Page 244 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Reminiscences

Carmel (AR’s daughter)

My earliest memory of Papa is of his hands. I must have been
sitting on his lap, for I can still remember two large strong hands
holding an open book in front of me, and a voice from above and
behind saying, “Read!”
Several incidents stand out in my childhood memories. Once Papa
“dognapped” a very beautiful dog and brought it home. Mama
remonstrated with him, and he finally took it back where he had
found it. Another thing he did, which seemed very cruel to me,
happened around the time I entered kindergarten: Papa took all my
toys and dolls and threw them on a bonfire. They were all nonsense,
he said.
His idea of “having fun” could be very sadistic; I remember
having a spider flipped into my face. I also very clearly remember him
taking a tomato hookworm—a particularly repellant millipede—and
putting it on an iron skillet, which he then slowly heated. I was made
to watch until I could run away
In those days, the big ocean-water “plunge” was very popular at
the beach. I must have been about five years old on a visit there
when, all of a sudden, he picked me up and tossed me in the water.
He later explained that he had done it to overcome any fear or
reluctance I had about going in the pool. Of course, it had just the
opposite effect!
He also enjoyed teasing little children. He would restrain them,
and thought it fun when they struggled to get free. I watched very
carefully that he didn’t do it to my kids. The neighbors also were half-
scared during World War II when Papa did his Hitler
impersonation—he did it very well. He particularly admired plump
red-cheeked babies and “husky” children. It was a sign of success, he
felt, to have enough food to produce that appearance in one’s
offspring. I was always under pressure to eat; sometimes I squirreled
away food in my cheek, or secretly sneaked it to the dog. Also, to my
dismay, he preferred male children. That, of course, was a traditional
folkway, the need for a “kaddish.” Once he expressed admiration for

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