With the yom tovim over and our hand-wringing continuing with the hostages still not free and the war continuing on two fronts in Israel, I thought to take a breather and share some tales about living in Jerusalem in the 1950s through the eyes of a young boy who grew up there—my husband, Haim.
The stories he shared with me during the early years of our marriage always fascinated me since the lifestyle he experienced during that time was so different from the one I grew up with here in New York. In fact, my father used to say that listening to his stories of growing up in Jerusalem of the 1950s was very similar to life here in Brooklyn in the 1920s and 30s, during the Depression.
For example, in 1950s Jerusalem, most people had only iceboxes as opposed to refrigerators. In fact, Haim tells me that he never met anyone in Jerusalem who even owned a refrigerator since if there was a person who existed like that back then, he most likely would have married the guy’s daughter!
Each morning, the iceman would come with his non-refrigerated truck with water dripping from all sides and he’d chop a block of ice with a screwdriver (who even heard of ice picks back then?) into thirds or quarters depending on the request and each person would pick up their piece with a pair of wood-handled, cast-iron ice tongs and bring it home and put it in their icebox.
Many times, the chunk of ice would slip out and drop in the street and you would have to explain to your mother or wife why the ice was dirty or broken into many pieces before it was even put into the icebox.
If you missed the iceman’s truck, you would have to walk like ten blocks to the ice warehouse (going up and down hills) in the Kurdish section of Jerusalem (Shechunat HaKurdim). If you ended up going to the warehouse, you always needed to buy a third of a block rather than a quarter since it would melt on your way back home.
Running water? Not everyone in 1950s Jerusalem had running water. The people who did not have water would get a water delivery by a water-carrier named Shlomo Chillibone. Chillibone was a single man with no wife or children, and if he did not have us to tell stories about him and keep his memory alive, would probably have been forgotten to history. He would carry an open pail with a wood handle in each hand to deliver water to each house. He took the water from wells in the middle of the shechunah. These wells were originally built by the Turks at the turn of the century. He would use a small hose and siphon the water into the pails, one by one, and then carry them by hand, house to house. At each house he would refill a cistern (a chanafiyah) that each house had above the sink. Remember, the water that was in the can was multi-purpose. You would fill a bucket to bring with you to the bathroom, and with that bucket you also needed a newspaper or magazine since toilet paper did not exist in Jerusalem in the 1950s.
Ironically, these wells were instrumental in saving lives during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War. Jerusalem was under siege and could not get deliveries to the city and these wells provided much-needed water to the people.
Kerosene was brought in once or twice a week by a guy who had what amounted to a large barrel on wheels attached to a horse. He would ring a bell similar to a school bell announcing his arrival, and anyone who needed kerosene would come out of their house with a container to fill up.
Kerosene was used to cook food in the primus stoves and kerosene heaters. Some people still did not have electricity and also needed the kerosene for lamps. Since there were no electric street lamps in the 1950s in Jerusalem, only a few kerosene street lamps existed that needed to be lit. Kerosene lamps were carried at night and in the dark of the early morning for people to see where they were going. Most men carried kerosene lamps when they went to minyan in the morning when they went to shul and it was still dark.
Why am I telling these stories in a column about real estate? Just so you can remember when your kids complain that “we only have two bathrooms” or “we only have two refrigerators” or they’re “too tired to take a shower or bath.” In those cases, show them this page so they can see how their aunts, uncles, and grandparents used to live back then in Jerusalem! n
Anessa Cohen lives in Cedarhurst and is a Licensed Real Estate Broker (Anessa V Cohen Realty) with over 20 years of experience offering residential, commercial and management real estate services. You are invited to visit her website at WWW.AVCREALTY.COM . She can be reached at 516-569-5007 or Readers are encouraged to send any questions or comments by email to anessa@avcealty.com.
