K.I.S.S. -
L O G 2
0 0 8 Intro
to
k.i.s.s.-l o g + all
dates
January
13/
Sh'vat 6, Sunday, still 216 days - at Arad back to past ~~~~~ forward to future
As to the "problem" itself,
back to past ~~~~~
forward to future |
July 15-19, 2011
My Children's Animals (1965-1978 + 1988)
see the context in Nourishment>July
15, 2011
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The
memories of my Children's Animals came up, when
"TheGoodNews.co.il" quoted an article in livescience.com Puppy Love: Pet Owners Are Happier, Healthier 
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1978: A photo with the whole family and, of course,
with Navat, who was our last dog.
In 1979, when our family was still living together at Ramat-Hadar,
Navat's behavior scared me. He seemed to be very sick all of a sudden.
On that day Rama, Ronnit's friend and my foster-daughter for half a year,
was ill,
but when Rafael came home with the car and wanted to take Rama to the doctor,
I said:
"No, no, first you must take Navat to the vet. His state is more severe
than Rama's!"
Micha joined his father, when they drove to the vet at Herzliya, but it was
too late.
"Your dog was bitten by a snake!"
said the vet, and Navat died right then and there.
I'll never forget, how Micha came home with the dead dog.
Even now, when I tell this story, tears rise in my eyes and I feel like sobbing....
But let's begin with the beginning.
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and Immanuel's friend Michaela (11) also lets him enjoy a cat in her house (photo by her family)
Though Rafael's first family had a dog, when I began to
come to their house in September, 1960,
and though Rafael's warm relationship with his dog helped me to look behind
his rough facade...
we didn't have a dog, when we began to settle in that small house at Ramat-Hadar
in July 1964.
After we had enlarged the house towards Micha's birth, I see in it the following
scene:
A little dog somehow adopted us.
Rafael was pleased, but he fixed, that at night the dog would not stay inside
the house.
Oh, that terrible, horrible whining of the little dog outside!
And remember, my children,
that I'm - up to this day - not the kind of dog-fan or cat-fan that you are!
When I was a child I was panicking, when I had to pass a dog, and even today
I'm scared of big dogs.
At one point the whining, barking stopped and I could fall asleep.
But the next morning.... we found the dog not just dead, but killed,
murdered by the axe of some neighbor, who couldn't bear the noise.
I was so grieved, that in the evening I said to Rafael;
"Ever since the
assassination of John F. Kennedy I haven't felt such pain about a death."
"Come on! You are greatly exaggerating!" he said, but I'm
sure he was grieved too.
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So when
did Sissie come to us? I think, she was the puppy of a dog, which belonged to Hava Kaufmann, who lived further up the street. Strangely there is no photo with Immanuel, but these images one with Ronnit and one with Micha, "say it all". |
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I
don't recall the dog or dogs on these photos. 1970: Levi began to join our family. 1971: The black dog with Ronnit: was this perhaps a puppy of Sissie? 
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 1971? And then little Immanuel adopted a she-dog, whom he called Lassie. She was wounded, and we feared, that this would bring infection into our house. But the little boy was adamant, he got some medicine, I don't remember how, Lassie recovered, stayed with us and had many puppies |
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1972
Lassie's Puppies: It looks so cute, but what did
we do with the puppies later?
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1973- a proud white dog, Lassie, walks in front of the three pupils
 1973, again puppies, enjoyed also by Johannes, the youngest son of Reinhold and Annemarie [who exists because of me: I could win over Reinhold to his wife's urgent wish for a third child! Reinhold Mayer was the non-Jewish teacher at Tuebingen who had "converted" me to Israel, holocaust and Judaism.] The photo to the right was also taken in 1973, but obviously in winter with new puppies. |
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 Among the first puppies of Lassie : Dubbi and Bubbi (or Bobbie?) Both "went to their world", as we say in Hebrew, i.e. both died |
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Yes, there were not only joys with our dogs and
cats,
there were also anger and pain and frustration and grief.
When the bitches were in heat,
all the small and big males of the village gathered and fought around them.
One story may exemplify what this meant:
Sa'uda, our house-cleaner, mother of 10 living children, became grandmother
for the first time.
The huge family, which once immigrated from Libya, had only a tiny house,
with two rooms.
Though 5 of the children were already grown-up, there still slept 2 children
in one bed.
From where would the money come for the Brit of Abraham, the first-born of
Sa'uda's married daughter?
I baked several cakes and together with my kids and with our guest we walked
to that village, Neve-Hadar.
In those years we often had long-term guests, but this one I remember well
because of what followed now.
Hilde Kuehn had been Rafael's and my pupil
in the Hebrew Ulpan, to which Reinhold Mayer invited Rafael in March-April
1962.
If not for that Ulpan, Immanuel may not have been born and I may not live
in Israel today...
It was winter and almost dark, when we hurried back to our village and house,
But what mess! what chaos! what battle! what war of dogs! did we encounter!
I panicked: "Hilde, help! help! - before
Rafael will return from work!"
I don't remember, why I felt that I was to be blamed for that chaos.
Why didn't I pressure Rafael to take care of sterilizing the bitches?
Why did I "prefer" not only those unbearable days of a bitch's heat,
but again and again to witness the killing of an excess of puppies?
But then - who would miss the excitement of the delivery and birth!
Who would miss the sight of the puppies in the arms of my children?
The grief about the disappearance of puppies
and diseases, deaths and burials of their pets,
wasn't it part of their "health and happiness"?
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These
photos - with Iris and Yael, the "twins" of Ronnit and Micha - are technically especially bad, but maybe the originals are in one of the Bar/Bat Mitzva Albums! In any case, I do want to see them in this historical composition!  in 1975 another set of puppies |
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and say it was a kind of pointer with stripes, who attacked people and therefore was "removed" by their father.
My own memory mixes up "Passi" with "Peter" , and I don't know, which one became so dangerous for people,
that we, Abba and Imma, truly had no choice - please believe me, my children!! - but to make him "go away".
I recall with pain, how - after you kids were asleep - Abba put that dog in the car and let him out somewhere...
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Jesus and Mammi: Once upon a time there was an ugly mother-cat called Mammi. She searched for a husband who would be loyal to her even after their mating. He was called Jesus. Five children were born to them each of them different from everyone else, each one unique. It was strange that all of them stayed together all the time, and that Mammi kept suckling her puppies long after the usual time. |
 Micha with Sweety 1978 |
Closure:
There were not only dogs and cats and their puppies in my children's childhood!
It must have been 1968 or 1969, when little Immanuel showed his little sister
the horse,
which was carrying the fodder for the villagers' poultry to and from the silo
at Ramat-Hadar.
Resonance from my Children.
Ronnit wrote (July 18, 2011),
that she is missing Maya, "though she belongs to a later time-period".
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Responses
from my three children , July 17-19 
The most touching response came from Micha on July 30, 2011, See end of next page |
Delivery
of my gift of "Your Childhood's Animals: July 17, 2011 
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