Cleaned by: Mariel Langer
Transcribed by: Temi
Interview date: September 21st, 2022
Interviewer: Lisette Shashoua
Location: Montreal, QC
Total time: 1:41:42
Lisette Shashoua (00:00:18):
Welcome Gila. And thank you for participating in our Sephardi Voices, interview. And I would like you to start with telling us your name and your date of birth.
Gila Aslan (00:00:32):
My name is Gila Morat Aslan. My, my birthday is 21st of March, 1940.
Lisette Shashoua (00:00:41):
Okay. And your name was also always Gila?
Gila Aslan (00:00:45):
It's my name in Arabic. Souad.
Lisette Shashoua (00:00:47):
Ah,
Gila Aslan (00:00:48):
I came to Israel they gave me the name Gila. The same. It said the same, like, uh, Souad is happiness and Hebrew Gila is happiness too.
Lisette Shashoua (00:01:01):
Oh, lovely. And uh, so how old are you today?
Gila Aslan (00:01:09):
82.
Lisette Shashoua (00:01:11):
God bless you.
Gila Aslan (00:01:12):
<laugh>. Thank you.
Lisette Shashoua (00:01:14):
Okay. So, um, start with telling me about your family's background in Baghdad. Your grand first. Tell us about your grandparents, what you remember.
Gila Aslan (00:01:26):
I remember only my grandmama, my grandmother. My father's mother. She lived with us. My father is very, all I, we don't see anything special when he's with Haganah 'cause he afraid for us to, we have to, he doesn't know we to do he everything he does without tell us because we, we live in a Muslim country, Arabic country. It's very hard for us. But we, we never feel it because we are friend with family, with Arab, everything is, they start only in 1948. Start with 1947 before, uh, <inaudible>, uh, Israel. Yes. Imp Israel
Lisette Shashoua (00:02:34):
Became a, they became a country. Yes.
Gila Aslan (00:02:36):
Country that start with us. Special for everything. We, you do have to be very careful. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative> Not only with, with the language, with my father can take the picture and he throw everything with is with Magen David, with, uh, picture from the family in Israel at that time. We have a lot of family in Israel. We have, we have to be very, very careful because he was with the Haganah. So
Lisette Shashoua (00:03:12):
Do you know what he was doing with the Haganah?
Gila Aslan (00:03:15):
We didn't know. We know. We didn't know. The family doesn't know nothing.
Lisette Shashoua (00:03:20):
And now, do you know what he did?
Gila Aslan (00:03:23):
No. I think we, we start thinking when we, he has to go out. They have to take him out from Iraq. That time we know he's very close to the Haga with the, with the Haganah, with with Israel. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. So when they, they, if they catch them, they uh, they kill them.
Lisette Shashoua (00:03:47):
Yes. They would, they would hang him.
Gila Aslan (00:03:49):
Hang him. So they left to Iran for take them three weeks to take him.
Lisette Shashoua (00:03:58):
Um, let's go back. We, we, we will first, uh, tell me what you remember from Baghdad before you leaving. Okay. We'll get back to that after
Gila Aslan (00:04:08):
We have a lot.
Lisette Shashoua (00:04:08):
And if you need to speak in Hebrew or Arabic to express something that you are passionate about, go ahead.
Gila Aslan (00:04:16):
We are very, the, the nig, my, our neighbors a lot Jewish and Arab too. But we are very friend with them. But when it's a, it start with Israel, they start, we start feeling we're not good with us. Before, they're very friendly, but they, they change. Oh, you are Jewish. Oh, you are this, we have, we have everything in the morning. We go to the school. We have the very careful the, we can't walk alone. We have to walk with somebody with you to go to school or for them family, or somebody has to take you to school.
Lisette Shashoua (00:05:05):
Can you rewind and tell me where did you go to school in Baghdad?
Gila Aslan (00:05:10):
I went to Madam Adel. Is English school. They are not none, but the, the teachers only from British. British teacher. Yeah. They teach you only English. The Arabic, we speak the language. But you don't allow to speak Arabic in at school. You have to speak only English. But for us, because I didn't study for a long time, because after that we left Iran. So I forgot everything. So when you go out, you have to go with the cousin and this, because they're afraid somebody hit you. You, they know you are Jewish. I am very light skin. It's not like be everyone. So, and in 1949, my father has to go to Iran. They, they take him out from, uh, from, from Baghdad. They start take the family out of, from, from Iran.
Lisette Shashoua (00:06:25):
We will, we will get to that. Yeah. And before that, I want to know if you remember anything about your home in Baghdad? The house.
Gila Aslan (00:06:35):
The house is a very big house. Yes. It is a three level.
Lisette Shashoua (00:06:39):
Yes.
Gila Aslan (00:06:40):
If you go to the, the, what you say, the, <inaudible>
Lisette Shashoua (00:06:51):
The roof.
Gila Aslan (00:06:52):
The roof. They have, we have play in the roof. It's very big house. It's open house. It's open. Uh, they have three first level the rooms, dining room, living room, everything in the first floor. And we have basement. Third floor is the, the roof. In the summer, we play out, up in the roof. We can get from the roof to the other roof of the neighbor. You can jump to the neighbor. The from the roof, the roof. Children play together. I remember I have my cousin come, we play only in the roof because they were not play in the street. In the house. We play in the house and we have the basement. In the summer we have flooding as water ome because we are very close to the river as the flooding. When the flooding and the, they put, uh,
Lisette Shashoua (00:08:14):
Sand.
Gila Aslan (00:08:15):
No, they put, uh, <inaudible> what it said. Uh, it's a big, a big, big, uh,
Lisette Shashoua (00:08:21):
It's a big, uh, pot.
Gila Aslan (00:08:23):
Yeah. We sitting there, we play there, like, and, and it's, it's full of water. Yeah. After
Lisette Shashoua (00:08:34):
You, you play in the water,
Gila Aslan (00:08:36):
You play inside. Because where do go? You go on the, on the plot. We're sitting big one plot. Yeah. Uh, there's a lot of things. It's like, because we are young, we, where do you, you play, you play in the house. But I don't remember what else. I, if I need something, I, after my grandmother, she was very religious. On Friday, if I ask her grandma do my hair, she said if it's Shabbat I do, I can't do it because I'm afraid. Take the, the hair from, she didn't do do it. Um, with a Shabbat, because she's very, very religious. I have my grandfather, I don't remember him. He was a rabbi. My, my mother father. I don't remember what, uh, because I don't remember a lot of that time.
Lisette Shashoua (00:09:53):
That's okay. That's okay. Uh, tell me about your parents. How did your parents meet each other? How did they get married?
Gila Aslan (00:10:01):
My father and theyre first cousin. But when my father see my mother, it was my cousin first. They look at her. She's, oh, she's very is nice girls. Pretty girls. She didn't see him before his cousin, first cousin.
Lisette Shashoua (00:10:25):
How come?
Gila Aslan (00:10:26):
Because my, my mother, my mother, she lost my father. Uh, her father, she grew up with her family. The other family, she doesn't go together for a long time. When you see her, she was 16. They get engaged. The first cousin, they get engaged. But that time, my, my mother, she has to go. If she go out, she has to put, uh, burka..
Lisette Shashoua (00:10:59):
Yes. Hijab.
Gila Aslan (00:11:00):
Hijab. Yeah. The burka
Lisette Shashoua (00:11:03):
Abaya.
Gila Aslan (00:11:04):
Yeah, Abaya. Her face is covered. She see him on the street. She afraid she see her. She want, she afraid he can see her. But he didn't see her because she, her face is covered. This what they live like that. If this, I dunno. They get engaged. They get married right away. She's was 16. He was 23.
Lisette Shashoua (00:11:35):
But why did she wear the abaya.? Because Jews didn't.
Gila Aslan (00:11:38):
This, that time, that time she go out, she has to put
Lisette Shashoua (00:11:43):
This was in Baghdad.
Gila Aslan (00:11:45):
In Baghdad. Yeah. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. You don't remember that?
Lisette Shashoua (00:11:47):
No. I don't remember.
Gila Aslan (00:11:48):
Not your time. Notour time too. But it's my mother time. Yeah. They put it so they get married.
Lisette Shashoua (00:11:59):
So he saw her and he fell in love with her.
Gila Aslan (00:12:05):
So their first cousin, my father, and my mother, my, the, the fathers brothers. So they get married. We have, we are six girls in the family. I am number three.
Lisette Shashoua (00:12:19):
Can you tell me the names of your sister?
Gila Aslan (00:12:21):
My sister, my older sister is Carmen. The second one is, Noor, my name is Swad in Arabic. That's in, in Hebrews Gila. After the Tikva is Emil and Souham. My name, uh, number six is Nina. Is she born in Iran.
Lisette Shashoua (00:12:49):
And you were born in what year?
Gila Aslan (00:12:51):
Baghdad.
Lisette Shashoua (00:12:51):
What year?
Gila Aslan (00:12:52):
1940.
Lisette Shashoua (00:12:53):
Gila Aslan (00:12:55):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (00:12:56):
And, and your, you were the oldest?
Gila Aslan (00:12:59):
No, number three.
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:00):
Sorry. Number three.
Gila Aslan (00:13:00):
My older sister. She's born 1932. The second one. 1936. I am number three. That's 1940. Number five. 1948. The youngest one. 1951.
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:19):
In your house you lived with your grandmother, the mother of your father?
Gila Aslan (00:13:23):
Father all my sister. That's all.
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:30):
And your mother's name. What was
Gila Aslan (00:13:31):
Marcelle.
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:33):
Your dad?
Gila Aslan (00:13:34):
Abed.
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:35):
And your grandmother?
Gila Aslan (00:13:38):
Hannah Hanini.
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:42):
Your mother's maiden name. What? What was your mother's maiden name is? Uh,
Gila Aslan (00:13:48):
The, same my father, it's Gabay
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:51):
Sorry.
Gila Aslan (00:13:54):
Gabay.
Lisette Shashoua (00:13:54):
It was Gabay, and then you changed it
Gila Aslan (00:13:57):
To I changed it to Morad. When I came to Israel, they asked me what the family, family name. I don't remember is, I think I said my grandfather, Morad. I give them my grandfather, Morad. They name, they stay with Morad all the time.
Lisette Shashoua (00:14:14):
Only with you?
Gila Aslan (00:14:15):
Yeah, only me. Their family is Gabay.
Lisette Shashoua (00:14:25):
Okay. And, uh, you told us about your home. You told us. Now, uh, tell me the, your neighbors, were they Jewish?
Gila Aslan (00:14:37):
Yeah. And my, our neighbors Jewish, but they have Muslim and, and Christian too. But from the two side is Jewish. Mm-Hmm,
Lisette Shashoua (00:14:49):
<affirmative>. So you could go from
Gila Aslan (00:14:51):
Yeah, you can go from jump to the neighbor. We play with the neighbor, with the kids. The same.
Lisette Shashoua (00:15:01):
You jump
Gila Aslan (00:15:02):
Jump to the other <laugh>
Lisette Shashoua (00:15:04):
From the Yeah.
Gila Aslan (00:15:05):
Yeah. Tofa. Yeah. What is called?
Lisette Shashoua (00:15:08):
Yeah. From the roof.
Gila Aslan (00:15:09):
From the roof. From the roof. The roof.
Lisette Shashoua (00:15:11):
Yeah. Okay. And so about your dad, he was working with <inaudible>. You did not know?
Gila Aslan (00:15:25):
No. We don't know.
Lisette Shashoua (00:15:27):
Okay.
Gila Aslan (00:15:28):
He was a threat for us to know. Maybe we can talk, talk outside of Anybody can hear you. This. We never know about that.
Lisette Shashoua (00:15:38):
And what language did you speak at home?
Gila Aslan (00:15:41):
Arabic.
Lisette Shashoua (00:15:43):
Do you remember any expressions, Arabic expressions that you like?
Gila Aslan (00:15:51):
No, I don't. Every, all the time. We are very happy family. Very happy family and big family living. And around the same area. My, my aunt, my cousins very close each other. Very close. Very. The street was not far from what each.
Lisette Shashoua (00:16:10):
Do you remember where you lived? The name of the street, the area
Gila Aslan (00:16:17):
Bab al-Sheikh. That I know, but, uh, but the name of street, I don't remember nothing.
Lisette Shashoua (00:16:22):
But it was a Jewish,
Gila Aslan (00:16:24):
Mainly Yes. Jewish neighbour. They have a, a school near us. It's not Jewish. It's not, uh, is, uh, is what is it?
Lisette Shashoua (00:16:44):
Say it in Arabic.
Gila Aslan (00:16:45):
<Inaudible>
Lisette Shashoua (00:16:47):
Oh yeah. The government.
Gila Aslan (00:16:48):
Government is Arabic. It faces my house. Exactly. Faced us.
Lisette Shashoua (00:16:54):
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Okay. So your mom used to wear the abaya.
Gila Aslan (00:17:03):
After she had married. Is is far different was. But before, exactly when she get, uh, engaged that time after that, it's <inaudible>. Okay. They finish with that, with Abaya, everything.
Lisette Shashoua (00:17:19):
And your grandmother in the house, did she also wear Abaya?
Gila Aslan (00:17:23):
No. No.
Lisette Shashoua (00:17:24):
Did she wear anything? Old style?
Gila Aslan (00:17:27):
No. Not special. No.
Lisette Shashoua (00:17:30):
Do you remember the Shabbat at all?
Gila Aslan (00:17:32):
Yeah. It was every Shabbat, every Friday night we have the kiddush. I remember my son, my grandmother, she never eat fish. And then my house, because, uh, one of my uncle, he was die in the river.
Lisette Shashoua (00:17:54):
Oh,
Gila Aslan (00:17:54):
One of my, my, my uncle. They, they, the fisher fishermen, they took him out of the, the water. He was alive. But he still left him in the water as his pass away. From that time my grandmother, she never eat fish. Never eat fish, never eat, uh, liver. Because he loved to eat liver. Because the fish, when they, they, they took him from the water that we, I don't, we didn't see this in the house from that time. She was very sad. We do, we didn't know about that. And we get older. We know about this. We lost my
Lisette Shashoua (00:18:50):
He was a young boy,
Gila Aslan (00:18:51):
Is a boy, is maybe 18. He was 18
Lisette Shashoua (00:18:54):
Uhhuh. And they, they,
Gila Aslan (00:18:56):
They take him out of the water alive. But he, he leave him in the water. He took him from the water, but he leave him in the water.
Lisette Shashoua (00:19:06):
Did they know he was Jewish?
Gila Aslan (00:19:08):
Of course he blonde. What you think it's look? Yeah,
Gila Aslan (00:19:17):
That they teach us to swim under the river 'cause they're afraid when you go to the river, you can drown. This why they took us with, to teach us swim. But we left very early. I left very early for <inaudible>. I, I don't remember a lot of that. But when talking in the house about this, we know what happened. That my, my uncle, the other uncle, he was get sick. They went to Israel. The, the Falastin because the doctor said he has cancer. He went to Israel. He die in Israel. One of my uncle, the family start going to Israel before, in 1940, '40, '42. Everybody start to leave. We left Iraq in 1939. '49.
Lisette Shashoua (00:20:27):
Gila Aslan (00:20:30):
After Israel.
Lisette Shashoua (00:20:38):
Okay. Do, do you remember if you went to synagogue in, in Baghdad?
Gila Aslan (00:20:42):
Yeah. Yeah. The synagogue is not far from us. Every Friday, every Saturday. Saturday. My father, especially me, I, uh, he took me with him to the synagogue, because we can play with kids in the synagogue. But only me, because I a still young. I can go this with my sister, get older. They, they can. One of the, my daughter, my sister, she got married very young. My older sister.
Lisette Shashoua (00:21:12):
How old was she?
Gila Aslan (00:21:12):
She was 16. One morning the, the guy come to pick her, the taxi take her to the school. They said, no, she's not going to school. Because she gets engaged. <laugh>, they give him, uh, candy. They said she's not going anymore to school anymore. She get, she get engaged. She engage with second cousin, my mother, uh, uh, uncle son. So they stay in the family that time. They, everybody's get married, uh, with a family. If you have girls, she has to go with, uh, her first cousin or second cousin.
Gila Aslan (00:22:08):
Yeah. This, this life, that time. This is the life now to get married with a cousin. Forget it. Nobody want to get close to the family. Not only not to get married. Not, not anymore. So. When you get to Iran, there's different place, different category too.
Lisette Shashoua (00:22:42):
Do you remember Passover, the way you do Passover?
Gila Aslan (00:22:46):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (00:22:47):
Like that? Or Sukkot?
Gila Aslan (00:22:47):
Yeah. Everything. We have Sukkot in the, in the roof. We have, Passover is very nice. It's different too. We, we are singing in Arabic. They put the, the Matzah in your shoulder. They, we go to the near the wall. The, the, the father ask where from, where are you come, where from? Where you, you how, where you going? We said, we coming from Egypt, we are going to Israel. But we say it in Arabic. <Arabic> When is the wedded come? We said, <inaudible>, this, uh, this song we sing. Uh, but it's very, and everything we have for Hametz go to the basement as they close the whole week. Nobody get in. Nobody get out from, because this Hametz, uh, for nobody touch it. So this what I remember very well.
Lisette Shashoua (00:24:03):
Did you change dishes?
Gila Aslan (00:24:06):
Yeah. We have, they take the, no, the kadoura, what they say? The pots to clean it outside. They clean it special for Passover. This I remember very well for Passover. They ca they kill, uh, lamb in the house. Because this was, the <inaudible> this, this, I remember. We, we have to go out because we have to, you don't have to look for, for the blood in the house. They take the kids out. This I remember very well.
Lisette Shashoua (00:24:56):
And this you only did in Baghdad? Not in Israel.
Gila Aslan (00:24:59):
No, no. Baghdad, Israel, they have nothing to eat. To take <laugh> to kill, to kill the lamb, nno.
Lisette Shashoua (00:25:13):
And, uh, Sukkot?
Gila Aslan (00:25:15):
We made Sukkot in the, in the roof for the, the whole week.
Lisette Shashoua (00:25:20):
And you ate there.
Gila Aslan (00:25:21):
We ate there. We sleep there. We was very big. So especially, we are young, the parents go down, but we are sleep, sleeping with the Sukkot. When they start raining, we, we run, we run. Right. So run after Sukkot downstairs, we take everything. The, the no, the cover, everything. The throw on the, on the stairs, <laugh> this for kids. And only that we jump from the door to the middle of the stairs. A lot of stairs. If you don't, uh, jump. Right, right. You can kill. We jump. I'm remember with my cousin all the time, we jump together. He, I said, Gito, John, don't do it. We have to do what he said. We have to, we jump <laugh> on, on the, uh, on the blanket. But to, to jump is not easy. Is maybe 10, 10 stairs. But we have to be very strong to jump, to get <laugh>, to get to the middle, you see, we are, kids do a lot of thing. A lot thing. We don't think about it when think now we like, look how we did we how we did it every year. <laugh>, every year we do we that this, yeah. After. So this, this, the heavy, the, they're very,
Gila Aslan (00:27:16):
How do we say we're happy, happy kids. It's not, uh, it's change different. When you get to, we get to Israel. It's changed a lot.
Lisette Shashoua (00:27:29):
Okay. Now tell me about 19. 1950. When you left,
Gila Aslan (00:27:37):
Uh, we left from Iran.
Lisette Shashoua (00:27:39):
First. First, tell me your why your dad had to leave and how he left.
Gila Aslan (00:27:46):
Okay. Have to leave because if he catch they, they kill. Yeah. And this why we have to leave. We have to leave to, to leave Iraq. We left.
Lisette Shashoua (00:28:05):
Where, how did your dad leave Iraq?
Gila Aslan (00:28:08):
They, they take him for, from, um, the
Lisette Shashoua (00:28:14):
Say it in Arabic
Gila Aslan (00:28:16):
Tank. Of gas.
Lisette Shashoua (00:28:18):
Tank of gas tank. Gas tank. Gas tank. Yeah.
Gila Aslan (00:28:22):
Inside. They take him to, to run. It take three weeks to get,
Lisette Shashoua (00:28:29):
He was inside the gas tank. Inside the, yeah, but there was no gas. No
Gila Aslan (00:28:32):
No gas. It is under,
Lisette Shashoua (00:28:33):
Under. Yeah. Oh, under, under,
Gila Aslan (00:28:36):
Under this. They take him on the, the mountain, on the, and the donkey for three weeks. And to get to Iran, he was, he get to Iran. He was, he was sick. He get for how, I dunno, remember how long take him to be okay. He start, uh, prepare for us to get out from Iraq. First thing says,
Lisette Shashoua (00:29:04):
Before that, I wanna ask you, do you know exactly what he was doing in the No. You still don't know to this day.
Gila Aslan (00:29:12):
No. No. But we know he's help a lot with the, not only him is my uncle, my aunt, uh, son-in-law. He's a doctor. He was with him too. They took, uh, people out of Iraq a lot. A lot. Every time
Lisette Shashoua (00:29:36):
They took Jews,
Gila Aslan (00:29:37):
Jews out from Iraq.
Lisette Shashoua (00:29:39):
Yeah.
Gila Aslan (00:29:42):
When he got to Iran, he start, take the family out. He sent for my, my grandmother and my sister is, they left her like the none. They said to them, don't talk any, when they get to the, to the border, don't say anything. We are none. You can't, you can't speak with you have the, the cross, everything. They are none. They left to get to Iran. Now they have to take the, the, the whole family out. It's my mother. I am the older one, nine. And my sister, another sister has a baby. Two years old. The guy he take us has a picture for him. Only the, the father have picture of the family. He can take the family out.
Lisette Shashoua (00:30:36):
Picture. Where?
Gila Aslan (00:30:38):
No, only he has a passport with a picture. His picture. Oh, it's no family picture. It's only fa the husband, the father take picture.
Lisette Shashoua (00:30:48):
So it's somebody who was
Gila Aslan (00:30:49):
Fa my father. Our father take us out from the Iraq, but they take out of Iraq. We have to leave everything. The house. We close the door with everything. We leave everything. Like we are coming back. We took nothing with us. Nothing. Nothing. Yeah. So we get to Basra. We have to go from Chatter Arab to cross the, the river, the Chatter Arab to Iran. When we, we, we went with him, his son with us too. Every time we have to go, my mother has to take my sister under the, the abaya. I have to put my, I cover my face too, with abaya, with face. And we get the, and the
Lisette Shashoua (00:31:47):
Why was your mom covering the baby?
Gila Aslan (00:31:49):
Because she's a blonde. She can't, can't see her. It's not Muslim. She's blonde. She has to cover her. I cover myself too, because I'm blonde. So when I get, we, we crossed the river with canoe with nothing. His bro, Bri, he brought the son. And some, um, like we going picnic, we cross the river. My, uh, my, uh, you
Lisette Shashoua (00:32:28):
Had blank
Gila Aslan (00:32:29):
Blanket. And this like, we go to picnic, out to, I dunno,
Lisette Shashoua (00:32:39):
You had luggage?
Gila Aslan (00:32:41):
Nothing. We have nothing with us.
Lisette Shashoua (00:32:42):
Clothes.
Gila Aslan (00:32:43):
Nothing, nothing, nothing. Because we go to picnic. No, no, no. Cross the river to go to Iran. Nothing. We cross the river. My cousin, he was the other side to look us, when we see we are pass, he called. My father said they are already out from Iraq. It take three days to get to Iran. We got hawa, hamara, every with, with, uh, with buses, with the train to get to Iran. It take three days to go to every time we have to go to one of the no borders, not only border, um, <inaudible>. What of one of the Arab, uh, city. We have to cover with face all the time. Until we get to Iran. It take three days. We get to Iran. We left everything in, in Baghdad. Everything. We take nothing. Nothing, nothing at all. We start from the beginning. So
Lisette Shashoua (00:34:13):
Once you got to Iran, what happened?
Gila Aslan (00:34:16):
We have, we get to Iran. I said to my father, you know what, because I know he's, we know that already. He's with Haganah. We say, I said, I want to go to Israel.
Lisette Shashoua (00:34:27):
And you were only nine years old?
Gila Aslan (00:34:29):
Yeah, almost 10. I was 10 when I left Iran. I said, my father, I said to my father, I want to go to Israel. Because they all, they, we, we hear about Israel. We hear the children there. I said, I want to go to Israel. I have to. He send me, he send me with people. We go from Iran because from Iran, they take the, uh, Iranian children, send them to Israel with with Iraqi family. They have to take the kids from Iran too, this time to take him out from Iran.
Lisette Shashoua (00:35:08):
Jewish kids?
Gila Aslan (00:35:10):
Jewish kids. We go to Israel. Some people, they have family, some people they don't have. They took him to kibbutz or usually they take, they take the, the children, the, to the kibbutz. I went to the kibbutz. Four years I was in the kibbutz.
Lisette Shashoua (00:35:32):
You went alone to Israel?
Gila Aslan (00:35:35):
Yeah, with my sister, youngest. And me
Lisette Shashoua (00:35:39):
And your dad came with you?
Gila Aslan (00:35:41):
No, nobody came, come. After three weeks, my father came. He came. I said, I want to go back. We couldn't come back. Because when you get to Israel that time, you are not allowed to go out, out from Israel. Because that time, they have nothing in Israel. Nothing. No food, no work, nothing. There are no houses. They have tent. They bring people fast because when they, they're here. Nothing. You don't have nothing in Israel. Nobody want to come to Israel. But people want to go to Israel. They bring people. They don't have nothing in Iraq. The first one they come. For family, like that big family. They fine They can work anywhere, but they
Lisette Shashoua (00:36:35):
Can, or they cannot.
Gila Aslan (00:36:36):
They can work. But people, they, uh, educated. They don't want to go to Israel. What you, they can't do anything. They could have no, no bus business to, to run. No nothing to go to. Ma'barot is on tent. They have very hard time. Very, very hard time. The people that come educated, very, very, very, very. I remember they were this, I remember because I went to the kibbutz. But when I see family come from my family go to Ma'abarot and the tent, they, they couldn't do anything. They take time. Food. They don't have food. They waiting for food to come from United States. From Europe. Europe too. They don't have they. In the Kibbutz we have, because they have everything. But in city, they waiting to bring food for outside. Margerine. Some, I don't remember my sugar. They give you coupon. Coupon. You have to go with the coupon when you get something. I remember I get married in 1958. I have nothing too, it's still, they have this, my, my husband worked for ZIM Line. They give us food, meat, and chicken. This is a press we get for my wedding.
Lisette Shashoua (00:38:27):
A present
Gila Aslan (00:38:27):
Present for my wedding. Meat and chicken. 1958, they still, they don't have enough food to give the people. I have to buy the fridge. I waiting six months. I get married. I put half a price. The fridge, three months after I get the fridge, no fridge. We have ice box to put the food. If I prepare something to eat, I have to pray for one day. Because where to put the, the food, nothing. Sometime my husband laughing, said my, my wife make me soup. She put piece of, I'd say zucchini or something. Water. I have soup. He eat. That's what he laughing on me. <laugh>. This is what he do. I laughing now, but that time we have happy. Doesn't matter. We don't have nothing. We're happy. Believe me, every morning he gets to work. He make me coffee and left. He work very hard. I never working in Israel. He work more time. Ti our time to bring more money to at least I get married, have a house. People they don't have.
Lisette Shashoua (00:40:04):
How come you had the house?
Gila Aslan (00:40:06):
They, my, the brother of my husband, they work a outside the city. They give some, we get ma we, they bought the hou. We bought the house. We went, we wait one years after we get married. I get engaged. I was 17 with him. We went for, I be 18 to get married. Why I get married very young. 'cause I don't Iraqi girls. She can't go to, to the army. This why I get married very young to go to the army, girl from Iraqi girl to go to the Army. Forget it. I get married very young. I have the
Lisette Shashoua (00:40:52):
How did you meet your husband?
Gila Aslan (00:40:54):
My, my cousin.
Lisette Shashoua (00:40:57):
He's your cousin also?
Gila Aslan (00:40:58):
No, no, no, no. I don't want to get married with my cousin. I know I have. I said no. I have married with cousin because I have a everywhere. My family cousin for my, my, my father cousin for my mother. I don't want to get married with cousin. But my cousin meet. I, I get me. I, he, he, he <inaudible>.
Lisette Shashoua (00:41:28):
He liked you?
Gila Aslan (00:41:29):
No, no. He get, uh, he, I dunno how he know him.
Lisette Shashoua (00:41:34):
Oh, he knew him.
Gila Aslan (00:41:35):
He knew him. He said, when I go, I go with my cousin. He, he take care of me to don't let anybody to, to get close to me.
Lisette Shashoua (00:41:48):
Your cousin took care, care of you? My, like a brother
Gila Aslan (00:41:51):
Take care of. Yeah. So when he met, I met him with him. I started get out only three months I know him. We get engaged before the family. I have to get, if is enough for them, I get engaged. I was 17. We went one year to get married. But because my, my family, my parents still in Iran. I can't get married before in the 18. And other thing is my uncle is my mother uncle. He, that's me. He took me to the Huppah.
Lisette Shashoua (00:42:35):
Okay. Can you tell me, when you went to Iran, you were 10 years. When you went to Israel, you were 10 years old.
Gila Aslan (00:42:42):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (00:42:43):
From Iran?
Gila Aslan (00:42:43):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (00:42:46):
You went alone with your sister?
Lisette Shashoua (00:42:48):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (00:42:49):
They put you in a kibbutz?
Gila Aslan (00:42:51):
I, uh, they put me in a kibbutz. They took my sister to the different place because she's young. They took her to Mossad. It's like, it's like, um, <inaudible>.
Lisette Shashoua (00:43:06):
Say it in Arabic.
Gila Aslan (00:43:11):
Oh, orphanage. Orphanage. It's like orphanage because she's very young. She grow in the, in the, in the Mossad. Like orphan
Lisette Shashoua (00:43:22):
And orphan. Yeah. And you went to kibbutz. Kibbutz. And your parents stayed in Iran? Stay Iran. Why?
Gila Aslan (00:43:28):
I said to, I told you because my father came to Israel. He was very sick. He, he went back to Iran.
Lisette Shashoua (00:43:37):
They let him leave Israel.
Gila Aslan (00:43:39):
He, he came with the, with passport. He's not Israeli. He didn't come to like immigrant? No, he was not immigrant.
Lisette Shashoua (00:43:48):
A refugee.
Gila Aslan (00:43:49):
Not refugee. He came.
Lisette Shashoua (00:43:50):
You were refugee. You were refugee.
Gila Aslan (00:43:51):
Refugee.
Lisette Shashoua (00:43:52):
Your father went with what kind of passport?
Gila Aslan (00:43:55):
Iraqi passport.
Lisette Shashoua (00:43:57):
To To Israel. To Israel. Yeah.
Gila Aslan (00:43:58):
To Israel, yeah. Iraqi passport. Because that time still can use it. Not Iranian Iraq passport.
Lisette Shashoua (00:44:07):
So he went back to Iran? Yeah. To
Gila Aslan (00:44:09):
To Iran.
Lisette Shashoua (00:44:10):
Yeah. And your father and mother? Yeah. And older sister.
Gila Aslan (00:44:16):
My, the first older sister is still in Israel, in Iraq. She was married with kids. But the second one, yeah, she's Iran with the, the three of them is my younger sister. She born in Iran.
Lisette Shashoua (00:44:33):
Uhhuh. And she lived in Iran, right?
Gila Aslan (00:44:35):
She lived in, they live in Iran. The whole family live in Iran. They left Iran in 1976.
Lisette Shashoua (00:44:42):
So you had no mother and no father?
Gila Aslan (00:44:44):
No. No.
Lisette Shashoua (00:44:45):
And how did you feel? You felt like an orphan?
Gila Aslan (00:44:48):
No, the kibbutz don't feel anything. You have friend, you have kids like you. There are no parents with them. The same thing. They are Iranian. They are Moroccan from everywhere. They bring the kids to Israel. 'cause they want to parents to come to Israel. A lot of parents come after our parents not coming. The pick, the kids stay in, in kibbutz.
Lisette Shashoua (00:45:15):
Which kibbutz did you
Gila Aslan (00:45:16):
I have in Kibbutz <inaudible>.
Lisette Shashoua (00:45:19):
<Inaudible>.
Gila Aslan (00:45:20):
<Inaudible> in the north, very close to Syria. Sometime we see the people coming to take, uh, the wood for the, this they said, the kids said, oh, they are coming for, they take the, for the heat. The, the house.
Lisette Shashoua (00:45:41):
Yeah. Who came? The Syrians?
Gila Aslan (00:45:44):
The Syrian. The girl, the women, special women
Lisette Shashoua (00:45:48):
Come to pick up wood from Israel.
Gila Aslan (00:45:50):
From very close to the border. Yeah. They took, uh, they live right away.
Lisette Shashoua (00:45:57):
Golan?
Gila Aslan (00:45:58):
Yeah. This is very close to Golan. There are very close to the, the Syria that the kibbutz, there are a lot of kibbutz. There's in the north. Then the kibbutz, I was <inaudible>. This is a lot of them for coming for Russia from the Eastern Europe.
Lisette Shashoua (00:46:20):
So Russia, Eastern Europe, Iran.
Gila Aslan (00:46:24):
Yeah. But the kids coming, the kids for the kibbutz. They coming from Iran, from Turkey, from Morocco and for, from Egypt. Very big group.
Lisette Shashoua (00:46:36):
Big group of kids. And who, who took care of the kibbutz?
Gila Aslan (00:46:39):
We have, we have rooms. We have special rooms.
Lisette Shashoua (00:46:45):
How many in each room?
Gila Aslan (00:46:47):
Four. Four kids. We have school very close. They teach us four, four hours teaching four hours. We help in the kibbutz. Some pe some children go to the kitchen. Some go to the, for the, uh, the field. Some work in the, on the chicken
Lisette Shashoua (00:47:18):
Kitchen. Chicken.
Gila Aslan (00:47:20):
The chicken? Yeah. They take the, the, the eggs from the can. The chicken. The chicken. With the chicken. They have, uh, glasses. Because when that, the kitchen, the chicken, they have glasses. Because when they give the, the eggs, if see red, they,
Lisette Shashoua (00:47:41):
They, the chicken will
Gila Aslan (00:47:43):
Will, yeah, with the glasses. Oh, they don't take the, the eggs. Don't pick the eggs. That's why they put the glasses to the kit to chicken.
Lisette Shashoua (00:47:51):
You, you, you give the chicken glasses?
Gila Aslan (00:47:53):
Yeah, they have, they have small one. Yeah. 'cause when they give the, the egg, yeah. They don't see the egg. They see the egg. They eat it. Oh. That's why they have the glasses.
Lisette Shashoua (00:48:03):
The chicken will eat its own egg. Yeah,
Gila Aslan (00:48:06):
Of course.
Lisette Shashoua (00:48:07):
The chicken will eat Its eggs.
Gila Aslan (00:48:08):
Eggs. Well, they pick up this.
Lisette Shashoua (00:48:11):
They pick it. Yeah. I thought they sit on the egg.
Gila Aslan (00:48:13):
No.
Lisette Shashoua (00:48:14):
<laugh>. <laugh>.
Gila Aslan (00:48:16):
No. I remember very, very well. You, when you take the eggs, you see that why they put glasses? They don't let him see the eggs. 'cause you have to take the eggs from them.
Lisette Shashoua (00:48:31):
Yes. Yes. So what did you do?
Gila Aslan (00:48:33):
I went to the kitchen.
Lisette Shashoua (00:48:35):
What did you do in the kitchen? Yeah.
Gila Aslan (00:48:37):
Clean or cut the fruit or vegetable. We, we work on the, in the, the field. They take out the vegetable, everything. Four hours, learn learning, four hours working. But you have everything you have we eat together is for, and the, the whole, uh, people and the kibbutz. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. We have family should take care of us after school, after, for two hours. Like fam uh, like parents. They have kids. They are kids stay in the,
Lisette Shashoua (00:49:21):
With you?
Gila Aslan (00:49:22):
No, we play with us. They took the kids out from the parents too. It is the, it is called, uh, they don't live with the, with the parents. They live,
Lisette Shashoua (00:49:42):
What do they call them? Yeah, house of children.
Gila Aslan (00:49:48):
House of the children. They take the children from the kibbutz too. Not us. The kibbutz children, they don't live with the parents. They live the special. Somebody take care of them. They don't live in the, the now is living with the, with parents. But that time the children not living with the parents.
Lisette Shashoua (00:50:08):
And how was this experience? I mean, what did they found out? Did this work?
Gila Aslan (00:50:14):
This the beginning? Yeah, this work, because parents working. They have somebody to take care of the kids, they take care of the kids. They don't stay with the parents. They play with the parents. Two hours, they could take him out. And then back to,
Lisette Shashoua (00:50:29):
And you kids used to go to the,
Gila Aslan (00:50:32):
The, this parents,
Lisette Shashoua (00:50:32):
Parents that had children. They have with their own children. Yeah.
Gila Aslan (00:50:37):
For only two hours. I remember the woman, she take care of us, me, the, she had, she has two kids. She teach me how to knit. She teach me a lot of things. She's a nurse. She was a nurse. She work with the, uh, that time for the Haganah too. She bring kids, uh, after the war to bring, uh, from Europe. Her husband killed there because they take the kids, the, the people coming from the Europe, the kibbutz, right away they took him the kibbutz. Like kibbutznik? No, no refugee. Not, uh, not refugee. The, uh, after the war, they have to bring people from Europe to Israel. That time the British still take, uh,
Lisette Shashoua (00:51:37):
In,
Gila Aslan (00:51:38):
In, uh,
Lisette Shashoua (00:51:40):
In, in, uh,
Gila Aslan (00:51:41):
In Israel. Palestine. In Palestine. That's before, before this what? I said, she's a nurse. Her husband killed that time before with the, is a British.
Lisette Shashoua (00:51:54):
And what did she do? This nurse,
Gila Aslan (00:51:57):
She work in the kibbutz. She work at outside to the kibbutz too. In the hospital. People work in the outside from the kibbutz, the hospital, we have every kibbutz. They have manufacture what they call <inaudible>. They make the fire, what it's called. This the fire they put in the houses.
Lisette Shashoua (00:52:24):
Yeah. Fireplace.
Gila Aslan (00:52:25):
No fireplace. The, the tank was fire. Fire.
Lisette Shashoua (00:52:29):
Oh yeah. Kerosene
Gila Aslan (00:52:34):
Er
Lisette Shashoua (00:52:35):
Heater. Not
Gila Aslan (00:52:36):
Heater. Uh, for fire. If you have fire, how?
Lisette Shashoua (00:52:41):
Fire extinguisher.
Gila Aslan (00:52:42):
Yeah. They make it there. The <inaudible>. Fire. Fire. This, they have the other kibbutz. Not far for us. They make, uh, uh, shoes. Another kibbutz. This area where I live in this <inaudible>, a lot of kibbutz that time is, is communism <affirmative> or not, but not, uh, religious? No. Religious in the kibbutz? No. We have Shabbat. We make Shabbat, kiddush, everything. But it's not religious.
Lisette Shashoua (00:53:37):
What about Passover?
Gila Aslan (00:53:39):
We have everything, but it's not religious. We have bread because it's not, it's not, uh, religious.
Lisette Shashoua (00:53:49):
You eat bread. We have bread. Passover. Passover and Yom Kippur,
Gila Aslan (00:53:55):
If you want to, to some were, were allowed.
Lisette Shashoua (00:54:00):
You are allowed to fast.
Gila Aslan (00:54:02):
To fast. We're allowed to fast.
Lisette Shashoua (00:54:03):
Fast. But there's food.
Gila Aslan (00:54:05):
They have food. They have everything.
Lisette Shashoua (00:54:07):
Did you fast? Yeah.
Gila Aslan (00:54:09):
Yeah. I start was uh, was 12.
Lisette Shashoua (00:54:12):
Yeah. And if you were to do it again, Gila, would you choose to go to Israel
Gila Aslan (00:54:20):
That time?
Lisette Shashoua (00:54:21):
Now, now. Now, if you were to do it again. No. Are you happy you did it?
Gila Aslan (00:54:27):
Yeah. I happy I did it that time. In the beginning it was very hard. But you used do it. Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (00:54:36):
You were happy? I have.
Gila Aslan (00:54:38):
Yeah. I have friend from the kibbutz that time. But we left. Everybody left different places.
Lisette Shashoua (00:54:45):
Are you in touch with them now?
Gila Aslan (00:54:48):
No. I don't remember where anybody from there, some from them. We went to the army. They, they, they die in the army in 1940.
Lisette Shashoua (00:55:02):
They died in the Army.
Gila Aslan (00:55:03):
Army, yeah. They killed in the army. 1940, 52. It was the polio. So a lot of kids get sick. A lot of kids. And I remember now from people, the children, they come to the kibbutz. That time they come back, they went back to the family. They get sick. They follow a lot of sick, a lot of kids.
Lisette Shashoua (00:55:34):
How did they, they go back to which family? To
Gila Aslan (00:55:36):
To the family.
Lisette Shashoua (00:55:37):
To their home. To their parents. Their parents.
Gila Aslan (00:55:39):
Yeah. Because they took the, the kids, the, it was 1952. They have nothing. Parents send the kids. The kibbutz, they have at least the teach, the learning. They have food. But when the kids, people, the parents start working, they want the kids come back. They take the kids back. The, the kids, that don't have parents. They stay in the kibbutz.
Lisette Shashoua (00:56:12):
So when somebody catches polio and they come back to the kibbutz, no, they can't.
Gila Aslan (00:56:19):
No. I was, I went to visit my, my sister came to Israel. My older sister, she came to Israel. I went to visit her. Her daughter was, she was very sick with, she has fever because polio starts with fever. And at time, yeah, fever. She was very sick. The day after I have to leave back to, to the kibbutz, I went to, I said, my si my, my niece was very, my niece very sick. They, they locked me for three weeks, my, for myself. Because they afraid for the kids, the kibbutz, to bring the, the virus to the kib, the, the other kids. She was okay. She let, she didn't get sick. But for me, they afraid for the children of the kibbutz children. I was three weeks alone in the room. They bring me the food from outside. They don't take back the, the
Lisette Shashoua (00:57:28):
Tray.
Gila Aslan (00:57:29):
Tray. Because they're afraid. They bring the food. They leave the, everything in my house, my room, three weeks until they see I am okay. I don't bring anything. I went back to with the, the, group.
Lisette Shashoua (00:57:42):
So three weeks, three trays a day.
Gila Aslan (00:57:47):
Stays in the room. Yeah, they bring me food. They bring me everything.
Lisette Shashoua (00:57:49):
So how many trays in the room? Every
Gila Aslan (00:57:52):
No, it's outside. But don't take this out. I, they don't change the, the, the food? No, the tray with <inaudible>. With the,
Lisette Shashoua (00:58:06):
How old were you?
Gila Aslan (00:58:08):
Lisette Shashoua (00:58:15):
Ah, you left. When did you go after the kibbutz?
Gila Aslan (00:58:17):
I went to my cousin. I, I stayed with my cousin until I get married.
Lisette Shashoua (00:58:23):
Cousin, girl, cousin,
Gila Aslan (00:58:24):
Cousin, girl, boys, cousin. But older. No, they get married after one. My cousin get married the same, the same year with me. Older than me, but the same year.
Lisette Shashoua (00:58:38):
So they, how did they come to Israel?
Gila Aslan (00:58:42):
From Iran too.
Lisette Shashoua (00:58:44):
Also smuggle. Yeah. We will talk a little more about the kibbutz, because we've never heard about kibbutzim before. Okay. So this kibbutz, is it still, uh, yeah, it's still
Gila Aslan (00:58:57):
Yeah it's still existing. It doesn't change anything. Nothing. I see her, I went to my cousin, my, my niece from my husband's niece. I said to her, her grandson study not far from there, because they are living on the, in the north. And, uh, no, um, I said, I said to her, please take me to the kibbutz, because it's very close. So she took me, I said, you know what? They tell you? Nothing. They changed nothing. They still, uh, the same kibbutz. But now they, where they're building a new kibbutz is different. Different at all. Because now you work in the kibbutz. You working outside the kibbutz, you get, uh, salary. You get everything. But before everything get to the kibbutz, you work out, you, you have to bring the the the, the money to the kibbutz. The you send you to study the kibbutz, pay for that. You study in the university, the kibbutz, everything it's from for the kibbutz. You need now the, the, the boys go to the army, the, the, the one very strong from the kibbutz. Because my sister brother-in-law, they give a lot of money for the, uh, what is it called? Fi for the, for the army. They have everything. They, they have, uh, special for the, uh,
Lisette Shashoua (01:00:45):
Say in Arabic, Hebrew.
Gila Aslan (01:00:59):
<Arabic>
Lisette Shashoua (01:00:59):
Your your sister brother.
Gila Aslan (01:01:00):
My sister brother-in-law brother-in-Law. My brother-in-law brother's brother, very, he's very rich. He, he give a lot of money to the, for, for the Army. A lot. They, they build special for the, the <inaudible>. Soldiers. Soldiers shall she, she get sick or get, um, from the injured. Injured. They have everything. They have sport. They have, uh, everything they need. They have there
Lisette Shashoua (01:01:35):
In the kibbutz?
Gila Aslan (01:01:36):
No, the special in, in the Army. They, they build, they build special for the army for people. They get injured, injured in the, with <inaudible> with the, they have, uh, wedding. They can make wedding. They made everything for them. He very, um, closed to, they pay. They, they give a lot of money to,
Lisette Shashoua (01:02:04):
So weddings they do in the kibbutz now,
Gila Aslan (01:02:06):
Now they working, uh, the kib, the new kibbutz, they working outside, inside the kibbutz. But they're different now. They're family. They like family. They live together. They family live. They have houses, family houses. But they, like, they live together. They,
Lisette Shashoua (01:02:28):
They eat together.
Gila Aslan (01:02:29):
They eat together. They get, uh, salary. Now, before, they don't have nothing in the, in the case. The
Lisette Shashoua (01:02:36):
Kibbutz give the salary.
Gila Aslan (01:02:38):
Yeah, ma, they give, well, the, you, you work outside. They bring the, uh, the salary to the kibbutz.
Lisette Shashoua (01:02:50):
But now, if you work outside, you keep your,
Gila Aslan (01:02:52):
The same thing. The same thing.
Lisette Shashoua (01:02:53):
Also, you have
Gila Aslan (01:02:54):
To, if they, if you are in the kibbutz, you have to, you have to. But it's different. But at least now, the family is together. Before the kids, not with the parents. They live with, uh, with your <inaudible>.
Lisette Shashoua (01:03:10):
So tell me about your sister who grew up in the orphanage. What happened to how, what happened to her? How did she move from the orphanage?
Gila Aslan (01:03:21):
Uh, we visit her many time. There's like, it's not kibbutz, but's different. She go to school. The, the whole day. She tell the, they teach him the, she get, uh, she left the, the, the orphan for what, uh, what years? She was 17. I think. She, she came out, she
Lisette Shashoua (01:03:45):
She stayed in the orphanage,
Gila Aslan (01:03:46):
In the, in the <inaudible>. It's different. It's school with this. She went to Iran. She couldn't take it because she get, she grow up in Israel. She couldn't take it. She got to visit. She go to the market. Somebody, you know, the Persian. She said, I don't want, I want to go back to Israel. She get married with my cousin <affirmative>. So she wasn't happy. She get married with my cousin. But before she wasn't happy.
Lisette Shashoua (01:04:22):
And she's still married to him.
Gila Aslan (01:04:24):
She, uh, now she's, yeah, she's, she married. She, she passed away for many years, seven years. She was sick. After that. She got sick until, from that time, she's sick. And now she better vote. She, they pay $10,000 a month to take care of her.
Lisette Shashoua (01:04:45):
Where in
Gila Aslan (01:04:46):
In New York.
Lisette Shashoua (01:04:48):
In New York?
Gila Aslan (01:04:48):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (01:04:49):
Now she's in New York.
Gila Aslan (01:04:50):
Yeah. She's in New York.
Lisette Shashoua (01:04:51):
Who's paying for her?
Gila Aslan (01:04:53):
Well, uh, she has some money. She sell, they sell the house. When it's finished, she went to the, the government. Now she, the government pay, they give her what she get from the government. They go there.
Lisette Shashoua (01:05:09):
Which government?
Gila Aslan (01:05:11):
The American, uh, United States,
Lisette Shashoua (01:05:12):
She lived in the States.
Gila Aslan (01:05:14):
In the States. She, she live in, uh, in, uh, New Jersey. She has a big house. Her husband got, she wa she die three years. She was still in the house. She got sick. She got sick. They can take care of her. She has two boys, two children. The girls and a boy. The beginning, they take, take care of her, but they can't anymore. The, the money she gets, she has it. It's finished. They took her to, to the home. The home. It cost $10,000 a month. But who's paying for it? They was her money until this, they sold the house until now is a year ago. Five years.
Gila Aslan (01:06:07):
The money is finished. Now they have to go to the, uh, government. So they have to move her. They move her to the different place. The they take from what? She get pension or she get, uh, like here. They, that's what they pay. They took everything. They take care of her, her daughter. They go every morning to feed her, to give her the medication. Without this she can't eat. She said, I want to get, I want to die. I don't want to leave this, this anymore. It's enough. Now. They took her to her granddaughter, get married. She was very happy to see the, the marriage. She's only her daughter get two kids. Uh, she can see it. I said to my, see my niece, take your son to see her before something happen. Because she, all the time, she said, I want to die. I to die.
Gila Aslan (01:07:12):
She has, she can't do it because she has, uh, they can't, uh, uh, to give her anything with, she has take medication, food, nothing. She has, uh, no, a will will, she has a will. Says, I say, my niece says, I can't do anything. The boy come to visit her with her girlfriend. She said, no. When she see him, she said, no, you got married. Now she start eating because she knows he's going to get married. She want to see her, her wedding. Now she get, she was very sick. She was, um, she has nine, nine pounds, 90 pounds, skinny like bones.
Gila Aslan (01:08:04):
Now she get more because she think she get see of a wedding. Her grandson, she I to, I speak to her on FaceTime, she said, I said, Noor. How is you feel? I, okay, what? My Hannah brought you <inaudible> with watermelon. What else she bring this? She really need chocolate. What I, Hannah said, I, I bring her something she love. She like it. Now. She took more. I can hear her before I couldn't hear her. She was very, very sick. They told her that you want to put her on hospice. It's enough. She can't take it.
Lisette Shashoua (01:08:49):
Okay. Uh, remind me again. Now, your parents lived in Iran? Yeah, till when?
Gila Aslan (01:08:57):
My par my father passed away. 1979.
Lisette Shashoua (01:09:13):
Okay. And your mother?
Gila Aslan (01:09:15):
Lisette Shashoua (01:09:30):
In Iran. In Iran. That was before, uh, Khomeini came?
Gila Aslan (01:09:36):
It is the same time.
Lisette Shashoua (01:09:38):
Khomeini came in '79.
Gila Aslan (01:09:40):
Yeah. '76. Because I left '76. My, my, my sister says she came to, to Israel. My, my father passed away 1975. Because I remember my, my, my, my father-in-Law. He passed away in '73, 1973. My mother-in-law 1976. '74. My father '75.
Lisette Shashoua (01:10:10):
Okay. What I want to know is you, your family stayed in Iran?
Gila Aslan (01:10:15):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (01:10:15):
Your sister?
Gila Aslan (01:10:16):
Yeah. The whole family.
Lisette Shashoua (01:10:18):
Yes. And her son. Can you tell us the story of her son? They want, uh,
Gila Aslan (01:10:24):
My sister's son.
Lisette Shashoua (01:10:27):
When Khomeini came? Yeah. What happened to them?
Gila Aslan (01:10:29):
Visit, they visit, visit a lot at Israel. That, uh, my sister coming to Israel with the kids and this, but
Lisette Shashoua (01:10:36):
This was when the Shah, when the relation with Israel,
Gila Aslan (01:10:39):
Relation with the Shah. When the Khomeini come, they start with the, with the, with the Jewish. Especially the people. They have money. Special people. They have money. So my sister, she couldn't leave Iran because my, her son is, he was 18 or something. 19. He has to go to the Army.
Lisette Shashoua (01:11:06):
In Iran.
Gila Aslan (01:11:07):
In Iran. So they have to take him out from Iran. He left with another group, with boys the same age. Iranian Jews. Jews, Iranian, and Iraqi too to Pakistan Only. They get, get like going to Pakistan with uh, um, Iranian passport. They have Iranian passport. They go like student, like something like that. But somebody take him. They take the, the kids, when he get to the, to the border with Pakistan, they took everything for them. The money, the everything. They have my, my, my nephew said, let him take it. But at least they take him out. If it's not, they send him back to Iran because people, they bring the kids, they leave them there. They don't take, they don't take chance.
Lisette Shashoua (01:12:15):
So the smugglers,
Gila Aslan (01:12:16):
The smuggler, they have to leave. They bring the kids to, to the border and leave.
Lisette Shashoua (01:12:22):
They bringing not on a plane. They No,
Gila Aslan (01:12:25):
No. No, no. No plane. They have to go. I don't know with the buses, whether I know exactly how, but I know they, they have to go to Pakistan. This, I hear from my sister. So one day they come to visit, where is your son? He said, I don't know. He went to school. She didn't say anything because she knows he's out.
Lisette Shashoua (01:12:49):
They came to search, to
Gila Aslan (01:12:50):
To Search the house.
Lisette Shashoua (01:12:51):
The house. For him.
Gila Aslan (01:12:53):
For him. You have something? No, they fix, they, they check everything. They check the fridge. They check everything twice. They do it like this. Third time, somebody knocked the door. She was fainting. She was afraid. Third time she got sick. From that time, she got,
Lisette Shashoua (01:13:16):
So when they came the army, it's the army that come. Yeah,
Gila Aslan (01:13:21):
They, yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (01:13:21):
Banging on the door.
Gila Aslan (01:13:22):
Yeah. They ask about her son. She said, I don't know where him, I don't see, I don't know anything. He went with friends. We went to school. He get to, he get to to Pakistan. To Pakistan. From Pakistan. He went to to London. Not to Israel. London. They know she is there. He is. Okay. He want to, he came back to Israel, visit Israel. They now we're waiting to pay her parents to come. They couldn't come out.
Lisette Shashoua (01:13:56):
Why?
Gila Aslan (01:13:58):
I don't know what happened with them. They take time until they get out. He get out. They get out. I think 19. Which year? I don't remember. She, her daughter get married before her, him, they came 19. So I was married. I was 25 years married. What year is
Lisette Shashoua (01:14:33):
It's okay.
Gila Aslan (01:14:33):
No, because I want to remember the years they came back out.
Lisette Shashoua (01:14:38):
It's not important.
Gila Aslan (01:14:39):
No. Okay. It's, they came back to, to London?
Lisette Shashoua (01:14:42):
Yes. Or they went to London?
Gila Aslan (01:14:43):
To London. They stay in London. Her husband, uh, passed away. He, she stay in London because my sister, my older sister, she was in London. So they, she, they stay, she, both of them passed away in London.
Lisette Shashoua (01:15:00):
Who passed away?
Gila Aslan (01:15:00):
My sister. She passed away in London. Your the second one. Okay. Another older one, second one. So, but the kids stay in United States. Both of them get married. And in United States, the boy live on Great Neck. The girls in on Philadelphia.
Lisette Shashoua (01:15:21):
The boy that the Iranians were looking for. Yeah,
Gila Aslan (01:15:25):
Yeah. He got married. He was have three kids,
Lisette Shashoua (01:15:30):
Thank God.
Gila Aslan (01:15:31):
Yeah, the boy, girls, boy and two twins, boy and the girls.
Lisette Shashoua (01:15:37):
Okay. Tell me about you. Where, how did you get married? How did you meet your husband? I
Gila Aslan (01:15:42):
Said, I said, uh, met him. My, my cousin friend. Yes. I met him like that.
Lisette Shashoua (01:15:48):
And you got married in Israel?
Gila Aslan (01:15:50):
I got married in Israel.
Lisette Shashoua (01:15:52):
And how many chi you, you, you had kids in Israel?
Gila Aslan (01:15:56):
Yeah. I have four girls.
Lisette Shashoua (01:15:56):
Girls. Yes. All of them born in Israel.
Gila Aslan (01:15:59):
All of them born in Israel.
Lisette Shashoua (01:16:00):
When did you come to Canada?
Gila Aslan (01:16:03):
1976.
Lisette Shashoua (01:16:05):
Hmm. Yeah. So why did you leave Israel?
Gila Aslan (01:16:09):
I left Israel. I have problem with the, my husband, family. Not exactly with family, because I was very good with my parents. His parents. We are very close. I still, until now, he pass away and friends with the family, his family, they love me. They said, ma, aunt, they call me aunt. When you coming, come to, they were, I was very good, very close to the family. But the, I have only the kids, the parent, the, the older pass away. Everyone. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Last one, three years ago, my sister-in-law, she passed away. When I visit Israel, I go to, it was that time I went to her.
Lisette Shashoua (01:16:51):
The one you didn't get along with?
Gila Aslan (01:16:53):
No, I get, no, I got, I don't get along. Is is my sister-In-law's brother wife?
Lisette Shashoua (01:17:01):
Yeah. Your your, your husband's brother.
Gila Aslan (01:17:03):
Brother's wife.
Lisette Shashoua (01:17:04):
Yeah.
Gila Aslan (01:17:05):
She, she, until now, she's alive. I, I went to visit after 30 years. She was a nasty girl. Woman. You don't understand. She didn't recognize me. She said to my niece, who, who's this woman? She said, Gila, why? Why she come to visit? My si my daughter? Why come brought her to my daughter. She's crazy. After 30 years, her husband passed away. My husband passed away. She's still, sometimes
Lisette Shashoua (01:17:37):
She's Iraqi.
Gila Aslan (01:17:38):
She's Iraqi. She's young girls. She's young. I, I think something wrong with the parents. She, we says, the mother said something. She gets upset. When she saw me for the first time, I, I, I, he brought me to, to see the family. She looked at me. She said, her mother said, oh, she another, another girl. Pretty girls only this, that's what she said. Pretty girls. If she was, look at her, if she want to hit, like she want to kill me from that time. Yeah, I know he love you. He bring that time. Not we have nothing. Believe me, he bring food. I dunno. From where? Yeah, because she, he bring for you why you don't eat it. She said to me, I said, what happened? This, what happened to her? She said, she said to me like that. So what he bring food. So what,
Lisette Shashoua (01:18:47):
What, what year did you leave Israel for Canada?
Gila Aslan (01:18:51):
Uh, 1976.
Lisette Shashoua (01:18:53):
You left?
Gila Aslan (01:18:54):
I left, I left Israel, 1976.
Lisette Shashoua (01:18:57):
Okay. To come to
Gila Aslan (01:18:59):
To come to Montreal.
Lisette Shashoua (01:19:01):
Okay. And why did you leave? A quick answer?
Gila Aslan (01:19:05):
Yeah. Seven. Uh, I, I live, yeah, in <inaudible>.
Lisette Shashoua (01:19:09):
Ah, okay. And you came with your husband?
Gila Aslan (01:19:12):
My, my hu no, I came alone with the kids. My husband work in the ZIM Line. He couldn't leave the, her, uh, work. And four months after that, he came. Mm-Hmm, <affirmative>. But I came before because his brother here live in Montreal. We ha I live in, I left not far from them. He rented, uh, the apartment for us. I have four, four of them, four kids. My oldest one, she's 16 and a half. She live with them three months until I came. Because I brought her, I left, I sent her before to get the paper from the Army. If she get paper from the Army, I couldn't take her out from Israel. I sent her before, after I came with the kids with the other three mm-Hmm, <affirmative>. We, we live not far from the, my brother-in-law. They, they take care until my husband came.
Gila Aslan (01:20:16):
But we live alone. One day, one day I, I wake up six o'clock in the morning. I see two policemen come to my house. I said, Offra, I don't speak the language. I don't speak English. I don't know French. I said, Offra, look, we have two pa, two policemen in my h in the house. Come see what they, they want. I was afraid. She and she asked him, he said they look, because they, the building is a new one. He a duplex, a new building. The, the garage is still open. They see on, we put sheet on the, the window because we don't have nothing. This i thing that we get in the house. Permission is where,
Lisette Shashoua (01:21:06):
Oh, if you had permission to
Gila Aslan (01:21:07):
Get in the house, permission to get in the house because it's not, uh, finished. The, the building is not finished. Ah, this why the police come in,
Lisette Shashoua (01:21:17):
Uhhuh
Gila Aslan (01:21:17):
In the six o'clock in the morning, two police in the house
Lisette Shashoua (01:21:21):
To see who is in the house.
Gila Aslan (01:21:23):
What happened, why you are here and Offra. My daughter, she spoke the, she speak French and English. She, she couldn't say something. What happened.
Lisette Shashoua (01:21:36):
So you, you sent the four daughters here? Yeah. And they're all living here now?
Gila Aslan (01:21:42):
Uh, one or Yeah, three of them here. One in Ottawa.
Lisette Shashoua (01:21:46):
Three of what? Your,
Gila Aslan (01:21:48):
Well, three of the girls living here is one in Ottawa. Both of them married? Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. The one, the older one. She has three kids, two girls and a boy. Second one, she has no kids. Third one, she's live in Ottawa. She has four kids, two boys and two girls. The youngest one, she has a girls.
Lisette Shashoua (01:22:13):
Okay. Very nice. So tell me, you came to Canada and your husband was working with ZIM Line. You got here. What did your husband doing? He got together,
Gila Aslan (01:22:24):
He got here with, he work with his brother.
Lisette Shashoua (01:22:28):
You came on on an airplane? Yeah. He came. You say, don't say that. Tell me.
Gila Aslan (01:22:33):
I came on the airplane from, okay. From Israel. Straight to Montreal.
Lisette Shashoua (01:22:38):
Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. As immigrant.
Gila Aslan (01:22:41):
Immigrant, yeah. We have paper already. So I came with, with a, with a girls. He established with his brother. Be in the beginning. They, they bring everything, bring um, gloves from Israel. They bring, uh, uh, fur coat, fur, small coat, and the jewelry. Everything.
Lisette Shashoua (01:23:12):
From Israel.
Gila Aslan (01:23:15):
From Israel. It's at the beginning when he, my husband come, came, we start different. They, my husband, look what, what line he can, because he worked with ZIM Line. He worked with, um, Switzerland. Switzerland. He, he, he learned the languages to work with outside with, with ZIM Line. He was
Lisette Shashoua (01:23:44):
So ZIM Line is the steamship
Gila Aslan (01:23:47):
Ship. Ship. Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (01:23:49):
Of, of Israel.
Gila Aslan (01:23:50):
Israel.
Lisette Shashoua (01:23:51):
So what did he do on ZIM Line? He was
Gila Aslan (01:23:56):
<inaudible> in the beginning, in the end, they, they have special, uh, work with Europe is, uh, with Swiss, with German, with everyone. But he make the contract because he very, he very good with the language. He, he make the contract with the, with everyone, with every, uh, so when we came to, to Montreal, he start at the beginning, he sent it some sample to Brother-in-law. The brother-in-law. He said send more and this more. When we came, he see is not right. What he ask, he start looking what line he easy to work because he, he can do, uh, contract with anything. With everything. So he start with a, with the jewelry from Israel and jewelry with Italy started the big small thing in the beginning, we get bigger and bigger. When he start, what they bring, they stay with the jewelry.
Gila Aslan (01:25:19):
So they're working together. Six, six years. They're working together, brother. And I said he want to go to Toronto. So my, my husband said to him, I can't leave everything and go to Toronto. I want to stay here. So he start, my brother-in-law start to go to Toronto, sell and back, go and back. As my husband stay in the, in the beginning. They, they go together. After that, he start going alone. My husband stay in the, in the office because he make the contract. He can, he has to stay in the, in the office as my, my brother. My brother-in-law said, I want to separate. I said, he said to him, don't do it now before Christmas. And we have to bring, we have, uh, no, the say it in Arabic. <Arabic>.
Gila Aslan (01:26:30):
Yeah, the stuff is coming. The stuff they coming from Italy, you can't do now have to do. We have to pay for to supplier. We have to, to, we take money from the bank. We have to, don't do it now. He said, no, I want to go now. I said, okay. They, we get the, the merchandise this, they give him half. They leave half. But he went to the bank. He said to him, don't go to the bank. He said he went to the same bank. The, they call him, they call for the bank. He said to them, what happened? He said, don't worry. I was, I pay everything I am. Your husband said. My husband said, I am, I am the, I don't worry about that. Okay. We, he left.
Gila Aslan (01:27:26):
I went to the office to help my daughter from, she was alone. She was in high school. Every day when she finish school, she come to the office to help. We work very hard with that. We, we stay, he start different line. The brother, the brother, my husband start different. Hi Lira. Hi. Hi, hi. Higher line, higher line. This why he, we couldn't work like that. Because the same merchandise, the same supplier, the same people we sell. You can do you sell the same merchandise. You can sell the same merchandise, the same people buy from you. We have the client, the same client in Montreal. We have the same client fly in, in Toronto. We have the same pli. Uh, but we work very hard. But with what my husband said, good, he, he, he left before when something happened to me, if you left, you didn't have left before you could see anything from this.
Gila Aslan (01:28:48):
He's different per person. He's not to, uh, educate. It's not know anything. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>, he worked for himself for, for maybe three years after we left. He lost everything. Everything. Because he believe with people. They're, they, they, they're honest. He thinks, thinks they're honest. They're not honest. But he thought they were, they're honest. He sell everything for pe. They give people the people stuff. They give him check. After Christmas, big company is bankrupt, bankrupt. He get nothing. He put, he give, uh, uh, diamond. He didn't know anything about diamond. My husband tell him, don't go with that. He does nothing about, uh, diamond. He gives somebody two, 120,000 diamond, uh, dollars dollar merchandise diamond. He take the and left. He lost everything, everything. My husband go to Israel for diamond. He knows how to, he got special. He look for every stone. When my husband passed away, my si my daughter said, mommy, I can't do it with, I don't know nothing with, with diamond.
Gila Aslan (01:30:27):
But court, I was with him. He go with her. She went with him to Italy for everything. She knows everything. The supplier know her too very well. He speak the language. She didn't speak the language, but they, the children, the young, now they speak English too. She got twice a year to Italy. Not now, but before. So supplier know her, but I said people working. They, he was, when he, uh, left the, the office, he said to my husband, work for me. As my husband said, I work for you. Why I, I do, I made this company like that. I, you want me to, to work for you? The her wife said, that's his brother said, said his wife said a girl can do it. Her, her, her work. I said, yeah, she's right. Let let him take her daughter to put, to work with him. After two weeks. She doesn't want to work with him. These people sometime make mistake. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>. Everybody said they are crazy why he left the, the company like this. He think he can do himself. Why he has to put it, I think about this
Lisette Shashoua (01:32:00):
<laugh>. Yeah. So you came here in to Canada in 1976?
Gila Aslan (01:32:07):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (01:32:08):
Okay. And the girls came with you?
Gila Aslan (01:32:11):
Yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (01:32:12):
And you came as immigrant?
New Speaker (01:32:15):
Immigrant, yeah.
Lisette Shashoua (01:32:16):
Okay. So, uh, once you came to Canada, what Jewish organization, what synagogue did you
Gila Aslan (01:32:23):
I went to synagogue Beth Ora. Ashkenazi. Uh, this is very close to my house. Yes. You can walk to, to the synagogue.
Lisette Shashoua (01:32:33):
How easy was it to adjust to coming to Canada?
Gila Aslan (01:32:37):
I easy for me, but I didn't speak the language. When I need something, I ask my daughter to come with me. In the beginning, I took, I go to the doctor. I have to take her. I, I got something to do. I have to ask her. But they, the whole fa the only, the small one, she's young. She's two years, but the other went to school, regular school. She's in high school or Junior high school. The second one in the high school too? No, first year is in garden view.
Lisette Shashoua (01:33:10):
So it was easy for you?
Gila Aslan (01:33:13):
For me, I was easy to
Lisette Shashoua (01:33:14):
Come to Canada. Yeah.
Gila Aslan (01:33:15):
Say to, I was, I come to Canada, I was very happy.
Lisette Shashoua (01:33:21):
And the cold didn't bother you? No,
Gila Aslan (01:33:23):
No. It was very cold, but it doesn't bother me.
Lisette Shashoua (01:33:25):
Me. And your daughter spoke English when you came?
Gila Aslan (01:33:29):
Yeah. So they spoke English and French. The older one, second one, she start, because we, they studying in Israel in English too. But when my daughter went to the high school, I said to her, take French. The beginning in Israel, because in the high school they start first, the grade nine, they start Arabic or French. I said to her, take French, don't take Arabic. I don't remember because I don't think about we coming to Montreal, to Canada. But I said to her is Arabic is very hard language to write, to study, not to talk, to write and write. Write is very, uh, very, it's hard. I say take French. When we came here, she went to high school. She, she winter to high school. She, she speak English and French. She study. The second one is take her time. She learn. But auntie, she know how to speak.
Gila Aslan (01:34:31):
She speak English at the beginning. Third one, she speak uh, English right away she play with the kids. What she, she play as she, she took what she knows the young as I took her. When I get French, they give me French to study. For seven months. I took her every morning with me. I go to school to tell study French start French. They take her from me. I bring her back. I take her back to home. But I study and took courses very hard for me to speak because I didn't speak the language. Not only French, English too. I have to take courses. French took courses, English courses. When I start with, because French, they speak English. I go easier with English. But understand a little bit, not, uh, but as a result, French, when people come to the office, I said to my husband, you understand what they said to you in French? He said, don't worry, I understand. Because they, they speak very fast.
Lisette Shashoua (01:35:39):
And what did you study in Israel up to when? High school?
Gila Aslan (01:35:44):
I almost high not is eight ma eight years. Eight years is you finish. Eight years is okay.
Lisette Shashoua (01:35:52):
Of what?
Gila Aslan (01:35:53):
A regular school. But I study four years in the kibbutz. Four years in, in outside the kibbutz. At night
Lisette Shashoua (01:36:04):
You studied at night. At night. What did you study?
Gila Aslan (01:36:09):
Regular. Language. A regular, uh,
Lisette Shashoua (01:36:17):
Okay. So now do you, how do you feel about the tradition, the celebration of the Sephardi heritage?
Gila Aslan (01:36:30):
I love that. This, at the beginning I go to, uh, Ashkenazi synagogue. I learn because when here, every Saturday you learn. But when my husband passed away, all my friend is in Spanish. I start to come with, with a friend. I love it.
Lisette Shashoua (01:36:53):
And do you keep kept the tradition? Yeah,
Gila Aslan (01:36:56):
Yeah. I kept the tradition at home as my son-in-law. He learn to read some, he grew some English. When I make the Shabbat dish, he loved that. He was not Jewish. He get, he did. He was he study, he get Jewish.
Lisette Shashoua (01:37:17):
Ah, he converted. Converted, yeah. Okay. What is the most important part of your Sephardic background for you? And say the important,
Gila Aslan (01:37:37):
I have Sephardic. I have to, I, this is what I grow in, in the house at the steel. I love it.
Lisette Shashoua (01:37:47):
Okay. What do you call your identity? You are Jewish. You are Canadian, you are, what do you feel you are?
Gila Aslan (01:37:56):
I am Jewish, Canadian or Israeli. That I am Jewish. My kids the same. My grandchildren, they are Jewish.
Lisette Shashoua (01:38:08):
And do you consider yourself a refugee?
Gila Aslan (01:38:11):
No. No. Not at all. Mm-Hmm? <affirmative>. I like, I get, I.
Lisette Shashoua (01:38:19):
Say no. What you are, you don't feel a ref? Refugee?
Gila Aslan (01:38:22):
No. Say no. I don't feel a refugee. I feel a Canadian. Mm-Hmm. <affirmative>.
Lisette Shashoua (01:38:29):
Okay. And where's home for you? What country is home for you?
Gila Aslan (01:38:36):
Canada. Say my, my country is my Canada. Is Canada.
Lisette Shashoua (01:38:43):
And what identity do you want your children to have to pass on to the children and grand children? The
Gila Aslan (01:38:50):
Jewish.
Lisette Shashoua (01:38:51):
What you want the identity?
Gila Aslan (01:38:55):
My, I, my my children identity is Jewish.
Lisette Shashoua (01:38:59):
In what you, you want them to
Gila Aslan (01:39:01):
Yeah, I want them to be a Jewish.
Lisette Shashoua (01:39:03):
Okay. And what would, do you speak to the children and grandchildren? Now?
Gila Aslan (01:39:10):
I, I speak Hebrew with them. But some, uh, kids, they speak only English with me. They can't, they don't, they understand Hebrew, but speak English.
Lisette Shashoua (01:39:21):
Okay. I wanna ask you if there is a message that you want to give to anyone who might listen to this interview. You have a message for the children, grandchildren. You wanna tell them something special? Say the message. I want to give
Gila Aslan (01:39:37):
The message. I, the older children, they understand more. The other kids, the young, they don't understand. I can't say anything to them. They grow different way because they're not with me. They're in Ottawa, at least in Ottawa. I don't see him a lot. They have his, their parents, they have friend on. When I said to them, come to visit, they can't come. They, they live, they're live in Ottawa.
Lisette Shashoua (01:40:13):
But do you wanna give them a message? Do you want somebody who listens to this interview to get a message from you? What do you want to teach your, teach them like something to,
Gila Aslan (01:40:27):
I wanted to, to to see how I grow up. I wanted,
Lisette Shashoua (01:40:35):
So this film,
Gila Aslan (01:40:36):
Yeah. I wanted to, to see how, how I grow, how, why I pass my time when I young, when older. I want them to know.
Lisette Shashoua (01:40:50):
So this film is for them.
Gila Aslan (01:40:52):
Yeah, exactly.
Lisette Shashoua (01:40:53):
And for them to know.
Gila Aslan (01:40:54):
Know. For them to know.
Lisette Shashoua (01:40:55):
That's beautiful.
Gila Aslan (01:40:56):
How we grandparents grew up. From Iraq, from Israel. Until we get here.
Lisette Shashoua (01:41:05):
Thank you very much.
Gila Aslan (01:41:06):
Thank you very much.
Lisette Shashoua (01:41:07):
And thank you for participating in, uh, safari Voices. Voices. Sorry. This.