Granddaughter of the Baba Sali in a Rare Interview: 'Suddenly Grandpa Looked Different. Like a Normal Grandpa'

Rebbetzin Bruria Journo will never forget the landscape of her childhood: a little girl making her way to her grandparents' beloved home through the throngs of Jewish people who came daily to the small apartment in Netivot to pour out their hearts, seek advice, and find comfort with her grandparent, Baba Sali.

There, amidst the confusion she felt, she was called into the sacred inner sanctum by R' Alfasi, the attendant of R' Yisrael Abuhatzeira (Baba Sali). "This is how I grew up. For me, Grandpa means people standing in line to receive a blessing from him," Rebbetzin Journo recalls in an interview with Tal Wiesel for the women's magazine 'Pnima'. "As a granddaughter, I wanted to feel that he was my grandpa, and not just the grandpa of all of Israel."

And so, together with her mother, Rebbetzin Ruchama, Baba Sali's eldest daughter, they waited till everyone had left. "Then, when the door was closed, and no one was outside—since there are no visiting hours—my mother, her sister, and I would enter his room. He would sit on his bed, and we on the opposite one, and I would hear my mother sharing concerns about someone who wasn't feeling well and needed prayers or sharing memories from Morocco. They would laugh heartily, and suddenly Grandpa looked different, like a normal grandpa. Although he was deeply connected to the entire people of Israel, he always dedicated a part of himself to the family. This fills the heart, knowing we were important to him and always close to his heart."

As a child, Rebbetzin Journo also remembers her grandmother, Rebbetzin Percha of blessed memory, to whom she was deeply attached. "She was extraordinary. Beautiful, modest, and gentle. We called her our matriarch Sarah. Her kindness and charity were renowned. She was illiterate, yet she knew all the Torah stories and laws by heart. She did everything with utmost purity. She had a compassion I had never encountered before."

"Grandmother Was a Wonderful Example of a Woman of Valor"

"Upon hearing about a road accident or a soldier's death, she mourned as if it were her own child. In Morocco, she raised many orphans who had no home. She had nine children, but only three survived. She lost six. When their son R' Meir was born, she feared he might die too. But R' David, our crown, Baba Sali's brother, cried out to Hashem to save him, and indeed they managed to bring him into the covenant of Abraham. She guarded him day and night as if he were a precious gem, and it is said that from his birth, she stayed with him at the doorway of the study hall so he would absorb words of Torah. He was considered an angel of Hashem's armies, enveloped in holiness, and it was apparent he was a very pure person."

Rebbetzin Journo shares about her grandfather, saying "Grandpa was always in the attic, learning, withdrawn, sharp-witted. Sometimes with study partners, other times alone. And Grandmother brought him food and drink. On Shabbat, when they sat at the Shabbat table—there was always a separation. A men's table and a women's table, both filled with angelic guests and goodness. When Grandmother passed, I saw the orphans she raised. They too sat shiva with the mourners, and it was only then I learned of her extraordinary deed—raising orphans as her own. It was very pleasant to be in Grandpa and Grandmother's house, and it was hard to part from them. Every moment was full of experiences and meaning.

"Grandmother was a wonderful example of a woman of valor. I never heard her speak gossip, only prayers for others. This made a great impression on me. Everyone who came to her, she would give them something. People loved and respected her, yet she never enjoyed the gifts, passing them immediately to someone else. In one hand, she received, and in the other, she gave".