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My uncle Izak worked at his father’s business. He sold glassware at the market. His work was more difficult. He had five daughters. His wife contracted tuberculosis. She had worked very hard too. When her husband was taken to the “20 military classes” [5], she continued in this business.
It was very difficult for her. My uncle was forced to go to the military. And this woman, because she could not take care of five children, put her two youngest daughters in the “Orfelinato” [orphanage for children]. Fani Levi was a very smart woman from the lower classes, she was able to run the business.
She was extremely clever, and she was the one who took care of her other three daughters. Two years later, she removed them from the Orfelinato but she died from tuberculosis a short while later. And Uncle Izak, in 1948, during the years when Israel was founded, immigrated to Israel with his five daughters, under very harsh conditions.
But his second daughter Julya went before her dad. She was 15 years old. They call her Yudit now. She lived in a kibbutz for two years... and they enrolled her in the military when she was 18 years old.
2-3 years later, uncle Izak and the other girls also went to Israel. Julya [she became Yudit in Israel] had met her superior while she was in the military. His name was Ruben Dahari, he was from Yemen and a wonderful boy. They married in the later years, and then brought one girl and four sons after that into the world. Yonit, Itshak, Raanan, Ofer and Moti.
Uncle Izak settled somewhere close to Tel-Aviv. He lived with his children. He never worked there. They got along with the help the government provided. All the children worked. He married them off one by one.
I went to see him and my aunt, aunt Gracia in 1973, three years before he died.
Aunt Gracia was my father’s older sister... At that time [in the 1970’s], she was 80 years old. She was senile by then... she was the one who lived the longest in the family. She contracted Alzheimers. She did not recognize most of us anymore. Six months after I returned, she passed away too. Her daughters had passed away before she did.
My father died in 1956. When the others left for Israel, my father preferred living here, in Turkey. In the summer of 1945 my older sister married and my father had grandchildren.
It was very difficult for her. My uncle was forced to go to the military. And this woman, because she could not take care of five children, put her two youngest daughters in the “Orfelinato” [orphanage for children]. Fani Levi was a very smart woman from the lower classes, she was able to run the business.
She was extremely clever, and she was the one who took care of her other three daughters. Two years later, she removed them from the Orfelinato but she died from tuberculosis a short while later. And Uncle Izak, in 1948, during the years when Israel was founded, immigrated to Israel with his five daughters, under very harsh conditions.
But his second daughter Julya went before her dad. She was 15 years old. They call her Yudit now. She lived in a kibbutz for two years... and they enrolled her in the military when she was 18 years old.
2-3 years later, uncle Izak and the other girls also went to Israel. Julya [she became Yudit in Israel] had met her superior while she was in the military. His name was Ruben Dahari, he was from Yemen and a wonderful boy. They married in the later years, and then brought one girl and four sons after that into the world. Yonit, Itshak, Raanan, Ofer and Moti.
Uncle Izak settled somewhere close to Tel-Aviv. He lived with his children. He never worked there. They got along with the help the government provided. All the children worked. He married them off one by one.
I went to see him and my aunt, aunt Gracia in 1973, three years before he died.
Aunt Gracia was my father’s older sister... At that time [in the 1970’s], she was 80 years old. She was senile by then... she was the one who lived the longest in the family. She contracted Alzheimers. She did not recognize most of us anymore. Six months after I returned, she passed away too. Her daughters had passed away before she did.
My father died in 1956. When the others left for Israel, my father preferred living here, in Turkey. In the summer of 1945 my older sister married and my father had grandchildren.
Interview
Nesim Levi