Grandparents & Grandchildren

It had been on Independence Day, when I was nine or ten years old, that she whispered an odd warning, borne of a distant Russian wisdom, which ruled and guided my life for the next four decades...

My son recently remarried and his new wife has three children from her previous marriage. Her three children are close in age with my son's three children. In addition to us being a bit overwhelmed and trying to adapt to this new Brady Bunch situation, I ...

On the morning after Kristallnacht, a surprise phone call warned him not to leave his house and definitely not to go to synagogue. But he wasn't going to let the Nazis stop him from going to his synagogue....

This was back in 1965, when women doctors were indeed a rarity, and Miss Flanagan could not conceive of them at all...

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...

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 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...

When we contacted my mother’s relatives, we ended up banging our heads once again against the old, now petrified veil of silence . . .

As I looked around at my surroundings, I was amazed at the sight. Children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, great-great grandchildren, uncles, aunts, cousins, second cousins, hundreds upon hundreds of Bubbe's descendents all around me...

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?