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I had two reasons why I didn’t think about immigrating to Israel. Above all, my mother was alive. She remained a widow, and I didn’t even think about leaving her alone, because I was her favorite child, beside my elder sister and younger brother, as the middle one. Taking into consideration that she remained a widow, I thought it was my duty to stay with her and not to go away. Not even after I got married in 1956, to a Hungarian girl, whose parents were still alive, and she had the same attitude, she didn’t want to leave her parents. We were on very good terms with my wife’s family. And we carried on this way, my sister and my brother immigrated, but we remained behind.
I went ten times to Israel: First in 1978, then 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1994, when my sister died, in 2002 when my brother died, and three times after my daughter immigrated. I spent six weeks there this year. My wife was there two times, but she went separately, not with me. I’m not biased, nor with, nor against them, but I can say about Israel and I’m partly proud about it, that this small country managed to catch up with America in 57 years. Israel is a small America. There is everything in Israel; they even manufacture things that America buys from them. They buy much fewer things from the Americans. Not many were able to achieve this, but they [the people from Israel] did it, because they worked for it. I’m very impressed with Israel. Every time I went there starting in 1978, I found more and something new. Not to mention that when this high-tech picked up, I saw how this new technology has emerged in Israel just like in Silicon Valley in America.
How are the people in Israel? I have to tell you how they are, because there is an essential difference of opinion between me and my wife in this matter. My wife is noisy, but the people from Israel are noisy, too. And it is very hard to reconcile the opinions of noisy people. I’m used to it, and it doesn’t bother me. This is in their nature. They have gone through so much. There’s a Jewish proverb: if something happens, Jews won’t let themselves be massacred, or something, but they won’t let each other live when they aren’t fighting. In a word they are always quarrelling; this is how they live.
I went ten times to Israel: First in 1978, then 1980, 1982, 1986, 1991, 1994, when my sister died, in 2002 when my brother died, and three times after my daughter immigrated. I spent six weeks there this year. My wife was there two times, but she went separately, not with me. I’m not biased, nor with, nor against them, but I can say about Israel and I’m partly proud about it, that this small country managed to catch up with America in 57 years. Israel is a small America. There is everything in Israel; they even manufacture things that America buys from them. They buy much fewer things from the Americans. Not many were able to achieve this, but they [the people from Israel] did it, because they worked for it. I’m very impressed with Israel. Every time I went there starting in 1978, I found more and something new. Not to mention that when this high-tech picked up, I saw how this new technology has emerged in Israel just like in Silicon Valley in America.
How are the people in Israel? I have to tell you how they are, because there is an essential difference of opinion between me and my wife in this matter. My wife is noisy, but the people from Israel are noisy, too. And it is very hard to reconcile the opinions of noisy people. I’m used to it, and it doesn’t bother me. This is in their nature. They have gone through so much. There’s a Jewish proverb: if something happens, Jews won’t let themselves be massacred, or something, but they won’t let each other live when they aren’t fighting. In a word they are always quarrelling; this is how they live.
Period
Location
Israel
Interview
Jozsef Farkas