Page 58 - issue
P. 58
Fear... neighborhood, not in the Jewish area.
(At the end of the war, when Nasser
The Moslem population, resigned and the truth came out, the
meanwhile, was rejoicing in Moslem neighbors there wanted to kill
the streets, shouting “Death them all. Only their grandparents’
to Israel! Death to America” Christian landlord managed save them.)
and giving out candies.
Before the war, Gila had lived a very
Unity... sheltered life, and her father was quite
overprotective. The children didn’t go
Everyone anywhere other than the expensive
sheltered in the French school they attended and
basement of the straight home. Her mother never left
apartment the house, and when her father was
building, and gone it was especially hard for her. “My
although it was mother didn’t even know how to go to
very crowded, the store and buy a loaf of bread. My
no one father did all the outside things,” she
complained. recalls.
VICTORY! As previously sheltered as she was,
when the war ended and they were still
Rabbi Goren proclaimed, at her grandparents’ house, Gila decid-
“Har Habayit beyadeinu!” ed to run away to find her mother. She
wanted to go home. Conditions in the
grandparents’ apartment were difficult,
and they were always hungry. She had
never been allowed out alone but fig-
ured out that her mother must be in the
only hospital in Cairo that allowed Jews;
it was run by nuns. She managed to
find her mother, who asked upon see-
ing her, “They took him away, didn’t
they?” Her mother immediately left the
hospital, against medical advice, so that
she could bring all of the children back
home with her.
When the war broke out, all the
Jewish businesses were forced to close.
Her father was accused of being a spy.
“Later on,” says Gila, “My mother was
forced to sell my father’s business for
next to nothing. We had no source of
income. No one was allowed to work,
and money became very scarce. We had
to sell all the furniture in order to buy
food.” Their relationship with their
neighbors also changed. Things were
never the same, and Jews felt the great
animosity and resentment of their non-
Jewish neighbors, especially the
Moslems.
After a year of writing letters plead-
ing for help, they were able to get some
aid from the Red Cross, which met
them quietly in the shul. But Gila
remembers that “we were always hun-
gry.” For two years, until they were able
50 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
(At the end of the war, when Nasser
The Moslem population, resigned and the truth came out, the
meanwhile, was rejoicing in Moslem neighbors there wanted to kill
the streets, shouting “Death them all. Only their grandparents’
to Israel! Death to America” Christian landlord managed save them.)
and giving out candies.
Before the war, Gila had lived a very
Unity... sheltered life, and her father was quite
overprotective. The children didn’t go
Everyone anywhere other than the expensive
sheltered in the French school they attended and
basement of the straight home. Her mother never left
apartment the house, and when her father was
building, and gone it was especially hard for her. “My
although it was mother didn’t even know how to go to
very crowded, the store and buy a loaf of bread. My
no one father did all the outside things,” she
complained. recalls.
VICTORY! As previously sheltered as she was,
when the war ended and they were still
Rabbi Goren proclaimed, at her grandparents’ house, Gila decid-
“Har Habayit beyadeinu!” ed to run away to find her mother. She
wanted to go home. Conditions in the
grandparents’ apartment were difficult,
and they were always hungry. She had
never been allowed out alone but fig-
ured out that her mother must be in the
only hospital in Cairo that allowed Jews;
it was run by nuns. She managed to
find her mother, who asked upon see-
ing her, “They took him away, didn’t
they?” Her mother immediately left the
hospital, against medical advice, so that
she could bring all of the children back
home with her.
When the war broke out, all the
Jewish businesses were forced to close.
Her father was accused of being a spy.
“Later on,” says Gila, “My mother was
forced to sell my father’s business for
next to nothing. We had no source of
income. No one was allowed to work,
and money became very scarce. We had
to sell all the furniture in order to buy
food.” Their relationship with their
neighbors also changed. Things were
never the same, and Jews felt the great
animosity and resentment of their non-
Jewish neighbors, especially the
Moslems.
After a year of writing letters plead-
ing for help, they were able to get some
aid from the Red Cross, which met
them quietly in the shul. But Gila
remembers that “we were always hun-
gry.” For two years, until they were able
50 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
