ISSUE 76
SPRING 2003
Download Archive Links Search Contact Us

 

The articles in this issue have been divided upinto the following categories

 

 

 

 

 

Letters


Reference is made to the article which appeared in your issue 74/page 53 regarding the Pathan tribes and their supposed kinship and belonging to the Jewish race.


By reading the article my mind went back immediately to the time when I was five years old (around 1934) attending the Kindergarten of Madame Sabbagh which was a part of Laura Kadoorie School for girls and if I remember well also to the Atelier directed by Farha Noori Nahom.
The doorman of that big school was an Afghan slim person (was he really tall as I imagine or was it just an idea, because I used to look at his white headgear which had a long long tail coming down all his back?). We used to call him the "Hajji". Our curiosity or obsession during the recreations was to queue up interestingly in front of a certain window watching if we could get a look at his wife through that window but mostly without big success. In this connection I would like to seize the opportunity to mention some of my classmates at that period, who were Salim Salih Faraj Hiyyim and Albert Ezra Dangoor with whom I remained all along until we finished the Alliance School. While some of the other classmates during the kindergarten period were Maurice Jacob Fattal, Sa'eeda Nissim Khlass-chi, Stella Salih Shlomo; but the most pampered among the girls was a plumpy, hale and hearty girl (sorry, I should admit that at this moment her name doesn't come to my mind - and why not at this old age?) who was the daughter of Abraham Nahom. I still remember the doll - which closes and opens the eyes - given to her as a premium by Madame Sabbagh! Our other teachers beside Madame Sabbagh who was so nimble and gentle I remember Mademoiselle Flora, Serah and Hanna who were really marvellous. Surely my preference goes to Mademoiselle Serah admiring her easy-going manners, down-to-earth characters and her wide smile.
Now the other Afghan person I want to mention was the doorman 'Habeeb' of our Alliance School for boys who was permanent, day after day all over the period, before, during and after my all the years passed in that school. He was the opposite in character to the nervous "Hajji". He was so gentle, quiet and calm and am thankful to him that he used to allow me many of the times to go outside the school during the recreations to buy from Silman Abu-el-amba

(simmoon-oo-amba)


Another Afghani whom I remember in Baghdad was the doorman of Slat Meir Elias (Meir Eliahoo Synagogue).

Edward Yamen,

Milan


If you would like to make any comments or contribute to The Scribe please contact us