Bracha Pomerantz nee Zibenberg

Aliyah Bet (Aliya Bilty Legalit) was the code name given to Illegal immigration (Ma’apilim) by Jews to Mandatory Palestine between 1934-1948. It was a major method of immigration, because the British, by setting the quota at mere 18,000 people per year (Aliyah Aleph), virtually terminated the option of legal immigration. Before, during and after World War II large number of immigrants arrived by land and sea, from Europe and the Middle East, in defiance of the British Mandatory government’s order. Tel Aviv beaches were a popular destination for ships carrying illegal immigrants. The “mother” ship anchored, most of the times, outside the territorial waters of the Mandate and the illegal immigrants were sent ashore in smaller vessels and lifeboats. Residents of Tel Aviv beach communities would gather on the shore to welcome their European brothers who escaped Nazi persecution and genocide. They assimilated among the new comers, to confuse the British police with who is who.

Bracha’s home was the second house from Ha’Yarkon Street (a major street which runs roughly parallel to the coastline in Tel Aviv), next to Atarim Square (of today) at 3 Shderot Keren Kayemeth L’Israel. Bracha would receive word from the Haganah about the ETA and location where the illegal immigrants would disembark from the small boats. She would go down to the beach, meet with her Haganah’s contact person and gather several Jewish refugees, taking them to her home. There she served them hot meal, offered a hot shower and fresh set of clean clothes. The immigrants would nap for few hours and at dawn, the milk trucks from the various kibbutzim will arrive to pick them up and disperse them throughout the countryside.