When my grandmother…in the war. My grandfather was…handsome, like…blue eyes, and his hair was yellow (blond). He went with someone, his friend, who was Muslim. They (police) stopped him, (and asked) “where are you going?”. He (the Muslim friend) said to him, “leave him! Do not arrest him!”. He said to him, “we will give you whatever we have in our pockets. Just leave my friend”. (The officer) said to him, “no!”. This Muslim (friend) started to hit him (the officer). He said to him (to my grandmother), “Yaaqub, run!”. They stripped him of his clothes on the way, until he reached some place. They brought him a robe and put it on him because he was naked. And my grandmother remained, (with) three children…she had four children. She remained without food and without drink. Afterwards, the Muslim man came and took her to his house. Jews did not eat the meat of Muslims, so he would only give them vegetables. There were two girls and two boys. One of the girls was given milk to drink…she wouldn’t eat or drink. When she (finally) ate, she had a stomach ache and died. My grandmother used to tell me (this story). My uncle used to work in a hospital. (His son) said to him, “father, bring me Abd al-llah’s docto!”. He brought him, and he said to him, “what he has, this sickness, there is no cure for.” Then a Jew came. He said to him (to my uncle), “Abraham, you have a sewage pit (at home). (When) you clean it, does the smell remain on it or not?”. (My uncle) said to him, “it remains on it.” He (the Jew) said to him, “your son has this sickness. It has no cure”. In the end, he died.

My uncle was rich. He was a goldsmith. He had a lot of money. An emissary came and said, “I’m from Israel. If you want to buy lands in Israel, buy them. And when you arrive in Israel, you will have lands. My uncle bought (lands) in two places. He (then) came to Israel. He even brought the deed. They said to him, “no! There was a war. It’s true that we won, but the Muslims took them back again. You don’t deserve anything.” I don’t know who exactly. We were new immigrants. We had just come to Israel. In the aliyah…when we came to Israel…my grandfather had a Torah scroll. We brought it from Tuz Khurmatu. And we had a doe, which we had been raising for a year. (When) we (were to) go to Israel, my mother vowed to slaughter it, and bring it to Israel and eat it on the train. That’s what we did. We slaughtered it and brought it. And we brought the Torah scroll. We came to Baghdad. We slept in the Meir Elyas synagogue. We stayed (there) for two days, then the airplane came. It came to take us (to Israel). We were happy. We brought all new things, and we showered, and we wore all new (clothes). When we came to Israel, my father was scared. (In Baghdad) a Muslim came and said to my brother, “tell me, where is your father’s money?”. He said to him, “I swear, I don’t know. We don’t have money. My father didn’t bring money.” They came to search us all. Women and men separately. The boys went with my father, and the girls came with my mother. My sister had earrings. A Muslim woman came and took her earrings off her. My sister started crying. They took all of our things. We had brought all new things. Anything they wanted, they took. Anything they didn’t want, they gave us (back). We brought those things with us to Israel. We came to Israel. As soon as we arrived, we got off the plane. They brought us into a room and came and did (sprayed) us with DDT. I said to my mother, “what is this thing that they are doing to us?”. We were all dressed in new (clothes), and showered, as we were arriving to Israel. She said to me, “don’t worry, my daughter. This is (cosmetic) powder that they put on you all”.

I came from the hut…from Tira. I was in southern Tira. I came…we bought the hut. I came (and) I saw…I had neighbours…neighbours…Muslims. There was Umm Hussein, her husband…and her name was Hejar. I stayed there…for more than fifteen years we were neighbours. My family went to Haifa and bought a house. And my husband wasn’t working. Yossi was little. One month old. I left him with her. I said to her, “Um Hussein, take care of him. I’m going to work. Housework.” For three hours and I’ll come back home. But take care of him.” “Go, my daughter. I’ll take care of your children.” There was Meir, and Mazal, and little Yossi. I would leave him at her place. I love her more than my mother. One day, a thirteen year old boy from my father’s family died. And we all had to go there. An army car ran him over. So I took my youngest son in my arms and said to Um Hussein, “please look after Meir and Mazal.” At night, when a car came, when they buried him, we came. It was nighttime. They put Mazal to sleep with the girls, and they put Meir to sleep with the boys. Mazal didn’t agree to sleep. She went outside and started crying in the street. A police officer came and said to her, “what’s wrong, Mazal? Why are you crying?”. She said to the police officer, “my mother left me with the Muslims and I don’t want to sleep with them there. So the police officer brought my daughter. We had just then came (home). I went in (to the house) and was putting Yossi to sleep in the bed. He said to me, “where’s your son?”. I said to him, “at the neighbour’s house.” He went and knocked on their door. He had a little shack. Four metres by four metres. There were ten people sleeping. They were sleeping on the floor. He said to her, “where is the Jewish woman’s daughter?”. The husband got up, looking…they didn’t have light. (He was) searching…and said to her […] the Jewish woman’s daughter. The neighbour. I got up. I just wanted to put Yossi…to put Yossi in the bed. I was screaming, “Umm Hussein! Don’t worry! Mazal is with me!”. She said to me, “On G-d, if you hadn’t come now…I would have miscarried!”. Yes. I used to believe in her. Every day, in the morning, they would do agriculture. She would bring me a box (with) whatever they would sow. When they picked (the crops), only for the neighbours. And my children were at her place all day…until I came (home) from work they would go (there). She would cook, and she would give them (food). One day a Jewish man came. He had a friend. He brought him to the hut, to the kitchen. One day, Meir came with his friend. They fought. He (the friend) took out a knife and stabbed it into Meir’s leg. Where did they go? To Umm Hussein. Umm Hussein was pregnant. It was twelve o’clock (and) they had come from school. Umm Hussein went…she picked up Meir. He was eight, nine years old. She knocked on the door of the nurses at the health clinic kiosk near our house. She said to them, “I’m begging you, open the door! The boy is bleeding!” They stayed…(and) closed it (the wound). It’s not my son! After that, they came and closed (the wound on) his leg. (I swear) on my life, G-d, Umm Hussein helped me more than my family. I love her. I worry about her even now, believe me.

And there (in Iraq) I would wash…I would go outside. Every time I had…I would cough, and I was not able to breathe. They would give me injections in my arm…in the vein…because I have asthma. Afterwards, we came home, and I went to the health insurance (clinic). There was a doctor who had hair on his arm…(very) old, old. I said to him, “David, you know…what a doctor. Like Eliyahu the Prophet. You have to go to him!”. He got up and went. He said to him, “poor (thing). You suffer so much and they won’t give you that injection.” He said to him, “I’m begging you! Let me go work and raise my five children.” He said to him, “but here you need […] in Haifa…a doctor from the health insurance. Only he can sign for you (give you the prescription) and give you those three injections.” (So) he went. He knocked on the door and went inside. He said to him, “I want these injections.” He said to him, “but there isn’t…who wrote (the prescription) for you?”. He said…he said to him, “you have to give it to me! If you won’t (do it), I will!”. He went and locked the door. The doctor called a police officer, (and) the police officer came. He opened the door and saw him. He was his friend, the police officer. He said to him, “what do you want from him, (this) poor (man)? Give him those injections! Maybe he’ll get well!”. He said to him, “no, he needs to wait another month…another month.” He said to him, “David, what do you say? Do you agree”. He said, “(I could wait) even another year. The main thing is that I will be healthy.” In the end he gave it to him, the doctor gave it to him. We waited. He said to him, “the first one (injection) won’t do you good. The second (injection) - you’ll see, you’ll be satisfied. The third - it will pass you (you’ll be healthy again).” And it really was like that.

We came to the airport. We got off (the plane) and they brought to each of us…a piece of bread with jam and a plastic cup of tea. Afterwards, they took us out into the car. All night we travelled in the car, and they brought us to Shaar HaAliya. We arrived there, and they brought us into a tent. We were with ten families there. We all sat, my mother started crying. “It’s nothing! We’ve arrived in Israel! Let’s be happy!” the children (said). I was the most happy. My mother was searching for my brother. She said, “where’s Dani? Where’s Daniel?”. They said to her, “they took him, the army. They sent him to the army.” (She said,) “and where’s my sister?”. (They said,) “they took her to the transit camp. She went there. She’s older, she can work and manage.” And I stayed (there) with my siblings. We would cry. Every day my sister would go bring us (food) to eat…from the kitchen…for all of us. We stayed (there) for eight days, at Shaar HaAliya. After, they came and put us in a car. We didn’t know where they were taking us. We didn’t speak. They told us to get into the car, they put us in the car…all day they moved us from place to place. They brought us, we came in the evening…at night…they brought us to Pardes Hana. A big, big tent. (There were) men, women…this one was crying, this one was (doing something else). They brought us eight beds and mattresses and a blanket each, and we slept. We stayed there for a week. We started going out to look how (the place) here was, what was there. My dad was crying (because) we had nothing to eat. They would go to bring us food, (but) we didn’t like the food. Afterwards, they said to us, “you know, if you are old (enough), you and your brother (can) go to work in Hadera”. We didn’t sleep all night. We had a watch on our hands. We told our mother to wake us up at five (in the morning) (so that we could) go to Hadera and go work. My brother Latif, who was known as Yitzhak, and Ghazi and I went to work. We got to Hadera…we had money. We got into the car, and told him (the driver) “to Hadera”. I knew a bit of Hebrew. We were wanting to go to…we went. We stopped there…there was some kind of station. A man came with a wagon. He came and said to us, “do you want to work? Do you want to work?”. I said to him, “yes. My brother and I…”. I already spoke Hebrew then. And (about) my brother, (the man) also said “no, this one is (too) small. It’s not possible.” I said to him, “no! He knows (how to work). He’s strong.” We got into the wagon, all of us. Poor (thing)…even though he wanted ten (people to work for him), about twenty of us got into the wagon. He took us…his name was Alber. We worked…we worked there, and we had it good. My brother was young…he wasn’t even ten years old. We gave him a kind of basket, (and) he would cut pepper and cucumber. When the evening came, my siblings would tie their pants and put inside them…whatever was…pepper and such. We would all bring (it back home), and my mother would go and sell it in Pardes Hana and buy us oil. She bought a pot from the market in Pardes Hana and bought Ben Guryon rice (Israeli couscous). We liked eating that. We didn’t like eating from the kitchen (n the transit camp). We liked labne. If there was laban, my sister would bring (it). If there wasn’t any…and boiled egg. In the end my mother would sell it too. In the beginning, it wasn’t boiled. We would go and sell it. But after, they would boil it and we would also sell it. They would say, “eggs in water, eggs without water.” Because…we went…we waited until my cousin would bring the money from Iran. He was in Iran. He brought us the gold, he brought us the money…for us and for my uncle. It was all…(in) dinars. We would all knead dough, my sister and I, and make jghadeq (a type of bread). And we (would) make loaves of bread. My mother would make it. Each week we would knead…five kilograms, six kilograms. We would grind the…we did everything by hand. 

They did…everybody came to our house. We made a meeting…he wanted to become a Mapaynik. He (would) bring ten men and they would put him in Mapai. He went to my siblings’ houses…he knew people. They signed for him. I said to him, “please”. There was someone whose name was Aloush. He was working in the petrochemical factory. I said to him, “please. I just want to get my husband employed.” He said to me, “if we succeed, if Mapai wins (the elections), I’ll get him into work.” He got him work, and he worked for twenty-two years. Hana was born. We named him Hananya so that G-d would have mercy on him. In the end, he was Hanan. In the end, I said to him, “David. We’ve stayed in this hut for forty years. Your daughter has grown up, she has a boyfriend…”. But he didn’t agree. I took (went) my own way. I left Miryam, aged two years, at home and went to Eilat. Meir was in the army. He said to me, “Mother, if you go I’ll come with you.” He came. I had my son, aged twelve years old. Yosef, Yossi. He said he would come. I said to him, “no. You’ll stay here. You’ll stay with your siblings. Take care of each other.” I went at night. We slept in a house…I paid…one lira? I don’t know how much. I slept at her place. One day later I went to the (employment) bureau. I was given a job. It was…just…at the end of…I mean, they gave me a place to sleep. It was a hut there. It was a hotel. It was a hotel. People slept there. They gave me a hut. I slept…what was its (the hotel) name? ha-Yareah (the moon)? What was its name…just next to Jordan. There was a hotel. I would eat, drink, and work. Afterwards, David came. He brought my brother. He said, “I allow you to buy a house. Come back!”. My brother came to take me…[…]…I went and bought my sister’s house. We moved to…the house. In the end, my daughter really did bring a boyfriend, and got married in Bialik (street). I bought a house. And we stayed (there) for fifteen years. In the end, I moved to the house after.

I had my young girl, her name was Miriam after my grandmother’s name. She was sensitive…too much. Every day I would take her to the clinic because her ear was hurting. One day, the doctor said to me, “damn! Where are you taking her? Are you putting her in the fridge!?”. I looked at her and said, “how (why) would I be putting her in the fridge? But I don’t have a house, I don’t have a courtyard.” I used to wash her. We had…it was a small shack. There was a kitchen…I would wash them there. I would wash her and take her outside, and she had…an infection in her ear. Every week I would take her, (and) I had to give her to the nurse’s hand and go outside (because) I couldn’t (stand to) hear her voice (crying). They would do an operation on her ear. Afterwards, the doctor said this to me (that it was because of taking her outside after washing her). I went and bought her a hat, like the ones in the army. I would put it on her so she wouldn’t catch a cold. Afterwards, it (the health issues) left her. It was hard for me until she grew up. She was too small. My husband…(when) his family came, they put them in a transit camp…in Kiryat Shmona. They took them to Khalsa. So he went…went to the employment bureau and got permission to go work on a kibbutz as a guard. He went to the kibbutz. On the first night he was on guard. He wanted…they went to eat at seven or eight o’clock. He wanted to go eat…he fell and a snake bit him. He went there…someone told him that it wasn’t correct. In the end, he started vomiting blood…and he was bleeding. Before the war, they were scared to send him…who would take him? Who would take him? Two men came from the kibbutz who took him to the hospital in Tiberias…I forgot its name. There, they removed all the blood from him. She put in him…water…I don’t know what they gave him. At night, a police officer came knocking on my door (and said), “Mrs…is your husband’s name David Ohayon?”. I said to him, “yes”. He said, “he’s in the hospital.” I took my daughter and went to the hospital. He said to me, “a snake bit him.” I went and saw him, and came home. A week later they brought him home. His head was hurting. My daughter got married (and) lives in Tira…the younger daughter also (lives) in Tira and worked in the army. Now she lives in Tira too. I have a son, the elder…he is married (and) lives in Netanya. I have a third son who lives in Haifa…in Zakharon.

Every holiday, we would go to Baba Sida and celebrate the holiday for him. And my grandmother would cook, and also my mother would cook. We were a big family. We used to celebrate the holidays…we would always do it […] if (there was) a wedding, they wouldn’t let us go to the wedding. We were little girls. But the older ones would go…to the wedding. My sister (who was) older than me would go…to her friend who was getting married. She did a henna ceremony. They would not let me go. I would cry and say, “why won’t they take me?”. I used to go…on Sukkot…we would make a sukka at home and organise it, and the whole family would sit (in it). We’d sit in the sukka, and cook. Every week, dad would slaughter a lamb and cut it into four sections. My sister would come and I would bring… my dad (would bring) a knife and (cut it into 4 equal parts) without (needing to) weigh it or anything. He (would) say to her, “put each one on the meat. and we would split it (between us)”. We had everything in the house. Dad used to work. Dad had a store. And…on the evening of Rosh Hashana (Jewish New Year), we would cook and go to…the garden. We would sit there all of us and make tea and bring food and sit there. The whole family would go. And then in the evening until we’d go home. Dad would work in the store, and also he would sell chicken and eggs. He would take chicken and eggs down to Baghdad every night. He would send chicken and eggs every night and buy from the Arabs, and bring them home. And my sister…and my brother…all of them would fill them into big boxes and tie them. And chicken…we had a a storage room. We had a room. Dad would buy the chicken, and put it in the room. And in the evening, dad would sit and we would go and bring it from the room. He would put them in the cage and count them and put them (in the car), and we would send them to Baghdad. We had a good (economic) situation in Iraq. We had a new house next to the water. When I was 16 years old, a guide came and said, “I’m from Israel. If you agree, I’ll teach you Hebrew.” I said to him, “no. I have to tell my mother. I’m afraid.” I came to my mother. My mother agreed. She said to me, “go and learn (Hebrew)”. My sister came wanting to learn. She was older than me. He said to her, “no. You’re engaged.” They used to come to us…. only in the day when there is… on the evening of Yom HaAtzmaut (Israeli independence day). We did (celebrated) it. If I would study, (it would be) just girls on our own. It wasn’t possible to study (with boys). But on that day young boys would come and we’d sit and study. We would also do celebrations. We would laugh and talk. We all wanted to go to Israel, but dad didn’t agree. He would say to me, “no, my daughter. The Muslims are grabbing the (Jewish) girls and taking them. I won’t let you go with them.” I would cry. I wouldn’t drink or eat. He would say to me, “no, my daughter. I’m afraid for you. They’ll take you! I don’t want to give you (to them).” Afterwards, I stayed quiet until we (actually) came to Israel. On Yom Kippur, I would go to the synagogue. And I would go with my mother. Because not everybody would go there. It was shameful. I would go with my mother. (When) I was eight years old, I fasted.  We would come home, break the fast and eat and…on Yom Kippur. And dad…every morning and evening would close his shop and go to the synagogue. My uncle was very religious. In the time of Hitler, he fasted for two days. He didn’t eat nor drink. He fasted for…because the Jews were being killed. We all knew that Hitler was killing the Jews.