Elisheva Schoenfeld I was born
in Hannover, Germany, where I spent my childhood. In 1938, I emigrated to
Palestine with a Youth Aliyah group organized by Henrietta Szold, and l lived
in Kibbuts Mizra for several
years. When Rommel
threatened Alexandria during World War II I joined the A.T.S. (Auxiliary
Territorial Service) of the British Army and served in Egypt for almost four
years. After demobilisation, I returned to the kibbuts for some time, leaving in 1949 to study at a
teacher's college near Tel-Aviv. After
teaching for several years I worked as a secretary in the Israeli Embassy in
Vienna, Austria. While
teaching in a small town in Israel, I had the opportunity to collect folk
stories from oriental new immigrants. Thus began my lifelong interest in
folklore. On
returning from Vienna, I found good narrators among the domestic staff of the
Technion, the Israel Institute of Technology, where
I worked as an academic secretary. After retiring, I studied at the
University of Haifa and I continue to do folklore research. (Taken from: Elisheva Schoenfeld) |