Melanie Sacks
Melanie Sacks was raised in South Africa in a family she describes as very Jewish, attending a Jewish day school and identifying strongly with both Judaism and Israel. Though not strictly religious, her upbringing was traditional, and her school instilled a deep Zionist commitment, bringing speakers from Israel and encouraging students to spend three or six months there at a young age. She remembers a relaxed lifestyle, beautiful weather, poolside barbecues, and year-end family holidays at the sea and trips to the Kruger National Park. Her mother's family traced back to Lithuania, and treasured candlesticks and a silver menorah, passed down from a great-aunt, remain special family relics.
Melanie met her husband Ivan by chance in Israel in 1976, after she visited following high school and he was arriving after completing his compulsory army service. They reconnected through a mutual acquaintance, and Ivan, who had already come to Dallas, drew her there. As South Africa faced unrest, her parents had long urged their children to raise families in a safer place. Two of her brothers also emigrated, one to Sydney and one to Austin, though her parents remained in South Africa. Ivan's sister was already in Dallas and helped the couple settle, and they slowly built a circle of friends who became like family.
In Dallas, Melanie pursued a teaching certification, studying for a couple of semesters at a nearby university, and taught preschool, including at the JCC. She and Ivan became active members of their synagogue from its inception, and she served as co-president of the sisterhood with her sister-in-law. As their children grew, the family became more observant at home, and they were deeply involved in supporting a yeshiva. She found the Dallas Jewish community warm and welcoming. Melanie embraces American life, adores Thanksgiving, and considers her citizenship a great privilege, while keeping some South African traditions alive in her family celebrations.
Full Transcript
this is Aaron for you now no poverty area that's all they got married if they're okay well growing up in South Africa what to you was perhaps a couple of really memorable moments in your life if you can pinpoint that well I remember we always went on holiday at the end of the year December let's sum of time there and people would get long holidays at time of the year like a month off we would always go away with my family took place called urban which was at the sea and I remember though to the kruger national park a few times with my parents and
my family but when I was growing up at least four or five times and a great experience that time I was I hate to see the animals being killed because I would you know as a kid think it was very cruel and all I didn't understand the circle of life in those days still love being out there with my family and remember a very sort of laid back lifestyle and really beautiful weather when I grew up beautiful weather sitting at the pool having BBQ surprise and the summer and then that's sort of what I really remember okay what about Jewish Lee and he find moments
or memories of Jewish life there Hey yes and definitely we were very very Jewish in south africa i did not grow up religious how he realized now that we grew up quite servitor but we called ourselves orthodox because there was no differentiation and are we into jewish school manhole not the name was David links field and very traditional we always were Jewish before we split South Africa care to ask us what we were we were Jewish and identified very much so with being Jewish and also be Israel very stylistic and inside at that time because I know quite a few people from Johannesburg what do
you think the population was the Jewish population greater johannesburg would you say I read I'm sorry I continue I probably in that maybe the tens of thousands of thousand 18,000 okay um I see these beautiful beautiful relics on the table here can you tell us a little bit about that and why you now have them here yes um and this man my mom header will her father that told me was from cosner Lithuania and he had one sister her name was Bertha Monte birthday you came to South Africa with Uncle aza her husband they didn't have children so when they were getting old and looking
to give their things away they gave these candlesticks to my mom and the silver madura so it's like very special to to the family because it's like that I'm of tears all right now and tastic up beautiful how can you tell us a little bit about how and why you made the decision to leave South Africa and when I left South Africa it was a sort of state of turmoil in South Africa they've been mr whicher riots which was very you know I think the real scary thing for all of us we always saw the writing on the wall that may be for whites 22
living south and raise children wouldn't be the safest thing and when I grew up my parents have always told us that when you are the country are two servings when you are the country we don't have to go but we won the kit you kids out the country so you will raise your children in a place where it's safe and I just happened to come to Dallas because I meant Ivan and he was in Dallas already and that's how landed up yeah where did you meet him and when Mitch in Israel actually very chance meeting in Israel for like 10 minutes if that and landed
up getting together and when an art that what you're about was this that was at 76 in 1976 I went after high school of genomic trip to visit Israel he had just finished the army in South Africa which was compulsory back then he was coming to Israel thinking that he would live there and we had this chance meeting for a few minutes and that was it and then he landed up coming back to South Africa and we kind of got in touch through a girl who was in his class at University Wow so did your siblings also make a decision to leave and your parents
what are they my parents never left my oldest brother left a little bit before me and I've been yet early two years he left a little bit before me to go to Sydney Australia and another brother who um he's a he's a little bit older me and the youngest kid in the family he actually is in austin texas oh boy you're all Texans what do you know and you said ivan was already living here yet chose to already move to dallas he came to get now what did he do in the beginning what was he doing here at that point um he was at that
point just working here come to see about living here and he was doing odd jobs to a little bit of money mowing lawns doing anything to earn a little bit of money and then he actually likes spice about someone in stock broking now we're always curious about how did people pick davis so how do you think Ivan wash up you know what I should ask I pass I'm sure you go but repent ganado why Dallas as opposed to Houston or somewhere else or somewhere in the South but i'll save that bread okay they can tell us had you considered any other place to live either
you or he or both of you do you think oh is this not just it this is that that's what this was it okay how in what ways do you think your friends or even your family was helpful people make did you know anybody at all when you arrived was anybody else helpful to you to come here and help settle your hair um actually when we when I gotcha Ivan sister was already yeah so that was very helpful um and then just meet friends slowly our age frames and at that stage you like oh who's coming and you all become friends and sort of joint
and they become your family actually how soon after all of that did you settle here did you actually have children or did you have children yes my children five years off yes so you kind of probably at that point did you make a circle of friends who had maybe children about the same age genki all the same yes your friends become well we all have no children in the beginning and we all started having children this head um I I'm going to assume but I shouldn't have you always lived here andresen did you well know we lived in in apartments and then when we lived
we moved into this house at yer before we had our first child she's 26 mile long one was anybody anywhere your kids in private school at all or were you with the public school system around here they were in private schools toll came through kindergarten and then we put the new public schools okay very good it's always nice to have a support system wherever you're settled and wherever you live that's great what were your first impressions if you can think back kind of of being in the States and being in Dallas specifically well the craziest thing is believe it or not I don't know what
did not know what Dennis was until the shuttle and I don't drizzly with neck wise i did not know Dennis existent and you spoke to you as a kid about Texas and literally would see desert with cactuses and skulls of animals that's what takes us close to me so then when I saw the show Dallas like what you see ok it is 30 with people and new nose like a normal face and then um you know move Jennifer was pretty normal to me um like South African a chance but where I'm from because there's no ocean around just a city alright but I waiver was
a hundred times better I have to say and it's Johannesburg is just very pretty because of that climates and trees and prop people plant flowers just a beautiful I mean it comes salmon everything's flowering beautiful not back yet it's a date ah how does convey what what challenge can you think of one or two challenges really really hard core challenges that you faced moving across the world without halfway across the world to this to this part it is well for me that biggest challenges being very very hopes I was very very upset for like about 34 years just like hot all the time just live
for doesn't to visit on my parents coming your ass going via or something okay and then just I think at the for your point or so and I really just realized that was totally my choice to come nobody said Melanie you have to marry Ivan has to go to death and it just turned around like that when I realized that was you know the case no I wasn't the victim anymore before that I just felt like such a victim being yeah well do you think that others were probably going through something similar people that had to my background is you up do you think so
I kind of her daughter's it is it can take three years to get used to place and that was about a longer to me mate what did you get involved in you came here or even a little bit past that I did you find a job did you have some hobbies you were interested in that you kept you going what I did is and i had a teaching degree in South Africa did go to North Texas State for wine or two semesters to get certified so I can teach ya I'm just wash up re noodle I'm going to have you stop boys it's just let
her go ahead it's just like sorry that's okay just remember what you asked them if you got it involved in it I tell you sir you got your teaching degrees i got my teaching certification yeah i remember getting involved in um whoo Hadassah something like that I got involved with that I taught at a substitute like a key burn that sort of place to bench me to get a job at the JCC teaching preschool and that getting but oh we were always very involved in our sure we belong to oil shale on hmm we feel a lack since its inception and I was a co-president
of the sisterhood with my sister-in-law at that time so this was like a long time ago before had to be left alone but at the time were they yet located up here I've ever there was south of us so it was okay but you drove did you drive to short legit okay how was that we we did we actually were not religious in any way until it came to my kids my oldest shot daughter going into first grade where we realized that I've been to a Jewish school my whole life and was not interested in anything Jewish actually and Ivan noticed that with a lot
of it that South Africans into my school they didn't want to you know keep any religious things just also very traditional but otherwise not interested in anything Jewish and we decided we'll put our kids into public school then we need to be more religious at home and that's our we stop it okay very good overall i'm curious how welcoming do you feel this community was for you as a new immigrant and or the jewish community for you as a new immigrant i think they were great i'm rebecca marie was it was it was great I know that if I would bump into anybody just a
total stranger and meet them they'd start talking to me llaman X in R see where I'm from their sort of thing and then they would tell me oh we belong to us so you should come to a meeting we belong to this is another one Jewish something woman's that I can't remember naturally announcement yeah National Council you know i would meet people that tell me about it i found people were very very woman you know good welcoming have you gotten involved through the years in something like more general in the community or in a professional area in the community at or not heaven I've just
been very very involved in a shoe and I you should be having a Shiva now that's you know started an actual of yeshiva we're very involved in that so I have a lot of those boys over to my house that's been one arm involved okay now what would you consider cultural traditions that you've maintained from your South African roots can you pinpoint any of those that you cultural ditions um well i would say taken on a lot of the jewish traditions yeah which we didn't even do in south africa so you're talking about a South African traditions more both a gr8 you do either way
certain foods ways and other holidays ways of it right okay oh that's kinda to better thanks for my favorite favorite holidays is Thanksgiving some duty laughs and eric and thanks and you everything thanks i do the whole thing I look up every thanksgiving recipe I mean you name it from I don't know what the butternuts to the bus to the apple pie I really go all out the different foods I absolutely adore thanksgiving now that my children are all this fishy they come in for thanksgiving so it's even more important than it was interesting look it's my favorite favorite um else i love all the
holidays i put a flag out for memorial day for poaching thank you you're probably more than a lot of US citizens here you know very very fortunate to be actually i really do i think is the most incredible country and I feel very fortunate to be yeah and culturally the food I kicked up with a few things that South African to do you like them on our holidays Jewish holidays we eat a lot of hearing different forms of course do that otherwise the food is pretty much the same but then my daughter but Mary the year ago and we kept on tradition that we do
in South Africa the wedding's we first of all had a main table which I know some people mad too but we had what's called the maintain and that consisted of the bride and groom and who kept her parents on her side his parents and branding him on his side that's how we did that we also started the wedding the reception in the hall with singing the American anthem and and Israeli and that's how all a celebration start in south africa south african anthem and then is rayon very much lovely okay um i know you said you guys met in israel which is wonderful how important
in your community in south africa was it to be Zionist did you feel it did you act upon it he's very much it was very very important that's something that my school really brought across all the time it would always have speakers from Israel come to talk to us i can remember began having to talk to us once at school and I was really young for at that point sir women listen to what he was saying I didn't understand it but we would get really like top people from Israel having to talk to us and and we would go they would encourage us to go
on all pan when we were at 14 for an idol three months or six months you could go live in is you know you all your would go either three or six months to Israel very encouraging of anything to do Israel fantastic this might be a little tricky but think about this can you think of any south african / Jewish but South African traditions part of your heritage that you would like to see your children continuing maybe they're already doing it or maybe it's gone by the wayside but is there something that you particularly would like or maybe they already already are doing it but
if so what would that be logically street so we do any traditions that with different I mean one thing we really two different least we don't celebrate chanukah Lakhia really didn't make a big deal of it the kids did not get presents so we've kept that up in a small pictures questions so that you know and that's why we kind of haven't kept up with a plus if we can say as more or less the same I don't remember any that I've different we would get chocolates on Simchat Torah but I think it happens here too so does yeah that was one and we did
with God's would go she'll know we're going to get a bit weaker an apple or something we get bars of chocolate us that's alright see ya okay now once you were here and obviously ivan was already here yes did you arrange for or encourage others that you knew obviously your parents chose not to come here but did you know of others that you were talking with or keeping in touch with that you kind of encouraged and that they in fact did a mirror in left South Africa I know not one girl came we bumped into into something to her in South Africa when we were
visiting she was thinking to come across we told her come across you stay over this a while and she'd ever marrying us not as about an American and I you know the rest is history her sister the same thing happened with I can't think of other people you actually spoke to in South Africa to come across I think they were thinking to come across themselves what about home do you still other them you are your parents still lined up not necessary do you still have any family still there at all I want an ant we look since on it otherwise I don't heavy are you
still every once in a while going back to visit are not necessarily not necessarily not since my parents passed away and then I well my mom passed away first and then my dad so it's been a five years hasn't gone back because I don't want to go back if they're I can understand what if anything do you really really miss about home about South Africa South you know besides the beauty of I usually sit in bed yeah and I've quite so used to care um I think the only thing I have to say that a read if Miss was having my parents around and now
the thing out there there's nothing that i really must because when i go back there I feel like a fish out of water because speaking out 32 goes so in either back there for people that were growing up when I left I have no idea who they are I'm like you know most of a lot of people my age of God so it's not people i know i go to a mall there I don't recognize anybody a photo move yeah like an breaching pod you people so it's it's funny it's reverse down me are you a citizen did you give naturalized citizen so do you
consider yourself an American now or is that kind of it unfair saying I do consider myself a new thing but i like to say I I saw their cooking about this okay sure since you became a citizen I know people get really good of all walks of life get very emotional when they talk about the whole process of becoming citizen what has it meant to you personally to say that you are now a US citizen I feel really that it's a privilege I really feel that way and I feel it's just so lucky I've worked out for how things worked out my pin card and
then you know there's no problem getting my citizenship and I just you know didn't go through any tough hurdles or anything like that and I really believe it's a privilege and a very happy about it but I've ever had to a wonderful statement is there anything else you'd like to add to this Melanie no thanks thanks for lounge to talk about down on you know Judy thank you and all it's been wonderful thank you for sharing with us Mark Fisher you