Photo of the S.African Fed, 109 Hayarkon St. Tel Aviv, 1954.
Adele Aronson (Rubin); back row, third from left.
Chana Eidelman; back row, second from right.
Leo Caminski (Camron) – far right.
Sam & Harriett + 2 children; Right side front & back rows.
During the years from 2000 to 2007 three people whom I met in the 50s passed away:
Sam Levin, Abraham Eidelman and Leo Camron.
In 1954 I was working at the South African Federation on Hayarkon Street and was privileged to have Sam Levin as my boss. I shall never forget his combination of kindness to the individual and his widely open approach to his job in helping not only South African olim but also all English speaking olim. His wife Harriet, now at Beth Protea Herzliya, was a worthy helpmate.
Out of all his many acts of personal kindness I would like to mention how Sam organized a bus to bring guests to my wedding in Jerusalem in December 1954, although due to flooding on the road to Jerusalem regretfully this had to be cancelled.
Every South African tourist or settler came to the federation and Channa Eidelman was the face and voice of the federation – friendly, helpful and always smiling. I remember Sam saying that the person who greets the newcomers and answers the phone has the most important job of all.
Her husband, Prof. Abraham Eidelman passed away recently. He was born in Kovno in 1929 and lived in South Africa from the age of five. He always knew he would come to Israel and after he graduated as a doctor and married Channa Gules they came on aliya in 1952. He worked as a young doctor and became head of the Assaf Harofeh urology department. A brilliant diagnostician, a caring doctor and a talented teacher, he was always accessible as I personally experienced.
I was reading the ‘In Memoriam to Leo Camron’ in the recent Telfed magazine and that brought on this bout of nostalgia. Hazel, his wife, told me how Leo, who came to Israel with Machal in 1948, left her with two children and one on the way. He had served in the South African Army during the World War II. The family came on aliya in 1951. A few years later, around 1957, I met Hazel on a bus and told her that I was not working. I had a small baby and no family. She advised me to try to get a job at a language school and so I did, teaching in the evenings while my husband babysat, and that kept me busy for the next 20 years.
And now comes the Esra connection. In 1984 Hazel and Leo Camron, both English teachers, were living in Ramat Hasharon. When Hazel, who was an inspector of English for the Ministry of Education, retired she started being active in Esra, organizing lectures at Beit Malinov where Leo taught English as a volunteer. Leo was also a volunteer in sports organizations – rugby, cricket and bowls as well as in road accident prevention.
They retired to Protea Village where Hazel still resides.
These are the three South African families I met who touched my life and made my aliya easier.