Part One:

My Family Story;

How We

Came To

Canada

Once upon a time, was a little girl named Batya Josephovich (ba-CH-a yo-sef-OH-vich). 

From left to right:

Batya Josephovich, Regina (rig-EE-nah) Josephovich, Yacov (ya-K-of) Josephovich, Felix Josephovich 

In 1949, she (at only four years old) and her family left Poland to go to the newly formed Israel, a place where her Jewish family could be safe, and make a life, since there really wasn't much left in Poland after the war. 

Batya had a good life in Israel, but in 1966 (age 20) she went on a student exchange program to England, that would change her life irrevocably. She met Robert Hebdon, a Canadian exchange student. They instantly fell in love. 

A year later (1967), Batya Josephovitch became Bayia Hebdon, as she and Robert got married. 

She was 21 and he was 23.

In order to stay together, Batya became a family class immigrant to Canada, sponsored by Robert's parents. 

Eventually, Batya's family (except for her father, she had passed 

soon after their 

arrival in Israel) 

came to Canada 

the same way, this

time sponsored 

by Batya and 

Robert themselves.

Batia and Robert lived happy lives with three children (Tal, Ronen, and Sheri) and eventually seven grandchildren (Sarah, Dylan, Celeste [me], Nate, Violet, Zev, and Maya). 

From the red shirt person and going clockwise:

Ronen Hebdon, Sheri Hebdon, Tal Hebdon, Batia Hebdon

All good things must come to an end, and this love story is no exception. My Safta*, (or Batia, as we've known her in this story) passed from cancer fifteen years ago, a few months after my birth, so she never met more than half of her grandchildren. 

* Safta is just what I would've called her. Like Grandma, Memaw, or Abuela

The primary push factor Safta left Israel, instead of Robert leaving Canada, is the fact that in the 60's Israel was seemingly constantly fighting wars, and she wanted her family to have a better life than that. 

Push Factors

The other push factors are that the overall standard of life in Israel wasn't that good at the time, and that Batia really didn't have anyone (other than her brother and mother) keeping her there. 

The primary pull factor towards Canada is, cheesy as it may be, love. Batya loved Robert enough to move to Canada, and (temporarily) leave her family behind.

The other pull factors that caused Batya to move to Canada are that the standard of living in Canada was quite high (especially compared to Israel) and that there were lots of opportunities in Canada (jobs, family, etc).

Pull Factors

One of the main benefits of moving to Canada is that Batya was able to give her family more than she had had when she was a kid growing up. Due to Canada's higher standard of living Batya and Robert were able to send all three of their kids to university, without ever 'pinching pennies.'

Batya was also able to open up a baby furniture store, that is still around today (though Batya isn't one of the owners anymore, since she left, but that's a story for another day).

Benefits of Immigrating to Canada

Instead of just listing obstacles in her way as I've done for benefits, I'm going to tell a story instead.

When Batya arrived in Canada she wanted to find a job (Robert was in university getting his master's, so she had to be the main source of income), so she applied to be a bookkeeper in a church, and she almost the job until they found out she was Jewish, which led them to turn her away. 

Challenges of Immigrating to Canada

So, Batya applied to work at a Synagogue. The same thing happened; she applied, got an interview, mentioned that her husband wasn't Jewish, and they all but slammed the door in her face.

She finally decided to apply to be the bookkeeper at a construction company, and they hired her, so she was eventually able to find work, but it took much longer then it should've.

Part Two

My Culture;

Judaism