Kalman

Thursday  the 29^th of April 2004 (10 Iyar 5764)  at six o’clock in the morning, my wonderful, good, kind and gentle father-in-law, a true gentleman, Kalman Raviv (Ribak) died in his sleep. I want to give you his story as my gift to you from him. It reflects a small part of his achievements, but a huge part of the founding of the State.

THE FOREWORD

Zvi Ribak stood alone in the graveyard in Oslo; the driving sleet stinging his face  as he carefully cleared the moss which had gathered on the headstone. Slowly the words became legible as he worked. 

THE RABBI ZVI RIBAK, 

 WHO NEVER REACHED HIS HOME

BORN 1886 – DIED 1934.

The sight of his own name on the gravestone brought tears to his eyes as he remembered the stories his father told him about the grandfather he had never known.  How tall he was; what a fine speaker he was, and how he travelled the world to lecture on “Jewish Life in Poland”.  It was on his return from one of these journeys, after lecturing in the United States, that he fell ill in Oslo and never finished his journey home to Bialistock, never reaching his wife and young family.  Rabbi Zvi Ribak had taken a room in a house, thinking he would recuperate for a few days before continuing his homeward journey. The lady of the house, a Jewish woman called Charlotte Scher took care of him until his death and then tended his grave, so far from home, as if he were a member of her own family, until her own death many years later.

Kalman Ribak, the Rabbis son, was a strong young man, tall, handsome and clever with winning ways. Kalmans cousin Mottel Weller’s family owned a soft drinks factory in the town of Grodno and he went to work there for a while. Kalman had achieved high marks in his school examinations and left the Gymnasium with flying colours.  When he went to work for his uncle he had no idea that he was to meet the man who changed and thus saved his life. 

Everyone was talking about the important visitor who came to the factory one day, all the way from Palestine. The Mayor of Ramat Gan, a small town near Tel Aviv. Mayor Avraham Krinitsy was very taken with this quiet, impressive young gentleman and suggested he come to the Holy Land to put all his young strength to good use.

“If you buy the ticket I’ll come” joked Kalman

“I’ll buy the ticket if you’ll come!” answered the Mayor

“Then I’ll come!” answered Kalman 

Rabbi Zvi Ribak (from Sokolov Podlask next to Treblinka) and his wife Chaya Solnitsky Ribak (from Grodno) had four children Kayla (born 1908), Shalom (1909), Yosef (1910) and Rachel (born 1912). On the 6th of December, 1913 their fifth child was born, they named him Kalman. 

Rabbi Ribak began his adult life as a salesman but he studied constantly and became a fine and learned orator.  He travelled the world as the emissary of the Jewish Representative Council of Polish Jews, sometimes leaving home for a year or even two years at a time.  On his travels he covered some 30 countries including the USA, Britain, Ireland and Northern Europe and among those who became his personal friends was Rabbi Herzog then Chief Rabbi of Ireland, later to become Chief Rabbi of Israel, Professor Zelig Brodetsky who founded a Jewish day school in Leeds, U.K. and many others. The family, however, missed their father terribly.

Each morning the maid would prepare breakfast for the children while mother helped them to dress. A full breakfast of black bread with brown sugar, porridge and omelettes. Kalman went willingly to school each morning and would continue after day school to learn at “Cheder” (Hebrew School), arriving home at 6 o’clock in the evening. Night had already fallen and the children would light their route home with kerosene lamps, considering it a fine adventure. Kalman went to Cheder before he began regular school, so started his schooling at age 7 and only completed his schooling at the age of 19.

School represented a large part of Kalmans social life.  He both studied and played with friends from school, they came to his home and he to theirs. Many of his friends lived some distance from his home so Kalmans also had friends who went to different schools, among themYosef Appelbaum (Jerusalem and T.A.) and Alexander Grochovsky (Nahariya) and another close friend called Fried who has since lost contact.

Kalman always loved sport both to watch and to participate, and opposite the house there was a big sports field where they used to play football with the local non-Jews (Goyim) which they all enjoyed very much. He was in the school volley ball team and then went on to be in the Maccabi team. Yosef Ribak was probably the most famous member of the Ribak family thanks to his prowess at sport. He was famous amongst both Jews and non-Jews as a member of the Bialistock football team and was invited to join the first Maccabiah as a member of the Polish team.

The oldest son, Shalom, loved to read. He was an acknowledged mathematician and historian even at a young age.  When he was old enough he went to Czechoslovakia to study medicine. Such was his reputation that half way through his studies Rabbi Rubenstein the Chief Rabbi of Vilna brought him to Vilna to complete his studies to be a doctor. Because of his scholarship in many subjects Shalom had many non-Jewish friends who would come to learn from him.  After studying they would all love to sit  together and listen to Chazanut on the gramophone in the Ribak home.

Living in a predominantly non-Jewish neighbourhood taught Kalman that even among those non Jews that professed to “like” Jews there were many who were anti -Semitic. They were the friends of the clever (Shalom) and the famous (Yosef) only when it served their purpose.

When Kalman was 19, having completed his studies at the Gymnasium he decided to travel to his mother’s home town of Grodno where his Uncle had a soft drinks factory. This provided both adventure in living in a new town and a means to earn some extra money. Kalmans cousin Mottle Weller, the son of the factory owner, became a close friend.

Mordechai (Mottle) Weller tells that he and Kalman were blood relations through both his mother and father because his parents were cousins. Mottle didn’t meet his older cousin Kalman from Bialistock until the day he walked into their home when Mottle was aged 16. Kalman began to work as the Mashgiach (supervisor) and manager of the soft drinks factory which was in the town of Torotsniki, a holiday town where the factory operated only in the summer. The Weller family owned several apartments next to the factory which they would rent out during the summer months. In 1935 Mr Avraham Krinitsy, a friend of the family, from far distant Palestine, the Holy Land, came to the town of Torotsniki and rented one of the family’s apartments. As the owner of a furniture factory Krinitsy had succeeded in persuading the Mandate Authorities to issue him with 20 entry visas for Polish workers and so he came looking for strong young Jewish men. One day he met Kalman.

Mr. Avraham Krinitsy had done well both socially and financially.  He had a furniture shop and factory and had become the Mayor of the town of Ramat Gan.  Mr Krinitsy came on a visit to Poland to find strong young people who would go to live in Palestine, to build the emerging Jewish State.  During a visit to the Weller factory he was introduced to Kalman.  The refined, tall young man made a strong impression on the Mayor of Ramat Gan.  He immediately saw his potential.

“Why don’t you come to Palestine, to Ramat Gan and work with me?” asked Mr Krinitsy

“Even if it meant running in the middle of the night” answered Kalman “If you buy the ticket, I’ll come!”

“I’ll buy the ticket if you will come!” retorted Mr Krinitsy “but what about your family?”

“I will take care of my family” said Kalman

And so the Entry Visa was filled out in the name of Kalman Ribak. Little did the Weller family know that Mordechai Weller would follow Kalmans example and emigrate to the foundling State some six months later, to the port town of Haifa.

Mr Avraham Krinitsy came with his car and driver to meet Kalman off the boat when it docked in Jaffa Port and took him to his home. 

Ramat Gan was a small, sandy town and it was hard to get used to the change from a bustling, cultured city like Bialistock with its 130,000 inhabitants. But, the will to be in Israel was so great that he managed to overcome both the obstacles of the newcomer and the homesickness for his family. Mr Krinitsy was unaware of Kalmans wish to join the Haganah, however, and in the rebellions of 1936 when Kalman told him that he wanted to joined the Mandate Police at the Jewish Agency’s request Krinitsy expressed concern that Kalman still did not know Hebrew let alone English and was worried what would become of his young charge and asked him to wait a while. Time and again Kalman requested to be allowed to join the police force, until finally, Mr Krinitsy relented and gave his reluctant agreement. Kalman immediately travelled to the British Police Headquarters in Jaffa where he began the enrolment process.  

The journey to the Jaffa police station was an adventure in itself because there were constant incidents on the Tel Aviv-Jaffa road The British were very surprised and impressed at the audacity of this young man to brave the dangerous route.  The return journey was easier however because the British gave him a car and a driver to take him back to Tel Aviv and to the Ministry of Health in Tel Aviv to undergo physical examinations to assess his fitness for the job. Kalman passed the tests without any problem and the Ministry of Health sent the relevant documentation to the police. Within a short while Kalman received notice to report to the police course on Mount Scopus, Jerusalem.

Mr Krinitsy needed to send some furniture from his factory to the police school in Jerusalem, so he sent Kalman in his own car with the driver, making the perilous journey much easier. The driver who had emigrated from India and spoke perfect English was able to explain to the head of the police school, Major Wienrite, that Kalman was Mr Kaminski’s nephew and that he hadn’t learned to speak English yet. So please take care of him!

KALMAN SPEAKS

“No sooner than I had started the course than Major Wienrite made me captain of the Allenby Barracks and as captain I was in charge of 24 people. Jews and Arabs alike since the troupe consisted of natives only. After three months I completed the police school and was sent to Area Commander who offered to send me wherever I wished.  When asked if I wanted to go to Petah Tikva or Tel Aviv I answered that I wanted to go to the Old City of Jerusalem. The Commander said “But it is dangerous in the Old City” and I told him that it would be all right.”

“That is how I went to the Old City, to Rehov haYehudim (the street of the Jews) and there I served for seven years as Mandate Policeman Number 81. At first I was a constable of the beat until I learnt to speak and write in Hebrew and English when I changed jobs to become the constable who kept the records book, writing detailed accounts of all the incidents in our area.”

During this entire period I was also an agent for the Haganah.  They gave me the task of informing the Haganah of any covert operations by the police to search out Jews or Arabs and any similar information to which I had access.  My go-between was a man called Emmanuel who would come to me to get the information which he would then pass on to the Haganah.

“The “Kotel Brigade” of the group known as the Revisionists were among our charges and we had to observe their activities to make sure they remained unhurt and did not hurt others. We were on very friendly terms with them and often passed on information to ensure their safety and the safety of those around them.  Among the Kotel Brigade were many friends. Eliahu Meridor and his wife Geula, the parents of M.K. Dan Meridor, were very active and we had to watch over them in particular. On one particular day they pounced on some Arabs through the roof of the Shouk in the Old City and the British Police put out arrest orders on them and rushed to raid the headquarters of the Kotel Brigade and arrest them there.  We managed to inform the members a few minutes before the British police arrived and they managed to escape into the Old City and its many alleys where they were able to hide.

“On another occasion there was gunfire from Misgav Ladach Hospital and it turned out that they had shot and killed an elderly Arab man riding on a donkey by the Dung Gate.  At the  this time the Officer in charge of our police station was Captain Silver a British traditional Jew, and he rushed to the hospital ahead of his troops and told all the Jews there to dress in white gowns and get into the beds, irrelevant of healthy or not. The British arrived and began to search for the snipers in a hospital full with “patients” but left without success!

There were many instances but who can remember them all!

Captain Silver was frequently expected to perform house to house searches for hidden arms in Jewish apartments.  He would arrive seconds before his troops and the first thing he would ask the Jew would be “Where is it?” The householder would tell him where it was hidden and that is where he would sit!!!  He would send his policemen in all directions, emptying drawers and cupboards yelling at them for not searching well enough and all the time he was sitting on the exact spot the guns were hidden.

“One Friday a member of the police band an elderly Jew called Dr. Fritz Marcus, was ordered to go on guard duty at the Kotel, the Western Wall. When I heard they were sending this old man to guard I said that I would go instead of him, and that he should take my place in the police station and record all the incidents in the register. The officer told me if that was what I wanted then that’s fine, and I went. 

On Friday the Moslem Arabs came to the Al Aqsa Mosque to pray and on this day it was reported to us that there were at least 5,000. A few hours before the end of prayers at about midday Arab policeman Abdulla Nabulsi came running from the Mosque wearing civilian clothes, gun in hand, straight toward me yelling “Kalman, run from here, escape – they are coming to kill you!”   One of the British policemen saw that something was wrong and without asking what it was, began to run from the place. I loaded my gun, aimed it at him and told him “If you run from here I’ll shoot you” of course he stayed where he was. He asked why should we stay and face danger, I told him that without orders from Captain Silver I would not abandon my position nor would he abandon his. 

I called Captain Silver and explained the situation and he said he would let us know what was expected of us within a few minutes. He called Major Burns, his commanding officer who said we should leave our positions taking the Jews that were praying at the Western Wall with us to the Dung Gate where another two policemen would be waiting.  Then the four policemen together left the area. As we left we heard explosions and feared that the mob would reach us but they didn’t. An hour later I received a message from Captain Silver that we should return to our positions. The British Army had already arrived at the Mosque and it was safe to return. When we got to the position the “Budke” at the police station which held the telephone I had contacted the Captain on an hour earlier no longer existed, it was burnt down. No telephone. No budke. There were black marks on the Western Wall from the burning and explosions, those marks can still be seen today. The area had been devastated. I finished my guard shift and two other policemen came to change the guard. 

I went to the station to look for Captain Silver but he had already gone home for Shabbat. I went to his home and told him about the bravery of the Arab policeman called Abdulla Nabulsi and suggested that we remove him from the Old City to save him from revenge killers. The Captain said that he would let me know very soon of the decision and I left the Old City to go to the house where I used to eat lunch, with the Sochonitsky family who always treated me so well, I ate and returned to the Old City in the evening to sleep.  All was well. 

Later I was informed that Policeman Abdulla had been invited to the Jerusalem Arab Police Superintendents office, Superintendent Assali, to receive an award for bravery and on the way there he was murdered. I told Captain Silver that I wanted to arrest some Arabs on suspicion of murder of Policeman Abdulla. He told me to go with another policeman and there next to the Western Wall was Sheik Ilamugrabi, who was my prime suspect, and two other Arabs.  They talked and watched us suspiciously and I told the British policeman and the other constable that we would arrest them and take them to Kishle next to Davids Tower which was the British Area Headquarters, they were held there on administrative detention and we were free to go. It was never proven that they killed the policeman Abdulla. It was clear that they knew about the incident but without evidence the most the British could do was to hold them for three months.

“On the Sunday after the Abdulla incident a very worried Captain Silver came to our station and he asked me what I wanted to do. The Arabs of the Old City had put out the word that Constable 81 should be killed. It was clear that I couldn’t stay in the Old City so did I want to go on vacation to Tel Aviv or would I prefer to go somewhere else. I told him that if I travelled it would be only to one place; to my Mothers home and that I wanted the maximum vacation time. So on that Sunday the Captain took me by the hand like a small child to the Polish Consulate next to Damascus Gate in Jerusalem 

and asked the Consul to give me a visa to go to Poland. The Consulate was closed because it was Sunday but since it was Captain Silver who requested it they opened specially. I didn’t return to the Old City, I slept in the new city and on Monday I travelled to Haifa and boarded the ship bound for Poland and my family home.

I arrived on Erev Yom Kippur, 1938 and stayed overnight in the Galician city of Lemburg since I did not want to travel on Yom Kippur. From Lemburg I travelled by train to Warsaw. My brother Dr. Shalom Ribak lived in Warsaw and he came to meet me at the train station dressed in a beautiful fur coat. He took me to a corner and I asked him what the matter was. He told me that there had been many disturbances in Poland and I need to take care. He then took me in his car straight to his home. The next morning I set off to Bialistock to my Mother.

While I was in my Mothers home my family from Grodno, the Weller family, came to visit. My Uncle, Aunt and cousins came and we had a big celebration. But the happiness of my family was tinged with sadness because I couldn’t stay there even another minute; I had to return to Palestine. I intended to stay in Bialistock for 25 days but in fact stayed only 11. I heard through the grapevine that there were some very bad conflagrations in Palestine and that combined with the dreadful anti-Semitism in Poland and the smell of the imminent war that was in the air made me want to return. When I found out that there was a ship leaving for Palestine after I had been there only 11 days I decided to sail on her and so I returned to Jerusalem. When I got back to Jerusalem the Deputy Director of the Area Command Major Haggarty asked me where did I want to serve, Tel Aviv, Petah Tikva….wherever I wanted, I responded “Back to the Old City” “But they’ll kill you there!” he responded. “Don’t worry there is a G-d and he’ll look after me” I told him. I served in the Old City for 7 years.

After 7 years they billeted me in Mea Shearim.  I performed my duties as was expected of a police officer but I missed my days in the Old City. I served in Mea Shearim just one year when I heard that a policeman in the traffic office had resigned and requested a transfer there. The British Police agreed and I became the “Haganah Man” of the traffic police. This entailed giving Jewish men two or even three car licenses at one time, one with the appropriate photograph and two without any photograph at all. Those extra licenses allowed the Haganah to get into all sorts of places both legal and illegal. Here also I had a go-between, the late Avraham Kremer who was to go on to change his name to Kadmon in order to serve as Israels Ambassador to Sydney Australia. Avraham would come to me each day to receive the lists of licenses handed out that day and so to pass them on to the Haganah. The British saw that I was very active and used to call me teasingly “The Bloody Haganah Man”. Even though they knew what I was up to they loved me very much and treated me well.

Every evening I would go to the Old City and as I passed the coffee shops, which were already closed except for the cleaning up, the owners would call out to me to come and drink coffee with them I always declined their invitations politely and would continue on my way to the Jewish Quarter.

When World War Two broke out I wanted to join the army but the Haganah insisted that my current position was too important to them and wouldn’t let me join up. They also told me that if I didn’t serve 10 years as a policeman that I wouldn’t receive my release papers, since at the time I believed that my release papers were worth at least £1,000,000 I continued! My heart wasn’t in it any more, but I continued. 

In 1944 a new British Commanding Officer for the Palestine Police Force arrived. His name was Raymer-Jones and I was in the group that he chose to visit. As he inspected the men Raymer-Jones stopped in front of me. “Are you satisfied with your work?” he asked me. “Yes, Sir, very satisfied” I responded “But I understand that a new college for Physical Instruction Teachers is opening near Tel Aviv and I would like to go there to learn then return to be the Physical Training Instructor for the Palestine Police Force School.” “Very nice” remarked Raymer-Jones who was himself a well-known sportsman and sports lover asked his Sergeant to write down the request. A short time I was summoned to the office of Raymer-Jones who wanted to know exactly what I wanted and where I wanted to go and he gave me a certificate to move to Tel Aviv.

I went to Mishteret Apak next to the sea in Tel Aviv. The British Officer there was called Captain Ford. I told him I want to work for Tel Aviv Police and work as night duty officer. Captain Ford wanted me to work only for him so I put in a request to serve in the Tel Aviv Headquarters to set me free in the days. So I went to study at Wingate each day and returned to work as a policeman each night. There was a bed in my room and I slept whenever I could – sometimes that was only one hour a night. However I slept and worked alone each night as duty officer which enabled me to get a friend of mine from the Haganah into the office to give him all the secret files from the safe. This information enabled Haganah members to escape minutes before the authorities arrived. 

General Yosef Avidar, one of the leaders of the Haganah, managed to escape from his home and ran across the street to the apartment of the famous actress from the Habima Theatre, Hanele Hendler. When the police arrived at his apartment they found a warm bed with no further sign of General Avidar. Similar incidents occurred with the Superintendent in charge of Physical Training Yehoshua Aluf, and Zelig Rozetsky and many others who escaped thanks to the information I had managed to give to the Haganah through those night time activities.

One night the Supervisor of the Tel Aviv District came for an inspection and I was in the office with my Haganah go-between who was in uniform.  The officer came up to my office as we went down the stairs. 

“Hello, and who might this gentleman be?” he asked of me. 

“This is my friend who has an exam in Lower English and I’m helping him.” I said 

“What, in the middle of the night?” he retorted

“He has just finished B Shift and I’m just starting B Shift so this was his only chance for me to teach him how to speak”

“Very good boy” was the response, and off he went, satisfied with the explanation. My friend also went off but with a lot of good information under his jacket.

My relationship with the British Forces in Jerusalem were excellent. The Commanding Officer Major Burns, also Haggarty and Charlton all loved me very much. One day I was on guard in the Old City, next to the Sambak Synagogue, when I sat down to read the paper. Sergeant Campbell arrived and wrote out a report for dereliction of duty. I said “OK. So be it” and he took me to court-marshal in front of Captain Charlton, who was a big anti-Semite. 

“What do you have to say for yourself?” asked the Captain “Do you accept the charge of reading a newspaper on duty?”

“Yes” I said

“And what can you say in your defence?”

“A Rabbi at the Western Wall gave me the newspaper so that I could see the beautiful photograph of OUR Queen that was in today’s edition, it was a beautiful photograph and at the precise moment that I was looking at this lovely photograph Sergeant Campbell came by and found me.”

“Really?” asked the Captain

“Yes” said I 

“Very well, DISMISSED!”

Kalman tells

“WHEN I WORKED FOR KRANISKY I EARNED 9 LIRA EACH MONTH, AS A POLICE CONSTABLE I GOT 6 LIRA PER MONTH, WHEN I LEFT POLICE SCHOOL I GOT 6.5 LIRA EACH MONTH AND WHEN I LEFT THE POLICE WITH 10 YEARS GOOD CONDUCT I GOT 7.80 LIRA. I GOT .25 LIRA ADDITIONAL FOR LOWER ENGLISH AT A TIME WHEN THOSE .25 LIRA WOULD BUY MAYBE 6 BAGELS. MONEY WAS NOT IMPORTANT, THE JEWISH STATE WAS. I HAVE NO REGRETS, I LEARNED SO MUCH FROM THE BRITISH AND THEN USED IT WHEN WE HAD OUR OWN COUNTRY”

Mottle lived in Haifa and worked in his uncle’s factory “Riba Assis”, which meant that it was also Kalmans relation as they were cousins from both sides. 

Kalman and his cousin Mottle would meet from time to time in Jerusalem.

1937 and Mottles father Mr. Weller from Grodno, came to Palestine on a visit and Kalman was his guide and took him on a tour all over this country since he was on a vacation from the police.  After his visit to see his son and his nephew Mr. Weller returned to Poland because he felt the Palestine was too dangerous. 18 months later the Second World War broke out and the family was wiped out.  

THE MEETING

1938

Alla was a student at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus.  She lived with Nellie, who she had befriended when they came together on the boat from Poland together with a young man called Yosef Appelbaum.  Later the girls shared their lodgings with another friend Miriam and with Dvora Wolenski.  Dvora was a very serious student.  While Alla used to go out visiting Dvora would stay in her room to study.  Often when Alla would return from her visits, at eleven o’clock at night, Dvora would be asleep.  Alla used to pull her from her bed and take her out to drink coffee. 

Rachel Friedman, a friend of both Kalman and Alla, arrived at Kalmans home in Jerusalem and suggested that he go with her, she had someone she wanted him to meet, and he went.  He arrived at Maonot Ovdim “aleph” in Rehavia and was introduced to a young lady called Alla Hendler. Alla made a beautiful but simple evening meal for the friends, a meal that appealed to the young policeman! He said that if she knew how to cook then he was interested!!!  Alla in turn was very impressed by the handsome young man in his smart police uniform. The honour of being a Jewish policeman at the time of the British Mandate, of performing a very important role in the founding of the Jewish State made a lasting impression on this serious young woman. 

This chance meeting turned into a deep friendship whereby Kalman became a regular visitor to the girls’ home. However after one short year, under threat of his life from the Arabs in the Old City, Kalman was on his way to Poland to escape death.

Upon Kalmans return, he met an old friend of his from his schooldays in Bialistock.  Yosef Appelbaum told Kalman of a young woman he had met in Poland and with whom he had travelled on the boat to Israel. This young woman was a relation by marriage to Yosef. When he introduced Kalman to this young woman it was none other than Alla Hendler, his friend from the past.  They dated throughout September and October then in November decided to get married.  When Alla told Chanele Hendler, Chanele told the happy couple that the wedding would be in her home in the Habima district of Tel Aviv. Number 29 Frug Street.  

They travelled to Tel Aviv for the wedding.  On the winding bus journey Alla suddenly realised that she had a hole in her dress and hurriedly repaired it.  Chanele Hendler and Zvi Friedlands baby daughter Dalia was the flower girl at the wedding throwing petals before the bride and groom as they walked to the chuppa on the roof in the Tel Aviv sunshine.  Mayor Krinitsi, the man who had brought Kalman to Israel was a guest of honour; the Rabbi of Petah Tikva, a relative of the Belzer Rebbe and a close friend of the Rabbi Zvi Ribak, Kalmans father, married Kalman and Alla. The guests included Mussia and Leon, first cousins of Golda; Yosef Appelbaum the “Shadchan”, Amitai;  Rachel Friedman; many actors from Habima in addition to Chaneleh and Zvi Friedland, in fact a fine wedding party.  

As she looked around at the guests Alla noticed five religious Jews, with big black hats and gowns, enjoying the feast that had been laid out.  

“Are those from your family” she asked her bridegroom?  

“No” he responded “I thought they were yours!!” 

The two went to ask Chaneleh if they were her guests, the answer was no!!!.  They had come to the wedding to beg for money and stayed to enjoy the feast!!!

Yosef Applebaum was so happy that his ruse to bring the young couple together had worked so beautifully that he became drunk with joy and celebratory wine, so much so that they had to take him home!

The young couple went through a very difficult period when Kalman, in addition to being a policeman, joined the very first class of the Wingate Academy for teachers of Physical Training.  He would work at night for the Mandate Police, recording their daily log in his fine hand and spying for the Hagana, then, although exhausted from lack of sleep, he would study all day.  Since the Wingate Institute had not yet been built the students would go from school to school, wherever there was a gymnasium or field to play on.  He managed to get home maybe once a week using his right as a policeman to travel without charge.  He later became the course secretary and received the princely sum of one lire each month.  Life was particularly lonely for Alla who was pregnant and working to keep them in food and lodging.  

The birth was a long and difficult for this young woman.  The young couple managed to scrape together enough money for a nurse to come and help Alla in the first nine or ten days after the birth. A young woman who had no family, not a one who survived the Shoah needed someone to explain to her how to care for the new baby.

The joy of the birth their first son, and all he represented to them, a son of their beloved homeland, was overwhelming.  It brought back their homesickness for their families, their relief at having survived to reach this day and the knowledge that with his birth came continuance of their family names.

Kalman laughed when he saw his large baby, who weighed in at 3.950 kilogrammes at birth! He was dark and crumpled from the birth and both were relieved when he unfolded into the beautiful child that he would continue to be. Both Kalman and Alla adored their first born who represented so much hope for the future.  They called him Zvi, after Rabbi Zvi Ribak, Kalmans beloved father.

At that time the Ribaks lived in a single room in a house with many other families.  They both worked in the mornings and sometimes they had to leave the baby in the hearing of the neighbours until the nanny, Victoria would arrive.  Victoria was a nanny with a full diploma, they would never leave their precious Zvi to anyone else. She would arrive at seven forty five and leave the moment that Alla walked in the door, they had no money to spare Alla so always arrived on time, no matter what, so that they would not have to pay her an extra hour. Victoria used to take Zvi to play on the field near the school where Alla worked. She loved to show him off; she loved her charge very much and she would dress him up like a little prince, always immaculate always neat.

Because the family moved around a lot, from apartment to apartment, Zvi changed kindergarten many times in his early childhood, but that was the only difficulty he faced.  His parents took great care to shield him from the poverty that they endured.  He needed for nothing.  That is he needed for nothing tangible.  Zvi grew up without family.  No grandparents, no uncles or aunts, no cousins, no family.  The Shoah had stolen his birthright.  The little boy would come home from school filled with sadness whenever his friends had a birthday because on his birthday he only had one present while they had many, from all their family.  He was never able to understand where everyone had gone.  He felt very lonely.

In addition to being teacher Alla continued her studies and when Zvi was just three years old, he was not well and stayed home from kindergarten, she wrote her Masters thesis with the sickly child on her arm.

Zvi went to the kindergarten at Bet HaBriut Strauss and when, aged three,  Alla was walking him home down a little alley they were talking about germs and the dangers of germs.  A man walking ahead of them turned around when he heard the conversation.  He called out in amazement when he saw the age of her partner in the discussion.

The change from teacher to headmistress took place because of Kalman.  There was an open competition for the position of head teacher of the school.  Alla never thought to put her name forward but on the last day, at the last moment, Kalman took Alla by the hand, like a small child and put her name forward. She was one of eleven competitors for the position. She won the position.

Kalman went on to be one of Israels finest teachers, leaders, innovators yet retained his quiet gentle refinement throughout. He was a fine husband and wonderful father and grandfather and a truly great human being who represented all that is good on this earth.

Kalman – Yankas Story

Yankas Tale as told in November 1999

Great-grandmother Ribak was a very well known society lady and  philanthropist. Her beautiful eldest daughter, Clara, fell in love with their neighbour “Levine” an orphan who had been raised by his aunt who educated her own sons but had neglected her orphaned nephew.  Despite his lack of education Levine was an exceptionally clever and enchanting man who foresaw the fall of communism.  The communists feared him and came to Bialystok to arrest him and send him to Siberia.  The entire community managed to save him from that fate, in retrospect a sad turn of fate because had he gone to the wastes of Siberia the family would have been saved from the Shoah.  

When Clara died her son the Rabbi Zvi Ribak returned home from Paris where he was lecturing, in order to make the funeral arrangements.  The entire town of Bialystok came to hear the famous Rabbi speak

Yankas father, Yerachmiel, owned a store for ready-made suits and was the Rabbis brother.  He was not tall or impressive like the Rabbi and unlike his dapper brother Yerachmiel wore very “Jewish” clothing.  The Rabbi, whose nick-name in Poland was “Panya” Ribak wore modern, western dress, very worldly and elegant. A top hat, three-quarter length coat and trousers that were always perfectly pressed, razor sharp crease running from top to bottom until they lit upon his brightly polished boots.

Rabbi Zvi Ribak would travel all over Europe as the lauded representative of Polish Jewry. While he travelled his wife, Chaya would stay at home alone with their five children.  Chaya was so proud of her handsome family and was an amazing hostess known throughout Bialystok for her generous entertaining.  Their home was always immaculate, each item in its place yet full of guests who were fed royally, despite her husbands long absences. Kalman was the baby of the family. His sister was an amazing dancer; she could dance like Isadora Duncan. She looked like a Hollywood film star. Kalmans brother Yosef was a famous footballer who played in the Polish national team. A doctor of medicine, he was the head of the Physical Education Department of Bialystok, quite an achievement for a Jew in Poland.  When the Poles discovered that he was a Zionist and a member of Maccabi.  He became “Vrak Narodna”…. an enemy of the people.  He had travelled to South America as a member of the Polish Football Team two years before the war, but missed his family and returned to be with his wife and two beautiful children. They all perished in the Shoah.

Rabbi Zvi travelled to the United States in 1930 and four long years later, when he was finally on his way home to see his beloved family, he fell ill in Oslo, Norway.  His reputation preceded him and the community took care of him. At that time there was no treatment for diabetes and it became apparent that he would not recover. The Norwegian community contacted his family in Bialystok.  When Yosef heard of his fathers’ illness in Oslo he used his position as a senior civil servant and contacted the Norwegian Ambassador in Vilna who organised the travel documents for his trip.  He travelled the great distance and managed to arrive in time to spend Rabbi Zvis last days with him before he died. The Rabbi told his son that after all his travels in the New World and the Old, how sad he was that he would never again see the family that he so loved. Yosef arranged his fathers’ burial, with thanks to the Norwegian community.

The Jewish Committee in Oslo were so impressed with the young man that they sent money to Yosef for his medical studies.  They had tried to persuade him to stay in Oslo and marry the ugly daughter of a very wealthy man there.  The handsome young man, despite the large dowry and big house that he would have received, returned to his sweetheart in Bialystok to marry her and start a family. He never knew that yet another chance to save his life had slipped through his fingers.

Alla

Alla Raviv – Eshet Chayil

Leah Hendler was born in the city of Lodz, Poland in the year 1913, the daughter of Meir (Majer) and Golda Hendler, a sister for Shmuel aged four.  Leah aged of five months, Shmuel, Golda and Meir  packed all their belongings into crates, put them into storage and left all that was familiar to them and set off for Russia.  The reasons for this unusual event remain unexplained, though the fear of imminent war seems most likely.

Meir Hendler became a highly successful textile dealer travelling throughout Russia. An expert on the quality and types of cloth, he made a very comfortable living and the family lived a good life in a large apartment with a servant, Antonina, to do the household chores.  One day the edict was issued against having servants.  When Antonina found out that she would have to leave the Hendler Family’s employ she cried and cried.  She swore that she did not want to continue to live without Golda.  Golda had shown her a respect and generosity of spirit that no revolution could ever impose. Antonina visited the family frequently but never found her way and after a short time she passed away.  No-one knew if she died naturally or took her own life, she was so sad.

In the Russia of that time, soon after the Revolution, there was no organised schooling, so despite the law against private teachers, Golda brought a teacher in through what had formerly been the servants’ entrance to the apartment, unbeknownst to the neighbours, so that her children would learn Ivrit. At that time it was against the law even to hear Ivrit, let alone to learn it, but it was so important to Golda that her children learn, that they be aware and learned, despite the pressures and laws of the post-revolutionary communist state, that she was prepared to risk breaking the law.

Meir, a handsome man, would travel all over Russia, together with his partner, on business.  One day, as he stepped off the train at the station in Dniepropetrovsk (Yekaterinaslav), the police arrested him and took him directly to prison. He spent the next year in many different prisons, his only sin being that he was bourgeois, that he “took advantage” of his employees. Leah, who by then had adopted the nick name Alla, used to travel with her mother and brother, known as Mula, to take food to Meir. Upon their arrival at the prison the children would hear the prison guard say “Oh, Meir Hendler, hmmm.  Yesterday they took 40 people out and shot them, maybe he was amongst them”    Until the children saw their father they could never be sure that he was alive. This created a rather strange and frightening environment for a child too young to understand. 

Golda suddenly found herself handling all the day to day management of the household. This revealed her natural talent for politics.  Since the town of Dniepropetrovsk, where the family lived was on the border, they never knew if the knock at the door was White Russians or Reds. They both came to steal.  The building where the Hendlers lived was known as one where well established families lived, homes which contained things worth stealing.  Golda learned how to talk to them, how to deal with them. When the upstairs neighbours received a visit from one of the gangs, who claimed that because one of their windows was broken they intended to shoot at them through that window, the gang began to take the husband off to prison. Golda ran upstairs, spoke to the gang for two hours, convinced them and they left the house, without their prospective prisoner. If only Golda had survived and reached Eretz Yisrael she would undoubtedly have reached a very high position. She was an exceptional person who held everyone, all levels and types in equal esteem.

 Soon after this incident Meir left prison absolved from the dreaded charge of being a speculator and was re-united with his family.

The communists finally won and the new order took hold.  The family found themselves without food; without the basic needs for subsistence.  The communist government decided to “return refugees”, in other words to remove all non-Russians from the country and send them back from whence they came, irrespective of position in society.   Meir Hendler worked for the communists running a factory in their control yet, since the Hendlers came from Poland they fell into the class of refugees for relocation, in other words they were thrown out of the country.  At that time the Hendlers were caring for Meir’s sister-in-law, his brother’s widow, and her four children, Alla, a dancer who later went to Sweden, Yeszik who later went to France, and Adam who went to Brazil. Golda decided that her sister-in-laws family should travel to Poland before her own family to where her parents lived in Lodz so that she would have someone to care for her and her children. Later the Hendlers would follow.

They travelled to Poland by train.  The relocation trains were called “Echelon” and the Hendlers travelled on “Echelon 9”.  They arrived in Poland with nothing having lost everything through their forced exile.  Meir had to start his life from scratch.  To find work, home, a new beginning. 

At first the family lived with Allas grandparents.  They slept on temporary beds until Meir managed to rent an apartment in a country where apartments were at a premium, due to the influx of repatriation there simply were not enough apartments to go around.  Their joy at finding a home was short lived.  The hard found apartment was taken by someone else who probably paid the owner more than the Hendlers had offered, and they wearily returned to their temporary and rather uncomfortable accommodation. Life was very hard. Alla spoke a stilted Polish with the accent and fluency of a newcomer and the other children nearby would tease her about it.  The young girl learnt to hide her fears and to always show a strong face to the world, no matter what.

The children continued to practice their Ivrit which was to pay off richly when they went in search of a school.  With great confidence Golda sent her children to sit the entrance examinations for the best schools in Lodz, schools the family could barely afford.  There were two boys Gymnasia Ivrit and one girls Gymnasium Ivrit. The Curator of the schools was one Dr. Broyder who was also a Senator in the Polish Same.  After the entrance examinations the examiner, Dr. Arieh Tartakover, came out of the room asking who the mother of Ala and Samuel Hendler was. When asked why he wanted to meet her, he answered that he wanted to meet the mother who had managed to come out of Soviet Russia having taught them such perfect Ivrit.  As a result they were both offered 50% scholarships, without their mother asking.  Unheard of at that time.

The two children entered school, Alla to Kita Gimmel and Mula (Samuel) to Level 2 in the High School.  The school, together with its twin in Krakow was exceptional.  It was very avant gard in its teaching methods, and set very high standards of attainment for its pupils.  Most importantly it encouraged self stimulated learning, a revolutionary thought at that time.  Even though Alla came from a country where Ivrit was banned, she spoke with a fluency that no other student achieved. 

Many students from that Gymnasium later came to Israel,  Dr. Ormian, a teacher, was to become a known figure in his chosen home. The Jewish Holidays were celebrated, the choir, which was of an exceptionally high standard, sang Hebrew songs and the atmosphere was very Jewish.

Because Alla went to the Jewish Gymnasium, she rarely came into contact with non-Jews. When they first arrived in Poland, however, they lived in a predominantly non-Jewish apartment block.  The young men of the area began to show some interest in this new young woman until Mula grabbed one and threatened to flatten him if he didn’t leave his little sister alone!

Into the first home that they were to know in Poland, the Hendlers put all of their furniture which had been held in storage throughout the years of their sojourn in Russia.  The fine antiques, the beautifully carved bedroom furniture all the familiar things were crammed into the tiny apartment to make them feel at home.

The family was to suffer a terrible tragedy.  Mula had travelled to France to study in university and while there he died in a motorcycle accident.

Three years after Alla completed her Baccalaureate she announced that she wanted to study Pharmacy. This presented a major problem because in Poland Jews were not allowed to study medicine, law, pharmacy or any of the professions.  She went to Vilna for her interview and two Polish girls were waiting outside the examination hall with her for the results.  Alla did not have a classic Jewish appearance with her bright blue eyes, so the girls did not suspect their companion and spoke openly with her.  They said that they would certainly be accepted to study pharmacy but that none of the Jewish girls would get in, all would be refused. To their amazement Alla announced that she was a Jewess, and she walked away, her head held high.

Ultimately Alla was, however, accepted to study Classics at the University of Vilna. It was not what she set her heart upon, but it would have to suffice considering the exclusion of Jews to so many professional courses.  Although Alla was an excellent student of Latin, it was not what she had set her heart on, and her mother knew it.  

The night before she was to leave Lodz, as she was packing to go away to study, Golda stood ironing the last few clothes ready to put into the suitcase. Suddenly, talking to herself as if she had an awful premonition, Golda said “I just hope that you won’t regret your decision to go to Vilna.”  That was enough, recognising her Mothers natural ability to foresee trouble, Alla immediately removed her clothes from the suitcase and announced that she would not go to Vilna. Her parents stood together and said “There is only one place in the world that we would be happy for you to travel, to Eretz Yisrael”.  If only Golda had foreseen the unforeseeable she would have taken her whole family with Alla to Eretz Yisrael.

Meir and especially Golda had the foresight to understand that the only safe place for a Jew would be in Eretz Yisrael.  Throughout the years that she had broken the law to teach her children Ivrit; the years of financial struggle so that the children would learn in a Jewish school; the innate Zionism (a word that had barely been invented) had led toward this moment; Alla would make Aliya.

Goldas best friend Miriam (Mania) Yisraelit lived in Eretz Yisrael, in a small seaside town called Tel Aviv.  She was confident that her childhood friend would take care of Alla as if she was her own child. The Habima Theatre had also moved to Tel Aviv and one of the central figures of Habima, Chaneleh Hendler was Meir’s first cousin. Chaneleh and her husband Zvi Friedland the director, were also to prove to be firm friends to the young Alla, but for substitute parenting Golda always turned to the Yisraelit family. In truth Alla stayed both with the Yisraelits and with Chanelehs parents. Most importantly, when Alla went to the newly founded Hebrew University in Jerusalem to study, she had a warm home to go to during weekends and vacations.

Before leaving Poland Alla learned a trade.  She didn’t know how quickly she would settle so she learned to sew.  Although she would never need this skill professionally, it came in very useful when Chanele Hendler became pregnant with Dalia and Alla made her some beautiful maternity clothes.

Another cousin of her mothers, who also lived in Israel, was one Rosa Cohen and her husband Nehemiah Rabin.  Alla would go to visit the family and watch Rosas little boy, Yitschak, play in the garden, splashing happily in a childrens paddling pool. Many years later, when both Alla and Yitschak were on stage to receive a prize Alla reminded him of their relationship, telling the Prime Minister of Israel “Shalom Yitschak. You may not remember but we are cousins. However, don’t worry, I do not need anything from you!”

Alla and Golda corresponded regularly.  Golda promised Alla that as soon as they had enough money they would come to visit their daughter and see the land they had always dreamed of.

The Hebrew University was just one year old.  The framework of study had not yet been set up so that when one learned, for instance, literature, one learned it from start to finish, not two lectures a week.  Then when you finished literature you studied history, from start to finish and so on. The was no differentiation of faculties. Everyone learned together.  The Professors had excellent relationships with the small number of students who attended the fledgling University.  Not only were there no faculties, there was only one place to teach….on the stage of the hall.  The teacher would bring a few chairs and those who had no chairs would sit on the floor to listen to the lectures.

On the first day of the semester the class would be full, slowly dwindling to just a few serious students.  Most of the “students” had used the University as a way to get permits to come to Israel and then dropped out of the classes.

In order to keep body and soul together during the time that Alla was studying in Jerusalem, she took all sorts of part-time jobs.  One job was to teach Yiddish, a hurriedly learned Yiddish, to young children.  Sometimes they paid and sometimes they didn’t.  One family that didn’t pay lived in the centre of town in a fine, luxurious villa, on the site where the Orion cinema later stood. Despite the fine home and apparent affluence she never paid the poor student for the lessons her children received.  Later, tired of having to take external jobs, Alla and her student friends rebelled against the hiring of external cleaning staff for the university and appealed for the jobs themselves.  A tall handsome man called Goldman was responsible for the cleaning of the university, and he didn’t want the students to work at such menial tasks but the students union fought him and won several cleaning jobs.  At first Alla didn’t want to take the much sought after jobs, since she held a post on the student council, but later she worked from 6 am till 9 am when the girls changed their position from cleaning ladies to students and went to their classes. The girls found a small room, basically a broom cupboard, in which to change into their student clothes and leave their work clothes, until one day Professor Theodore discovered the girls little secret!   He walked in on a group of girls in various stages of undress, and both shocked and flummoxed he created a huge fuss and they lost their dressing room. 

For three months Alla cleaned in the department of Professor Moshe Weitzman, brother of Chaim Weitzman, uncle of President Weitzman. The Professor used to solve one of Allas biggest problems.  Each morning Professor Weitzman would arrive early to come to the aid of this young woman who never quite mastered the art of lighting the heater. He would light the heaters and kept it a secret so that she would not be discovered and lose the job which enabled her to pay tuition and eat. 

THE MEETING

1938

Alla was a student at the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus.  She lived with Nellie, who she had befriended when they came together on the boat from Poland.  Later they shared their digs with another friend Miriam and with Dvora Wolenski.  Dvora was a very serious student.  While Alla used to go out visiting Dvora would stay in her room to study.  Often when Alla would return from her visits, at eleven o’clock at night, Dvora would be asleep.  Alla used to pull her from her bed and take her out to drink coffee. 

Rachel Friedman, a friend of both Kalman and Alla, arrived at Kalmans home in Jerusalem and suggested that he go with her, she had someone she wanted him to meet, and he went.  He arrived at Maonot Ovdim “aleph” in Rehavia and was introduced to a young lady called Alla Hendler. Alla made a beautiful but simple evening meal for the friends, a meal that appealed to the young policeman! He said that if she knew how to cook then he was interested!!!  Alla in turn was very impressed by the handsome young man in his smart police uniform. The honour of being a Jewish policeman at the time of the British Mandate, of performing a very important role in the founding of the Jewish State made a lasting impression on this serious young woman. 

This chance meeting turned into a deep friendship whereby Kalman became a regular visitor to the girls’ home. However after one short year, under threat of his life from the Arabs in the Old City, Kalman was on his way to Poland to escape death.

Upon Kalmans return, he met an old friend of his from his schooldays in Bialistock.  Yosef Appelbaum told Kalman of a young woman he had met in Poland and with whom he had travelled on the boat to Israel. This young woman was a relation by marriage to Yosef. When he introduced Kalman to this young woman it was none other than Alla Hendler, his friend from the past.  They dated throughout September and October then in November decided to get married.  When Alla told Chanele Hendler, Chanele told the happy couple that the wedding would be in her home in the Habima district of Tel Aviv. Frug 29.  

They travelled to Tel Aviv for the wedding.  On the way Alla suddenly realised that she had a small hole in her dress and hurriedly repaired it.  Chanele Hendler and Zvi Friedlands baby daughter Dalia was the flower girl at the wedding throwing petals before the bride and groom as they walked to the chuppa on the roof in the Tel Aviv sunshine.  Mayor Krinitsi, the man who had brought Kalman to Israel was a guest of honour; the Rav of Petah Tikva, a relative of the Belzer Rebbe who was a close friend of the Rav Zvi Ribak, married Kalman and Alla; Mussia and Leon, first cousins of Golda; Yosef Appelbaum, Rachel Friedman; many actors from Habima in addition to Chaneleh and Zvi Friedland and Amitai; in fact a fine party.  

Suddenly Alla noticed five religious Jews, with big black hats and gowns, enjoying the feast that had been laid out.  

“Are those from your family” she asked her bridegroom?  

“No” he responded “I thought they were yours!!” 

The two went to ask Chaneleh if they were her guests, the answer was no!!!.  They had come to the wedding to ask for money and stayed to enjoy the feast!!!

Yosef Applebaum was so happy that his ruse to bring the young couple together had worked so beautifully that he became so drunk with joy and celebratory wine that they had to take him home!

AFTER MARRIAGE

Alla was working as the school secretary at Bet Sefer Sokolov in Jerusalem when the headmaster, Mr Fitter, in whose family home she had lived as a student, came to Alla and asked her to become a teacher in his school. He had watched her each morning when she would arrive at eight o’clock, despite the fact that school did not begin until nine o’clock so that she could watch over the children who would arrive early. She would watch over the grade one children to make sure they behaved well and were safe in the schoolyard. He had observed the way, as she walked through the corridors she would stop if she saw a child crying outside the classroom door.  She would quietly open the door and let the child back in to the lesson.  When the teachers would ask the children who let them back into class, they would respond “The headmistress”, little knowing she was just the secretary!

 Alla asked Headmaster Fitter what subjects and which grades she would be expected to teach, he responded “Nature and Mathematics to grades 5, 6, 7 and 8”.  Alla was astonished. She was still a student and was studying for university examinations, more importantly, she had never taught in a school in her life and even more seriously, had never studied the subjects in question.  When Alla recounted her doubts the headmaster simply expressed his confidence in her ability to cope. So, each evening, Alla would sit until the early hours of the morning learning the topics she would need to teach to her students the next day.  She was never the type of teacher who bored her students by pointing to a flower and telling the children its name, she wanted the children in her charge to know all the botanical aspects of how the flower grew, where it grew and why. Simultaneously Alla completed her studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

It was hard for the young couple when Kalman, in addition to being a policeman, joined the very first class of the Wingate Academy for teachers of Physical Training.  He worked at night for the Mandate Police, recording their daily log in his fine hand while making copies for the Hagana, then exhausted from lack of sleep he would study at Wingate all day.  The now famous Wingate Institute had not yet been established so the students would go from school to school, wherever there was a gymnasium or field to play on.  He managed to get home maybe once a week using his rights as a Mandate policeman to travel without paying.  He later became the course secretary and received the princely sum of one lire each month which was a nice complementary earning to his policeman’s salary.  Life was particularly lonely for Alla. She was in Jerusalem, pregnant and working hard so that they could maintain their home.  

The birth was a long and difficult and particularly scary for this young woman so alone with no family nearby, but on March 19^th 1945 a son was born to Kalman and Alla Ribak.  The joy of the birth their first son, and all he represented, a son of their beloved homeland and a future for those who thought there wasn’t one, was overwhelming.  It brought back their homesickness for their families yet emphasised their relief at having survived to reach this day, and the continuance of their family names. They called him Zvi, after Rabbi Zvi Ribak, Kalmans beloved father.

Kalman laughed when he saw his large baby, who weighed in at 3.950 kilogrammes, dark and crumpled from the birth. Both parents were relieved when he grew into the beautiful child that he would continue to be. Both Kalman and Alla adored their first born who represented “Tikva” hope for the future.

When they brought the baby home, the young couple managed to scrape together enough money for a nurse to come and help Alla in the first nine or ten days after the birth.  She had no-one to come and explain to her how to care for their precious new baby. 

At that time the Ribaks lived in a single room in a building together with many other families.  They both worked in the mornings and sometimes they had to leave the baby in the hearing of neighbours until the nanny, Victoria would arrive.  Victoria was a nanny with a full diploma. She would arrive at seven forty five and leave the moment that Alla walked in the door.  Since money was very tight and they had none to spare Alla always arrived on time, so that they would not have to pay her an extra hour. During the day Victoria would to take Zvi to play on the field near the school where Alla worked. She loved to show him off; she loved her little charge very much.  She would dress him up like a little prince, always immaculate always neat.

Because the family moved around a lot, from apartment to apartment, Zvi changed kindergarten many times in his early childhood, but that was the only difficulty he faced.  His parents took great care to shield him from the poverty that they endured.  He needed for nothing.  That is he needed for nothing tangible.  Zvi grew up without family.  No grandparents, no uncles or aunts, no cousins, no family.  The Shoah had stolen his birthright.  The little boy would come home from school filled with sadness whenever his friends had a birthday because on his birthday he only had one present while they had many, from all their family.  He was never able to understand where everyone had gone.  He felt very lonely.

In addition to being teacher Alla continued her studies despite teaching and motherhood. When Zvi was just three years old he was unwell and had to stay home from kindergarten, so Alla wrote her Masters thesis with the sickly child on her arm.

Zvi went to the kindergarten at Bet HaBriut Strauss and one day, when he was aged three, Alla was walking him home through a little alleyway and they were talking about germs and the dangers of germs and infection.  A man was walking ahead of them but turned around in interest when he heard the conversation.  He called out in amazement when he saw the age of her partner in the discussion.

The advance from teacher to headmistress took place because of Kalmans confidence in his wife’s abilities.  There was an open competition for the position of head teacher of the school.  Alla, too busy with her vocation, never considered putting her name forward but on the last day, at the last moment, Kalman took Alla by the hand, like a small child and put her name forward. Eleven highly qualified people put their names forward for the position but Alla was chosen.

Alla was working as the school secretary at Bet Sefer Sokolov when one day the headmaster, Mr Fitter, in whose family home she had lived as a student, asked Alla to become a teacher in his school. He had watched her each morning when the children would arrive at eight o’clock and school didn’t begin until nine o’clock so Alla would watch over the grade one children to make sure they behaved. He had watched the way, as she walked through the corridors she would find a child crying outside the classroom door.  She would quietly open the door and let the child back in to learn.  When the teachers would ask the children who let them in, they would respond “the headmistress”, little knowing she was just the secretary!

 When Alla asked Headmaster Fitter what subjects and which grades she would be expected to teach he answered “Nature and Mathematics to grades 5, 6, 7 and 8”.  Alla was astonished. She was still a student and had to study for examinations, more importantly, she had never taught before and had never even studied the subjects in question.  When Alla recounted all the problems the headmaster simply expressed his confidence in her ability to cope. So, each evening, Alla would sit and learn, until two in the morning, what she would need to teach to her students the next day.  She never wanted to be the type of teacher that simply pointed to a flower and gave its name, she wanted the children in her charge to know all the aspects of how the flower grew and where it grew and why. During this time Alla completed her B.A. studies at the University.

The young couple went through a very difficult period when Kalman, in addition to being a policeman, joined the very first class of the Wingate Academy for teachers of Physical Training.  He would work at night for the Mandate Police, recording their daily log in his fine hand and spying for the Hagana, then exhausted from lack of sleep he would study all day.  Since the Wingate Institute had not yet been built the students would go from school to school, wherever there was a gymnasium or field to play on.  He managed to get home maybe once a week using his right as a policeman to travel without paying.  He later became the course secretary and received the princely sum of one lire each month.  Life was particularly lonely for Alla who was pregnant and working to keep fed.  

The birth was a long and difficult for this young woman so alone.  The young couple managed to scrape together enough money for a nurse to come and help Alla in the first nine or ten days after the birth.  To explain to her how to care for the new baby.

The joy of the birth their first son, and all it represented to them, a son of their beloved homeland, was overwhelming.  It brought back their homesickness for their families, their relief at having survived to reach this day and the continuance of their family names.

Kalman laughed when he saw his large baby, who weighed in at 3.950 kilogrammes, so dark and crumpled from the birth. Both were relieved when he became the beautiful child that he would continue to be. Both Kalman and Alla adored their first born who represented so much hope for the future.  They called him Zvi, after Rabbi Zvi Ribak, Kalmans beloved father.

At that time the Ribaks lived in a room in a house with many other families.  They both worked in the mornings and sometimes they had to leave the baby in the hearing of the neighbours until the nanny, Victoria would arrive.  Victoria was a nanny with a full diploma. She would arrive at seven forty five and leave the moment that Alla walked in the door.  Because they had no money to spare Alla always arrived on time, no matter what, so that they would not have to pay her an extra hour. Victoria used to take Zvi to play on the field near the school where Alla worked. She loved to show him off; she loved her charge very much.  She would dress him up like a little prince, always immaculate always neat.

Because the family moved around a lot, from apartment to apartment, Zvi changed kindergarten many times in his early childhood, but that was the only difficulty he faced.  His parents took great care to shield him from the poverty that they endured.  He needed for nothing.  That is he needed for nothing tangible.  Zvi grew up without family.  No grandparents, no uncles or aunts, no cousins, no family.  The Shoah had stolen his birthright.  The little boy would come home from school filled with sadness whenever his friends had a birthday because on his birthday he only had one present while they had many, from all their family.  He was never able to understand where everyone had gone.  He felt very lonely.

In addition to being teacher Alla continued her studies and when Zvi was just three years old, he was not well and stayed home from kindergarten, she wrote her Masters thesis with the sickly child on her arm.

Zvi went to the kindergarten at Bet HaBriut Strauss and when, aged three,  Alla was walking him home down a little alley they were talking about germs and the dangers of germs.  A man walking ahead of them turned around when he heard the conversation.  He called out in amazement when he saw the age of her partner in the discussion.

The change from teacher to headmistress took place because of Kalman.  There was an open competition for the position of head teacher of the school.  Alla never thought to put her name forward but on the last day, at the last moment, Kalman took Alla by the hand, like a small child and put her name forward. She was one of eleven competitors for the position. She won.