Jimmy Malach

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Jimmy Malach

Jimmy Malach
Age 19

Jimmy Malach was born in Damascus, Syria in 1987. He has an older sister, Sarah, and a younger brother, Eddie. Jimmy led a carefree lifestyle in Syria, where he had many friends and enjoyed watching tv and playing sports. His mother was a housewife, and his father an esteemed contractor. His father was so established that the president of Syria appointed him to design the so to speak, “white house” of Syria. Jimmy attended a private Jewish yeshivah, where he also learned bits and pieces of the English language, which would help him later on upon immigrating to the United States.

During the last few years of Jimmy’s stay in Syria, he and his family began to feel the anti-semitism. They would be made fun of in the streets, and were generally hated because of their religion. This was one of the contributing factors to their leaving the country. In November of 1992, Jimmy and his family immigrated to the Unites States along with thousands of other Syrian Jews. Leaving everything behind, including their business, proved to be a challenge to their new lifestyle in New York.

In addition to this, language proved to be a problem when it came to making friends in school. Luckily, Jimmy was able to find common ground with the other students with his passion for football. However, it was hard to adjust to his new, longer schedule here as compared to Syria, where school ended much earlier. Yet, with enough time, Jimmy proved successful in his studies and is now a student at Brooklyn College, hoping to attend medical school in the near future.