Sara Beeri (Burshtein) — Association of Jews of Vilna and vicinity in Israel

My name is Sara Beeri, née Burshtein.

I was born in October 1945 in Haifa, Israel. My parents: Yaffa, née Shapira, was born on July 3, 1926, and Yechiel Burshtein was born on October 17, 1921, and passed away on April 25, 2015. They are both Holocaust survivors and were born in Vilna, Russia. My parents were in the "Zionist Youth" movement and their aspiration was to reach the Land of Israel. World War II thwarted their plans. My parents were put into the ghetto. My father was in the underground in the Vilna ghetto. They dug a tunnel that connected to the city's sewage system and through it they managed to escape to the forests, first my father and then my mother, on the day the ghetto was liquidated. They were both partisans and fought the Germans in every possible way.

The story of my parents' meeting after their paths separated with the liquidation of the ghetto:

My father was my mother's instructor in the "Zionist Youth" movement since she was 10 years old and later they were a couple of friends. When their paths parted, my father promised my mother that if they stayed alive they would get married. My mother gave my father a penknife as a memento. My father was in the Naroch forests in Russia and my mother was in the forests in the Vilna area. One day my father learned that one of his friends intended to reach the area where my mother was. He gave him the penknife and said: "If you see Sheinele (my mother's nickname in Yiddish) please give her the penknife and that way she will know that I am alive." The friend met my mother and gave her the penknife and details of my father's whereabouts. My mother did not hesitate even for a moment, equipped herself with what she thought was right and made the long journey while evading the Germans and Lithuanians and met my father.

They both fled and arrived in Vilna, where they married in 1944. After many hardships during the Holocaust, my parents arrived in Israel on a ship of illegal immigrants from Romania. My mother was pregnant and was allowed to disembark from the ship to give birth to me. (At that time the government was in the hands of the British). From there I arrived with my parents to Kibbutz Nitzanim. When I was two years old we moved to the city of Holon. There my brother Rafi was also born, named after my grandfather, my mother's father. My brother is five years younger than me and passed away about 10 years ago. He was married to Shosh and they have three children: Liron, Meital and Idan. My father, Yechiel, was in the "Haganah" organization which fought for the independence of the state. He was also in the "Etzel" organization which also fought for the independence of the state. With the establishment of the state in May 1948, the Israel Defense Forces was established. Over the years he worked in social work and my mother was a kindergarten teacher.

My childhood: We lived with another family of 5 people in a two-room ground floor apartment. One room for each family. The bathroom and toilets were shared. The kitchen was divided in two. There were two refrigerators in the hallway. I remember that we used to buy ice in a block, or half a block from the ice seller who arrived with a horse-drawn cart. We also bought the milk from a milkman who sold it by pouring it from jugs. In winter he would not cover the jugs, water would get in and the milk was diluted. On Friday evenings we would stand in line to take a shower. We are four people and another five from the other family, from whom I learned to speak Yiddish. My parents spoke Hebrew. Although we lived in one room, our house was always full of guests and friends. Holocaust survivors stayed in our house until they found their place in the country. Every night mattresses were spread out on the floor. There was room for everyone. The children of my parents' friends were my close family because all of my parents' family perished in the Holocaust.

In 1991, my mother found one of her brothers, Zelig, after 50 years of searching. Finally I had an uncle, an aunt and cousins.

In my parents' home I absorbed the love for the country, knowing that we Jews have no other country.

I also absorbed the love and respect for every human being and the giving to others. The financial situation of my parents, like most of the population, was not easy. The water in the boiler was heated with wood. The food was cooked in the shared kitchen, on a small stove. The laundry was boiled in a boiler on a primus stove. Nothing was withheld from me and my brother. We received everything we needed and were enveloped in care and love.

I loved to wallow in the sand dunes, climb the jujube tree and play soccer with the boys. In general I was a sportswoman and remained so - playing tennis for over 35 years. I am happy to see my granddaughter Roni as a sportswoman who has been playing basketball for several years.

In 1964 I married a wonderful man, Amos Tipenbron. His father's name was Abraham Tipenbron from the city of Auschwitz in Poland. His mother's name was Hinda, née Landau, from Lodz, Poland. They arrived in Israel in 1933 and lived all their lives in Tel Aviv. His brother's name was Arieh. He was married to Nili and they have three children: Eran, Amit and Shira. At first we lived in Haifa until Amos finished his studies at the Technion as an officer cadet. We moved to Holon where our daughters, Orit and Hagit, were born. Since Roni's grandfather, Amos, served in the Air Force, we moved to live at the Ramat David base, where our son Aviram was born.

At Roni's request, I am writing down some of the childhood pranks of our children at the base: One day, when our cousins Eran and Amit, the sons of Arieh, Amos's brother and his wife Nili, were staying at our house. Amit, who was known for his pranks, encouraged everyone to climb the eucalyptus trees. Hagit, who was younger than them, remained on the tree after they came down. When they were down, they started shouting at Hagit to encourage her to jump. Hagit, who wanted to feel "grown up," jumped and was smeared on the asphalt.

Another incident was when Orit, Hagit, Amit and Eran collected frogs and filled the rickshaw, a kind of closed motorcycle on three wheels, of the base electrician, Keitel. Another incident was when we were at the base pool with the two girls, Orit, 5 years old and Hagit, 3 years old, when suddenly we saw Hagit standing on the high diving board just before jumping. Amos and I jumped into the pool and caught her when she jumped. When asked: "Why did she climb the diving board?" She replied: "Because I can jump like Orit."

After our stay at the base, we moved to live in Holon. Amos served in the Kirya in various interesting positions and even received the Air Force Commander's Prize for one of the projects he participated in. Later he worked at "Elisra." I worked as a building draftsman. Today we are both retired. We try to enjoy life. Amos in his pursuits and I as a third-year student of criminology and law enforcement.

We have three children: Orit - married to Shi Or from Beit Zera, the son of Miri and Asaf. They have three daughters: Noam, 20 years old, who serves in the army as a teacher-soldier commander. Eli, 14 years old, who plays bass guitar. Sita, 8 years old, who plays saxophone and excels in Capoeira. The second daughter is Hagit. She is married to Oren Gavish from Moshav Mazor, the son of Leah and Uri Gavish. They have two daughters: Noa, 12 years old, a horse rider and creative girl. Roni, 10 years old, the mischievous athlete. The third is Aviram. He is married to Keren from Kfar HaYarok, the daughter of Nurit and Victor Rosen. They have a son named Lish, 12 years old. A nature boy in every sense of the word.

We have been living in Ramat Hasharon for several decades.

At Roni's request, I am adding the following information: Albert Einstein was my grandmother's cousin.

In conclusion, I was excited to participate in the project knowing that the family story will be preserved and immortalized in the Heritage Story Bank at Beit Hatfutsot. I was given the opportunity to meet my beloved granddaughter Roni one on one, to share and document with her help, using technological means, a little of my family's fascinating story. I was given the opportunity to pass on to her the values ​​on which I grew up.

From: the Multigenerational Connection