一個猶太女人的動人故事

這是一個猶太女人的動人故事。

她是唯一至今還留在上海的猶太后裔，又是一位堅強慈愛的中國母親。她那充滿傳奇色彩的人生旅程，折射出中以兩國人民綿延不斷的人文情愫。

一

她叫沙拉·伊麥斯，當年她的父親為逃避納粹的迫害逃亡到了中國，“上海方舟”保護了這個善良正直的猶太商人。

1950年，新中國成立的第二年沙拉出生在上海虹口大名路的家中。

1956年，她的父親參加猶太人聯合會工作，她們舉家搬到了上海復興中路642號猶太人聯合會會所居住。

童年的沙拉是幸福的。在聯合會三層的大洋樓里她分享著父親的慈愛，在秧歌和腰鼓聲中，她和鄰家的小朋友一樣接受了許多共產主義教育，她看《兒童時代》，讀毛主席著作，聽解放軍英雄故事，學愚公移山精神，在猶太后裔小沙拉的軀體里，安下的是新中國好少年的紅色靈魂。

然而在她12歲那年，由于父親的去世使她失去了家庭溫暖，特別是后來的那場“文革”洗劫，又把這位異國少女帶入了一個更可怕的深淵。

1967年秋天“紅衛兵”把沙拉趕出了洋樓，還剪去了她那美麗的鬈發，幾經周折直到1971年，21歲的沙拉總算進了上海銅廠成了一名干體力活的女工。

她的生活也許從此會安靜下來，誰料“文革”期間，以色列政府的一紙有關允許她“移民”的通知，讓她突然背上了莫須有的所謂“外國特務”的罪名，經受了3年牢獄之災。

出獄之后，她在路邊小攤上看到一尊觀音造像，不知為什么她沒加思索竟花高價把“觀音”請了回家，這也許是她內心此時感到困惑和孤單有關吧。她沒有按傳統的中國習慣把菩薩供奉起來，而是把它當作一個善良的朋友，擺放在床頭柜子上，每晚，她都要和觀音悄語輕聲地“對話”，她堅信中國這場“浩劫”終會過去，善良總有一天會戰勝邪惡，她忘不了“文革”期間那些默默幫助她的好心人，特別是在她被“掃地出門”后幾次悄悄塞給她生活零花錢的普通老花匠以及那對常常請她吃飯并讓她留宿的鄰居們……

這些最平常、最樸素的關愛，讓沙拉感受到了人間真情，催化了她那份終身無法割舍的中國情結。

二

洗劫過后沙拉重返工廠，她結了婚，并有了三個兒女。她給大兒子起名叫“以華”，她覺得她的生命離不開遠隔千里的以色列和與她的一生緊緊相連的中國。

1992年1月24日，中國和以色列正式建交了!這一天恰巧是兒子“以華”的生日，“人逢喜事精神爽”，沙拉她用最隆重的方式慶祝了這個節日。接著，在她42歲那年，她踏上了“尋根”之旅。這是中國改革開放后第一個或許是最后一個返回以色列的猶太后裔。回到以色列，她受到了當時的以色列總理拉賓的接見。

然而，總理的接見并沒改變她回到陌生國度的感覺，她在特拉維夫市舉目無親，又聽不懂當地的希伯萊語。要命的是，她在中國人們把她看作外國人，而在以色列人們又把她看作中國人。

她像流動民工一樣在以色列街頭擺攤，她專門找老人在聊天中學希伯萊語。后來耶路撒冷移民局終于給沙拉一家發了安家費，沙拉用它開了一家餐館。

沙拉有著濃濃的中國“鄉情”，當她看到在以色列的中國勞工受到不公正的待遇之時或者看到中國打工者遇到生活困難或遭遇不幸時，她都會給予熱情和無私和幫助，因而受到中國駐以大使館的感謝和以色列司法部門的嘉獎，于是她在猶太人和華人中就有了兩個親切的稱呼：“閑事大媽”和“沙拉大姐”。她常常對孩子們說：“我們的生命中有著中國人的血脈，中國人要幫中國人呀!”

她從中國回到以色列，這些年來她又幾度遷徙，但她始終將《毛主席語錄》，和一套《毛澤東選集》帶在身邊。鄧小平同志逝世那天，她帶著3個孩子驅車300公里趕到中國駐以大使館，在小平的靈堂前深情地獻上一束鮮花。

三

沙拉的才干和特有的中國情結，受到了許多以色列人士的關注。2002年，著名的羅斯蒂克兄弟鉆石有限公司，決定任命她為公司駐中國地區的首席代表。于是她離開上海十年之后，又重返故土。由于她胸中的中國情愫，她特意選擇在她原來居住過的地區上海浦東居住。

在氣勢恢宏、富商云集的上海金茂大廈，我走進了沙拉的專用辦公室。

她身居高樓大廈從事商務活動，但她心目中始終惦著中國的普通百姓。她居住在洋涇地區，被中國的百姓評選為10萬洋涇人的形象大使，百姓們贊譽“沙拉大姐熱情、正直、敢為民請命”。她在居住地為群眾的生活瑣事奔波操勞，有時甚至帶著保姆拿起水桶給小區的綠化地帶澆水護花。她還成了浦東公利醫院的“榮譽職工”兼義務工，說來讓人難于置信，醫院碰到難題就會想到沙拉。因為再有情緒的病人，只要她出面勸說，總能破涕為笑，再激烈的矛盾，經她協調常常會握手言歡。特別是她一手帶大、諄諄教育的三個兒女，他們也都像母親一樣懂得感恩，熱愛中國，樂于助人，他們和母親并肩努力，為中以兩國人民的友誼架設橋梁。

站在富麗堂皇的金茂大廈寬大的玻璃窗前，她會常常思念起復興中路642號那幢曾經居住過的老洋樓，她深情地說：“我選擇中國，選擇做中國土地上努力成長的樹；我選擇中國，我想將整個身心和智慧為她付出!”這話，是沙拉一生割舍不斷中國情結的概括。

A Chinese Story of A Jewish Woman

By Chen Yibing

The Second World War witnessed large groups of Jewish people flee to Shanghai， the Noah Ark in the world for these homeless refugees during the chaotic years. Most of them left after the war. Some stayed on. Sara Imas is the last one of them still in Shanghai Today.

Sara’s father was a businessman. He fled to Shanghai from Germany and stayed on after the war. Sara was born in Shanghai in 1950， the second year of New China. In 1956， Sara’s father began to work for the Jewish People’s Union located at 642 Fuxing Road Central and the family moved to the three-storied western-styled house.

Sara was happy during these years. The little girl basked in his father’s love. She also received some education of Communism. All she read in school and at home had something to do with New China. The Jewish girl had a “red soul” as a good Chinese teenager.

However， his father died when Sara was 12. And the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976) plunged her into the hell. She was driven out of the three-storied house and her curly hair was ruthlessly shorn by some Red Guards. She was unemployed. After much trouble， she finally landed a job as a worker in a textile factory in 1971.She was 21 that year.

Sara thought her life would settle down without much trouble thereafter. But it suddenly took a vicious turn and became even worse. One day she received a letter from the Israeli Government notifying her that she was approved to migrate to Israel. She was not allowed to leave. Instead， Sara was charged of being a foreign agent and thrown into jail. She was behind the bar for three years.

In these difficult years， her friends and neighbors reached out to help her. They rendered her pocket money， food and shelter now and then. Sara bought a Kwan-yin statue at a roadside shop after she was released from jail. She put the statue at the head of her bed. She talked to the statue as if the Buddha was her intimate friend and believed the turmoil would be over someday.

After the jail， Sara was back to the factory. She married and had three children. Her elder son was named Yihua， meaning Israel and China. Sara felt that her life was closely associated with both Israel and China.

China and Israel set up diplomatic relations on January 24， 1992. It happened to be Yihua’s birthday. Sara celebrated the red-letter day most ceremoniously. In the same year， she went to Israel to seek her roots. She was the first Jewish descendent leaving China after the reform and opening-up policies started in the country and probably the last descendent of the Jewish people who had fled to China decades before. Sara Imas was warmly welcomed home by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

However， life was not easy for her in her new homeland， where Sara found no kin to them. And she did not speak the Hebrew language. The Israeli people regarded her as Chinese. Sara became a street vendor to make a living. To learn the language， she sought out old people to chat with them. When the immigration administration finally granted her a large amount of settling-in allowance， she set up a Chinese restaurant.

Sara Imas was warm-hearted with Chinese people in Israel. When she learned something bad had happened to Chinese there， she would step forward and help. For her warm and selfless contributions， she was highly appreciated by the Chinese Embassy to Israel and commended by the Israeli legal authorities.

After she settled down in Israel， she moved several times. But she always carried Quotations of Chairman Mao and Selected Works of Mao Zedong with her. On the day Deng Xiaoping passed away， she and her three children drove 300 kilometers to the Chinese embassy and placed fresh flowers in front of Deng’s portrait.

Sara’s talent and her Chinese complex were noticed by many of her country people. In 2002， a diamond company hired her to be their chief representative in China. So ten years after her departure from China， Sara Imas came back to Shanghai. Her office is in the Jinmao Tower， the most magnificent office tower in New Pudong Area where transnational corporations gravitate.

In her spare time， the warm-hearted Sara is most active in community affairs. She is voted by all 100，000 residents of the community as their ambassador. She works as a volunteer at the Pudong Public Hospital and solves problems for the hospital. And now and then she talks with patients and listens to their woes.

Sara Imas misses the three-storied house in Fuxing Street Central where she grew up. “I choose China and I choose to be a tree growing up in China. I want to devote my heart and soul to China，” says Sara Imas， an Israeli woman with her deep roots in China.