I don’t work on holidays, but sometimes it is irresistable for me to look for previous generations. Ezi’s family is easier to find because most of them are here, but a search for my family begins from zero. The combination of World War II, the baby boomers, and the internet, have made this a very popular sport in general, but in my case it is particularly complex because on my mother’s side nothing remains. Today I had a little surprise – an old friend turned out to have the same maiden name for his mother as my own mother, and we come from the same neighborhood. So the year begins with the promise of a connection.
The first thing the board of the Yiddish Writers’ Association says to me when I walk into the meeting room this morning was, “Have you made your fish already?” This was a greeting that I remember from my youth – what you say to a woman who isn’t home on the morning of the eve of a Jewish holiday. Dare I admit to him I got my fish out of a glass bottle? No, I lied. “The same fish that were swimming in my bath tub on Wednesday were in the pot yesterday and are now cooling in my fridge.” I doubt whether he believed me about the fish, or the kreplach either for that matter, but it was fun to reminisce.
According to the latest census there are 75% Jews and 20% Arabs in Israel, but I would like to wish all of Israel a good and a peaceful year. Id Sa’id
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