Raphael Ventura, Feb 2, 2003 Few years ago, I was in Istanbul, and happened to visit the old Jewish cemetery at Shishli. Walking among the tombs, I came across a grave whose old flat tombstone had partly slid aside and whose frame was broken. It was quite old, and had no...
read moreBy Simon Behmo I was born Shimon Behmoarash on March 10, 1940 in Sofia (Bulgaria), the only child of Azaria Behmoarash from Varna, Bulgaria and Nora Dassa from Salonica, Greece. My parents met in Barcelona (Spain), where they got married on July 14, 1935. My father, aged 30,...
read moreBy Miriam Elimeleh I am Miriam Elimeleh, living in Ramla, Israel. The most ancient member of my family that remains in my recollection is my grandfather Shimon Behmoiras who passed away in 1938, when I was only 6 years old. That is why all I can remember about him is that he and...
read moreBy Josiane Smith Behmoiras – Melbourne, 23 June 2003 My mother, Dora Behmoiras, was born in Edirne in 1914, the seventh child of Boulissou and Haim Behmoiras, a weak baby afflicted by some (unknown) ailment, thin gray and wasting away. It is said that well meaning neighbours...
read moreBy Iris Alkalay and Cecilia Merenzon Alkalay From Edirne to Jaffa On hot Saturday afternoons in Jaffa, my grandmother, Sarah Nina Alkalay, would smoke a single long cigarette – her weekly vice. While her daughter Lily told story after story, making my father laugh until...
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