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Tribute to Ana Galicot, My Grandmother
By Shelly Podlipsky
February 6, 2006
“I can honestly say that I was
never affected by the question
of the success of an undertaking. If
I felt it was the right thing to do, I was for it
regardless
of the possible outcome.” – Golda Meir
My
family is originated from various parts of the world such as Spain, Germany,
Russia, Lithuania, Poland, and Turkey, but they all maintained their faith in
the hope that one day better times would come, maybe in their own community or
in America, where there was freedom, where they had the right to be normal
citizens, not second class. There
were wars, pogroms, natural catastrophes, plagues like the cholera, and in all
the cases the Jews were the scapegoats. However,
the bond and hope of the Jewish people made it less painful and it alleviated
some of their tragedies.
It
was the other day when I sat with her and began to talk to her about my feelings
and views about life, that I realized how much she has given me the foundation
that I have now. It was she who has inspired me to be who I am, to work hard
to achieve my goals, and to believe in myself.
She has always been there for me, supporting me, and motivating me
everyday of my life. I admire her
achievements, her doings for the community, and her care for her family.
If there is one word to describe her, I would describe her as a
“leader;" she is my grandma, Ana Raquel Levine Galicot.
Born in Mexico in 1939 to Lithuanian parents, she is the oldest of three kids. Her parents immigrated to Mexico, her father in 1922 and her mother in 1936, because of the start of WWII, seeking a better life in the new world. Even though her parents had to assimilate the Mexican culture it didn’t retain them from keeping their mother tongue. At home the family spoke Yiddish. My grandmother attended a Jewish school, where her love for Israel was awakened and took root. Knowing her family was short on money, she began to work as a Hebrew tutor. Because of her excellent grades, in 1952 she was invited to meet Prime Minister Golda Meir who came to Mexico through the Jewish Agency to expand support for Israel. I remember my grandmother always telling me this story, and telling me the words Golda told her, “You have a special gift. You are a leader. Don’t let your special gift die out. Make it alive. I know you will succeed in your future; promise me you’ll come to live to Israel.” My grandma, with pride and joy, promised Meir she would one day live in Israel. This was something that always motivated her to take action in doing things for the Holy Land; likewise, these words also inspire me, picturing myself with my grandma at this special moment in her life, instigating the continuance of my actions in my everyday life. She knew she had to show the community who she was, and to become the “leader” Golda said she was.
Ever since I was an infant, I have always
been taught to love Israel, to care and support it in any possible way.
I have been involved in the community where I have been taught the
meaning of establishing a strong Jewish identity.
My grandmother’s love for Israel has always stimulated me with a strong
bond with Israel and a strong bond with my own identity.
Always having a care for a place I had never been to, Israel, never kept
from loving it. Always listening to
stories and memoirs about Israel from my grandmother, I felt that I knew Israel
from top to bottom. The minute I
arrived to Israel for the first time, I understood what that special care
towards Israel I had grown up with my whole life was all about.
My grandmother’s stories accompanied me through my whole trip, always
putting the morals and history of her stories into context as my everyday life.
With my grandmother's teachings and stories I felt like I was living my
grandma's own reality, walking in the streets of the one place she always
mentioned to me about, or the smell of things, or simply the emotions and
sentiments of those places, living that one picture in my mind I always hoped to
become reality.
My
grandmother finished the University and went to the land she loves and in
Jerusalem she attended the “Mahon Madrijei Jutz Laharetz” with a full
scholarship. There she polished her
knowledge of Hebrew and Jewish education, and fine-tuned her abilities
organizing and leading youth groups outside of Israel.
She spent ten years as the leader of “Hanoar Hatzioni," a Zionist
youth organization in Mexico City.
When
she returned to Mexico, she immediately involved herself in community work as
well as her professional career. She
was, at the same time, the principal of an afternoon Jewish School in Tijuana.
She moved to Tijuana with my grandfather, knowing that in a few months
they would go to Israel and raise their family there. They stayed in Tijuana, however, taking care of my
grandfather’s father because he was sick.
Not keeping Golda’s promise didn’t stop her from “doing” and
being active.
She
is the founder of the Jewish Community in Tijuana, and of the Ken Jewish
Community in San Diego. Ken in
Hebrew means “nest”, where we as “birds” have the Ken Jewish Community
as a home filled with warmth, kindness, and love, where we can grow as
individuals and as a united Jewish community. She has worked long years with the WIZO (Women’s
International Zionist Organization) and continues to conduct and plan monthly
adult education programs and organize WIZO events both nationally and
internationally. Being a long time
member and leader of the Jewish Mexican Community in San Diego, I have seen her
in action, planning events, and doings for the community.
Every year I participate in the many events she has created.
Her actions have helped demonstrate to me a strong sense of leadership,
activism, and community.
Having
so much to do, nothing has held her back from being with the family.
My grandmother has always been there for us.
If it weren’t for her, our family unity wouldn’t exist. She has four kids and eight grandchildren of which I am the
only girl, the only woman in the next generation.
I have a responsibility to continue my family’s traditions, and
history. It is in me to make my
family’s future, continuing my grandmothers “doings."
I am willing to make my best efforts to be a good leader.
I also do my best to work in community to keep it alive, active and
prosperous. Fulfilling my
obligations, keeping my values and passing my traditions to the next generation,
encourage me to be a better person. It
is because of my grandma I have this special care towards my community and the
respect I have for it. I can
honestly say that my grandmother has shown the path of the good, the path of
success, and the path of being a good leader.
From keeping Shabbat to work hard to achieve something, but it’s
because of her I am who I am, giving me the opportunity to see life through
different perspectives, through different learnings and through her own
experiences.
Coming from a family seeking a better
life finding her way to success, to now living a life where all she does is
give…give others opportunities, a sense of pride, inspiring them to become
better a guidance through life from
someone who has build their way to achievement.
I hope that one day I will be able to give my community as much as my
grandmother does now; having with me the special passion she has always had
since she was a young girl. Through
her love, she has encouraged me as a role model, finding new ways leading for a
better tomorrow. Not only as Jews,
but us a human beings. Having been
raised with a history filled with different traditions and culture, I have
encountered the will to work in different groups to reach out to the community
so people will know and learn to appreciate us diminishing the hate and
anti-Semitism that been in the minds of many people.
She is my role model, knowing that I am her future, I the one soon to
continue her path…“You have a special gift, you are a leader. Don’t let your special gift die out, make it alive….”
–Golda Meir