Book & Cook

1959 “Mommy, Mommy! Come look who’s coming to visit.” I rushed home yelling. “Come Ima it’s Uncle Robert, he came with a big army truck.” Everyone in our family knew; Mom was a great cook. In every opportunity they have they would stop by for lunch or dinner. On the other hand, I could never figure out why. I didn’t like her food. It just didn’t taste good to me. Most of the time, it was too spicy. Anyway, Uncle Robert had an afternoon pass, and he came with his army truck for a short visit. Both Avi and I loved it when relatives serving the army came to visit. They always had something for us. Chocolate bars or chocolate covered waffles from the military cantina. Uncle Robert was a truck driver in the army. This time he came with a huge truck and he parked it in front of our shack on the sand dunes. It was Friday afternoon and Mom made her usual “Couscous” with chicken vegetable soup. Uncle Robert loved it. “So, what’s new?” He asked. “Oh, nothing much.” Said Mom. “I’m starting to wor...

  “It is time to move again” Mom Said. “But don't worry, we aren't moving far, just to the next street to a bigger shack.” When we moved from Be'er Sheva we took a very small shack. It was a one room wooden shack covered with black tar sheets on the outside walls and tin roof to keep the rain off. We had a small out house where my dad had to pour lime into the deep hole under the wooden seat every night and another out house where we showered. It had a small water tank placed on a tall pedestal with a special kerosene burner called “Primus”. Mom used to turn it on every afternoon, before dad would come from work so he could have a nice hot shower. I will never forget how Mom would prepare for “Passover”. She would take all the kitchen tools outside so she can clean and “kosher” them for the holiday. Dipping them in boiling hot water she had placed yet, on another “Primus”.  Even the kitchen table was left outside until she finished cleaning the room. We had to eat dinner ...

Do you remember my Uncle Rone? You know, the one that took me to Tel Aviv and gave me too much to eat, and you know what happened later. The one who took me to the beach and gave me my “white butt”. Uncle Ronny is my father's younger brother. Dad is the oldest, next in line is Aunt Rosette, Aunt Fortune, Uncle Ronny, and the youngest is Uncle Claud. Uncle Ronny was getting married. He was marrying my Aunt Claudine, or in Hebrew, Rachael, my mom's younger sister. Isn't it cool? Two brothers marring two sisters. Their kids are going to be like my brothers and sisters – more than just cousins.     Aunt Rachael is very beautiful. She is slim with big smiling eyes and long black hair that fall straight down her tall back. Aunt Rachael was a secretary for the union. Sometimes she took me to work with her. She lets me play with the paper clips, and I made long colorful necklaces, attaching the clips together, wrapping magazine paper around each one of them and gluing it together. ...

1958 “We need to go to the doctor”, Mom told me when I woke up on a cold winter day. I had a terrible night, wheezing and coughing for hours. They had to call the doctor at the middle of the night, and he gave me a shot to help me breath. It wasn’t fun. Mom helped me dress, put Avi in the carriage and we walked to the doctor’s office. It was very cold outside, but it didn’t rain. You see, it is very dry in Be’er Sheva – Israel's Desert’s Capital. It gets very cold, but it hardly rains. Instead, we have wind, very strong wind. It picks up the dusty earth and blows it around, forming little tornado like swirls and sandstorms. “Your Son is allergic to the dust here,” said the doctor. “As I told you before, you must move to the north if you don’t want your son to develop asthma.” Yes, I know,” mom answered, “my husband is in Netanya looking for a place to move. He already found a job. He is a diamond polisher, apparently they have many shops where they polish diamonds in Netanya.” “Goo...

Let me please introduce you to Mom's family. First, there is  Nono  - Grandpa. His name is Victor Haim Krihef, but we all call him  Nono.  You know, my middle name is after him, my first name is after my other grandfather who died many years ago. Anyway,  Nono  is married to Meme  July - Grandma. Their oldest son is Uncle Albert, a very serious man. His skin is the whitest of our whole family. He is married to Aunt Dolly, a tall pretty, blond, she is taller than Uncle Albert. I think it makes him a little insecure and often jealous. They have two children, pretty Yehudit who is two years older than me, and disagreeable Haim who is one year younger than me. The next in line is Aunt Marie.   She is the one that calls me “Young Boy” all the time. I never felt comfortable around her. Lime Meme July she was always yelling orders around to all the kids. She is married to handsome Uncle Mirro. They always fight every time we came to visit, we would catch...

1957     Uncle Rone, dad’s younger brother, gave me a big toy gun for my second birthday. The next day he took me with him to the army camp. It was his last day of his military service. Uncle Rone and his friend, Uncle Simon, decided to take me with them to Tel Aviv to celebrate their discharge and my birthday. Art by Sarah Tibi     We drove in Uncle Simon's used new car, a secondhand Studebaker. I know because Uncle Simon let me drive it. I sat on his lap and held the wheel all the way from Beer Sheva to Tel Aviv. (I was a good driver. I could drive and eat at the same time. Sometimes I let go of the wheel and the car drives straight without my help.) Uncle Rone bought me for the road a “ Choco ” drink and “ Yoffy-Yoffy ” - a delicious fried dough dipped in sugar, and I love it.     On the way, (which was a long way, because we left when the small hand was on 9 and the big hand was on 12, and we got to Tel Aviv when the small hand was a...