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It was the kingdom of the people of Thessaloniki.

Even when everyone left, he made sure to keep her alive

Ephraim Pitilon, a native of Thessaloniki, was a labor leader, stage manager at Habima, Gabay and a well-known figure in the Levinsky market in Tel Aviv.

Although the Thessalonians abandoned the neighborhood, he insisted on adhering to the style of the townspeople in the local synagogue, which was later identified as "La Commune d'Ephraim" in his name.

On Rosh Hashanah he passed away

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• Thessaloniki

• Florentine

• Tel Aviv Jaffa

• Habima

Eli Ashkenazi

Saturday, 09 October 2021, 11:45 Updated: 11:49

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Simchat Torah has over the years become the main date at the Hadar Kodesh Synagogue in the Florentine neighborhood of Tel Aviv.

The sons, grandsons and great-grandchildren of Thessaloniki natives who once lived in the neighborhood come to the synagogue that day.

The joy of the holiday and the exciting meeting of the community, create a special atmosphere in the place.

The happiest of all on this day was Ephraim Pitilon, the synagogue's gabay for the past decades.

Even after all the Thessaloniki natives left the neighborhood, Pitilon insisted on opening the synagogue every Saturday and holiday and adhered to the Thessaloniki-style prayers.

Last Rosh Hashanah, Pitilon passed away.

The rounds without him were different and lacking.

"Ephraim's death is the end of an era, of friendship, of brotherhood not found today," said Hillel Partok, the partner of Betty Pitilon, the man's granddaughter, and who himself was in close contact with Grandpa Pitilon.

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"End of Period".

Ephraim Pitilon (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

Ephraim Pitilon was born in 1928 in Thessaloniki, Greece, to Samuel and Esther.

He was the youngest child after four brothers and sisters.

In 1936, the couple and their five children immigrated to Eretz Israel.

The family says that Samuel was considered a "troublemaker" and his brother wanted to keep him away.

They gave him a bag of coins and told him to immigrate to Eretz Israel, start a business, and they would follow him - without really meaning to.

Fate wanted Samuel and his family to be saved from the Nazis and the rest of the family murdered in the camps to which the Jews of Greece were sent.

Shmuel Pitilon and his family stayed at the home of a relative on Zerach Brent Street (later Three Street), but unfortunately, two weeks after their arrival, the events of 1906 broke out, and the uncle recommended that they find a neighborhood farther from the Tel Aviv border with Jaffa. The station - now called Cordobro Street - in the Florentine neighborhood.

The Pitilon family on the eve of immigration from Greece, 1936. Ephraim is the boy in front (Photo: courtesy of the family)

The father, Shmuel, was a traditional Jew who performed a kiddush and loved to sing, and visited the synagogue on Saturdays and holidays.

Ephraim testified that the father did not force his children to pray and his older brother, for example, did not follow in their father’s footsteps.

Ephraim himself used to go with his father to the synagogue next to their house, Hadar Kodesh, where the people of Salonika who lived in the neighborhood prayed.

Since then, for more than eight decades, it has been the synagogue where Ephraim prayed, and where Gabay served for many years.

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Employee leader and theater man

Fitilon studied at one of the people in Tel Aviv, and in his youth he volunteered to join the Irgun. At 18 he met at a dance club in Tel Aviv Bertha immigrant from Iraq, and a year later they were married. The couple had over the past two sons and two daughters.

From a young age he began to work, For many years he worked in the "Cosman Barzilai" nickel plating factory. He became a key figure among the workers, and was elected by them as chairman of the committee. "In the face of the wave of rising prices in the economy," there is nothing left whose price has not risen in the market, let alone a small apartment that the Poal family can no longer even dream of, "he said. "Our community is no better than the members of the Ashkenazi community," he claimed.

The wedding of Ephraim and Berta Pitilon (Photo: courtesy of the family)

He did not accept the ways of the Histadrut apparatus, and was angry at the demand to hold a red notebook as a condition for advancing as a workers' representative.

This struggle made him a supporter of the Herut movement and later the Likud movement.

Partok noted that "despite his positions as a right-wing man who always voted for the Likud, he gave me a lot of respect as a Meretz man and believed in the importance of a debate. It was important for him to have a dialogue and he would listen to me out of respect.

Ephraim Pitilon on stage with Shmuel Rudansky, who then starred in the play "Tuvia the Milkman" (Photo: courtesy of the family)

His next job, after the metal factory, was as a stage manager at the National Theater - Habima Theater - where he worked for about twenty years.

Over time he befriended the theater actors, including the most famous such as Shmuel Rudansky, Hannah Rubina, Aaron Meskin and more.

"They would be hosted in his house and he would be hosted in their homes and also sit with them in the cafes where they were sitting at the time, where Kassit and Ravel," Partuk said.

After retiring from this work, he set up a small factory for metal works.

Greek tavern in south Tel Aviv

The place with which he was most identified was the Lewinsky Market.

It was the environment of his childhood, youth and adulthood.

There he knew everyone and everyone knew him.

This was the kingdom of the people of Thessaloniki, and Ephraim was one of the main figures of that kingdom.

For example, he was a regular friend and customer at Albert's confectionery, which no longer exists, or at Haim Rafael's deli, which has become a household name over the years.

Ephraim was a close friend of Raphael himself - a company that included long trips to the Meiri dairy in Safed, which produced cheeses that reminded them of Thessaloniki.

From time to time, Raphael would open a table with Ephraim in the warehouse behind the deli, and the two would sit on Hameiri cheese, olives from Greece and a bottle of drink, and a group of other Thessalonians would gather around them, opening a kind of Greek tavern in south Tel Aviv.

Ephraim Pitilon (Photo: Courtesy of the family)

After a break of a few years, the two renewed the tradition and every week, on a regular day, they would meet in the afternoon, sit, drink, eat and reminisce about the old Thessaloniki and Lewinsky market.

Around 11 at night they were separated.

This tradition ended with the death of Haim Raphael seven years ago.

Another station in the market where Ephraim was a customer of honor was the pub, which was nicknamed "Matti the Cursor", after the owner of the place, Matti Landstein.

The two were good friends, and Partok recounted that "Mati, known for his curses, said only greetings about Ephraim. ".

Fifth generation in the synagogue

Among all those stations in the market where Ephraim was a guest of honor, the synagogue was for him the central place.

Over the years he and his family, like all other families from Thessaloniki, left Florentine in favor of neighborhoods in central Tel Aviv or north, or to other cities in Israel and overseas.

Despite this, Ephraim stubbornly adhered to the holding of Thessaloniki-style prayers every Saturday and holiday in the Hadar Kodesh Synagogue.

Thus, when the rest of the Thessaloniki synagogues were closed or moved to worshipers of other denominations, Hadar Kodesh has kept the tradition of Thessaloniki natives since the synagogue was established in 1930.

The mourning community.

Hadar Kodesh Synagogue in Florence (Photo: courtesy of the family)

In time, the synagogue became known as "La Keila d'Ephraim" ("the community of Ephraim").

His son, Shlomo, is the one who keeps the embers burning, and in recent years he has been his father's right hand man when it comes to opening a synagogue.

Ephraim was proud that today the fifth generation of his family is already praying in the synagogue: "My father prayed in it, I pray, my son prays, my grandson prays, and my great-grandchildren come to the synagogue," he said.

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