Page 142 - LEIBY

142 Leiby – Border Smuggler

and kicking. When I approached her, she pushed me away as
hard as she could. In the end, she fell asleep crying, and I picked
her up and with the group leader’s help, took her with me to
the refugee shelter. The truth is that she really was treated well
in the farmer’s home. They had no children, so they spoiled
Mirushka and gave her gifts that I can’t possibly give her.”
Yosef ’s frustration was palpable.

“The Russian language teacher in the orphanage told me that if
I truly loved my sister, and only had her best interests in mind,
I would let her go back to the farmer’s wife. She claimed that
it would be the best thing for Mirushka, but I don’t think so.”

“Your parents would never have agreed that she grow up as a
goy,” Leiby cut him off sharply. “B’ezras Hashem, when we get
to Germany, we’ll make sure to have you placed in a good
orphanage. Mirushka will enjoy being there, and she’ll love you
and be grateful to you for having brought her to live with Jews.”

“Do you really think she’ll ever love me?” Yosef ’s tone was
wistful and his eyes glistened in the darkness.

“Yes, of course,” Leiby reassured him. “And when she gets older,
she’ll realize that a Jewish life is the most valuable asset in the
world.”

“In the orphanage they taught us that everyone is the same, and
no one religion is better than any other.”

“You were in a communist orphanage,” Leiby was aggravated.
“The communists are the biggest liars on earth. Even a blind
person can see that the whole communist ideology is an utter
failure. In Russia there are millions of starving, penniless people
suffering under a cruel and oppressive regime, but that doesn’t
stop the communists from spreading their propaganda about the
so-called Soviet paradise. In the thirties, when tens of thousands
of Russian farmers died of starvation after the government
confiscated their land and established the disastrous kolkhoz
system, they sent trainloads of grain to France. They claimed