What follows is a summary of how – with the help of the Soukhnout – we slowly resolved our problems.  It may come across as the end of this section on Israel; but this is certainly not the case; there is so much more to tell.

After more than a year, the JA moved us to Ma’abarat Bat Yam.  Bat Yam (which means Daughter of the Sea) is a city by the seashore.  It is very close to Tel Aviv.  Thereafter, we were finally given an apartment in Ramat Yossef (at the time, a suburb of Bat Yam).

We loved it!  We were finally near the big city, and we had a beautiful beach at our doorstep.

Robert was accepted at a technical school where he learned to be an aviation electrician.  The course was very intensive for he was supposed to learn in one year what would normally be taught in two years.

After graduation, he joined the army and worked in his trade.  Upon his return to civilian life, he went to work for an airline company, El Al.

My father was offered a partnership in a grocery store with an Egyptian immigrant by the name of Goren.  Goren was not disabled in the accepted meaning of that term.  He had no visible disabilities, but his health was very poor.  That alone would not have been enough, except that Goren was still young and had many children.  The whole family would have been a ward of the state if help was not extended.

Goren had nothing that qualified him as a businessman.  Indeed, he had little education and few qualifications.

In the eyes of the Soukhnout, Nessim was the ideal partner.  Thus the business was provided with the necessary permit, a loan, and the advice required to properly run it.

The grocery store was first in Ma’abarat Bat Yam; eventually it closed and reopened in Ramat Yossef.

My father would stay in this partnership for some three years.  Goren was not willing to learn, and was often unable to work.  I will elaborate on that later on.  For the time being, I will just mention that Nessim eventually left the partnership and went to work for a knick knack factory.

My mother found life in Israel very hard.  There was no maid to help her with her chores.  Despite this fact, she kept house and cooked as if we were still in Egypt.

Early in the game, she read us the riot act.  She could use more help around the house.  She also asked us to purchase, as soon as possible, a refrigerator and a washing machine.  We complied with all her requests.

As for me, my years in Israel deserve a book of its own!  Since space does not permit that, I will give you a brief summary for now, and elaborate later on.

To learn Hebrew, I first went to a Kibbutz-Ulpan; and then to a full-time Ulpan.  After I mastered the language of the realm, I did a variety of odd jobs.  Thereafter, I was drafted in the army.  Then more temporary work until eventually, I secured a permanent job in a crown corporation.

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