My name is Benjamin Tal. I am a mix of an Ashkenazi Jew and a Sephardi Jew. My mother and her family are from Eastern Europe. They where born in Ukraine which at one time was part of the ex-USSR. My father(s) side of the family is from what used to be Persia. Both of the families being Jewish had a difficult time living under the ex-Soviet Union Communist regime, but the anti-semitism in Ukraine was greater than in the Kokas Mountains (whihc is where my father and his family later moved). Given an opportunity both families decided to emigrate. While my fathers family emigrated to Israel in 1973 my mother and her family came to the United States in 1978. It was a difficult and lengthy process to emigrate where both families started with nothing and both families had difficult political turmoil. But even though at first it wasn’t easy for them they are grateful for everything they went through because now they don’t live their lives in fear of being Jewish.
 

– Benjamin Tal

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant