מאגר סיפורי מורשת

My name is Yair Bar and my grandfather's name is Shahar Avraham. In this work, I interviewed my grandfather about his childhood. I asked about major periods and events in his life, objects that represent his past and their meaning in his daily life, his favorite food and his family's history. Because of the interview and my grandfather's stories, I learned a lot about my family heritage and I want to preserve all the tradition and the values that my grandfather believed in.

The name of my grandfather is Shahar Avraham.

I chose this picture because in this picture my grandfather is in the army and he was a hero in the war. My grandfather and his friend were in Sinai in the Six Day War. They were soldiers. The year was 1967. Their commander told them to mark a limit between Israel and Egypt.

In this picture, my grandfather and his friend stand together. They smile and wear army clothes. My grandfather has a black hair and the long stick is a backrest for him.

He was afraid because he fought in a war.

My Grandfather's Favorite Dish

My grandfather's favorite dish is stuffed pepper. He eats this dish every Friday night. When he cooks this recipe, he usually cooks it to all of our family and it brings us all together to eat this dish at the kidush. Kidush is a Jewish tradition which brings all the family together to welcome Sabbath, sing songs and eat dinner.

My grandfather's favorite dish recipe includes a few steps:

·       Couple of peppers

·       Rice

·       Mince

·       Tomato paste

·       Onion

·       Red paprika

·       Oil and salt

Every Friday morning, my grandfather goes to the market to buy each of these ingredients and when he comes back home, he starts to cook. At first, he takes a bowl and fills it up with all the ingredients (besides the peppers) and then mix them all together. Afterwards, he washes all the peppers, cuts them and fill them all with the mixture from the bowl. As he finishes, he arranges all the peppers nicely in a baking dish and puts into the oven for about 2 hours at a 220°. While it`s getting cooked at the oven, all of the house is getting filled up with a good smell that my grandfather and also my grandmother cannot wait to eat it.

This "famous" recipe comes from my great-grandmother (grandfather`s mother) and continues over years. My grandfather used to cook it together with his mom as he was a child

My Grandpa’s Favorite Item

My grandpa’s favorite item of all time is his Kiddush glass. This glass is belonged to my great-grandfather (the father of my grandpa) and it’s passed down from generation to generation. The Kiddush is a Jewish tradition which every Friday night all of my family are sitting down together, blessing, singing songs, eating, and welcome the Sabbath.

At every Kiddush, wine is poured into the Kiddush glass and we are blessing with this glass so as we end to bless, each one of the family is drinking wine from the glass. This is why this glass is so important and the Kiddush cannot take a place without it. As you can guess, when my grandpa was a kid, all of his family were blessing and welcome the Sabbath with the same glass which my grandpa is keeping today, and this is why this glass is so important to him and he wants to keep moving it from generation to generation.

Nowadays, my grandpa uses his favorite Kiddush glass at every Friday night when he welcomes the Sabbath. More than that, anytime my grandpa joins us to the Kiddush, he brings this glass with him so we can all bless this glass together.

Here is a picture of my grandpa`s favorite Kiddush glass

My Grandpa’s Childhood

My grandpa’s name is Shahar Avraham. He grew up in old Jaffa city. My grandpa's parents came from Iraq. They had a financial distress and they had to work hard for their living. In addition, my grandpa was also needed to go to work at a young age to help his parents. Usually, all my grandpa's family were sitting down to eat together, especially at Friday evening. The climatic conditions in the city were hard. There was really hot in the summer and really cold in the winter as well and all my grandpa's family had to deal with it without air conditioners because there weren’t any air conditioners at this time. My grandpa's family had a lot of children and they were living together in a small house without privacy but they were all happy together and with what they have. My grandpa used to play to football with his friends every afternoon. In addition, he also used to ride on bike and swimming in the see at his free time. In my grandpa's house the family were talking Arabic with each other although they were taking Hebrew with people outside the family. My grandpa knew to talk Arabic but he didn’t know to write or read well. At school, he was learning to read and write in Hebrew until he had to leave school in order to work. Today, he still knows how to talk Arabic which helps him to talk with his family and old friends. he also knows to how read and write a bit in Hebrew which he learnt at school. As my grandpa had to work hard from a young age, he kept working hard as he grew up and through all his life so today, he doesn’t have any financial distress and as well as his children.

My Grandfather's School Years

My grandfather's name is Shahar Avraham. He was born in Iraq in the city Baghdad at 1940's.  At the age of five, he was learning in a school of Jewish social in Baghdad. He was learning in this school until the age of ten (from grade 1st to grade 4th). At the age of ten at 1950's, my grandfather immigrated to Israel to Jaffa city and he was learning in a new school from grade 5th to grade 8th.

At the time my grandfather was learning in the religious school in Baghdad (Iraq), he mainly learned Jewish subjects as well as the Torah (the bible) and the history of Jewish. in addition, he learned the Arabic language. The teachers in this school were really tough and there was a rigid discipline. There were times when the teachers were punching the pupils with a belt or a ruler. In addition, the pupils in the school didn’t have any special uniform and they could come with their own clothes. Also, they had no lunch at school and they had to bring food from their home.

At the time my grandfather was learning in the school in Jaffa city (Israel), he started to learn other subjects such as Math and the Hebrew language. Compared to the school in Iraq, the teachers in Israel were better and kindly and there couldn't be any situation when a teacher punch a pupil. In addition, the pupils in the school had a special uniform that was must to put on when coming to the school and also, they had lunch at school! So, they didn’t have to bring food from their home

As we can see, the schools in Iraq and Israel were really different from each other. They had different subjects, softer discipline and different school rules. My grandfather said that he was really struggling in the school of Iraq and he was glad when he was Immigrating to Israel. Although we talk about years of years ago, the school of Israel where my grandfather was learning is pretty similar to the schools in Israel now days, besides the lunch at school which doesn’t exist in the most of the schools in Israel today.

הזוית האישית

Yair Bar: This work strengthened my bond with my grandfather. I learned a lot about his personality, his childhood, his life and major periods and events in his life. These stories will be always remembered in my heart and I will always preserve his tradition and the values that he believed in.

Shahar Avraham: I was glad that I had the opportunity to tell Yair about my life and my childhood. These stories made me the person I am today and I will never forget them. I was happy to see that Yair was really interested in the stories I was telling him so he can keep all the values I taught him that I learned in the hard way through my life. I wish these stories will be always telling from generation to generation so everybody in the family will keep these values forever. Thank you so much!