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Hi, my name is Nitzana Ballehsen.
Today I am interviewing Eliyahu Baruch of the Old City.
It's July 27th, 2011 and we're next to his house.
Yaron Weinstein behind the camera, Eli Targon on sound.
Anat Adler-Tal is the producer
and with us today is his daughter, I think her name is Sarah.
Just a minute. When... What I...
I used to live here.
Where did I live? Right here. Where the Getz Family lived.
I just want to add that,
with us today are Tali and Noam Baruch.
Tali is the daughter-in-law and Noam is the granddaughter.
Wait... Now, just the film.
Eli? We're ready.
There were steps here.
Can you see that it's high?
It was up to here and we'd go down the steps.
Were you already in the house?
I was, right after the war. -And since then.
Not since then.
A bit afterwards, when Rabbi Getz lived here.
How did you feel when you visited it back then?
I felt my childhood, like I'll feel it now, I'm sure.
Perhaps even more.
Because not much can change here.
Every wall is... very thick.
I'm just going in to fix the cable.
What does it say? -Rabbi Getz's House.
But this is Rabbi Baruch's house, not... and Cohen.
But okay, not...
Hello. -Hello. I'm not starring in a film.
So please move away from the door
because we can see you. -Hello. -Hello.
Yes, Anat.
I'll go up and you'll follow, right?
I'm leaving the door open. -Thank you.
Can you just move a bit and open it again?
Don't close it completely.
Don't open it. Wait. -Welcome.
Well, I can already see that...
first of all, this was not here. This was open
and there was a cistern here.
This is the downstairs entrance
to the synagogue's restrooms and geniza, on the right.
So they made changes here.
But the steps are the same. Different, but in the same place.
There was a small lamp here.
Last time I was here, I still saw the holes and wires here.
The last time, not the last time, a few months after the war,
Rabbi Getz had already arrived so it was still...
When you say lamp, what kind of lamp was it?
A small light bulb, a 6-volt light bulb, very small.
Like a marble.
This was the entrance to the roof of Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue.
These steps and the entrance is there.
What did you do there? On the roof?
That's the roof of the synagogue.
It's like... not a yard, but we were free to walk there.
There were plants all the way in. -Plants?
Perhaps we should talk there, where you can see it.
Okay.
Let's let everyone through.
The camera, here, I'll let you by.
This is the same as it was. -Wait a second, hold on.
This is exactly the same. -Wait, before you begin.
What were you saying? -Can you come from the door?
Go ahead.
This is the same as it was.
This is our room. Most of the family was here.
Here.
Here, this is the closet.
And this is our pantry.
We always had a sack of flour, a sack of rice
and a small sack of sugar.
Here, in this curve, there were doors.
Remember? I told you that we saw the clock from here.
So there was a sofa here
and when you go upstairs,
you can see the Dormition Clock, -Can you see it?
There was some construction so you can't really see it.
Perhaps if we were higher up we could see it.
Now they built something.
In Niger, where the cheeses are. The Christians, Armenians.
We had a sofa here.
Here, this arch.
Here, they opened this. There, with that room...
This was closed.
This was closed.
This is where my parents' bed was
and we, the three brothers, slept in this area.
This dome fell when I was 6
so my father always said, "You were asleep there, in the bed."
There was an earthquake.
It fell during the earthquake and I slept here.
Was anyone here? -No, my brothers weren't here.
I was, when I was little, I was here.
This was the room.
It looks much smaller now than it did then,
there was nothing.
It used to be big.
So what was there? What do you mean "nothing"?
Nothing, there were...
two beds, this was closed.
Up to where? Show us.
This was closed.
And that was... My grandparents lived here too.
They went in from there. This was closed.
This was closed. A bed here and a bed here.
And where did you sleep? The children?
The girls slept over there, I'll show you.
Near the kitchen and beyond it.
All the way to the end, to the window that I showed you.
So... we were...
Three girls, five boys.
Brothers and sisters couldn't be together.
So the older girls lived over there,
the three of us, the three brothers lived here
with the two little girls.
Where did you eat?
Eat? In that room.
That was the kitchen and that's where we ate.
Where did you do your homework?
This is where everyone did their homework
and we were happy on top of it all.
We did our homework here, we ate here, everything.
Is there anything you want to tell your daughter,
daughter-in-law or granddaughter?
You can just go down there, show us. -Just show them something?
We didn't have a clock in the house. Just in that room.
But from here, I can't see from here,
because it was higher, this arch is not the same.
Over there, that's the Dormition (Church) Clock.
You can't see it, I didn't see it,
but they probably built something, the Armenians over there.
The structure is exactly as it was, the windows...
the windows, the arches, that can't be changed.
The wall is very thick.
It was the same,
but the windows were wood. Now it's built.
Is this the room you slept in? -Yes.
All 3 of us, three brothers and the two sisters - Rivka and Pnina.
Where was the floor that you played marbles on?
Here, here we had... here.
Here, it looked big then because there was nothing here.
What was it tiled with?
Stepping stones, like...
He told us that he was the neighborhood's marble champ
and this was the practice yard.
This is where we three brothers would practice.
So what does that mean?
Look, I described it as a huge room.
But now, it's become a kitchen
so it's completely different.
So it looks small.
But the closet is in the same spot. they couldn't change it
because it's in a niche.
And we always had a sack of flour,
a sack of rice and sugar.
This closet had two doors.
And the candy that Mother would hide.
Where was your "refrigerator"? -We didn't have one.
We never had a refrigerator.
Toward the end,
we bought an icebox.
The Arabs would come around to sell ice.
We'll go in in a minute.
What did you mean when you said refrigerator?
He told us about cooling methods in the past.
There was no refrigerator. -No refrigerator.
They were cooling experts.
What did they do?
There's a closet there, I'll show it to you.
Behind it was a net and wind came through it.
That's not something you can rely on,
but the method was
to get the food, cook it, eat it and that's it.
It didn't keep for another day.
You started talking about the floor. What did you have here?
The flooring was small stones.
I mean, it wasn't straight. Each stone stood on its own.
About this size.
There were cracks around each one.
There are streets, I don't know if they're around here,
but streets that are paved like that.
When we were just abroad,
I saw streets that are paved like that
to remind everyone of the past.
The paving of the past.
I'd really like to hear more about the world champion...
the Quarter Marble Champion.
First of all, tell us a little bit about the game.
Marbles are round glass balls, little marbles
and we used them to play.
Tossing them, I could go 4-5 meters and make it.
What do you mean, did you stand? How did the game go?
You'd sit down.
Tell me as if I don't know, how to play marbles.
We played marbles over there in the field
because that's where...
But here, all three of us woke up
and what could we do? Instead of fighting
we'd compete who can shoot best. Each marble is sunken.
You had to lift your hand up and shoot downward.
This is very smooth. It wasn't like this.
What do you mean "sunken"? I don't understand.
The stones are like this: a stone here and a stone there,
in between is a crack, some cement
but the marble is still covered on both sides
and that's the... art of shooting marbles.
So how did you do it?
Show me as if you're playing now.
You put your hand on the ground, you lift
and then you have height.
Sometimes we'd shoot from this height too.
Wherever we could and we hit it.
And you sat on the ground?
Yes, on the ground, all the time.
Everyone was on the ground.
Whoever played... You have to bend, with your legs.
So what were the competitions like?
Competitions? Whoever hits the marble takes it.
The opponent is left without and he has to buy marbles.
That's the competition. -So what did you do?
I told you, we bought them. There were two methods...
One of throwing the marble like this.
The marbles were a bit bigger.
The other method is catching the marble from a distance
and it hits.
The better expert wins more marbles.
Those were our regular games.
We also played ball, in the courtyard.
One of us threw the ball to the other who was standing
and he kicked, I mean, punched the ball
as far as possible and then ran around the courtyard
and got back before the ball.
We called that "Hakafa" ball.
So let's...
Is there anything else you want to say about this room?
Where did you put your clothes?
We had... -And your games.
We had a closet here. Where the refrigerator was.
A closet with... The door was a mirror.
One door, that was the only closet.
Other than that, we slept on mattresses on the floor.
I told you, there were two beds.
All of the mattresses were piled on one bed
and at night, we each took our mattress
put it somewhere and went to sleep.
It didn't feel crowded at all, really.
What about your games?
What games? We played outside.
This was just...
this is the courtyard where my uncle
used to practice reading the weekly Torah portion in the synagogue
and we'd sleep here and hear him
practicing it.
So let's see where.
This is also where we built the Succah.
This is where we built the Succah.
In this small rectangle.
That was my grandmother's kitchen, across the way.
Just a second.
Usually, every Friday, grandmothers give out sweets.
Every Friday, grandmothers give out candy and chocolate.
Every Friday, our grandmother gave each of us a cooked egg.
Why?
Because my grandfather had a chicken and egg store.
That's what she gave us, each grandchild.
If anyone dropped an egg, she'd give him another.
So my grandmother was here. -Let's see.
This was exactly the same. -Like this? -Yes.
This, they said that... -What was this?
Access to the cistern,
but we thought that... this was pretty deep.
Yes, yes, pretty deep.
We told you, the toilets were downstairs
so we wanted to... but we couldn't.
We haven't yet found the expert to do it.
Now there are changes here.
There were steps here, up to the roof.
Grandma wouldn't let us go up on the roof.
Firstly, because it was dangerous, the fence was rickety.
Secondly, there were stones here, not marble, and there were spaces.
Each stone was next to another and there was concrete in between.
When there were cracks, Grandma would come up
with a box of concrete
and she'd seal the cracks
to prevent moisture in the winter.
Here, this was our kitchen.
Hi, there's Menashe Penso. -Hello.
How did you know we were here? -I guessed.
But I knew you were being filmed today. -Really?
Yes, I knew it
and I happened to sit down to have some juice
and I met the girls.
This is my second daughter.
Hello. -And this is my grandson.
Roni's here too.
Okay, did you show them the house? I'm going to meet the gang.
Let's go. -Who's the gang? Them? You?
We'll be with you in a minute. -15 minutes.
Good luck. -Thank you. -All the best.
Before you leave, Menashe.
Before you go, is there something... How do you know Eli?
We've known each other since we were born.
What does that mean? -What kind of a question is that?
We've known each other forever. -Forever.
We went to the same school, the same kindergarten,
the same unit in the Hagana
and the same POW camp, we did it all together.
First in combat, before prison. -Yes, of course.
The same unit.
Everything together? We saw you both separately,
but what do you have to say together
about growing up here in the Old City?
We mention it all the time, it was a great experience.
Don't touch, it makes noise.
The experience of growing up here is with us our entire lives.
He knew my parents, my mother
and I knew his parents very well
because when I'd go, they'd take me in immediately.
I have material about those days.
The hard times that we had here.
We'll see... -Do you know this? Really?
Oh, nice. -What is that?
It's a book.
John Phillips was a journalist.
He took pictures from the other side,
all of the combat in the Quarter.
We only learned later
about the photographs that he took.
This is part of the surrender, surrender to the Arabs.
I told you that I wasn't in these pictures
because I was taken alone since I had bullets in my pocket.
I was taken to Kishle alone.
That's why I'm not in these photos.
Let's not talk about it because we'll do it with you.
I want to... don't put it in, it makes noise.
Put it aside.
Before you leave, can you tell us something
about your friendship?
What it was like? A friendship of two people who lived...
A friendship of two brothers. We were together like brothers.
I ate at his house and he ate at mine.
We played the same games together
and we joined the same clubs.
once it was Zion Mount Youth Club, then in was...
It's the same thing. -Bnei Akiva.
We were with the Revisionists for a while too, remember?
Yes, all kinds. Yes.
Bnei Akiva was run by the students,
I told you, they came and taught us.
Do you remember the big maps?
Moving the... flags to occupied territories?
We lived through... -We were together.
a pretty nice period together.
That's what I have to say.
So we'll see you soon. -Fine.
Do you have water?
I had juice a while ago. It was very good.
Let me explain about this place.
I want to keep the flavor of the juice.
Okay, I'm going downstairs.
All the best, see you later. Where? The same place?
The place we talked about?
Listen, I have something to say. -Wait, wait.
I spoke with...
Just a second, wait for us. We'll do it all together.
This room, I told you, my uncle lived on this side.
There was a door here and it belonged to us.
It wasn't Grandma's anymore.
This was a corridor and this was our kitchen.
All of this was a wall.
This was my uncle's room. He'd come into his room from here.
That's what I told you, but I see it's different.
This window, I showed it to you
from downstairs, when we went to the square,
the four synagogues' courtyard.
There was a bed here and another bed here.
My three sisters slept here.
Actually my five sisters, the little ones
would move around, here and there.
The older ones are... 90.
What did you say? -My oldest sister is 90.
Unfortunately, she's very sick.
Two sisters lived here
and this was the kitchen and I even put in
a sink and counter.
When I started working as an electrician,
an electrician's apprentice,
I saw things
and knew that something should be done
so I put in a regular sink and a counter,
but without running water.
We said we'd look for that later.
But how did you know? Did people have running water?
No one I know had running water.
Everyone here... This was much bigger.
And this corner, perhaps here,
we had a big pot,
just like.. the Thief of Bagdad,
with a wooden lid.
This is where we got our drinking water.
It was our source, our faucet.
There was no faucet.
When you say Baghdad, what do you mean?
There was a "zir" here, like a big pot.
Big urns
that kept the water a bit cooler than this.
So why did you want to put in a sink?
Because we didn't have a sink.
We had a table, covered with tin,
and with a small pipe and a bucket below
we'd do the dishes and the water spilled into the bucket.
But no matter what you do,
the wood gets wet and it smells.
So we said that it was time.
The first thing I did as a grownup was put in electricity
because I was an electrician's apprentice.
I even put a lamp by the stairs so we wouldn't walk in the dark.
Because we walked down the steps.
But the girls? Go do, go get...
It's dark! We can't.
So I put in light.
I put in a sink and counter, from here to here.
Do you have anything else to tell us about this house?
That's it, from here...
this is the window that you see from here,
and if you notice,
that's exactly what we saw.
If you move it, you can see the dry palm leaves.
You can see them from here. So that's it...
Just look. -Look out.
There are the palm leaves, you can see them from here.
Can you see the palm branches that I showed you?
I showed you, that's our window.
Should I open it for you?
Yes.
Can you see anything?
If you try, you can.
I mean, if you look down, go ahead.
Look, you can see it, but... Should I open the window?
Here...
Just a second, let us fix it and you'll tell me about it.
Did you see the palm trees? -What?
Did you see palm trees? I can't see them.
Go a bit over there. I saw them.
Down here? -Yes, open the window.
They're fallen, crushed. -Yes, yes... dry.
But that's where we went out.
We had pigeons here. -Wait, we didn't hear you.
We raised pigeons here. -Wait, say that again.
We raised pigeons in this courtyard.
This was much deeper than it looks.
The pigeons were so used to us, I have pictures with them,
that if I'd call them, they'd come to me.
And when we needed something,
these bars weren't here. There was a window.
They'd come and call my mother.
She'd open the window and they'd go with her,
she'd sit in the yard with the pigeons around her
and when someone came by, we'd chase him away.
They'd go up and back here.
What do you mean, raised pigeons? What did you do?
As kids, we liked to raise pigeons, chickens.
Firstly, every Yom Kippur there's a tradition
that every man has a rooster, for Kaparot.
They say "rooster kapara."
Roosters are for men, chicken for women.
And what did you do?
On Yom Kippur eve, we'd say a blessing.
"This is your exchange, this is your substitute
"This chicken shall go to death
"and you shall proceed to a good long life and to peace."
That's the blessing.
For everyone, on Yom Kippur.
Today it's done with money and it's given to the poor.
I know, but I don't get it. How's the rooster involved?
You take the rooster and...? -You?
There's the rooster that you raised. What happens to it?
It's slaughtered for Yom Kippur.
First the blessing.
Every member of the family
has a rooster or hen and it's slaughtered.
That's a Yom Kippur custom
where God forgives us for all of our sins.
That's what we slaughter it for
and we don't eat the rooster,
we give it to the poor.
We gave it out to the poor.
Now they do it with 18 shekels too,
it does the same thing.
So whoever wants to, whoever believes.
So we believed, not in 18 shekels, in the rooster.
We'd prepare the roosters before Yom Kippur.
And where were they grown? Here.
Look, over here.
There were steps here, to the roof.
At the steps, there was an arch,
this is where we went upstairs.
There was a door here and the chickens were here.
We bought them one month before Yom Kippur.
Our uncle was a cantor
and his father was a rabbi.
They would do the Kaparot, slaughter, for us
and they gave it to poor people they knew.
The writing on the back, was it there before?
It was just like that.
We had a door and a small storeroom.
But it's exactly the same.
What was that writing?
They said, we only heard what the elders said,
that there was an opening down here.
What happened here
is that they closed the unpleasant places.
Well, it's their right. They have to live properly.
So downstairs, everything is closed.
But down there, it was like a hall
and that's where the disabled lady lived.
And there were more, women would come there
for the women's section.
They came to hear the prayers in the little synagogue.
This is where it was.
The women sat here.
They wouldn't come here in the dark.
But the girls, Grandma, they sometimes went down.
And what was this writing? Do you know?
This writing, I'll tell you the truth.
It's authentic.
But I don't remember how it went as a kid,
because it was covered with plaster,
but it was there. It was all there.
It was all like that. -What did you do with it?
Nothing, this was a closet.
This was a closet and we had a storeroom to put stuff in.
And the writing... -And the Succah was here.
For our grandparents too.
For 7 years, my grandmother sat at this corner
and she saw everything.
Ah, Bat Sheva? -Bat Sheva.
I have a question. Why are you all here today?
I was never here.
I just saw it from the outside.
I knew where it was because of the stories,
but I was never here.
Why did you want to come?
Excitement. Whenever he said that he was in the Old City...
do you know how many times we wrote about the house
and sketched it for them?
These are stories that we've carried for many years.
They've been in this house for over 25 years.
Our children grew up on these stories
that we hear all the time.
We have the sketch in our minds.
And now that you're here for the first time,
what do you think of what you've seen?
Based on what you've heard all those years.
We're trying to fit the stories to the place.
It fits, it does.
It fits and it's touching. -Why?
Because it's his childhood, he grew up here.
This was my grandmother's kitchen. Right here, all this.
What was this? -My grandmother's kitchen.
Is that where she made the eggs? -Yes, yes.
What else? What else did she cook?
Wait... this way...
On Pessach, we'd have low tables
along this room, all the way to the end
and we all sat on both sides
and at the end, there may not have been room
so we made a little room, we moved to the right.
But it was in this room,
my grandparents' room.
My two aunts lived here.
Two aunts, I may not have mentioned them.
They worked, they were teachers
in the English school
next to David's Tower.
As we came here, I told you, my sisters went here.
Anyway, I told them today.
My sisters studied here.
All my sisters studied there, they all speak English.
Which school was it? What was it called?
Christ Church Girls' School.
They came to ask permission from my grandfather.
After all, he was a local rabbi.
They asked him to allow his daughters to teach Hebrew there
Firstly, so that people don't say
that Jews go to that school and they want to convert them.
So the rabbi's two daughters
taught there
and they made sure that no one said a word.
We all lived with the atmosphere of that school
because they always sang all kinds of songs in English
and we knew the songs from my sisters
who sang them at school.
That's... my grandmother.
My aunts lived here, the teachers.
In the morning, they went to school with my 4 sisters.
Where did you eat dinner?
Oh, dinner...
Do you think it's like it is today? Dinner and breakfast?
Everyone grabs something and you sit...
This was the kitchen.
This was also our room.
This wasn't here.
My grandmother said this was too big for her.
So one of her sons lived there.
He's still alive.
He's 93 years old. -What's his name?
Yossef Cohen. The Cohen family.
Yossef Cohen.
He's in a retirement home in Kfar Saba.
I call him every once in a while
and I'll tell him all about this.
Did the family ever eat together? On Sabbath?
Succot. -When? -Succot.
Can you please answer with a full sentence?
During Succot, it seems now like...
My wife always said you said it was so big.
When she came here, she said:
"It's like a matchbox, it's not big at all."
To us, the room was huge.
It was empty, so it was huge. It was really big.
And on Sabbath? How did you eat?
On Sabbath we ate there. We had a table inside.
In the middle of this area.
There were beds on both sides and a table in the middle.
That's where we ate together on Sabbath.
Does everyone mean your aunts too, or... -No, no.
It was enough.
We couldn't do it. We were 10 by ourselves.
Did your sisters also go to Christ Church?
Yes, all my sisters. -Full sentence please.
Where did your sisters go to school?
My sisters went to a school that was run by the British.
We remember the names: Miss Clark...
even all of the names.
There was also an Arab, Miss Awadi, she taught Arabic.
There was also a Jew who taught Hebrew
as well as my Hebrew teacher aunts,
and they taught English too because they knew English.
My mother's sisters. Rosa and Soli.
Rosa is a flower and Soli means sun.
Did your sisters
study Judaism too or did they just go there?
Just there.
My sisters only went to school there.
They made up their Hebrew when they grew up.
But... they knew Hebrew because they learned it there,
but English... my sisters are fluent.
My sister studied under the British government
and before the King David Hotel was bombed,
she worked there.
They suspected her that day because she didn't come in
and there was... an explosion.
But she didn't go that day because she had a sore throat.
So she stayed home.
She was lucky to be saved from the explosion.
So what did she think or what did you think
about the campaign against the British government?
What do you mean?
When I first came
to my mother with a gun and a grenade,
there was tension here,
she said, "Oh no..."
because she was more frightened of the British catching me
than of the gun and grenade.
So... of course we were aware.
Because Barazani and another guy were sentenced to death.
They were caught with grenades.
But you said that your sister worked with them.
How does that work? -With the British? -Yes.
They looked for workers who spoke English
and the school, being a British school, said:
"Take graduates from our school,
"Christ Church Girls' School."
But they worked for the British and you were against them.
How did that work at home?
It was... work.
It wasn't... They were separate issues.
Weren't there British nationals who killed the British too?
It's the same thing.
Did you talk about it at home?
Of course. -What did you talk about?
About how she works there and she has to be careful
so the Jews don't suspect her.
We were already debriefed by the institutions,
my sister and whoever worked with her.
They were told to make sure that the Jews
don't suspect that they're cooperating with the British
and the British don't suspect that a terrorist works there.
The Jews got her in.
They were debriefed and trained,
and everything was known.
We have to stop now
unless you have something
that you want to add about the house.
No, this is the house and this is the roof.
I thought there were steps and you'd see a nice view
because you can see the Hurva from here,
what it was like and what it's like now.
It's very nice.
We looked now, there's a big window
and we saw that you can really walk on the roofs.
We had, except for Menashe, Menashe lived nearby.
I had friends who lived beyond the synagogues.
From here, we'd go up to Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue.
From there, through the roofs you went to Karlibach Synagogue.
At the second entrance of Yohanan Ben Zakai.
But where we went in, closer to the parking lot,
we'd go there
and the British were making sure no one was on the streets.
But we'd always go through there.
But they knew, they didn't do anything.
Okay, we'll stop a minute.
Just tell me what I need to change
because I have to go to Menashe because Anat has to go.
So here, he can explain, he said there were plants here.
Film the food, please. Go, you here.
Where's Menashe? Oh, inside.
Okra?
Everyone knew what the other was cooking.
Zucchini...
Do you live here?
Who was Rabbi Getz to you? -My grandfather.
I was here when he was alive.
I was here when he lived here
and he said: Tell me, how can it be?
Such a small house,
and people come, one after the other, and each one says: "I lived here."
So I explained.
There were 10 of us in the family.
With our parents.
Then, my grandfather lived here,
he had 7-8 kids, boys.
And this was their house
until they grew up and left, this was their home.
So every time, someone...
now me, I'm his grandson.
The grandson already has a daughter
and soon they'll have another child
so everyone wants to see where their father lived.
So I said,
be patient. I understand that you have many visitors
but they all lived here.
This is where we lived. We all ate together
and we were all happy.
Here, along here,
this was the... my grandmother's kitchen.
She had...
she cooked without gas or electricity, nothing.
She had a stove with coal.
She'd cook here, behind this door.
Behind that door, over there.
It wasn't a bathroom, it was... a long kitchen.
And the window there was the roof of Istambuli Synagogue.
I bet you know that.
That's it. -Shall we go?
We'll do a few additions and then we'll join you.
Go in, walk around without talking to us.
Look around, imagine the old house.
What was this, tell us. -The air closet.
The air closet, with a net in it.
This was a closet and leftover food,
not raw food or meat, it wouldn't last here,
but cheese, we'd open it here.
This was a namliya, as the Arabs call it.
A small area in the net
that gets air from the outside.
Although the sun came in here in the morning, because it's east.
But the air was good in the evening
and it kept the food pretty fresh.
Can you walk around here? -Yes.
This was closed off and my uncle lived here.
Uncle Yossef Cohen. He worked at the courthouse.
He was a clerk... in the court.
This corner was the kitchen. The counter and sink were here.
This was our kitchen.
This is where we ate and the girls lived over there.
Wait, wait. Walk toward us,
from where the girls lived.
You can go outside.
Thank you.
I thought it was like what you said about the roofs.
Yes.
This is the synagogue,
the dome of the Istambuli Synagogue.
There's the dome.
That's the synagogue's dome.
It's like the dome on Eliyahu Hanavi.
That's the Istambuli dome.
The balcony wasn't like this.
This was like... just the synagogue.
Here, you see, it's like that. -Yes, like that.
You can see...
Here, you can see, that was the Istambuli dome.
It's the same dome as Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue,
that's closed.
What do you mean? Show him. -Here, this way.
He said they walked here.
Is this where you walked? -Yes.
We'd walk here and up there.
There were height differences.
You can see the dome from here.
Yes, come see the dome.
This is the Istambuli Synagogue,
the exact same dome, perhaps in slightly better condition.
Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue on the other side.
Which dome, the one near here? -The closer one.
There were four synagogues down here.
That's the Istambuli - Turkish.
To the right is Emtza'i Synagogue,
and all the way to the right is Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue.
Maybe from the window...
stand at the window, point for each other.
There, that's the Istambuli, for the Turks.
I remember being down there, the exact location.
Yes, the Turks and the Kurds.
That's the synagogue.
When we walk down there, we see the gate.
Gold-plated, it says Istambuli Synagogue.
We can see it too.
Is this where you went to play? -No, no, no.
This was high.
At least as high as it is now.
This was a window and my grandparents' room.
This is where we had the Seder.
Right here, I showed you.
I told you, upstairs are my grandparents.
This is Beit El Street, Beit El Alley
and this is Beit El, the kabalists studied here day and night.
Here, from that room.
He can see the dome of Eliyahu Hanavi,
from here.
You see... yes, just a minute.
And when we went down here,
we were young, we didn't take one step at a time.
Wait, say it again. I didn't hear you.
When we were young, we didn't take one step at a time,
we'd jump down quickly,
we put our arm down and we made it down.
They covered the cistern,
I don't know why. But there was a cistern here.
What did you mean about the plants on the other side?
This was the entrance, you saw it from the room,
did you see the dome?
The dome of Eliyahu Hanavi and this was open.
What did you do with this?
If there was a bit more space where we could walk,,
there were plants
in the synagogue's yard.
What kind of plants?
Bougainvillea, all kinds of...
Herbs and "7-year" plants...
I grew them in the house - "7 year plants".
What do you mean, 7 years.
Bat Sheva. -Bat Sheva.
It's a plant that blooms every 7 years, but it's not true.
It blooms... I think, every year.
It blooms with pretty and scented flowers.
Thank you, thank you.
Before he leaves, we need the microphone.