Avram Piha tells the story in the Times of Israel of his Iraq-born landlord Eli, who struggled to overcome untold hurdles to rebuild his life in Israel. The family 'made it' in the end:
I spent Sunday morning with my landlord
ensuring we were leaving his apartment in good shape. When he confirmed
all was ok, I handed over the keys and asked him if he had time to tell
me a little bit about his life. Eli had on numerous occasions mentioned
his childhood memories of Iraq, and the difficulty of being a refugee in
Israel in the 1950s, but we had never had the chance to sit down and
really talk about it. We both decided there was no better time than the
present, so we sat down on a bench and got to it.
Eli was born in Baghdad a few months after the Farhud. Eli remembers the city well as he spent much time with his father, who was a taxi driver. The shukim
(open-air markets) are what sticks out most for him, “They were
phenomenal.” His schooling from the age of six through nine was at the
local synagogue. He always walked to the synagogue in a group, as the
Jewish children suffered daily abuse from Arab children and young
adults, everything from verbal to physical. “It was very tough,” Eli
sighed, but he did note that his Arab neighbors always looked out for
his family, and, understanding the rules of Shabbat, prepared them tea
every Shabbat! In March 1951, along with the majority of Iraqi Jewry,
Eli and his family left all their possessions behind and made their way
to Israel. All they had with them was their clothing, and Eli described
the shock of seeing Iraqi soldiers demand his parents hand over the
blanket they were using to keep his baby brother wrapped up and warm.
Though leaving Iraq was traumatic, the new
reality of Israel was harsh as well. Along with two other families,
Eli’s family shared one tent in the Sha’ar Yerushalayim ma’abra (near
Atlit). “It was an unbelievable shock to us,” Eli explained. “We went
from having a two-bedroom apartment to living in a tent with no running
water, electricity or other essentials – with two other families!” I
just looked at him, almost in awe, and continued to listen as he
continued, “We weren’t angry, we were just happy to be out of Iraq, but
this was extremely difficult.” With regards to food, Eli smiled, “It was
terrible, but when you’re hungry, you’ll eat even that.”
After a few months, Eli’s family “upgraded” to a ma’abara near Megiddo, where they had a tent to themselves. They soon moved to the Kastal ma’abara (near Meva’seret Zion), where Eli’s family lived in a pachon (tin shack). Though it was better than a tent, life in the pachon
was also challenging: “We froze in the winter, faced leaks every time
it rained, and burned ourselves on the metal every summer as the weather
got hotter.” Despite all these difficulties, Eli stressed that his
family remained upbeat and positive and only really worried about their
continuing financial struggles. With his father unable to hold a steady
job in Jerusalem, the family moved to Beit Yosef in the Beit She’an
Valley. Here is where the family would hit rock bottom.
Eli’s father tried his hand at agriculture,
which was only possible during the autumn and winter months.
Unfortunately, he had little success. After seven years of helping out,
Eli was drafted to the Armored Corps and rarely had time to help his
father. Two years later, Eli’s father passed away. Eli was released from
his military obligations and became the “father” to a family of nine
(his mother, five brothers and three sisters). After nine unsuccessful
agricultural seasons, the family’s luck changed and under Eli’s
handling, they hit the jackpot and earned 10,000 lira for their produce.
With this money, Eli bought the family an apartment in Jerusalem and
began working many jobs to sustain his family. Sibling after sibling
eventually “made it,” as did Eli, who eventually owned his own building
company. Eli smiled, “I’m so proud of my family, every single grandchild
– all children of immigrants – has a university education. That’s how I
know we really made it.”
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