Born in Jerusalem

It’s always fascinating to get to know people who have lived through the modern history of Jerusalem. Especially captivating if they were born here. My neighbor Miriam Nadav, has lived through it all. Over a cup of strong, black coffee and a delicious date cake she told me her life’s story.

Her grandparents were both in Hebron. They lived in peace with their Arab neighbors. They could take long walks late at night through the city without being afraid. Summer of 1929 things started to be uneasy. Tension was in the air. In August, an Arab neighbor informed the grandparents that the Jews were soon going to be killed, “Take your family and leave!” They left for Jerusalem, but their friends who did not believe the Arab neighbor, were all killed in the Hebron Massacre. The tranquility of Hebron was lost that Shabbat day of August 23, 1929, 67 Jews were murdered.

The family lived in the Old City of Jerusalem for a long time and Miriam was born there in 1934. In those days life was not easy, but the War of Independence in 1947-48 was the most difficult of all. Jerusalem was totally isolated from the rest of the country and there was nothing to eat. The rationing of weekly food per family was 250 g meat and 1 kg flour.

As a 14 year old girl she got a job in a kitchen for Jewish soldiers, so most days she could bring home some of the leftovers for her family. That was their lifeline. Children were most of the time sitting in bomb shelters and in Miriam’s neighborhood there were about 100 hungry children. To the kitchen used to come a general to check how everything was going with the distribution of food to the soldiers. One day when he saw Miriam looking for leftovers, he asked: ” What do you need Meidele?”, “I need food for the children in the shelter” Miriam answered. “Take whatever you need” he said and wrote a note for her to show to the management, to supply Miriam with whatever she wanted for the children and her family.

Miriam’s father used to say psalms and prayers for her daughter to return home safely every day. Bombs were falling everywhere, on the Machane Yehuda food market, in the Nachlaot neighborhood, on Ben Yehuda street. Supporters of the Mufti Muhammed Amin al-Husseini and British soldiers organized the attacks. Once again the family of Miriam was forced to move because of Arab hostility, this time from the Old City to other parts of Jerusalem. After the war, when rice was still scarce, Ben-Gurion had an idea for cheap food. Israel’s first invention? He came up with the idea of making look-alike rice from wheat. Until today the substitute-rice is called ptitim or Ben-Gurion rice. Very popular among kids.

Miriam continued to work in the kitchen for soldiers and met her husband there. A soldier named Amnon Nadav used to come there and tried to convince Miriam to marry him. After two years she finally gave in when she was 17 years old. They had three children together, bringing them up in a typical Nachlaot apartment, with one bedroom. She still lives here today. Most of the neighbors had 12-13-children in the same size, one bedroom apartment.

It seems like the life of Miriam was full of wars and it was. The Six-Day war of 1967 was also devastating. Thousands of young soldiers lost their lives. In the name of the Arab nations Egypt’s Nasser declared: “Our basic objective will be the destruction of Israel. The war with Israel is in effect since 1948.” It was a war on many fronts, but Israel pushed forward, including in the Old City of Jerusalem. Battle-weary men could not believe their eyes while touching the stones of the Western Wall. “For some 2000 years the Temple Mount was forbidden to the Jews, until you came – you, the paratroopers and returned it to the nation,” commander Motta Gur. Israel won the war and it became a study “How to win a war in Six Days”.

The Yom Kippur war was a big surprise. A war that started on October 6, 1973, on the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, while a big part of the population was praying and fasting in the synagogues. Golda Meir will forever be remembered for not believing Israel would be attacked. Egypt and Syria launched a coordinated attack. Israel was forced into a defensive attack, eventually counterattacking. We successfully recaptured area like Sinai, but the casualties were over 11,000.

Miriam, born in Jerusalem and truly living the history of Jerusalem’s ups-and-downs. Although personally she lost her husband and her son died in her arms, she is a grateful lady, living a life of content. The word “content” describes very well the essence of a typical Jerusalemite. Her life was and still is a gift.

On Sunday, May 13, Jerusalem is honored with a special day, the Jerusalem Day. It is to remind us of the miraculous victory of the Six-Day War. It is a well deserved day, celebrated one week before Shavuot. Our beloved Jerusalem has been called by many names, it has 70 names. A dear child has many names; The City of God, City of David, Zion, City of Truth, City of Peace etc. But when our forefather Jacob had his dream on Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount today, it was called “The Gate to heaven.” The ladder with angels going up and down, reached the gateway to heaven. When Jacob woke up he said: “How awesome is this place. This is none other than the House of God and this is the Gate to Heaven.”

For thousands of years, Jerusalem has been a synonym for yearning and longing, a connection between a people and it’s Land, between a people and it’s city. It is a city with history so enormous that it can fill thousands of books, but a city we cannot take for granted. Here we are, some simple Jews of Jerusalem, walking the streets, once traveled by prophets and kings. ”How awesome is this place”