Chapter 3, Avi

October 30, 1957 
Meme Milli, Grandma on Dad's side, and Tata Beya, Meme’s older sister, took me to the hospital. No, I was not sick. Mom was there to bring the new baby. It was hot and dry, and the wind was blowing strong. I didn't like the wind. It picks up the light sand and swirls it around like a small tornado. Sometimes I saw it coming toward me, and I was afraid that it will pick me up and fly me around as the dust and throw me down somewhere far. The night before I didn't sleep well. The doctor said that I shouldn't live in Be’er-Sheva because of the dust and the dry weather.

 

  "He is allergic to dust," the doctor said," you should move up north, near the sea."

Dad was in Netanya learning a new job polishing diamonds so we could move there soon. Meme Milli said that he will come this afternoon. Both Meme Milli and Tata Beya spoke only Arabic; they had lived in Israel only six years. My family came from Tunisia where Meme was a widow who never had the chance to learn at school. When she lost her parents at a young age, her older sister Beya (spelled in French Bella) took care of her until she married my grandfather Nani, but this is a different story for another time. Both Meme Milli and Tata Beya’s Hebrew was very poor, they didn’t have the chance to go to the “Ulpan” to learn Hebrew. That privilege was saved for the new immigrants from Eastern Europe. So, I had to speak Arabic with them, but mostly listen.

Art By Sara

The hospital was a long, wooden building with a green waiting bench placed in front of it where we were all sitting.
"Look who's coming," Tata Beya said. "It's Meme Julie. "Meme, Meme," I jumped off the bench and ran toward her.
"Don't run," she said in French. "You might fall and hurt yourself."
I stopped running and walked saying, in French,
"Mom is getting me a baby. Mom is getting me a baby."
"Yes, I know," she answered. "What do you think it will be, a boy or a girl?"
"I don't know," I said when the door in front of us opened, and the nurse came out announcing,
"It's a boy! Come dear, your mom wants to see you."

Art by Sarah tibi

Mom was in bed holding my new brother. He was light skinned like Mom, not dark like dad and me.
"You see," she said to the doctor. "This is my first boy. He looks like his father, and this one looks like me. Come Nanou, kiss your new brother."

He was so cute, a chubby little baby. He didn't even cry, and his cheeks were puffy and round. I have a new brother! I thought happily to myself. They named him Beber after an uncle who died long ago, and his middle name is Avraham in Hebrew or Avi in short. For a long time Avi became my mother’s favorite son. You see, he hardly ever cried and ate everything she gave him. Unlike me who cried for the whole first year (who knew I was allergic to milk) I also didn’t like to eat anything except for bananas. When I finally stopped crying, I started talking and never stopped ever since.

***

“Meme's Shabbat Wheat”

  This is a dish that has many names and many different versions. Since Jews are not permitted to cook on Saturday, we have to prepare our food on Friday. If we put it in the oven, slow cooker, or on low heat plate it should be ready by Saturday for lunch. My Grandmas called it “Tfina Arissa,” the people from Eastern Europe have a different dish, also cooked overnight on low heat and they called it “Cholent” in Hebrew both are called “Hamin” from the Hebrew root word Ham - hot.

Ingredients:
1 Cut Onion
5 TBSP Olive Oil
1 tsp Salt
2 TBSP Sugar
½ lb. Stew Meat
1 Can Tomato Paste
Water
4 Cloves of Garlic
1 lb. Wheat
1 Potato 
1 tsp Paprika
¼ tsp Black Pepper
1 Can Crushed Tomatoes 
4 Eggs

Directions:
  In a deep pasta pan, fry in 5 spoons of olive oil - 1 spoon of salt, 2 spoons of sugar and one cut onion until brown.
Add meat and brown it (best is an ox tail but you can use anything with a bone and some fat, not too much meat - it's a poor people dish - we use the meat just for the flavor). Take it off the fire and add 1 small can of tomato paste and 10 cups of water.
Mix well until all looks even.
Add 4 crushed garlic cloves, 1 lb. of wheat, 4 eggs (in shell, unbroken), 1 large potato cut into 4 pieces, 1 tsp paprika, and a 1/4 tsp black pepper.

Add the secret ingredient "koogla" (see below), top with 1 can of crushed tomatoes, bring to boil, cover with thick tin foil and bake in the oven at 275f degrees all night. Serve the next day for lunch.

     Secret ingredient; "Koogla":
In a bowl, break an egg and add 3 spoons of olive oil, 1 tsp of fresh crushed mint, 4 cloves of garlic, 1/2 tsp of salt, a pinch of pepper and 1/4 stick of diced margarine. Mix it well and slowly add farina until it becomes thick and easy to manage dough – it should make about one cup size. Form the dough into small balls and drop them in the pot before adding the crushed tomatoes.