First day in

Today was pretty incredible. I was totally taken care of by my Tia Yolanda, cousin Sandy, and my mother's close friends Dieter and Erika Brodersen. This is the intoxicating part of Salvador...the ease with which people give of themselves. For me, it will forever be something I notice,love, and appreciate.

You all may not realize this...but I am only half done with my interviews in Israel. I have practically the entire Meissner family to tell you about-- not too mention one Bymel. And boy are these fantastic stories--all of them. The majority of these interviews have only a little to do with El Salvador but even so the individual's experience in the Jewish community colors the rest of his/her life.

Let's get back to Israel with Judith Meissner Assif, the mother of the three young men I described in an earlier posting (Ronen, Jonathan, and Gabi), the wife of Dani Assif, the sister of Ronit, and the daughter of Werner and Perla Meissner.

Judith and I started communicating via email about two weeks prior to my departure for Israel. She instantly broke down any imaginary barriers that could have/would have existed by informing me that she was very open to help me in any way possible. I did not hold back and asked for her advice on getting in touch with people, where to stay in Jerusalem, etc. She in turn told me about a reception at the Salvadoran Embassy in Jerusalem which was to take place during our visit.

Upon arriving from the airport, I called Judith for the first time. Not knowing what to expect, I assumed that the only woman answering the phone had to be her (considering the male bastion that is her home). Her voice was soft yet strong....the perfect blend of the Spanish/Hebrew/"American School" English that I have come to recognize. She invited us to Shabbat dinner and Shabbat lunch (it truly was an Assif weekend) and we eventually scheduled our interview to take place Saturday afternoon.

Tall, slender, with striking eyes and blond hair...Judith can truly command a room. She is the type of woman whose strength one admires and envies all at the same time. Judith knows who she is and where she wants to be....and this I knew before we even sat down. When preparing her consent form, I innocently filled out the necessary blank spaces with "Judith Assif." The Barnard woman in me hesitated and considered adding her maiden name but then thought otherwise. As she was reading the text she smiled, asking me to rewrite her name in its complete and full form; "I am definitely more Meissner than Assif," she laughed.

Judith's early years in Salvador were a blend of family, youth group, friends, school, and play. Her oral history provides beautiful detail and Judith remembers events very clearly. In the beginning, she would preface her statements with a bit of mixed emotion...."Can I just tell you the truth....ego and expectations aside?"

I loved the beautifully raw honesty of her interview. The deeply emotional way in which she remembered the births of her children and the playfulness with which she tells the story of meeting her husband create a glorious narrative while her respect for family and unwavering dedication to the State of Israel interweaves global perspective with a controlled, thoughtful optimism. Judith is someone who grew up in Salvador and someone who appreciated it. Even so, she did not live in the country as if it were hers. She knew Israel was her destiny but would not hesitate to tell any listener about her daily anxieties nor would she deny that she worries for her sons in the army.

Towards the end of our time together, Judith told me about the first time she heard her mother's Holocaust testimony. Enlisted in the army and responsible for planning a last-minute Holocaust Rememberance ceremony for a group of soldiers, Judith was in a serious bind. Due to extreme time restraints, the group of survivors who usually spoke at such gatherings were committed elsewhere and she was desperate. Knowing that her mother had experienced the horrors of Auschwitz but having never heard the complete story herself, she asked her mother to step forward....not only to fill in this very physical void but also because, as Judith remembers telling Perla on the phone; "Mami-- It's time."

Judith and Ronit sat in the front row, not really knowing what the expect. They knew the story's outline and its chain of events but they never realized the extent of horror that their mother experienced firsthand.

Judith's retelling of this story was an obviously emotional section of our interview yet in the end, it was her renewed optimism that sweetly ended our conversation. "My mother showed such strength that day and when I think about the beautiful childhood she gave us despite the horrors she experienced...I am amazed. I only hope that I can be equally strong for my children."

As I watched the Assif boys embrace their mother, I think we can all agree that Judith is doing just that.