En memoria de Leah (Lilly) Azose de Siatli, Vashinton
Triste jurnal "Los Muestros" del mi korason,
Se fueron las sonrizas i vino la tristeza. Yorando lagrimas de sangre, me demando, ken moz puede konortar? (2)
Nearly 90 years ago, a young Sephardi named Moise Soulam immigrated to New York City. In his native Salonika, Soulam was an accomplished linotypist who had launched a satirical newspaper in Ladino ("El Uerkeziko"),(3) and, masquerading as a woman, had contributed a comical advice column to Moise Levy's humorous journal, "El Kirbach",(3) from 1910 to at least 1912.
But political turmoil forced Soulam to abandon his native land.
Recently wed to the love of his youth, Esterina (Esther) Alalouf, Soulam and his wife boarded the S.S. France, which sailed from Le Havre on August 30th, 1913, and landed at the port of New York on September 5th.
Soulam wasted no time. By the second week of September, he began to contribute a humorous section to Moise Gadol's Ladino newspaper, "La Amerika," the first enduring Judeo-Spanish periodical in the United States. (4) Soulam's weekly advice column, "Postemas de Mujer," (5) in which he again assumed the identity of a woman, Bula Satula, endured from 1913 to 1934, appearing in three separate Ladino newspapers, achieving fame as perhaps the most popular and enduring feature of the American Judeo-Spanish press.
But Soulam also contributed serious pieces. In "Un Ultimo Adio a mi Sivdad Natala," (6) a nostalgic and bitter poem appearing in the September 12, 1913 issue of "La America", Soulam testified to the destruction and havoc that forced him to depart his native city. Salonika, formerly under Turkish rule, had been overrun by Greek military forces, who attacked the Jewish community and its quarter. This poem, in many ways evocative of the Book of Lamentations, sorrowfully depicts the demise of a city once replete with Sephardic rabbis and renowned rabbinical seminaries:
³Komo akeyos ke fuyen de una kaza en flamas,
ansi dela vieja Turkia fuyen miles de almas.
Ombres, mujeres, i kriaturas,
Vienen en Amerika a bushkar sus venturas.
Ma la mas grande parte de emigrados,
Ke fuyen deskalsos i deskaveniados,
Son akeyos dela sivdad de Saloniko,
Siendo ya kedo prove mizmo el riko.
...Dunke, yo digo adio ala sivdad de mi nasimiento,
Al lugar de mi chikes i de mi engrandesimiento,
Adio Soloniko, adio por siempre,
Yo te saludo dela ondura de mi vientre.
Adio, adio Saloniko, sivdad de jidios puevlada,
I ke oy restas kaji deziertada,
Sivdad ke ayer eras yena de ermozura,
I ke oy kien te ve siente amargura.
Adio, sivdad ayer ermoza
Ma oy triste i danioza,
Sivdad ayer manan leche i miel
I oy manan tristeza i fiel.² (7)
Moise Soulam seems to have quickly acclimated himself to the United States and its immigrant Sephardic community. Only a year after his immigration, he filed a Declaration of Intention with the U.S. Department of Labor Naturalization Service, indicating his desire "in good faith to become a citizen of the United States of America and to permanently reside therein." Settling on New York¹s Lower East Side, Soulam continued his work as a printer and journalist, launching the Sephardic Publishing Company in 1922, contributing to the Ladino journals, "El Progreso," "La Vara" and "El Luzero Sefaradi," (8) and serving in the Sephardic Brotherhood of America as one of its founding members. By 1920, Soulam had moved to East Harlem with his wife and two small children, an indication of his upward mobility.
Esterina, meanwhile, worked as a dressmaker and was also a gifted storyteller. Dozens of Sephardi immigrants would convene in a room to hear her animated readings from popular Ladino novels. Esterina Soulam, perhaps unusual as a Sephardi women for her education, enthralled her illiterate audience. (9)
Moise Soulam's literary creativity flourished, and in 1924, this time disguising himself under the identity of "Ham [Rabbi] Avraham", he launched a humorous advice column directed at men, bringing to life the everyday activities and preoccupations of New York's Sephardic immigrants. Ham Avraham, created as the counterpart and husband of Bula Satula, appeared intermittently, in the shadow of his more vociferous and dynamic columnist "wife."
Suddenly, in early September of 1929, Soulam's popular female advice column ceased. It had appeared virtually weekly in "La Vara" since 1922, depicting the humorous and often embarrassing behavior of immigrant Sephardic women, and urging them to embrace proper social conduct.
September 6th, September 13th and September 20th passed by with no laughter, no jokes, and not a word from Bula Satula. Then finally, on September 27, readers opened up the pages of "La Vara" to find a heart-wrenching elegy by Moise Soulam. The poem was written to his recently deceased wife, Esterina, accompanied by a family photo. The caption informed readers that Esterina had died of a 9-year illness at the age of 35. She left a son of 15, Benjamin, and a daughter of 13, Delisia (Alice).
Soulam's elegy to his late wife softly echoes his tearful tribute to the fallen city of Salonika, sixteen year earlier:
³Adio! Adio! Mi mujer kerida!
La sinsera kompanyera de mi vida,
Dezde nuestra chikes nos amimos,
Elas! Oy por siempre nos despartimos.
Esterina! Komo la palomba bolates,
A tu marido yorando deshates,
I tus 2 kriatruras tan amadas,
Restaron tristes i amargadas.
...Esterina! Te fuites a la flor,
En mi korason deshates grande dolor.
Siempre i siempre de ti me akodrare,
Fin el momento ke a tu lado me topare.² (10)
The death of a loved one is like the destruction of a Jewish city, kon la kual kedo tu, yorando,
Amiga Serena (11)
(1) "Anxieties of a Granddaughter."
(2) "Lamentation: In memory of Leah (Lilly) Azose of Seattle, Washington.""Melancholy 'Los Muestros' of my heart,
>The smiles have departed and sadness has arrived. Weeping tears of blood, I ask myself, who can comfort us?"
Leah Azose is survived by her widower, Hazzan Emeritus, Isaac Azose, of Seattle¹s Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, her daughter Aimee Goldemberg, and her sons Jack, Solomon and Rabbi Yossi Azose. May they be comforted amongst the remnant of the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. (3) "The Little Devil;" "the Whip."
(4) The New York Ladino newspaper, "America," was founded in 1910 by Moise Gadol and folded in 1925.
(5) "Pet Peeves of a Woman."
(6) "A Final Farewell to My Native City."
(7) "Like those who flee a house consumed by flames, so, too, flee thousands of souls from a bygone Turkey, men, women and children, arrive in America in search of their destiny. Yet most emigres, who flee barefoot and hatless, are those of the city of Salonika, Since now, the rich man has become just like the poor.
...And so, I bid farewell to the city of my birth,
To the site of my childhood and my youth.
Farewell, Salonika, farewell forever,
I bid thee farewell from the depths of my being.
Farewell, farewell, Salonika, city once filled with Jews,
Today, you remain almost deserted.
Yesterday you were a city filled with beauty,
Today, you fill with bitterness all who look upon you.
Farewell, city yesterday beautiful,
Today, melancholy and noxious,
City that yesterday flowed with milk and honey,
Today, gushes forth anguish and bile."
(8) "Progress", "The Staff", "The Sephardic Beacon". The other three founders of the Sephardic Publishing Company were Albert J. Torres, Morris Gattegno and Sam Golden.
(9) Amiga Serena thanks Benjamin Soulam for his oral testimony of 1996 and 2000.
(10) "Farewell! Farewell! My beloved wife! the sincere companion of my life.
From childhood we loved each other, alas! Today, forever, we depart from one another.
Esterina! Like a dove you have flown away,
Leaving your husband drenched in tears,
and your two children, dearly beloved,
Anguished and embittered.
...Esterina! You died in blossom,
In my heart you left abundant pain,
I shall always, always pine for you,
Until the moment when I am reunited at your side."
(11) "With which I remain, weeping, your Amiga Serena."
Amiga Serena always loves to hear from her readers. Please send all correspondence to:
Amiga Serena owns the copyright on all "Penserios de Nieta" installments, past and future,
appearing in both the "Sephardic House Newsletter" and "Los Muestros."