Lili, Seli, Lina and Beki

This photo has a very special meaning. It is a souvenir of all the cousins in line from youngest to oldest. Before my aunt emigrated to Israel, we had had this photo taken as a souvenir. Lili, Seli, Lina and Beki from left to right. We never lost touch with each other in the following years.

The Uziyel family wanted to go to Israel before the state of Israel was founded. In those days you couldn’t go to Palestine directly, so at first they went to Greece by boat. And then they got on a boat that took them to Palestine.

My grandmother's elder daughter Anet married Albert Uziyel. The Uziyel family, immigrated to Israel in 1935. The Uziyels had a liberal family outlook. They were conservative but not especially religious. Festivals were celebrated, and Shabat was respected. They went to Israel during its foundation years, and faced many difficulties there. Albert Uziyel even opened up a kiosk but unfortunately he couldn't run it for a long time. Anet supported the family by taking on sewing work at home for a while. Anet Uziyel had three daughters named Sheli, Beki, Lili. Beki and Lili still live in Israel, while Sheli lives in Austria. My cousin Sheli had a stamp collection which belonged to her husband. This collection consisted of the stamps which had been attached to letters written by soldiers to their families during the war. My cousin, Beki made her first marriage to a gentleman she met in Israel. She sent her grandmother their wedding picture. This was a very traditional mode of behavior. But the gentleman she married had problems which created a lot of problems in the marriage. (I suppose he had sexual problems). My cousin divorced that man. Her maternal grandmother, Rashel Baruh, who is my paternal grandmother, cut the groom out of the wedding picture, when she heard the news. Beki, made her second marriage to a gentleman named Mishel Saul and found happiness. Beki and Mishel had two children named Edna and Beni. Beni worked as a manager at one of the branches of Bank Hapoalim in Israel. He had a son and a daughter. He got divorced after having been married for 28 years. On the other hand, Edna has an extraordinary life story. She didn't get married till the age of 38. She became pregnant from her boyfriend at 38. Her boyfriend was against her giving birth to the baby. Edna thought that this was her last chance and though the boyfriend rejected the child, she gave birth to him. Today this boy, named Mishel is a 19 year old young man, and though his father is still alive, he doesn't know him. And the father doesn't want to see him either