Israel in 1925

The photo was taken in Israel in 1925.

There is no seal of a studio on the back but there is writing in Ivrit which I cannot read.

The man lying on the left in the dark shirt is my father Morduhay Levi.

I do not know the others around him but the photo presents a clear picture of life in Palestine at that time.

My parents left for Palestine. They traveled by steamboat. I was one month old.

Leon, my mother's elder brother, welcomed them there. He had been living there with his wife Simha for two years.

She worked as a midwife and I do not remember what he did. My cousin Yafa was born in Palestine.

My uncle and aunt remained a little longer in Palestine but eventually returned, I do not know why, probably because of the harsh climate.

My parents, however, did not manage to settle. My mother did not work, because she looked after me and my father could not find work as an engineer, because there was no construction at the time.

They lived in a wooden shed and slept on the floor. My mother said that one night she heard me moaning and got up to check on me.

She saw that a snake - a boa - had wrapped itself around me and was suffocating me.

She panicked and woke up my father. A short while after that I got a very severe eye infection, probably because of the dirt and the miserable conditions.

They returned to Bulgaria and lived in a small brick house together with my grandparents on Morava Str., present-day 75 Zheko Dimitrov Str.

I spent my early childhood there, until 1932-33 when my parents built the new house.