By:Chaya Leah Kaltmann Leibler Yavneh College
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Bubba’s Story By:Chaya Leah Kaltmann Leibler Yavneh College Bubba’s Story When I visit my Bubba and Zaida they will always ask me if I have had enough to eat. My Bubba and Zaida are the type that fuss over my health and ask questions to ensure that I am doing well at school and am still holding on to my aspirations to become a doctor or a lawyer. My Bubba and Zaida are old. Not old in the way that people fear becoming old, but rather the beautiful kind of old where they are surrounded by their children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren who constantly drop in unannounced for sugary snacks, TV time, a quick hello or just to Schnorer a couple bucks for extras. Not the kind of old where they fear to be alone, their creeping age bracket or the fact that they are living out the twilight of their years. My Bubba and Zaida live in a well-kept house in the heart of the Caulfield Jewish Community. Their windows are always open, their lemon tree is always groaning under the weight of many lemons and their walking sticks lined perfectly at 90 degree angles from the door. It is within walking distance to anything that they need. Many people in the area know the sound of my Zaida’s loud hearty cackle and greet him with a friendly ‘hello’ while children often stop to peer into my Bubba’s well tended garden with her ever blooming pink roses and daisy bushes and to watch the birds in her bird bath. My grandparents have lived here, in Australia, for a long time. My Zaida moved here in the 1950s from Europe after he survived the terrors of 6 concentration camps and lost most of his family to the Nazi regime. My Bubba was born in Australia and grew up in the large and spacious orchards of Shepparton in northern Victoria. My Bubba and Zaida are joyful people, people who have lived a long time and at the same time have aged gracefully together and still look at our world as if it has much goodness to offer. They look at the changing world that exists and are optimistic that it will bring only goodness and excitement for the future and for their grandchildren. My grandparents love to talk about the past and their experiences when they grew up. My Bubba’s family moved here in the late 1920s. Australia was pretty different then, according to the stories that my Bubba has told me. She remembers that over 7 decades ago her families moved to the Jewish community in Shepparton and were welcomed into the community with open arms. She loves talking about her formative years running in the orchards that people in the community owned and the clean crisp country air of Shepparton which was so different to Russia where her mother grew up. In Russia she was told, places like Shepparton didn't exist. With freedom and bountiful free air. My Bubba describes the life that she lived as picturesque and tranquil, particularly when compared to the lives of Jewish people living in Europe. At that time they were being rounded up into camps and deported from their homes. My Bubba loves to talk about growing up in Shepparton. The water was not connected to pipes and she had to go and fetch it from the channel. The work in the orchards that she did was hard manual labor with as many hands working as possible in order to make the work as efficient as possible. My Bubba remembers the Aboriginal families who used to live in Shepparton, near the Jewish community and had friendly relationships with the Jewish people living in the area. My Bubba remembers that one of the Aboriginal children she used to play with in Shepparton over 70 years ago is now a famous Aboriginal elder who has a high rank in the Aboriginal community and often speaks about his experiences growing up. One of the aboriginals that my grandmother speaks about ,get name protest on at the German consulate in Stkilda rd after Krystalnacht. This was one of the few Australian protests against the persecutions of Jews in Germany. My grandmother confidently believes that this lone protest was mainly motivated because of the good experiences that he had working with the Jewish orchardists of Shepperton. When my Bubba talks about her time in Shepparton and growing up in Australia, she always has a smile on her face. Whenever I go over to her house to discuss her childhood and her experiences in Australia she sits me down, makes me a cup of tea with a boiled potato and cheese and then begins her story. “My sweetheart, Shepparton history can’t be told on one foot, one has to sit down and listen properly!” When I went over there to listen to her stories she likes to start from the beginning, the fact her father, my great-grandfather, Zaida Dovid, was from Lithuania and was a chalutz, pioneer in the land of Eretz Yisrael. He was one of the original Zionists who made Aliyah in the 1920s to what was then British Mandate Palestine. Zaida Dovid had always loved the land of Israel and the thought of living in Biblical Israel was so intoxicating to him. So he moved there with a strong desire to cultivate the land and build it from the ground up. He lived in a place in northern Israel called Karkur and helped to drain the malaria infested swamps. My Bubba’s mother, my Nana, was born in Russia, and like my Zaida Dovid was a fervert Zionist. She too moved to the Biblical Land of milk and honey with the intention of being a pioneer who wanted a future Jewish State. My Nana and Zaida Dovid met while they were both pioneers. Their strong love of Eretz Yisrael bound them together. They got engaged and saw that their future clearly in Eretz Yisrael. They their children would be Israelis. However, this was not to be. My Zaida Dovid contracted malaria while still engaged to my Nana and became desperately ill. He had a brother, Phillip, who was living in Australia at that time. He recommended that the air of Australia would be welcome relief for my Zaida Dovids malaria. My Zaida Dovid was also informed that the medical doctors and facilities, which were available for him in Australia, were superior to most places in the world at that time and he could be treated better with a higher chance of success. So, my great-grandparents faced the extremely tough decision to leave their beloved Eretz Yisrael and move to Australia for a new start and a new chance to heal my Zaida Dovid’s malaria. My Zaida Dovid moved to Australia first and took the boat to Melbourne, Australia from Palestine, which took many weeks. After many months of saving and healing, he sent enough money for my Nana to come and join him in peaceful Melbourne. My great-grandparents found the move to Australia successful and got married at East Melbourne shule in 1927 after my Zaida Dovids malaria had cleared up. Australia was vastly different to anything that they had ever known. The milk was whiter, the eggs were bigger and people’s accents were impossible. They eventually learnt English when they got here. My Zaida Dovid’s malaria also cleared up and he was given a clean bill of health. My grandparents sent my grandmother and her two sibling to the local school, Orvale primary school. My grandparents believed that their children should have Jewish identities and know about their heritage. They sent my Bubba and my great uncles to the Jewish Hebrew after school and on Sundays and participated in the local community gatherings. My Bubba recalls going to the town hall in Shepparton and having events for the festival coming up in order to prepare the small Jewish community for the festival together. However, my great-grandparents never forgot their huge love of Israel and my Zaida Dovid never forgot his longing to cultivate the land and his desire to make barren land prosper. This was one of the main reasons that they moved to Shepparton in the first place because of its agricultural community and the fact that there would be plently of opportunities to cultivate Australian land. My Zaida Dovid instilled in my Bubba a deep love of Israel and all things Zionist and this meant that at no matter what age she was my Bubba could always tell you what the political situation in Israel were. My Bubba has always been a big Zionist who loves the land of Israel. The eighty or so Jewish families working the land had a rich religious and cultural life. My Bubba say," life in shepparton was simply and made it easy to be Jewish. I loved my childhood and that my parents made the designs to bring our family to Australia. I feel blessed that my children grandchild live here". We truly live in a lucky country. .