With my older sister Miryam and boyfriend

You can see my older sister Miryam Zade and her current husband. They were dating then. And my mother was against their marriage because it was dating. There was no meeting, going out then of course. My older sister would take me with her, we would go out together. As if she was taking me on an outing. This was a vineyard in the photograph. ''Don't you dare tell my mother', she would say. "Yes, my dear sister", I would reply. She was like a second mother to me. I was the youngest child of the family, we had a big age difference. Miryam Zade's spouse loved me a lot, they took me everywhere they went. There were public houses, Turkish style casinos. They would take me to such places.

Miryam was born in Damascus in 1920. Miryam was a tailor. She sewed for the most famous people in Adana. She married my cousin Mois Daniyelzade. The family objected to this marriage. Because they were cousins with Mois, and in addition they dated. Dating was frowned upon in those days. When they went out, Miryam would take me with them. She would meet Mois with the pretext of taking her sister out. She would ask me not to mention this to my mother. In time my mother accepted this union. They left for Israel too, after they were married. Miryam continued working in Israel. Mois who was a sophisticated man on the other hand, could not find work and started working in construction. First he settled in Hertzelia. He started living in a small house with the opportunities that the Israeli government provided him. Later he moved to Holon with the money he earned. But Hertzelia became a city that bloomed. And my older sister lost this opportunity that was given to her. They had children named Suzan, Yosi (my father's name), Yayir (her father-in-law's name) and Hertzel. Suzan and Yosi were born in Istanbul, Yayir and Hertzel in Israel.