waited for me to get off the bus to touch my face, hit me, call me a faggot, or mock my way of walking.
With this public reception, they welcomed me to the Zionist world.
Then there was Abraham, a small monster of short stature who tried to compensate with super masculinity. After beating me up and breaking my nose or mouth, he brought Mono Rubio and Ernesto’s sons. I didn’t understand why Ernesto, who I thought was a good friend of the family, let his children torment me.
“Faggot, faggot!” they sang in unison. “Jacob is a faggot!” - while jokingly touching each other’s genitals.
Years later, rumors spread that he was also homosexual.
In 1960, we had the first session on the Eichmann case and the Holocaust. Our madrich (youth leader) explained to us about the Shoah, a subject our parents had not touched upon. The massacre of six million Jews was finally reported in detail, perhaps too much for eight-year-old children, and we were also informed that the Nazi who had deported our people to the slau-ghterhouse had been captured in Argentina and sent to Israel. As an assignment from our government, he asked us to suggest the sentence and the way to implement it; this would be our contribution to the cause.
My suggestion for Eichman’s punishment was clear: that they send him to our Ken, this would be worse than hell. We were in an organization that told us we had to learn to fight for our rights. However, with me, these same children and teenagers acted like Nazis.