My Birth Date

I was born in the year 1947 in Tehran on the second night of Rosh Hashana, the Jewish new year.  My given name was Janet, in the French accent.  It was the custom in the Jewish community from Mashhad to give French names to their children.  This was most likely because the Muslim authorities required the giving of Arab names.  (All my aunts and uncles had Arab names.)

My family moved to Israel in the year 1951, and then I was given a Hebrew name, Sara.  All these years my family was celebrating my birthday at the festive dinner for the second night of Rosh Hashana.  My younger brother was named Mordechai, after the Jewish hero in the book of Esther.  My sister came next, she was born in early spring when the Jews celebrate Tu Bishvat, the birthday of trees.  She was named Elana, from Ilan which means tree.

At the age of 16 I was given an Israeli I.D. booklet.  My birthdate was written as bet Tishre, the Jewish date.

At the age of 25 I met my future husband Moshe who came from California.  We decided to start our lives in Los Angeles and I had to apply for a green card.  I needed to have a Christian birth date and it was possible then to check the 1947 calendar and find out that the second of Tishre was September 16.  I still needed a birth certificate, and since I did not have one, I was told by the American embassy that my mother has to sign an affidavit that she indeed delivered me in Iran on September 16, 1947.  In addition I needed a letter from the police that I have no criminal record. 

That is how I became Sara Janet Bassilian.  Since then I celebrate my birthday for a few days between the second of Tishre and September 16, which happens to be different every year.   In my close family I am still known as Janet.