Zaidy sat at the head of the table. Every friday night we heard about how he went to school in Russia through snowdrifts six feet high. Sometimes, after he said the Kiddush he started talking very loud. The volume went up. I actually don't remember what he said. But I do remember what Bubbe said, "Morris, SHA !" And Morris did SHA ! He went silent. That was the only time I recall Bubbe raising her voice ! Ken reminded me that Zaidy's bitterness stemmed from the fact that when he was a child, he wanted to go further in school but was told no and he had to go to work instead. I do remember Zaidy talking about that. Shirley told me there was a belt on one of the kitchen chairs that was used to punish his children, i.e. Roby, Ruthie and Shirley.
ken said:
the man i spent many weekends with - Morris Josephs nee Josevovitz (sp) who every Friday after sundown put on his Tefillin
at the kitchen table, alone as i watched from the other room &
dovened & was kind, gentle, loving & all that stuff that
follows.
he
had a small deli in Chelsea that had old timers playing some old timey
card games (a small fee for table rental) & sold 3 cigarettes for
nickel when a pack cost 25 cents.
no wonder my father was a gambler.
my father was born to gamble & dance &
my mother loved to dance with gamblers.
This is the first time I heard about the name change from Josevovitz to Josephs. (which was a common thing when jewish immigrants landed in Ellis Island) And the first time I ever heard of Ken's paternal grandfather. Slowly, slowly, the pieces fall into place.
1 comment:
that ken fellow is an intellectual giant of rigorously researched facts that have been gossiped about by non biased (actually completely biased one way or the other - depending on whatever the current grudge was)anonymous sources.
in the mid 80's ruth would not talk to roby & vice versa 'cause each said it was the others 'turn' to call.
apparently it would be some kind of moral surrender to back down from this invented interpersonal, yet warlike, phenomenon.
this ken fellow assumed the Identify of Javier Perez de Cuellar, the concurrent Secretary-General of the United Nations & long distanced negotiations, common sense & trivialities between the warring parties.
[a small aside - this is when long distance was long distance & charged as such - i used to play one carrier against the other as they attempted to outbid each other & made out like a bandit. & did it w/ a clear conscience.]
eventually, from my comfortable couch in the Redwoods i succeeded in a form of detente.
i do not remember who but someone called someone & that was great until it all fell down & other stuff for a later post happened.
ken would probably say Ellen & Robert were gracious & solicitous hosts when he traveled for the Temple ceremony.
reporting from KNN
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