On November 30, the day after the Arab countries refused partition, 850,000 Jews were expelled from the Arab countries and Iran   in the wake of the establishment of the State of Israel..  So this day is also known as Yom Plitim (Jewish Refugee Day). Many of them came to Israel, many chose more fruitful countries.  And for many years I didn’t pay attention to my friends who were born in Cairo or Tunis or towns in Libya. 

Only today did I think of a woman who worked for me for almost six years from Libya,  quite mad.    Her name was Nachama – or at least that was the name given to her in Israel.  Married off at fourteen to a man she despised, she bore a few children before the long walk to Israel, and a few after.  She used to pour vinager on her head before she started work because it cleared her mind, and it was clear she was erasing her past in order to face her degrading present.

It is amazing how the 850000 who came here overcame their exile, one way or another.