Family Affair / The Cordovas By Avner Avrahami and Reli Avrahami The cast: Thomas (55), Teofila (45), Netanel (14) and Shirel (13). The home: Located on Har Tzion Boulevard, not far from the old Central Bus Station, a multinational area where the market does a brisk business, on Shabbat and holidays too. The three-story building is gray and has no elevator. No elevator: A walk up the stairs discloses more doors than one would expect, due to creative parcelization by landlords, so that as many tenants as possible can live there. Advertisement The apartment: About 70 square meters, with a wood-simulated linoleum floor, two bedrooms and a living room that extends from the entrance to the end of the balcony, which has been closed off. In the large space are two sofas covered in cloth and a made-up bed opposite a large Formica bureau. On the sideboard (which is part of the furniture that came with the apartment) are family photos, prayer books, an etrog box (from Kfar Chabad) and toy sheep, together with cosmetics in tubes and bottles. Adjacent is a small desk on which stands a computer covered with plastic and a fax machine on a chair. We look around. A poster of Jerusalem hangs on the wall, along with decorative dishes and pictures of Peruvian mountain landscapes. Peru is where the family's roots lie. We head for the kitchen, which is situated slightly to the side, in a separate space. On the way we pass a niche with beige wallpaper and a dining table covered with an immaculately clean tablecloth. The kitchen: On the burner is a chicken-and-potato dish; on the windowsill is a nest in which there is a pigeon egg ("She laid it for us"). We move on to the bedrooms. One is the parents' bedroom, the other Shirel's (with a "Shema Yisrael" prayer poster, for girls). Netanel doesn't have a room of his own - his bed is in the living room, and he too has a Shema Yisrael poster (for boys). We are served chicha morada, a purple juice made from Peruvian corn ("Friends bring it to us"). In Peru, Thomas says, purple corn is for people and yellow corn is for chickens. Real estate history: They have lived here seven years. Before that they lived "in a lot of places," mainly in the southern part of the city, including Florentin Street, Aliyah Street and Matalon Street. They are "at the moment" paying rent of $400 (in shekels) a month. At the moment: The landlord wants to raise the rent by $100 in the wake of improvements he made in the kitchen (extra shelves). "He's all right as a person," Thomas says. The landlord is a Jew who lives in the United States ("We saw him once"). Livelihoods and occupations: Thomas, a silversmith by profession, does cleaning jobs for a living. According to his calendar, he has an apartment in Ramat Gan the day after tomorrow, but tomorrow he is free. He works with Teofila. Together they are a team. They take NIS 40 an hour between them ("But we do our work in half the time"), getting to work by bus, starting at 7-8 A.M. and doing four to six hours a day. Just now they are not functioning well due to health problems. Health problems: In December 2006, on their way home from work, toward evening, they were hit by a car in a pedestrian crosswalk in Ra'anana. According to Thomas, they crossed when the light was green and a driver suddenly appeared ("She had a green light, too"), who didn't see them ("because of the sun") and sent them flying. Thomas sustained a hard blow to the body; Teofila, to the face ("She had to have a tooth pulled"). The two were taken to Meir Hospital in Kfar Sava and discharged that same evening, though not before being asked to pay NIS 700 ("But we haven't paid yet"). They didn't take the driver's ID and don't know anything about her insurance. Four and a half months later, Thomas works twice a week, Teofila four times. What they live on: "What we earn." They have no additional income and get no assistance from the National Insurance Institute. The children: Netanel is in ninth grade at the Ironi Aleph high school in Tel Aviv, getting back and forth by bus, on foot or by bicycle. He is not entitled to a subsidized schoolchildren's bus ticket and does not take part in after-school activities, but has a lot of friends in the neighborhood. Shirel is in seventh grade in a school where many of the pupils are from the former Soviet Union. She likes mainly mathematics and has learned a little Russian. She gets money for transportation from the school ("The ticket is good for 10 days"), but doesn't take part in extra-curricular groups, even though they are free. Thomas' bio: Born in a town in the Peruvian Andes, a 24-hour trip from Lima. His family arrived in Peru at the start of the Spanish colonization in the 16th century ("because of the Inquisition"). His mother engaged in farming ("We had cows, chickens, flowers, vegetables, a lovely place, like a moshav here" - referring to Israel's cooperative farming communities. His father played the fiddle in a folklore group. "We are Jews," he says. Jews: There was no rabbi and no synagogue in his town in Peru, in fact no institution that could provide Thomas with documentation of his Jewishness, but he remembers that they fasted on Yom Kippur, ate matza on Passover and recited Shema Yisrael. He has no further proof. Bio (cont.): At age 11 he moved to the home of an aunt in Lima. In high school he studied accountancy ("That is my true profession") and afterward switched to making and marketing coins, earrings and bracelets of silver and gold. In 1989, he visited Israel and developed a powerful yearning to stay. He immigrated a year later (February 1990) and has been here ever since, not recognized by the authorities, not despairing, not complaining, full of good will and a desire to integrate, carrying a "pink" ID card (temporary resident). Motivation: "Anyone who lives abroad and comes to Israel can never forget it." Teofila's bio: Born in Peru, 1962, one of 12 children. Her father was a baker; her mother sold meat at home. She remembers that on Passover they took special dishes and cutlery from cupboards and went to her grandfather's for the seder. She has no other documentation about her origins. She studied at a school for nurses and worked in the local well-baby clinic, making $50 a month. She met Thomas in November 1990 and came to Israel to be with him. The meeting: 1984. Thomas was a silversmith and jewelry merchant, Teofila worked as a baby nurse, assisting new mothers after childbirth. One day he happened to be at her parents' place. He caught her looking at him, saw flowers on the table and cabrito (roast lamb with potatoes) in the oven, and when she asked him to stay and eat with them, he accepted gladly. They dated for four years, including a period when she worked in a distant city ("We saw each other about once every two months"), until he moved to Israel and she joined him. The wedding: 1991, at Yad Hashmona (a settlement of messianic Jews) outside Jerusalem. They bought her a white dress and a dark suit for him in South Tel Aviv. Children's status: Netanel and Shirel were born in Tel Aviv and are both Israeli citizens. The parents consulted with Israeli friends about the names ("God-given" and "song of God," respectively). Powerful memory: On January 18, 1991, when they were living on Hakishon Street, a Scud missile fell close to their home ("But we didn't want to leave the city"). Daily routine: Thomas and Teofila get up at 5:30 A.M., eat white bread and a carrot and drink juice. Shirel gets up at 6:30; Netanel at 7. They both have a tortilla (with potatoes and an egg), and Shirel adds cottage cheese. Teofila makes the sandwiches for school, usually with yellow cheese, and adds fruit and a bottle of water. They don't eat lunch. After getting home from school, the children wait for their mother to get back from work and to make them chicken and frijoles (beans) with potatoes. In contrast to Argentines, they do not have a great interest in meat. Evening: Between 8 and 9 P.M., Teofila prepares a meal "like lunch." They go to sleep at 11. They don't have cable TV, but watch Channels 1 and 2 ("whatever it picks up") on the television set located in the parents' bedroom. Thomas was disappointed to hear that Channel 1 will no longer be broadcasting games of the Maccabi Tel Aviv basketball team. Elections: They do not have the right to vote. Thomas says there's no one to vote for today. He used to be for Ariel Sharon, even though he was completely against the Gaza disengagement. Peace: It won't happen, because many sins have been committed ("We that live here around the Central Bus Station see drugs being bought and sold"). Palestinians: "It's like with a cake - give them a piece and they will want more" (Thomas). Dreams: Thomas - to work in diamonds; Teofila - to be a hospital nurse, to visit her family in Peru and have a home of her own; Netanel - architect; Shirel - pediatrician. America: "Only to visit." Happiness quotient (scale of 1-10): Thomas - 10; Teofila - 9 ("because of the apartment"); Netanel - 9.5; Shirel - 10.

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