I loved my fellow countrywomen and despised the men. In 1951, my parents took us to live in Los Yoses.
the elegant residential neighborhood to the East of San José. (In the 1950s, there was a large group of Jews who moved to the West of the capital, while a smaller group moved to the East. The stories of the West and the East would differ because those in the West would live more socially connected lives, while those in the East were more isolated. In schools and colleges, the children in the East were one or two among forty or fifty Christian children. The theatrical play West Side Story was initially called East Side Story because the protagonists were Jews and Christians, but it was changed to West Side Story when it was decided that they would be Puerto Ricans and Anglo-Saxons. This novel reverses the roles, and since it is a love story between a Jew and an Anglo-Saxon, it deserves to use the original title)
Although inconvenient due to its distance from the synagogue, our house was a beautiful Art Deco construction that would catch the attention even to this day. The garden was spacious because Elena wanted to plant flowers and fruits, something she had never been able to do in Duglosiodlo1. My parents’ room 1
Długosiodło [dwuɡɔˈɕɔdwɔ] is a village in Wyszków County, Masovian Voivodeship, in East-central Poland. It is the seat of the gmina (administrative district) called Gmina Długosiodło. It lies 7
was comfortable and full of windows, with a large closet, a beautiful, red-tiled end-suite bathroom, and the luxury of the time: a bathtub.
The children’s rooms faced the garden; mine faced two immense avocado trees, which were the delight of squirrels and foxes. Our living room was huge, with a reddish mahogany wooden floor that reflected the envious faces of all our visitors. The sofas were long and could accommodate up to forty members of the WIZO2, the organization presided over by my mother.
They were so sturdy that even Mrs. Perla, who weighed around two hundred pounds, could sit on them without any problem. Considering that each sofa could hold fifteen behinds, we’re talking about more than a ton.
In theory, we were supposed to be wealthy to live in the most prestigious neighborhood and be the first Jews to do so, and on top of that, the house was our own! The other fellow countrymen had to settle for simpler and rented accommodations far from the coffee aristocracy and the embassies. “Who would have thought that we would end up living in such a dream castle?” - our Aunt Esther would say, proud approximately 21 kilometers (13 mi) north-east of Wyszków and 73
km (45 mi) north-east of Warsaw.
2 WIZO stands for the Women’s International Zionist Organization.
It is a non-profit organization that focuses on empowering women, promoting education, and supporting social welfare programs in Israel.
WIZO works in various fields, including healthcare, education, and youth empowerment, with the goal of improving the lives of women, children, and families in Israel.