Illumination Book Chapters
Chapter 4 — Tel Aviv
The story of hope and determination continues
I will cut short the tale of the journey across France, and just tell you that I finally reached the port of Taranto, in Italy, and boarded the ship that was to take me to the Land of my dreams.
I met Chaim Weizmann on deck and we got into conversation. He asked me where I came from, and what my plans were. When I told him I was going to set up in business as a cabinet maker he said that I should do well in Palestine to make chicken coops. He was very friendly and I arranged to meet him when we arrived in Palestine.
Chaim Weizmann was a Zionist leader and Israeli statesman who served as president of the Zionist Organisation and later as the first president of Israel. He was elected on 16 February 1949 and served until he died in 1952. It was Weizmann who convinced the United States government to recognise the newly formed state of Israel.
The ship finally arrived at Alexandria, in Egypt, and as there was to be a delay of 48 hours before the customs inspection, we all went by train to Cairo.
This is how it comes about that I have seen the Pyramids and the Sphinx, and the Museum of the Old Pharaohs, and the old Jewish quarter.
Back on the ship, after the Customs inspection, I booked a room at a hotel.
There was still martial law operating, as it was not long after the war, and it was necessary to get a Permit to travel to Palestine. I still have this document, with a passport photograph, and details of my name, age, place of birth, nationality, and so on.
One of the printed questions reads “If returning to Egypt, when?” and the Intelligence Officer who made out the Permit had written, “Not returning.”
Yes, I really did intend to settle in Palestine! It was not only a Permit to Enter, but it also permitted me to travel on what was then the Palestine Military Railway.
The journey from Alexandria was quite interesting, although there is little to see when travelling through the desert except for sand and sky.
We soon reached Lydda, where it was necessary to change on to a branch line for Jaffa and Tel-Aviv.
The name Lydda is derived from the Biblical city of Lod, and it was a significant Judean town from the Maccabean Period to the early Christian period. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War most of the city’s Arab inhabitants were expelled. The town was resettled by Jewish immigrants, most of them from Arab countries, alongside approximately 1,000 Arabs, who remained. Israel’s main international airport, Ben Gurion Airport (previously known as Lod Airport) is located on the outskirts of the city.
At Lydda station, I thought I was in trouble when some Arabs started pulling my trunks out of my hands. A young man called out to me “Watch out or you will lose them.” He yelled out to the Arabs in their own language, and they left my baggage alone.
And so I finally arrived at Tel-Aviv. It wasn’t the city we know today, but a poor place, consisting mostly of dunes.
I was certainly not very impressed by my first sight of Tel-Aviv, but I booked into a hotel and was glad to have somewhere to rest after my long journey.
There was an interesting coincidence at dinner time in the hotel.
Several people who had recently arrived were telling all about their travel to Palestine, and what excitements and experiences they had to describe.
I didn’t find their stories very thrilling or even interesting. There was another man also who got a little impatient, and said,
“You call that a story? I will tell you a story of bravery and courage.”
And he told us of a widow he knew, who had made her way to Palestine, with three little children, with no man to accompany her, with very little money, with only her burning desire to get to the Holy Land.
He compared this brave widows journey with ours, pointing out that we had come by comfortable trains and sleeping cars, had good food and cabins on a good ship, but she had suffered real hardships in making this journey, and I think the rest of them were very impressed.
After the meal, I asked this man who the woman was and where she came from and he said she came from the Swinchan area of Vilna, and her name was Simcha Frieda Rothstein.
I couldn’t believe it. I told him that she was my Grandmother.
He was very moved?
He said we were cousins, and embraced me, and then he lifted me and stood me on a chair and shouted “This is the grandson of Mrs Rothstein I have been telling you about.”
Later I began to look around me and to see more of Tel-Aviv.
Conversing with someone in the crowd, I was asked the standard question — “From where does a Jew come?”
When I said London, they told me that by a coincidence a London man was being married that day to a local girl. Out of curiosity, I asked the man’s name, and it turned out to be Gardner — my Gardner!
I said that he could not marry as he was already married. I asked to be taken to the girl’s parents. They were most grateful to me and insisted I have a drink. So it was that I saved a girl from bigamy and shame and put an end to Gardner’s affair.
It was a little before the Jewish festival of Purim (Lots) when I arrived in Tel-Aviv, and I didn’t want to enter Jerusalem until Passover, about 4 weeks later.
I was getting a bit anxious over the delay in the arrival of my goods. At the time I could have sold them before they arrived and made a fifty per cent profit, but I turned down the offer because I wanted to start a business, and I began to look around for a place.
I was told of a factory a man had built and then had to abandon through lack of funds, and I went to see it. It was in a place where there were no roads, only dunes, but I thought it might have suited me, and I told the man, who was asking £600 for the whole lot, that I would see him when I came back from Jerusalem and would come to terms with him.
Eventually, the time came for me to set out on my first visit to Jerusalem, the Holy City. I travelled by bus and arrived at the Amdursky Hotel, close to the Jaffa Gate, just in time for the Passover Seder service.
I am not an author or a journalist. I only wish I could describe to you my feeling of elation when I first set foot in Jerusalem, and what a thrilling experience it was!
The Seder was a delightful one, and I met many friendly English-speaking people, a number of them from South Africa.
They kept the Seder going till very late, and I went to bed very tired but very happy.
To be continued…
Listen to the 4th Episode of the podcast here
Thank you for reading
👉🏻 Click here if you’d like to receive my articles directly into your inbox
👉🏻 Sign up with this link for access to everything on Medium, and you’ll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won’t cost you a penny more.
👉🏻 If you’d prefer, please buy me a coffee to show your appreciation
