First, i was wrong with the story of my grand-pa. Something couldn't work if he died during the WWI, because my mom was born after the WWI. They said to her that he died of appendicitis. She was a little girl, and she has a vague souvenir of him.
Then, the name, this sephardi name that we have. The little sister who has another father would have said to my mom that my grand-ma has always refused to get married to the men who shared her life.
Soooooooo… the little sister, my mom and her brother have the birth name of my grand-ma.
Unfortunately, the protagonist passed away, so i can have more explanation. My mom thought that my grand-ma was in Paris during the WWII, but it is what they have told her. Ver veys!
The little sister is still alive but the relationship between her and my mom doesn't continue to be excellent. The little sister was very spoilt. She stole a part of the inheritance of her siblings. Lately, she had no shame to ask my mom for money to pay some taxes for a house in the South of France. A house that she kept for her family. She never invited us in our own house.
I never met her either and doesn't know how she looks like.
I have known her existence ten years ago perhaps. Another lie from my mom. :-)
What did it happen during these dark years? The little sister might enlighten this moment of history if she remembers things she lived, or which have been told to her.
I can imagine many things: my grand-ma sent her two elder children in Normandy to hide them from the nazis, knowing she had a Jewish name. She hid herself with the little sister, and made her children believe she was in Paris.
You can read that i am imagining a Jewish story for my family to comfort my Jewish blood.
My mom told me something too: she always felt she had Jewish blood in her veins. She knew that one day she will go to Israel. And she did. She spent one month, i think. She was in a club for a few days. There was a wedding, and the newly weds invited all the people who were in the club. My mom enjoys dancing and eating, she had a memorable souvenir of this moment. That was not a Hasidic wedding! :-(
She remembered that a woman in Paris asked her if she was Jewish because of her name. That was the only time. Usually, people think she is Scandinavian.
She added "I don't have a Jewish nose. You have one." When we talk about a Jewish nose, it concerns more the Jews from Eastern Europe than Sephardi. In France, you can recognize a Sephardi from North Africa, by his darker complexion, and also his accent 'black foot': http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pied-Noir
The Sephardi has the characteristics to speak loud. He likes showing what he has. He brags and exaggerates.
If you speak French, you can watch this movie which shows how a French Sephardi is. It's a comedy with lots of clichés. It takes place in the Sephardi area of Paris called Le Sentier. Nowadays, there are more and more Chinese people in this district. If you don't understand French, just close your eyes and listen to the accent. :-)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MytOuE4D5bg
They have specific Sephardi expressions and jokes.
My mom has homework to do for me: find some names of her family, and i could do a real ancestry work.
Let's see where all these roots will lead me. I feel relieved that there is an explanation of all these Jewish feelings that i have since i am toddler.
Two generations of women who didn't want to get married. I am the third one. :-)
My grand-ma and mother were rebel for their generation. Congratulations ladies!
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| Jewish clergymen in Salonica during the late 19th century |
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