Page 26 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

Living with the Binshtocks

horses went a little faster—and she was crying, too. Nevertheless, I
was shedding so many tears that bystanders thought I was an orphan
going to my parents’ funeral.
Then my grandfather went to live with his son, my uncle Leiser, in
Pelcovizna, a suburb of Warsaw. He was unhappy there, torn away
from his river, his independence lost. He was a stranger to Leiser’s
children, who were offended by his mode of living; as a result, they
made him miserable and cranky. When my mother and I used to
come and visit him, he would complain, tears running down his
cheeks and dripping down his gray beard from hair to hair. That
made my mother cry. Uncle Leiser was a very nice son and the best
man there could be, but he was too soft and meek a fellow, unable to
control his eight children. They were not bad, but too big a crowd in
a small house; very noisy, which the old man did not like. After a few
years he died of old age and grieving for his mate. We buried him in
the Praga cemetery, not in Warsaw where his wife was buried,
because it would have cost a little more money. The Jew is very
sentimental about the living, but practical concerning the dead.
My grandparents on my mother’s side had only two children.
Leiser Binshtock was a shochet by trade, which made him a prominent
man in the Jewish community. He was a tall, tranquil man with a long
beard, who very seldom spoke to my mother—or to anyone, for
several reasons. First, he was shy and did not possess the words to
express himself. His beard and heavy mustache further obstructed
the passage of words. And he was an inveterate user of snuff
tobacco, which over the years had blocked his sinuses and nasal
passages, so his words sounded muffled when he spoke. He was
always sharpening the big knife with which he killed oxen according
to Talmudic law. Such a knife must be very sharp and smooth,
without the slightest nick, in order not to cause the animal any
suffering. He had also to examine the lungs of the slaughtered cattle
to see there were no tumors or tubercles. This work kept him busy all
the time; it is not an easy matter to raise eight children, feed, clothe,
and shelter them, and educate the males in the family. His children
were mostly girls; he had only two boys. All were kind and gentle and
respected in the community.

22