Riva's+I-Face+Project

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=**__Profile:__**=

Rivka Ratzabi was born in the city Sanaa in 1926. She came to Israel in 1935 when she was eight years old. She was very young but because she was the second born daughter, she needed to help her mother take care of four younger siblings, the youngest being a few months old. They left Yemen after World War 2 started they decided that it will be safer in Israel then in Yemen so all the family packed and started their journey.

It started in Sanaa. From there, they rode on donkeys to the port city Aden. The trip took a few months and then they planned to wait a few more months to get a ticket to Israel but my family got their tickets after a few days because my great uncle who made 'aliya' a few years earlier sent them tickets. The boat trip took a few weeks. They shipped from Aden to Port Said in Egypt. They stopped there for a week and then they sailed on for a few more days through Suez Canal.

They anchored in Haifa. From there, they drove to Tel Aviv. They moved a few times in Tel Aviv but never left the city. My grandmother has 5 sisters and a brother. Even though in those days they weren’t obligated to receive an education, her parents believed that everyone has to get good education. She and all her sisters learned in the ‘Talpiot’ elementary school. As she grow older and she got to the age she needed to go to high school her parents could not afford it so she got a job as a clerk in the Tel Aviv's city hall in the day and in the evenings she went to night school. As the years passed, she got higher and higher jobs and when she was 21 years old she was in charge of all the young secretaries in Tel Aviv's city hall. My grandmother was also a friend in the 'Hagana'. She was a simple worker but she did volunteer and went out to all kind of tasks. She had a license for a gun.

She was 23 years old when Israel became an independent state. She danced all night with her friends but when the war broke she did not fight. She stayed with her mother and waited to her father to come back safely.

She worked in the social services department for almost 6 years until one day they offered her a job, to fly back to Yemen and help bring more 'olim' to Israel. At first she didn’t want to she wasn't ready for such a big job, but she understood how important it was and flew back to Yemen. After a month she was on her way to Aden. When she got there she worked as a translator she helped and treatment convinced sick people to get a medical treatment. She was neither a doctor nor a psychologist, but she helped bring more 'olim' to Israel. That Operation was called 'Magic Carpet' and was one of the biggest aliya from Yemen.

She met my grandfather who was a professor in the university 'Bar Ilan' when she was 25. They discovered on their first date that they used to be neighbors but because he was 10 years older then him they never really met. A year later they were married, and a year after they had there first boy Amitai: 3 years after my aunt Mitka: 2 years my mother Noga, and 6 years later my aunt Yemima. In between, she learned history and literature in the university for almost free because her husband was a professor in the university she never used her degrees she learned for fun.

When she was 50 years old her son, Amitai, died while he was in the army. Today she is 81 years old she lives in Tekoa with my grandfather who is 91. She has 15 grandchildren who all live close by.

= __Background Article: __ = The Operation "on Wings of Eagles" is also known as the Magic Carpet operation that brought almost 49,000 Jews from Yemen from June 1949 to September 1950. The Operation was a secret to the public. Only a few moths after it was over it became a well known Operation. In 1948, after the murder of two young Muslim girls led to terrible pogroms all over Yemen, Aden's Jewish community was almost completely destroyed, and most of the Jewish stores were ruined. Later that year when Israel was declared as a state, in Aden Muslims killed 82 Jews and destroyed a number of houses. In May 1949 after these terrible pogroms, the Imam of Yemen gave a secret permission to bring 45,000 from the 46,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel. Israeli transport planes them "home" to the Promised Land. Most of the Yemen community especially children were brought them to Israel. This was one of the most amazing and wonderful Operations Israel has ever seen. Many of Yemenites came by foot or on donkeys to Aden. When they got to Aden they started gathering up at "Camp Geula" waited to get a ticked to Israel. But British troops, who controlled the Colony of Aden, they didn’t let any one leave until the [|hostilities] in Palestine gave there promotion to them to come to Israel by then there was in Aden almost 10,000 Jews. And Yemen's new elected Imam [|Ahmad] bin Yahya gave his secret promotion for an airlift. Since they had never seen an aircraft before they were extremely scared and refused to get on it. So the rabbi went on the plane and showed them there was nothing to be afraid about. Operation Magic Carpet was the first in a [|series of operations] whose purpose was to transport en-mass entire communities of Jews from Arab countries to Israel, during the1950's and 1960's. At some point, the operation was also called Operation Messiah's Coming. = = =__Rationale:__= I decided to write my Israel project on my grandmother (my mothers mother) Rivka Ratzabi.

I know it sounds a bit common --- to write my Israel project on a person from your family.But my grandmother was an incredible person and she did a lot of wonderful things: · She did an aliya with her family at age eight. · She was in the ‘Hagana’ as a teenager. · She worked in Tel Aviv’s city hall. · As a project of the Jewish Agency she flew back to Yemen and helped other olim to get to Israel.

When she came back to Israel she met my grandfather Yehoda Ratzabi. They married and had 4 children. Today she lives in Tekoa, right next to our house. She is eighty-one and my grandfather is ninety-one.

In my project I would also like to mention people who helped and encouraged my grandmother, and helped her to be what she is today. The most important, I think, is my great-grandmother Ayala Kesar who was an incredible person. Her life story deserves a separate project; nevertheless, I will mention it briefly here. She passed-away about a month ago at age ninety-eight.

I hope to learn a little more about my grandmother and the young person she was. I also would like to get more into our unblivble family. And to see how is really the faces of Israel! =__Interview questions:__=
 * 1) Why did you go back to Yemen? Weren't you afraid? Or did you miss your birth country?
 * 2) What did you do in Yemen?
 * 3) Do you have any special memories?
 * 4) Do you remember the night Israel became a Jewish state?
 * 5) When did you start working in Tel Aviv's city hall?
 * 6) What was your first job in Tel Aviv's city hall?
 * 7) What was your duty in the "Hagana"?
 * 8) Did you do any thing unusual in the "Hagana"?
 * 9) Do you have any memories?
 * 10) How did you meet your husband?
 * 11) After your son Amitai died how did you feel? Did you blame anybody?
 * 12) Do you remember your Aliya?
 * 13) What do you think was the most important thing you did?
 * 14) Do you have any stories?

= = __ Interview __ : 1. Why did you go back to Yemen? Weren't you afraid? Or did you miss your birth country? It was a little weird but I don’t have so many bad memories from there. I went there because I know I could help and it would be very selfish if I would stay in Israel when my brothers need my help. It wasn't always so much fun but it was important for me.

2. What did you do in Yemen? Well I wasn't a doctor or a nurse but I did know Yemenite so I was a translator so I helped the doctors communicate with the patients.

3. Do you have any special memories? There was a young lady that wouldn’t let the doctor take care of her baby when he dieing from a fever. I talked to her and helped her relax at the end she let the doctor help her but I don’t remember what happened to the baby.

4. Do you remember the night Israel became a Jewish state? Of curse I remember, all night long me and my friends from the 'Hagana' danced and sang I remember in the morning when we woke up the war was declared. It wasn’t unrespectable we all knew that it will come after we will declare our selves as a state but it was very fast.

5. When did you start working in Tel Aviv's city hall? When I was 14 years old my parents didn’t have enough money to send us to high school and there wasn’t a Compulsory education rule so I worked at day and at night I went to a night school.

6. What was your first job in Tel Aviv's city hall? When I first got to the city hall they were looking for a young Yemenite worker. Why Yemenite? Because the worker before me was also Yemenite and she was very diligent, so they believed that all Yemenites were diligent. I worked as a simple clerk but during the years I went higher and higher until I was encaged for a hole department.

7. What was your duty in the "Hagana"? I didn’t have a special duty in the "Hagana" I was a regular officer. But it was still one of my amazing times in my life.

8. Did you do any thing unusual in the "Hagana"? I remember they took us to learn how to shoot it was a weird experience it was in Ramle after a year that we were in the Hagana.

9. Do you have any memories? Lots of memories it was my life. But it was more like a job I don’t have a special know.

10. How did you meet your husband? We lived in the same neighborhood but he was 10 years older then me so we didn’t meet till I was 26.

11. After your son Amitai died how did you feel? Did you blame anybody? How could I blame? We knew he had a thing in his heart at first the army wouldn’t take him but after all his friends fought and died in the Yom Kippur War he had to go and help. He tried for 3 years until he got in. he died from a heart atc whil he was running after a bus.

12. What do you think was the most important thing you did? I don’t know. Every thing was important. I can't say something specific. 13. Do you remember your Aliya? Not really I was 7 years old. I mostly remember my mother and father telling us stories. 14. Do you have any stories? Yes. When we did the Aliya my brother was still a baby we rode on a donkey by the sides of the animal there were baskets my brother seeped in one of the baskets with the flour and when my sister cheeked him she discovered that the flour almost smashed him to death likely he was ok.  =**__ Literary Connection: __**= __ Everyone Asked about You/ [|Theodore Faro Gross] __ Nora Nora open the door, open the door Nora blue Nora Blue I came to say that at school today everyone asked about you Ruth and Ellie and Mrs. Petriselli everyone asked about you Nora Nora open the door, open the door N blue I just came from the baseball game everyone asked about you The slugger the pitcher and even the catcher, everyone asked about you Nora Nora open the door, open the door Nora blue Nora Blue I took a hike to the peak of mt. Pike and everyone asked about you The porcupine the mountain lion all the yellow butterflies everyone asked about you Nora Nora open the door, open the door Nora blue Nora Blue I just explored the ocean floor and everyone asked about you The tuna the porpoises and all the sea horses and everyone asked about you Nora Nora open the door, open the door Nora blue Nora Blue I was hurled all around the world and everyone asked about you The African Swedes and all the Chinese and everyone asked about you Nora Nora open the door, open the door Nora blue Nora Blue I hitched a trip on a rocket ship and everyone asked about you The man in the moon and a martian platoon, the empress of Jupiter too Yes everyone asked about you All right all right Mr. Sunshine bright I heard enough stories from you so no more If everyone everyone everyone asked for me why don’t they come to my door And to her surprise just before her eyes, the tuna and porpoises came to her door The porcupines, Mountain Lions all the yellow butterflies, the Empress of Jupiter too Yes everyone asked about you Nora, Nora open the door, open the door, Nora Nora open the door, Nora blue Nora blue…… This poem is about a sad girl named Nora and the sun, which is a good friend of her. He comes and tries to cheer her up. The way he tries is by telling her how much everyone loves her and misses her. At the end he has to bring everyone (her friends, the moon, the animals and more). At the end she really does cheer up. This poem is actually a children's book you don’t really think that a children's book will have such a deep meaning, but behind every book even a child's book there is a message. What I think the poem is trying to say is that no matter how bad you fell there is always somebody who misses you our cares about you. This poem beside of being my favorite song as a child, is a song that really shows how is it to live in Israel: first thing everybody knows everybody you always meet people and they all care about you I came straight to Tekoa after I left California. Form this huge place that nobody really knows his neighbors. In Tekoa, a settlement in the middle of the desert, of 300 families, everybody knows everybody: we are all together. It’s a really good feeling when you can stop by almost every person in the street and start a little conversation. In this children's poem you can see that when Nora’s sad, everybody cares. It's like a big family. Rhyme: the rhyme is very simple. It usually rhymes with “blue”. In 2 or 3 lines it rhymes with “more”. It adds to the poem in its simple way its no Shakespeare just a little children's poem. Pattern: one line of chorus, 2 lines of refrain. Symbols: A parent uses the whole universe around a little girl to prove to her that she is popular and well-liked. Title: //“Everyone Asked About You”// the title sums up the intent of the lyrics and the book. When you read the title you can see that it has a happy little ending and It tells us almost every thing. Repetition: the words that repeat are ”Nora, Nora open the door, open the door, Nora Nora open the door, Nora blue Nora”. I think it tries to tell us how important it is for the sun to see Nora and how he won't stop annoying until she’ll open. Point of view: the book is written from the site of the sun how comes so many times to try to cheerer her up but nothing helps till the end.

=**__ Creative Connection: __**= I made this movie with two other friends of mine. After I finished the movie and watched it several times I saw that actually these are the faces of Israel. Amazing people who built or created wonderful things, they started with nothing. Also people how left there country that they lived all there life and started a new one. In the movie you can also see the beautiful view of Israel- the desert near the a blooming garden.

=**__ Reflection: __**= At first when the teacher came to class and started talking in so much excitement about this really "cool" project we are going to start and how we have to interview somebody alive I thought she as crazy she thought that it's going to fun. All I wanted to do at first is to find somebody simple that I wont be embarrassed to interview. So I picked my grandmother she's one of my family she will be happy to help me and I wont be embarrassed. I started the project without any big expectations. I started the interview and the profile and I was this is the women that lives so close by I never really got deep into my grandmas personal life. We talked a few hours and it was amazing. The more I worked on it the more it interested me. I looked at all these people of Israel all the people how came to Israel from all kinds of different countries. For me it was always so obvious how it's suppose to me a simple flight and your in Israel here I see these hard a long journeys people did just to get to Israel. This was one of my biggest projects I ever had done. I've learned so much a met a person all over again. I'm really prude of my self it came out amazing. Cohen Miro, Interview,  20   February 2008, Tekoa Israel. Faro Gross [|Theodore], Everyone Asked about You, Philomel, 1990 Hadas Ozi, Interview, 18 February 2008, Tekoa Israel. http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Immigration/carpet.html Jewish virtual library, Operation Magic Carpet 11\01\08 Kesler Mira, Interview, 22 February 2008, Tekoa Israel. Levi Noymand Dov, Interview, 19 February 2008, Tekoa Israel. Ratzabi Rivka, Interview, 31 December 2007, Tekoa Israel. Tekoa and all its shades, Riva Cooper, Rivka Levi Noymand, Meir Armon, 2008, Tekoa. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Magic_Carpet_%28Yemen%29 Wikipedia, Operation Magic Carpet 13\01\08
 * __ Bibliography: __**