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
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