Here’s what I know about him: he hated the ruling class, politics, governments, and authority. He hated what had, for him, begun as an agrarian utopian dream of equality for all men and women, Arab and Jew alike, and ended as a place of intolerance, bigotry, violence, and war. He was heartbroken, and yet he continued to believe that the young people would find a way to move past the prejudice of their elders.
When he first arrived in what was then called Palestine, his kibbutz bordered on an Arab village, and he befriended many Arabs, and they him. They helped him plant and pick the crops when he and his kibbutzniks needed help, and he lent a hand to build a water tower for them. He always gave them what the kibbutz didn’t need after they gathered the crops. His best friend was an Arab, Mahmoud. Saba would visit Mahmoud, and his friend would visit him. They spent many an evening together, sharing a pipe—talking throughout the night about the events of the day. He died an atheist, but he never judged those who believed, although I think he had no truck with orthodoxy of any kind. Saba adhered to the principle of nonviolent resistance. He liked Gandhi. He also believed that a national consciousness had to be established whereby identities would blend, where neither Jew nor Arab would hold privilege, where religion would be irrelevant, that is, it would make no difference if one believed or didn’t believe. He thought that one didn’t need religion to be a moral person and that one could be moral or not, with or without religion. He wanted to believe that it would be best for both Arab and Jew to identify as Israelis. On that, I don’t agree, because I believe that both Arab and Jew need their own land, their own identities—to esteem their own histories. But this is about him, not me. He looked forward to a time when military service would be nonexistent but when citizens—Arab and Jew—would be required to perform some national service, whether that meant building roads and hospitals, teaching children, caring for the elderly, or helping to build municipal services for what he called his “Arab brothers and sisters.” He said over and over that we all came from the same DNA. He was a socialist from the top of his head to the tip of his toes—but it was his brand of socialism. He claimed to dislike any “ism” or “ist,” especially communism. Idealistic? Unrealistic? Sure, but that’s who he was, my great-grandfather, my saba, my zaide. He died whispering the name Miriam and chazak v’ematz. Imagine, his final words were in Hebrew.
I, Yaakov, have nothing more to say except chazak v’ematz, Saba.
EPILOGUE
Roberta and Hannah close the journal as the plane makes its final approach to the Los Angeles Airport. The passengers scurry to stretch their legs and retrieve their personal belongings after the arduous flight. Roberta and Hannah remain in place, as though fixed in their seats with Krazy Glue. Struggling to contain their sorrow, they keep their eyes straight ahead, knowing that if their gaze connected, they would lose it. As the cleanup crew enters the plane and the flight crew hurriedly departs, with no other option but to get to their feet, they appear for all the world like they have just lost one of their most beloved relatives. And they have.
GLOSSARY OF YIDDISH TERMS
Afikomen
Last bit of matzah, eaten at end of Seder
Aishet chayil
A woman of valor
Alte kacker
A mildly pejorative term for old man
A shaynem dank
Thank you very much
Balabosta
A Jewish mistress of the house
Bar Kokhba
A revolt of the Jews led by Simon bar Kokhba against the Roman Empire 132–136 CE
Benching
Performing the blessing after the meal
Bimah
Torah-reading table in synagogue
Bissel
Little
Boychick
Yiddish meaning boy, endearing
Bubbe
Grandmother
Bubkes
Nothing; something worthless
Cheder
Religious lesson or school
Chuppah
A canopy under which a Jewish couple stand during their wedding ceremony
Daven
To pray
Drek
Junk; rubbish
Eli, Eli
The opening words of the Psalm 22
Elohim
One of the names of God in the Hebrew Bible
Farbissener
An embittered fool
Fermisht
Confused; mixed up
Fershtays
Understand
Fleishig
Made of, prepared with, or used for meat
Gabbai
Rabbi’s synagogue assistant
Ganef
Thief
Gantze macher
Bigwig
Gelt
Money
Goldene medina
The Golden Land
Gottenyu
Dear G-d
Halacha
The laws of the Jewish faith
HaShem
The name (in place of G-d’s actual name)
Haskala
Nineteenth-century European Jewish “Enlightenment”
Havdalah
Prayer bidding farewell to Shabbos
Hock
To bother incessantly
Hock mir nicht kein chinik
Don’t knock a teakettle at me
Ikh hob dir in drerd
Go to hell
Kaddish
Mourning prayer
Kaki
Shit
Kenahora
A magical phrase to ward off the evil eye
Ketubah
Traditional marriage contract
Kike
Racist epithet for Jew
Kinder (lach)
Small children
Kippah
A brimless cap worn by Orthodox Jewish men (Hebrew)
Kishka
Guts
Kohanim
Descendant of Aaron; member of priest class
Kvetching
Complaining
Lamed Vavniks
Thirty-six righteous people
Lamden
A scholar
Landsman
Fellow native (of the old country)
Latkes
Potato pancakes
Litvak
A Jew from Lithuania
Machi
A made-up form of Machatonim (plural) which denotes the parents of the people your children marry. The male parent is your mechuten, and the female, your machatonister. I believe there is no equivalent in any language except Hebrew/Yiddish.
Maven
Expert
Mazel tov
Good luck; congratulations
Mechaya
Relief; joy
Mechitza
Partition between men and women in shul
Mein kinde
My child
Mensch
An honorable, decent person
Meshuga
Crazy
Midrash
Ancient commentary on part of the Hebrew Scriptures attached to the biblical text
Mieskeit punnum
Ugly face
Mikvah
A bath used for ritual immersion and cleansing
Milchig
Made of or derived from milk or dairy products
Minyan
A quorum of ten Jewish men required for traditional Jewish worship
Mishpucha
Family
Mitzvoth
Religious commandments
Moshiach
The Messiah
Nafka
A whore
Nisht duggehdacht
May it never happen
Nu
So?
Nudnik
Pest
Oy! Gevalt
A cry of fear or help
Pale of Settlement
A geographical area of Imperial Russia in which Jews were ordered to live
Paskudnyak
A lout; a scoundrel
Pish
To pee
Plotz
Explode (meaning, die)
Pupik
Navel; belly button
Rebbe
Rabbi
Rebbetzin
Rabbi’s wife
Saba
Grandfather (Hebrew)
Schlep
To haul or carry something awkward
Schmalz
Rendered chicken fat
Schmateh
A rag; a cheap piece of clothing
Schmutz
Dirt
Schnapps
Liquor
Schtup
To have sexual intercourse
Shabbos
Saturday, the Jewish day of rest
Shalom, l’hitraot
Goodbye, see you soon (Hebrew)
Shayna meydeleh
Beautiful girl
Sheitel
Wig, especially for married women
Shema
A prayer in Judaism
Shiksa
A non-Jewish girl or woman
Shtarker
Strong; “big shot”; asinine
Shtetl
Eastern European Jewish village
Shul
Synagogue
Siddur
Daily prayer book
Tallit
Prayer shawl
Talmud
The authoritative body of Jewish tradition comprising the Mishnah and Gemara
Tante
Aunt
Taschlich
Jewish atonement ritual to case away one’s sins, performed on first day of Rosh Hashanah
Teiglach
Small, fruit-or nut-filled pastries dipped in honey
Todah robah
Thank you very much (Hebrew)
Toomel
Noise; commotion; disorder
Torah
The written Jewish law
Traif
Foods forbidden by Jewish dietary laws
Tsuris
Pains; troubles; problems; distress
Tuchta
Daughter
Tzaddik
Righteous person, especially a rabbi
Tzimmes
A sweet stew made with yams and other root vegetables, dried prunes; part of the Rosh Hashanah meal
Tzitzit
Fringes worn on corners of four-cornered garment
Ushanka
A Russian fur cap with ear flaps
Vas machst du?
How are you?
Vey iz mir
Woe is me
Yarmulke
Skullcap worn by Jewish men, especially during prayer and religious study
Yarzeit
Anniversary of a death
Yehudah
Hebrew name for Judah, the fourth son of Jacob (Israel)
Yenta
A gossip
Yid
A pejorative term for a Jew
Zaide
Grandfather
Zol zein guzunt
May you go in health
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I am deeply grateful to Richard Lichtman, who supplied courage when mine faltered and who listened with a kind but keen critical ear. It is due to his belief in me and his love and continued insistence that this book has seen the light of day. Good night, sweet prince, and flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
I am indebted to the many who read, inspired, and commented on my manuscript with intelligence and insight. My heartfelt thanks goes to my son Rabbi Brad Artson, my in-house scholar and historian of all things Jewish; my daughter, Tracy Artson, a talented psychologist who read my manuscript with loving sensitivity to nuance; my dear friend Jackie Hackel, who prodded and poked me to publish; and to Linda Tucker for her careful reading and enthusiasm.
For their unwavering support and faith in me, I am grateful to my daughters-in-law, Elana Artson and Dawn Osterweil; my “other-daughter,” Julie Criss-Haggerty; my sister Harriet; and my grandchildren, Jacob and Shira Artson and Sydney and Benjamin Osterweil-Artson. I am proud to be their grandmother.
For their friendship and generosity, I thank Carolyn Angelo, Bob Carrere, Anya Lane, Shira Levy, Andy Pesce, Margaret Sjostrand, Melanie Sperling, Billie Lee Violette, Merti Walker, and June Katz my devoted machi.
I am so thankful to my editor, and now friend, Jane Cavolina, who helped smooth an awkward word or phrase into narrative prose.
My special thanks to the team at She Writes Press for believing in my multigenerational story about an immigrant Jewish family—my gratitude for bringing the book to publication.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
photo credit: Nancy Rubin
Barbara Artson is a retired psychoanalyst who calls San Francisco her home. She regularly contributes essays and reviews of films and books to professional journals. In addition to a PhD in psychology, she holds both BA and MA degrees in English literature and taught Shakespeare as a graduate student while also completing the unfinished Dickens novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, years before the musical production on Broadway. Like Dora in Odessa, Odessa, Artson’s mother stitched elastic to the waistbands of women’s bloomers.
SELECTED TITLES FROM SHE WRITES PRESS
She Writes Press is an independent publishing company
founded to serve women writers everywhere.
Visit us at www.shewritespress.com.
The Belief in Angels by J. Dylan Yates. $16.95, 978-1-938314-64-3. From the Majdonek death camp to a volatile hippie household on the East Coast, this narrative of tragedy, survival, and hope spans more than fifty years, from the 1920s to the 1970s.
Portrait of a Woman in White by Susan Winkler. $16.95, 978-1-938314-83-4. When the Nazis steal a Matisse portrait from the eccentric, art-loving Rosenswigs, the Parisian family is thrust into the tumult of war and separation, their fates intertwined with that of their beloved portrait.
An Address in Amsterdam by Mary Dingee Fillmore. $16.95, 978-1-63152-133-1. After facing relentless danger and escalating raids for 18 months, Rachel Klein—a well-behaved young Jewish woman who transformed herself into a courier for the underground when the Nazis invaded her country—persuades her parents to hide with her in a dank basement, where much is revealed.
Even in Darkness by Barbara Stark-Nemon. $16.95, 978-1-63152-956-6. From privileged young German-Jewish woman to concentration camp refugee, Kläre Kohler navigates the horrors of war and—through unlikely sources—finds the strength, hope, and love she needs to survive.
The Sweetness by Sande Boritz Berger. $16.95, 978-1-63152-907-8. A compelling and powerful story of two girls—cousins living on separate continents—whose strikingly different lives are forever changed when the Nazis invade Vilna, Lithuania.
Tasa’s Song by Linda Kass. $16.95, 978-1-63152-064-8. From a peaceful village in eastern Poland to a partitioned post-war Vienna, from a promising childhood to a year living underground, Tasa’s Song celebrates the bonds of love, the power of memory, the solace of music, and the enduring strength of the human spirit.
Odessa, Odessa Page 23