Settling In - A New Life in Jerusalem
Hadassah had been very generous to
me. The five room apartment on the fifth
floor in French Hill was large and roomy and very comfortable. We had a panoramic view of Jerusalem and the
Old City in the South, Mount Scopus and the Hebrew University next door and the
desert leading down to the Dead Sea in the east.
The children were enrolled in religious
schools (mamlachti dati) by Prof. Mann and Rebecca Shein. The Junior School was located in a series of
primitive asbestos huts on the crest of French Hill above the previous
Jordanian Army emplacements and armed dugouts.
The other children in the school were either Georgian or Moroccan in
origin, from the local neighborhood and from Neve Yaakov. Sharon and Eugene were the only blond, light
skinned children in their classes. The non-religious school next door was a
beautiful new modern building. When we
attended the first Chanukah party our children formed a sharp contrast to their
dark skinned class mates. Craig (7th
grade), Debbie (7th grade) and Bernie (8th grade) took
the bus to the religious school in the neighboring suburb of Ramot Eshkol where
they were overpowered by the extremely religious Americans. There are many different worlds of religious
observation: the orthodox Americans follow every mitzvah to the last letter,
whereas the South Africans are much more lenient. There was no Conservative Movement in South
Africa and it was not uncommon to drive to a distant synagogue on Shabbat. There were very few ghettos and kosher food
was often difficult to acquire in the country districts. Most of the Jewish families had started as
traveling salesmen and lived in the country.
Most of the country congregations consisted of 20 – 30 families who
maintained their own brand of South African Judaism.
The children rapidly adjusted to their
new surroundings. Craig was self-sufficient
and soon led the stream in his class.
Debbie required a little help and encouragement while Bernie had greater
difficulty with the language and the religious studies. We took a private teacher and I devoted much
time to helping Debbie.
The neighbourhood synagogue was located
in a wooden hut that had been vacated by the builders of the French Hill
housing estate. It was very rough and primitive, not my idea of a synagogue in
a new neighborhood in Jerusalem. We
became regular attendees but the environment was not ideal. Moreover, the American timetable with close
attention to the seconds and minutes of the clock was foreign to my concept of
Judaism.
Gradually we were absorbed into the neighborhood
and befriended a group of older retirees from the United States. We formed our
own community, meeting during the week to learn and enjoying kiddushim on Shabbat. The group included several retired rabbis and
their families: many needed medical care and later became my patients. Aileen formed a long term friendship with the
wives.
The house on French Hill also had a clear
view of the road from Jerusalem to the North and the neighboring Arab town of
Ramalah in the north. When the war broke
out we could sit on the verandah and follow the troop, transport and tank movements northward out of Jerusalem and at
the same time watch the war news on the television by Hertzog, the army
commentator on television and who subsequently became the president.
The apartment was located in the north
eastern suburb of Jerusalem while Hadassah was in the far south east. The 3
Hadassah buildings had been planned as staff accommodation for the nearby Mt
Scopus Hospital which was being renovated. The traveling from French Hill to
Ein Karem became very tedious. The trip
in the morning took nearly an hour one had to negotiate the traffic of the city
center at peak rush hour. Dr. Karpas
persuaded me to buy my own apartment. We
visited many apartments. But each time
we tried to close a deal the sellers raised the price. Eventually, we bought our apartment directly
from Hadassah. It had belonged to Prof. Marcel
Eliakim and was located in a very pleasant neighborhood on Keren Hayesod
Street. I dubbed the area as the "Hadassah Ghetto" since several of the senior professors had their
homes nearby. We had the choice of several Hadassah apartments but this was the
cheapest and we felt that we could manage it within our budget. Fortunately, inflation was at its peak, we
bought it in Israeli Lira and a fixed mortgage.
When we repaid it, devaluation had occurred and we found we made a great
saving.
The apartment was a little run down but a
touch of paint and a few renovations to the windows gave it a bright new
look. The apartment had four rooms, 3
bedrooms, an entrance hall, a large living room and a handsome kitchen.
It became clear that the move into the
city was important. The schools in
French Hill were good but not quite up to scratch.
When we moved we enrolled Eugene and
Sharon at Horev School, an ultrareligious school based on the German movement
founded by Hirsch in Frankfurt. They
enjoyed the move and Eugene soon graduated to the middle school yeshiva. The three older children continued at Ramot
Eshkol as we had a direct no. 4 bus from the front of the house. Bernie went to
Horev High school. It was a very old building like the royal stables, located
opposite the Bikur Cholim Hospital in Strauss Street. Fortunately, in her
second year they completed building a new high school in Beit Vegan. Later the other two girls joined her and
enjoyed the learning with excellent teachers and became good friends with the
girls in their classes. They had integrated into Israeli life although most of
their friends were Anglo Saxon. Again, we had a direct bus to the school and
all three girls matriculated comfortably.
They had a good education and I was fortunate to be able to study with
Debbie. She had a continuous call of
"Daddy, Daddy, Daddy – I don't understand." I became very close to
the school director, Mr Merzl and took care of him and his family.
The boys went to the Netiv Meir High
School in Beit Vegan which was a Bnei Akiva High School. It was the elite high
school in Jerusalem with an outstanding academic record.
Hadassah cardiology continued to
expand. The outpatient clinic grew from
20 to 80 patients. The residents would receive the patients: I then reviewed
and examined all the patients personally with them and taught them good
clinical medicine.
My own Hebrew evolution was a little
slower. After the debacle at Etzion ulpan
I spent a summer semester at the Hebrew University afternoon ulpan which was
far more academic and successful. I
would also spend hours with Miriam, my new Hebrew secretary and we would
translate the most complicated Hebrew medical manuscripts. Joe Borman sent Ariyeh Shaeffer, a 5th
year student to improve my Hebrew and supplement the medical terminology and I
was soon very fluent. So fluent, that
many of students did not recognize the words as they had become accustomed to
the assimilated latin terms and Anglo-Saxon jargon. Unfortunately the language
was oral and for years I had difficulty with reading and writing.
The acclimatization process was not too
difficult: a new country, a new culture, a new language and a new daily
routine. We were very happy and on Friday afternoons roam and explore the
country.
