.

My grandfather’s school hours were from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. and the upper classes were even more. The rules at the school were strict and there was strong discipline. My grandfather used to write with his left hand but he says that the teachers forced him to write with his right hand even though it was very difficult for him to do so. The school uniform was necessary and formally and this rule could not be violated. Anyone who came unorganized or without an outfit could not enter the school and was sent home. Teachers would even beat by hand with a ruler when students would not obey their instructions. At school my grandfather studied a variety of subjects: mathematics, physics, chemistry and even the German language. My grandfather was a good student and listened and learned properly. His parents were proud of him.

The school my grandfather attended is different for several reasons from the school I attend. Schools in Israel are closer to where students live than they were in Russia. Today the school has more organized transportation than in the past of Russia, where students walked to school. The discipline of my grandfather's school was tougher than the schools in Israel, today no hands are raised on the students and the boundaries are different from the discipline in Russia.

The school my grandfather attended is similar to the school I attend for several reasons: the subjects taught in Russia are also taught in Israel, the costumes in Israel are also necessary.

But in an overall comparison between countries the difference still exists.

Grandpa on a trip to Portugal  – סבא בטיול בפורטוגל

הזוית האישית

יהלי: למדתי להבדיל בין המציאות בעבר למציאות היום. להבחין בשוני באופן ילדותו של סבי לעומת ילדותי שלי. למדתי ששום דבר לא בא בקלות ועם רצון ניתן להגשים ולהצליח. חוויתי רגעים מרגשים ועצובים בהזדהות עם מציאות חיו של סבי. אני מאחלת לו בריאות איתנה עד 120 שימשיך לספר לנו את סיפוריי חיו בלי קשר לעבודה זו.