The Road from Aleppo 

As told to Malkie Schulman by Shifra Mizrahi

Iwas born in Aleppo, Syria, in 1948, but as I was just five years old when we left, my memories of my hometown are vague. I do remember a tight-knit community, pretty, tree-lined streets;,and being surrounded by our extended family, whose homes I was in and out of all the time.

Growing up, I was often told stories about my family yichus. My family name was Sasson, after our city of origin, Shushan, in Persia. In 1784, my ancestors emigrated from Persia to Syria, where, over the years, they became well-known jewelers in Aleppo.

My grandfather (my father’s father), Salim (Shlomo) Sasson, features prominently on our family tree, which goes back over 200 years and hangs proudly in my dining room. My grandfather died a month before I was born, but even after we moved to Eretz Yisrael, I would meet people who remembered and spoke highly of him. He was famous for his exceptional generosity. One old family friend told me that my grandfather took exceptional care of the widows and orphans in the city, providing whatever they needed to live, including sponsoring their bar mitzvahs.