When our children
get married, our family expands. Not only do we welcome our children’s new spouses,
we also become connected to their families. Even though Josh Levin and his wife
Cheryl live only a five-minute walk from our house, I did not know them or any
of their daughters until my son Nechemia married Rivka, in 2006. We got to know
a wonderful couple, and now, many years later, I asked Mr. Levin if I could
interview him.
Since the focus of
this issue of the WWW is seniors, I
thought it would be interesting to explore how things have changed since our
seniors were young. Mr. Levin, a true Baltimorean, was born in 1937.
Interestingly, both of his parents were born in the Baltimore, his father in 1897 and his mother in 1900. Although
neither of his parents went to Jewish schools, they always kept a kosher home
and were shomer Shabbos.
Mr. Levin’s father
worked as an upholsterer for a furniture store. People used to buy furniture on
credit and sometimes didn’t finish paying for it. The furniture dealer would
pick up the furniture to be reupholstered; it then looked as good as new and
could be resold.
Shuls
Mr. Levin lived
near North Avenue and Monroe Street, near three shuls. The rabbi at Har Sinai on North Avenue
was Rabbi Rosenberg. Most of the people who attended that shul were not shomer Shabbos. There was another shul
about three blocks from his home on Smallwood Street; the rabbi there was
Rabbi Machali, a chasidishe rabbi.
Another large shul was Chofetz Chaim, where the rabbi was Rabbi Mordechai
Rabinowitz, who later became the father-in-law of Rabbi Herschel Liebowitz of
Ner Tamid. Mr. Levin was very close to Rabbi Rabinowitz and davened there
whenever possible. Rabbi Rabinowitz taught him how to blow shofar. Mr.
Levin’s mother was president of Beth Jacob Free Loan Association, which lent
money to Jewish people at no interest.
When Mr. Levin was
ready for first grade, he went to public
school right across the street. His mother then switched him to Talmudical
Academy, on Cottage Avenue, which he attended all the way through high school.
After high school he went straight to work. According to Mr. Levin, this is
what most of the boys in TA did. Although Ner Israel had already been founded, very
few boys went on to further learning. Mr. Levin used to go to the dancing on
Simchas Torah at Ner Israel’s Garrison Avenue building.
High School and Beyond
At age 16, after 11th
grade, Mr. Levin went to work at National Plastics and attended night
school at Poly and City College. National Plastics had a very big building;
his job as mail boy was to distribute the mail a few times a day. The company
had a bus that picked up all their employees and brrought them to work. When his father
left his job at Mynch Eisenberg furniture, he and Josh went into business
together.
You’re in the Army Now
World War II and
the Korean War were over, but the draft was still around. In 1960, Mr. Levin
enlisted in the army to avoid the draft. If he had waited to be drafted, he
would have had to serve in the army for two years. By enlisting, he just had to
go for training for six months and then attend a meeting once a month as well
as a two-week training program in the summer. He was under obligation to the
army for six years, but to his good fortune there were no wars during that
time. His training was in Fort Knox, Kentucky, where he learned to shoot along
with other skills. He was able to keep kosher and avoid working on Shabbos.
There were a couple of other religious soldiers, and they all met in shul on
Shabbos. They hung around there all day, so they would not have to go back to
the barracks, where Saturday was cleaning day.
Keeping Cool, Clean, and
Communicative
Our homes today
are full of appliances, both big and small. Most of us cannot imagine life
without a mixer or a
vacuum cleaner, let alone a refrigerator and washing machine. Mr. Levin’s
childhood home did not have any of these appliances. To keep food cold, they
had an ice box. About three times a week, the ice man would come around selling
blocks of ice that fit into a special tray. You could order the size that you
wanted. The tray, which caught the dripping water, had to be emptied a few
times a day.
They also did not
have a washing machine. His mother washed clothes by hand and put them through
a hand-cranked wringer to squeeze out the water. The clothes were then hung up
to dry.
One thing I really
can’t imagine living without is an air conditioner during Baltimore’s hot and
humid summers. In Mr. Levin’s day, there was no escape. It was hot and humid
inside the house, too. They had fans, which helped a little, and sometimes, if
it was very hot, the family slept outside on the porch. At only a few miles
from the zoo, they could hear the lions roaring at night.
Neither of Mr.
Levin’s parents drove, and they did not have a car, but Mr. Levin remembers the
first car that he bought. It was a 1940 Chevrolet, which cost $75. Gas cost
about $.19 a gallon.
Today, not only
does every family have a phone, in many families, everyone in the family has
his or her own personal line. In Mr. Levin’s home, they did not have a phone at
all. They were sometimes able to use the neighbor’s phone, but it was a “party
line,” meaning that someone else might be talking on the phone when you wanted to
use it.
It was amazing to
hear the memories that Mr. Levin recalls so clearly. I wish him many more years
of good health and happy memories.
