Advice I Got From My Parents

Over the years, my parents gave me lots of advice. Here's some of it:

Don't be dependent. Dependency causes trouble.

Having claimed that, they encouraged me to take interest in anything that could help in daily life, starting with the very basics of sewing (Mom's trade), and of hair cutting (Dad's trade), and learn to fix things within and around the house.

Fruit is the best Food

Well , their opinion on fruit had such an impact on me that I could give up any category of food for a certain period of time, but not fruit. My favourites are: Hebron black grapes, sabra fruit, apricot, white peaches , parsimon. strawberries, watermelon, bananas.

Use and appreciate the healing properties of Nature's gifts

They meant :water, ice, lemon juice, honey, chamomille, parsley, garlic, onion, potatoes and other known natural stuff. Only if this doesn't help , should one consider going to the doctor.

I must admit I successfully use cold water and ice compresses in minor external inflammations ( as I saw my mother doing it many times), undiluted lemon juice for a sore throat, chamomile tea for mouth infection, honey for a stubborn cough ,potatoes for a headache, etc...

Keep away from people that are stingy and /or jealous.

Stinginess and jealousy, my parents used to say, are incurable diseases and make life an Inferno.

(I've heard more than once, especially from women, that they could live with a stupid partner , but in no way with a stingy or jealous person) .

Live within or below your means

- as this is likely to guarantee you a sound sleep, and contribute to both your mental and physical health. No debts, no worries.

Avoid being in a hurry

Plan ahead, take your time, sleep on it.

I'm of course immensely grateful to my parents for all their good advice. I do advocate all of this myself. It saves a lot of trouble in life ,but it's not always easy to put it in practice.

צרור עצות חינם

רבות למדתי מהורי ז"ל

על החיים, על גורל,ובכלל

אל תפתחי תלות, הם אמרו
וכמובן שבזאת לגמרי צדקו

לכי על טבעי בנושאי מזון

בריאות , סביבה , ונקיון

להרבות בשום, בצל, פירות

כדי למנוע מן הגוף תקלות

החפזון הוא, כידוע, מן השטן

לא למהר, לשקול, לקחת את הזמן

התרחקי תמיד מקמצנות וקנאה

שתיים אלה הן מחלה ארורה

Sfaturi si povete

Sfaturi utile de la parinti am primit

Referitor la viata, la trai cumpanit

"Nu depinde de nimeni si de nimic"

Pricepe-te la toate, chiar si un pic

Cu produse naturale sa te hranesti

Si cu parte din ele sa te lecuiesti

Fructe de mancat e cel mai sanatos

Si ca gust, nemaipomenit de delicios

Indeparteaza -te de zgarciti si gelosi

Oameni din astia sunt periculosi

Se stie ca Graba , treaba o strica

Ia-ti timp, gandeste-te ,si apoi aplica

Eating To Live And Enjoying It

'mamaliga' with cottage cheese // the whole 'mamaliga'

beef patties and pickles // fish patty with carrot on top

dark sliced bread //whole white bread

stuffed pepper with meat //stuffed vine leaves with rice

stuffed cabbage leaves // dumplings (varenikis)

*

In our home we loved bread with everything: with salads, with main course, dipped in some gravy, topped with various spreads. In winter, my parents liked to eat a slice of dark bread covered with butter and on top of it a slice of pickled herring or smoked mackrel - with or without onion rings or black olives. It was a real delicacy !

A common substitute for bread was the well-known roumanian "mamaliga". The mamaliga made out of yellow cornflour can be cooked soft, like porridge, or thick to the point that it can be cut in slices like bread. My parents liked the mamaliga served with sour cream and cheese, or with stuffed vine leaves ('sarmale', in roumanian).

My mother excelled in cooking the classic dishes that are known to this very day . Here are a few of them:
- Stuffed vegetables (peppers, vine leaves, cabbage leaves) with ground beef and rice.
- Beef meat balls/patties fried or baked, chicken-breast meat balls/patties, fish patties
- Dough dumplings filled with mashed potatoes, cheese, meat, or some sweet filling
- Soups; clear 'chicken soup' with rice or noodles, 'vegetable soup' with potatoe cubes and enriched with sour cream, 'borsh' - a kind of sour soup based on some optional ingredients: beetroots, potatoes, cabbage, and flavoured with leaves of lovage for a special taste
- 'Kugel' made of egg noodles (lokshn) sprinkled with raisins and cinamon. The kugel could serve as a side dish or as dessert.

אוכל - מקיים ומהנה

בביתנו אהבו לחם לאכול

מכל סוג וטעם, לבן או שחור

בחורף, פרוסת לחם מרוחה

בחמאה ,עליה פיסת לקרדה

-ובהמשך עם כוס תה חם

היה זה "אחלה" מעדן

'בל נשכח את ה'מאמאליגה

שהולכת טוב עם שמנת וגבינה

את הפירה, האורז המבושל

ונקניקיות העוף עם חרדל

בצקיות עם מילוי, מרקים

ממולאים, דגים וטוגנים

ולקינוח, קוגל אטריות

עם צימוקים או פטריות

Pofta Buna Tuturor !

Paine tare ne placea

Cu orice fel a manca

Salata, friptura, omleta

Herring marinat, lacherda

Muiata-n sos, sau unsa cu ceva

Ori ca sandwich cu o chiftea

Mamaliga foarte gustoasa era

Cand cu smantana se servea

Parjoalele mamei erau renumite

De familie cu mare pofta inghitite

Sarmalele erau si ele delicioase

Continand ingrediente valoroase

The three "S": Soda, Spritz, Sypholux

Sypholux

'Spritz' (soda+wine)

*

Soda water is a soft , carbonated drink that has always been on our eating table at home. My parents believed that it prevented indigestion and neutralized toxins in the stomach. Could be. In fact, over the years, none of us in the family had suffered any serious digestive problem.

During my childhood in my hometown of Saveni (Roumania), soda water was produced in a small factory where special glass bottles were filled with water and CO2, and then sold to customers. To buy a new bottle (named siphon) one had to return the empty one.

The next stage in the"evolution" of this carbonated beverage, was the home-made soda. We were living in Israel and still 'addicted' to soda or "spritz" (soda with wine) .

The device for soda making was the sypholux - a metalic, opaque , silver colored bottle which came with a small plastic cartrige holder. (The sypholux in the picture above is a more fancy one, made of glass and covered with a thin metalic net) .

In order to operate it ,one had to buy a ten-package replaceble CO2 cartridges which were then introduced in the bottle with water by help of the cartridge holder. These small containers of CO2 are no longer produced today.

At home, it used to be my Dad's task to make the soda, strong soda with more than two -three cartridges. He liked it, we loved it.
(There were a lot of jokes about the sypholux, as it was considered a suitable present to bring to a wedding. Sometimes a couple would get 10-15 sypholuxes on their wedding !! ).

Nowadays, we have the soda-stream (or soda-club) appliance which comes with a replaceable canister full with CO2 . There are also the ready-made soda bottles and cans sold at the supermarkets and kiosks. Of course, the home-made soda is the best, since one can make it as strong or as weak as one wishes.

סודה - משקה קל מוגז

בבית הורי שתינו סודה

בכל ארוחה וחגיגה

משקה פשוט המסייע לאכילה

ומנטרל רעלים בתוך הקיבה

'עם יין זה הפך ל'שפריץ

מתוק, טעים ,וממריץ

מלווה בהצלחה כל מנה

'שעל שלחן האוכל 'כיכבה

מים ודו-תחמוצת הפחמן

שמתערבבים בבקבוק או במתקן

זו הנוסחה הידועה למשקה

שמזה עשרות שנים אותנו מרווה

Soda=Apa +CO2

Soda sau soda cu vin (spritz)

Bautura preferata de parinti

Care, cica la digestie ar ajuta

Probleme de stomac va regula

Ani de zile aceasta bautura

Ne racoreste, si ne bucura

Cu al sau gust, aciditate

Pret ietftin si simplicitate

Orica la super cumparata

Fie acasa de noi preparata

Cu sypholux sau Sodastream,

Bun e sa bem o soda cu vin

The 'Loyal' Talking Clock

Mom's talking clock

My mother had a desk 'talking clock' to tell her the time as she had been almost blind during the last decade of her life and couldn't see the numbers. My brother had a modern wrist 'talking watch' . It was on him at the time he collapsed.

Peculiarly, both the clock and the wrist- watch went on telling the time long after the owners had passed away. Nobody changed the existing battery. Mom's clock is still telling the time - seven years after her death. I didn't know a battery could keep that long !

It gives one all kinds of thoughts , especially that there was something else too. the fridge and the airconditioner suddenly stopped working after her decease and couldn't be repaired. The engine was completely dead. it was as if these items "died of a broken heart".

השעון המדבר

שעון מדבר

שעון מצמרר

שעון היד של אחי

שעון שולחני של אמי

השעון הכריז על השעה

זמן רב לאחר הפטירה

פטירתו של אחי

פטירתה של אמי

שעון מדבר

שעון מצמרר

חייו,מסתבר

ארוכים יותר

מחיי אחי

מחיי אמי

Ceas Vorbitor

Ceasul de masa vorbitor

Era obiect foarte folositor

Pentru Mama care nu vedea

Si numai prin el timpul il afla

De culoare gri, solid si aratos

Aducea el  mamei mare folos

Caci ei ora exacta i-o indica

Si cu asta foarte mult o ajuta

Ceasul, de vorbit a continuat

Mult timp dupa ce ea a decedat

Fara ca bateria s-o fi schimbat

Sau ceva la ceas sa fi modificat

Cateodata stau si ma gandesc

Ca sunt sapte ani de la deces

Ceasul vorbitor mai spune ora

Dar nu-l mai poate auzi Mama

Mourning and Remembrance

Bracha and David

Herman

Shai (Herman's little boy)

* Time and Weather

Have joined together

To leave their marks

And tiny cracks

On tombstones, Forever.

*

 על קברים נהוג להניח פרחים

,אך אלה עד מהרה נובלים

עלי הכותרת, מתפזרים

בהותירם על השיש כתמים

הרוחות והגשמים

יוצרים במצבה סדקים

ועל פיהם אנו למדים

איך עוברות להן השנים

*Timpul lasa amprente

Pe tristele monumente

Praf, pete, sgarieturi

Rugina, fisuri, crapaturi

***
The singer Nurit Galron interpreting the overwhelming song "It's sad to die in mid-summer" , lyrics and music by composer Naomi Shemer (sitting and watching the performance).

ETERNAL "SLEEPING PLACE"

Back entrance to Zomet Morasha cemetery/ Entrance to Herzlya cemetery

The term 'cemetery' has its origin in a greek word meaning 'sleeping place'. Sleeping indeed. Eternal sleep. Everlasting peace.

Once a year, prior to the jewish High Holidays I go to two cemeteries ( both municipally owned), to be at the graves of my dear ones, light a candle, pray, weep, ask forgiveness, wash the tombstones.

One cemetery is "Zomet Morasha" where my parents are burried. It belongs to Ramat-Hasharon city and is near the Morasha highway junction .I usually take the short way from the junction and enter cemetery from its back, through an opening in the wired fence, having to handle some bushes. There used to be citrus groves there.

The other cemetery , where my brother and his child are burried, is located on the edge of a respectable neighbourhood in the city of Herzlya. From the center of the city , near the Post Office, I enter a very long street with nice buildings and houses on both its sides. After some twenty minutes of walking one reaches the area of the cemetery.

There's a small public garden and children's playground nearby, and an elementary school adjacent to , and separated by a tall fence, from the childen's lot in the cemetery. The existence of this school and of the children's playground, not far from my nephew's little grave, stirs a lot of pain in me.

עולה לקברי יקירי

פעם בשנה לפני החגים

ראש השנה ויום הכיפורים

אני פוקדת את הקברים

של יקירי, בשני בתי עלמין

הורי נחים בצומת מורשה

אחי ובנו הקט - בהרצליה

אני עושה דרך ארוכה ברגל

לחוש את מלוא עוצמת האבל

הטכס חוזר על עצמו מדי שנה

שוטפת מצבות, נרות מדליקה

מתפללת, מתייסרת, בוכה

ובעיקר מבקשת סליחה ומחילה

עם השנים, זה נהיה כבד

אבל באותה מידה גם מחזק

נותן כוח לעוד ועוד שנה

אני מחוייבת, זאת המשפחה.

"Oif Cheivarus"

Inainte de Rosh Hashana, Anul Nou

Ma duc la mormintele parintilor

La cimitirul din Zomet Morasha

Intre Ramat Hasharon si Petach Tikva

In ajun de Yom Kipur, Zi grea

Ma duc la cimitirul din Herzlya

La mormantul lui Hersh, fratele meu

Si la cel al lui Shai, copilul sau

In fiecare an, acelasi ritual

Aprind lumanari, citesc un psalm

Ma rog, ma vaiet, plang, vorbesc

Cer iertare de la ai mei ce nu-i zaresc

Parcurg drum lung pe jos

Spal monumentul ,viguros

Nu caut de loc sa-mi fie usor

Caci e zi de doliu si de dor.

VIENNESE WALTZES

ME ,in my younger days, with my brother's violin

My brother Herman (Hersh) was a great fan of Johann Strauss' musical works which included waltzes, polkas, marches, operettas. Johann Strauss was considered the King of Waltzes, and my brother greatly enjoyed playing them on his violin.

I remember the more famous of the waltzes he used to play: " The Blue Danube", "Tales from the Vienna Woods", "Wives, women, and Song", "Vienna Blood", "Voices of Spring". He had the partitures of these musical pieces , and in his spare time he would start practising according to the partiture of each one of the pieces.

Strauss' waltzes were , and still are, big Hit in the ball rooms as well as in the concert halls.

המלך שטראוס ואחי

יוהאן שטראוס מלך הואלסים מוינה

הפיל עלינו קסם והנאה מרנינה

ביצירותיו אותן ביצע אחי בהתמדה

"דם וינאי", "דנובה הכחולה"

היינו מוקסמים מנגינתו הנקיה

ומן היצירות של יופי ועוצמה

אהבנו איך אחי הפעיל את הכינור

דמיינו עצמנו רוקדים מלוא הקיטור

היו לאחי ספרי תווים מתאימים

ואותנו, בני הבית ,בתור מעריצים

היה לו חשק, משיכה ,רצון

ונתן הופעה שכל כולה חלום

Herman canta Strauss

Valsurile lui Strauss Johann

Erau la noi pe primul plan

Executate la vioara de Herman

Fratele meu, si al vienezului 'fan'

Avea el toate partiturile

"Dunarea Albastra", si altele

Manuia bine arcusul si strunele

Si ne delecta cu toate valsurile

Printre ele, imi amintesc

Era si valsul "Sange Vienez"

Si apoi, "Voci de Primavara"

Povesti din Viena, capitala

(BLUE DANUBE WALTZ - by J. STRAUSS- orchestra & ballet)

YIDDISH LANGUAGE

Page in Yiddish from my parents' Book of Prayer'

The One And Only

Me and my brother were exposed to Yiddish from the moment we were born, so naturally we were able to understand and speak the basic language. I'm very grateful to my parents for this heritage.

Yiddish is a germanic language, sounds like German, but it is written with the Hebrew alphabet. It was considered the mother tongue of the east-European Jewry and it was spoken in various dialects , according to the various regions in this part of the world. It is still spoken today in places where there's a considerable jewish population, especially religious orthodox one, as in Israel and America.

Yiddish is a very 'juicy' language. It enables the best of humour and satire. A great culture was created in the past in this very lively language : great literature, great theater, great lyrics.
Who among us isn't familiar with the famous musical "Fiddler on the roof" which is based on the story of Tevie the milkman by the well-known yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem ?

My parents used to mention, quite a lot ,the stories of the famous Yiddish writers Shalom Aleichem and Mendale Mocher Sforim . They could also tell many tales, jokes and sing songs in Yiddish.
The yiddish theater companies from Bucharest and Iassi , "landed" once in a while in the small town of Saveni and entertained the local jewish community. I recall myself as a little girl attending with my parents one of these spectacles starring the two 'divas': Dina Koenig and Sevilla Pastor.

אין כמוה

אידיש, שפה ממוצא גרמני

שנכתבת באלף-בית עברי

עשירה מאד בביטויים

מלאה כרימון בדימויים

תרבות שלמה נבנתה בעבר

בשפה החיה והמקסימה הנ"ל

נכתבו בה ספרים, עיתונים, מחזות

נוצרו בה הומור, סאטירה, בדיחות

בביתנו דברו אידיש, ועוד איך

אומנם בניב מסוים, בדיאלקט

מיוחד ליהודי צפון מזרח רומניה

שונה מזה שבאוסטרו- הונגריה

מיום שנולדנו, אנוכי ואחי
נחשפנו לאידיש ולעושרה הפנימי

שלטנו בסיסית בדיבור והבנה

לתקשור עם ההורים ויהודי הסביבה

כל שפה שלומדים ויודעים

היא נכס חשוב, בעל ממדים

וכמובן שיש לטפחו ולשמרו

ואל הדור הבא להעבירו

"Mame Lushn"

Yiddish ,dulce si melodioasa

Parintii mei o vorbeau acasa

Ei intre ei, si cu noi copii

Si afara, in oras, cu evreii.

Limba de origine germanica

Scrisa cu alfabet in ebraica

A pus baza la o bogata cultura

Cantece, teatru, literatura

Parintii mei cunosteau multe

Povesti, piese. cantece, glume
Toate-n Yiddish , considerata

Limba 'materna' adoptata

Se amuzau cu poantele lui Djigan

Si cu figurile lui Max Perlman

Vocile surorilor Barry ii incantau

De cantecele lor nu se mai saturau