My father’s family was originally from Syria. They migrated to Yerushalayim and then to Cairo [in Egypt]. My mother’s father was born and raised in Odessa, Ukraine. He ran away as a refugee after the communists took over Russia to the northern coast of Africa in Cairo, where he married a local Sephardic woman. My parents met in Cairo and we were raised in Egypt. Interestingly, my father was considered Sephardi and my mother Ashkenazi. We experienced a very nice life until the Six-Day War. Jews were being persecuted, which made it difficult to live there.
All the Jewish Males Were Put in Jail by Nasser
My father and all other Jewish males were put in jail by the dictator of Egypt, Gamal Nasser. Nasser was furious and wanted revenge because when the war had broken out, the IDF had miraculously destroyed all of the Egyptian planes. His way of revenge was to arrest all of the Jewish males and concoct some story in an attempt to execute all of them. But miraculously they were saved.
I’ll tell you the interesting background story. After the Six-Day War broke out and the Jews were incarcerated, there was a lead story in The New York Times that they were going to be executed. The Rosh HaYeshiva [Rabbi Shrage Moshe Kalmanowitz, zt”l] of the Mirrer Yeshiva of Brooklyn saw the Times story and he called up the United States State Department furiously arguing what the government should do about that.
Interestingly, the person who answered the phone, Nathan Lewin, was a law clerk and a law student at Harvard University. When the rabbi called him up, he was clueless as to what to do. It was erev Shabbos, Friday afternoon, and Mr. Lewin began driving to Virginia where he was living. Suddenly, a Virginia State patrol officer pulls him over and tells him that the State Department was looking for him and he needs to return to them because a rabbi keeps calling from New York and they don’t know what to do. Mr. Lewin went back to the State Department and his supervisor asked him what they should do since the rabbi keeps calling.
Suddenly Mr. Lewin came up with a brilliant idea. He had read somewhere that the fascist dictator of Spain, [General Francisco] Franco, had tremendous remorse for what happened to the Jews in Spain during the Spanish Inquisition and he felt bad about it and was looking to make amends for that. Jumping on that thought, Mr. Lewin said he would like to call him.
A Phone Call to General Franco
He called him and said, “We have a serious crisis with all the Jewish people in Egypt. They’re being threatened with physical annihilation. Would you, sir, go ahead and issue passports to them that will immediately make them Spanish citizens which will give them the freedom to leave the country?” They were all issued Spanish passports, including my father. We quickly got our luggage and found our father waiting for us on a big freight boat going to Barcelona. From there we were routed to Paris and ultimately to the United States. That’s a bit of an interesting story that shows you that the Jewish people have Hashem looking over them and as a result it’s He who keeps us alive and He who maintains our existence.
Reprinted from the December 22, 2023 Jewish Press website.
