“‘Leave this place,’ the woman said as she rushed us and shoved us out the front gate. And so, Michal, we kept wandering through the woods. Now and then I sold another piece of Mama’s jewelry, until only one was left. She had always worn it on her finger.”
As she said this, Miriam pulled the ring out of an inner pocket on her pajamas. “I always keep it with me,” she said, and slipped the beautiful ring onto her finger. “My mother had beautiful hands.” I stared, a little jealously, at the sight of the red studded ring.
“After several weeks of wandering, we met a group of kind Jews and fighters. They were called Partisans, and they tried to take revenge on the Nazis. We stayed in the woods with them until the war ended. The Jews were gathered in a special camp where they fed us and gave us warm clothes. They took good care of us. We stayed in that camp for a few weeks, and a rumor started spreading that the Jews were going to the land of Israel. A lot of Jews wanted to come to Israel, but many weren’t allowed to go, or they couldn’t get the proper paperwork; so, they just gathered up the children.
“They dressed us in all white, just like Mama used to for special occasions. The ship that was going to bring us to Israel had docked in the port that night. Many people without permits tried to board it and stow away. In the morning, we children boarded the ship. It was very crowded on the deck, but we didn’t feel it. Many of us, and the adults, too, caught terrible diseases and got really sick. The voyage was hard, and my pristine clothes became filthy and gray. And that’s how I arrived in the land of Israel, and at the kibbutz.”
I went silent. I didn’t know how to react to the story of a little girl’s wandering with her toddler brother. The only question that popped into my mind was, “So how did you know how to solve the problem in the math quiz?”
She smiled. “While we were in the refugee camp, waiting for our papers to come through so we could go to Israel, I met a man who became like a father to me. And he was the one who taught me to read and write, and to do math too. He said it was unthinkable that I should come to the land of our forefathers without knowing how to write my own name. If only he knew how much he’d helped me….” she said and winked at me.
I hugged her warmly and whispered, “It’s good that you came…. I don’t know how I could have treated you the way I did! Will you forgive me?” I whispered, pleading.
“I’ve already forgiven you,” she said.
Our eyelids fell like curtains on the past.
Chapter 9
Good morning,” Leah called out to us with glee. “Have you two reached a truce? Excellent!” She smiled at us. “Come in, it’s late,” she added, and turned to go wake the other children.
“Leah,” I turned to her. “Hold on. Look at this,” I said, and held out Miriam’s hand, wearing the gold ring studded with a red precious stone on her finger.
“This is the only souvenir she has left of her mother.” I added quickly, now well versed in the story of Miriam’s life and proud of it.
Leah stepped closer to Miriam, a look of shock in her eyes. She held her hand tightly and stared at the ring and at Miriam. “Where did you find that?” she said, with great difficulty.
“Mama gave it to me before she died,” Miriam said, a bit surprised by Leah’s reaction.
“Sylvia? Was Sylvia your mother?!”
“You knew my mother?” Miriam asked, stunned.
“Mary! My Mary! My darling daughter!” Leah hugged Miriam, and tears flooded her soft eyes.
Miriam responded, “You … you’re my real mother?”
“Yes, my darling girl, yes!” They hugged. “You’re … here … I never even thought of it!” Leah mumbled through her tears.
They cried tears of joy, which flowed down their cheeks. My eyes filled with tears too, and I joined their hug.
Hearing the cries of joy, everybody came out of their rooms and watched the emotional reunion on the lawn.
Manek stepped closer as well, and said with a smile: “Truly, a great Hanukkah miracle happened here too.”
Acknowledgments
To Guy, the love of my life, my rock, my everything, for believing in me, getting this book translated, and encouraging me to bring it to light.
To Kari and Eytan, Mom & Dad, who believed a 11-year-old could write something worth publishing, and for teaching me that together we can do anything. Everything I have ever achieved is because of that and you. I love you.
To Yael Baruch, who saw the potential in me, and published this book in Hebrew in Israel in 1987.
To Jason Schneider, RIP, who said: “This is the book I want to publish.” We have never met, but you were a truly great friend to me.
To Jessica Burch, my editor, who has been smart, and patient, and creative. You are truly wonderful. Thank you!
1A kibbutz is a collective settlement in Israel where groups of people live and work together, prevalent in the 1900s. The goal of a kibbutz was to create an independent community based on equality, social justice, and the sharing of property. Kibbutzniks—the people who lived in a kibbutz—did not own any possessions of their own, even clothing. Any gifts or money a member received from outside the kibbutz were automatically placed in a community fund for everyone. Children lived separately from adults in a shared “children’s house” where they spent their time learning, playing, and sleeping. Parents spent about three to four hours a day with their children after they finished their work and before they had dinner.
2The caretaker was responsible for taking care of all the children in the kibbutz. She supervised them in the communal children’s house, made sure they were fed, clothed, and ready for bed on time, and took charge of their education.
3Until the 1980s, kibbutz children were raised mostly apart from their parents. As part of this arrangement, the children of the kibbutz all slept together in one large, shared bedroom inside the children’s house.
4After the Nazis were defeated at the end of World War II, many surviving Jews left Europe to build new lives for themselves elsewhere. As many as 170,000 displaced Jewish people immigrated to Israel during the first several years after the war, some of whom—having no family or resources left of their own—sought comfort in the kibbutzim. Some people went to their new countries legally, meaning the governments involved gave them paperwork that allowed them to be there. Other people couldn’t get this paperwork, so they “snuck in” illegally.
5“Rag Tag” was a variation of the game “Duck, Duck, Goose.” The participants sit in a circle, and one of the players gets up and walks behind the others, holding an object—commonly a rag. The player outside the circle drops the rag behind the back of a second player in the circle and tries to run back to his original spot. The second player, who had the rag dropped behind him, must catch the first player before he can reach his spot. If the first player makes it back to his place in the circle before getting caught, the second player is now left outside the circle to drop the rag behind someone else, while the other players sing “The Rag Tag Song” at him.
6During World War II, when the Nazis would take over a city in Europe, they would force all Jews in that city into a small neighborhood. These neighborhoods were called ghettos, and they were known for their horrible living conditions, which included severe overcrowding, terrible hunger, dangerously poor hygiene and filth, abuse, and a lack of basic necessities. Ghettos were fenced in and heavily guarded by Nazi soldiers so that its inhabitants could not escape. Many Jewish people were killed in the ghettos; for those who survived them, they were merely the first stop on the way to the death camps.
7During the Holocaust, Jewish people were often separated from their family members due to circumstances beyond their control. Arrest by the Nazis, violence and harassment, escape, and being sent to concentration camps (where males and females were held separately) resulted in many loved ones losing contact with one another. When the war ended, people struggled to find out what had happened to their families or friends. Some organizations were put toget
her to help, but it was difficult. A few people were lucky and found someone they had lost; many others were not.
8Hanukkah: A Jewish holiday lasting eight days that commemorates the victory of the Maccabean Revolt, the rededication of the Temple, and the miracle of the jug of oil. The holiday is celebrated with prayers of thanks and praise, and a ceremonial lighting of the Hanukkah candles on each night of the festival.
9A dreidel is a children’s toy, a spinning top with four sides. In Jewish culture, the dreidel is a traditional Hanukkah game.
10The Nazis believed that the “Aryans” were a race of people who were superior to all others. They characterized Aryans as people with fair skin, blond hair, pale eyes, and longer, oval-shaped faces. The Nazis wanted to get rid of non-Aryan people—like Jews, Gypsies, and other minority groups—so that Aryans could fulfill their “duty” (as the Nazis saw it) of controlling the world.
11Twenty-five kilometers is fifteen and a half miles.
12100 zlotys (Polish currency) is equal to 25 dollars.
13The Search Bureau for Missing Relatives was a non-profit organization in Israel that helped Holocaust survivors locate lost relatives, friends, and acquaintances. The agency was active from 1945 to 2002.
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