The chronicles of Bilha Korkin - part 1
Landscapes and many faces, some familiar and some less familiar, are commemorated in Bilha's old photo album. A glance at it tells the story of the Israeli family's trip to and inside Israel, which passes through milestones in the State's history. A first peek
Bilha was born in Tel Aviv, and later settled in Yavnael, where she still lives with her husband Shalom.
Bilha took an interest in photography since she was a child. Family pictures she collected and photos she took with her camera combine landscapes and people related to the State of Israel's history.
Here is a first peek into her photo album.
The Israeli family immigrated to Israel from Siberia and settled in Petach Tikva. The father of the family, Yehuda, was drafted to the Jewish Legion. In the photo: Bilha on her mother's lap, and her father standing in the back dressed in British Army uniform.
After the war the family moved to Tel Aviv, to a house at the corner of Allenby Street and Rothschild Boulevard (which did no exist yet). In the photo: The Israeli couple with their daughter Bilha, her brother Aryeh and her little sister Nehama.
The mother Batya died shortly after the photo was taken. To this day Bilha keeps the artistic postcards her mother brought with her from Russia. Here are two of them:
1923. A first group of Solel Boneh laborers, at Harakevet Street (today Yaffe Street) in Tel Aviv. Father Yehuda is sitting on a barrel of cement, and little Bilha is in front, near the wheelbarrow.
1932. The first Maccabiah in Tel Aviv, near the Yarkon Estuary.
1935. Hapoel rally in the Shapira neighborhood.
Pesach Israeli (Bilha's grandfather) and his wife immigrated to Israel at the beginning of the 1920's. They lived in the Nahalat Ahim neighborhood in Jerusalem. Pesach, who was an artist, prepared lithographs at the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design. (Above and below are two of the postcards he created).
1933. After her mother passed away, Bilha left her home and moved to the Shfia youth village. In the photo: The new friends from Shfia. Bilha in on the first row on the left with the brothers Kagan.
To view last week's trip to the past click here
