Out Of The Box Judaism Podcast

For me this story began in Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, but I didn't know it then. On that day, my grandmother Esther, who I'm named for, was one of the flower girls who welcomed General Allenby to the city of Jerusalem, which the British had just won from the Turks.  My grandmother was born in Rishon L'Tzion - a little town whose name literally means First to Zion. It was established by Jews from Lithuania who came to what was then Turkish Palestine. A few years later she was one of the flower girls welcoming Allenby. And not long after that, she was on a ship to New York with her younger brother and sister. In New York, Esther met her husband who had also been born in Turkish Palestine and as a teenager wanted to join the British army but was only allowed to be a drummer boy. Eventually he made his way to New York - even after being denied entry the first time. They had two kids and took them on the long voyage back to Palestine to meet the relatives - grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Years l