Page 123 - WhyAsInY

Chapter Nine (Tisha)
noitacudE suoigileR yM
SEPTEMBER 1952 – NOVEMBER 1957
Wherein our author takes a side step, addressing his roots, responsibilities, and formal education as a Jew, embarks on his five- year quest to learn to read funny letters from right to left, and thereby amasses a horde of twenty-five-dollar zero-coupon U.S. Savings Bonds.
You may have concluded from your perusal of prior chapters that I was raised in a household that could have been considered to be Jewish, and to some, for good reason: My father used Yiddish words
occasionally; after my delivery had been botched, it was a hot issue whether the obstetrician, Dr. Kurzrach, could actually have been Jewish; I was named after a revered deceased ancestor; my mother cooked knadl soup and many other Eastern European delicacies; when it was discov- ered that certain athletes were Jewish, it was a source of pride (not to mention amazement); the newspaper of choice in our home was the then very liberal New York Post; we lived in the Midwood section of Brooklyn; my mother played mah-jongg and shopped at the legendary discounter Loehmann’s; and my father was my grandmother’s “my-son- the-doctor.”
But surely those factors are not sufficient, at least to some people. What other evidence could be adduced? Well, there were many clues: On more than one occasion, a Seder was conducted in our home;
• 105 •