It’s not easy to be old and to lose your cherished independence. It takes great courage to not despair when the prospect of continued decline looms before one. She was a warrior for life until she could no longer be.
"When I was young in the Ukraine, most of the time potato and carrots and sweet potato tzimmes were all we had to eat. But Shabbat was always special."
It was brave and dangerous to sing Jewish songs, for the Soviet Union made any religious expression punishable by law. Yet millions of Soviet Jews sang to their children.
Bubby, who had such trouble articulating any words, would somehow sing along with me. This was the prayer she had learned as a little child back in the alter heim—the old world, the world before the war.
It seemed to many like a happy ending: a museum working to find the paintings’ rightful owners; a German government committed to righting the wrongs of the Nazi era; grateful heirs finally reunited with their plundered property. Unfortunately, it’s not always easy.
Although I never met my grandmother, I believe that if she could see me, she would be proud that I have continued her legacy of kindness—one that is deeply embedded in the Judaism she practiced.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala’s story is unusual, but her family situation reminded me of my grandmother’s. My grandmother and her parents also left Austria at the last possible moment. They also left behind relatives and friends. Grandma even initially lived in London for two years, at the same time and in the same neighborhood as the Prawers.
I wish you could have felt her gaze on you, full of wonder and love, making you feel protected and
cherished, as I did throughout my life. She would have thought you were little miracles, just like I do . . .
For us, it was, indeed, a life-changing moment. But in truth, there wasn't much to report about the whole event. It was a textbook delivery of a healthy baby girl...
My little girl, who just yesterday was crawling on my kitchen floor, is going to be a mommy. How is that possible? She can’t even make dentists appointments for herself...
I was lectured, scolded, and told I might never be allowed out of the house again... her precious daughter was imperfect. Grandma Rachel finally intervened and suggested I visit Grandma Bella till the crisis passed...
Her mother had given her a Jewish soul. But it was these four parents of her parents who reached across a generation to give her the gift of a Jewish heart...
I thought about doting grandmothers who ask, “By the way, have I shown you the pictures of my brilliant, gorgeous grandchildren?” Was I ready to join the ranks of the silver-haired, mah jong playing, picture-toting club?
My journey has often been marked by sharp, uneven pebbles, other times lined with blooming flowers; the wisdom I have acquired along the way may be useful to some of you...