Page 94 - issue
P. 94
REMINISCINGbySamFinkel
unday, August 20th, I was sitting
at an ice cream parlor on Keren
Kayemet Street in Rechavia, ap-
preciating some rum raisin ice
cream with my nephew, his wife
Sand their three children. They
road that abruptly terminated at the field very strange – something was out of
of “Farmer Jones.” Most memorable for place. Mr. Shuster pointed to a large tree
me (when I didn’t catch a rare glimpse and asked me, “Do you remember this
of the farmer on his tractor) were the tree?” I said I didn’t. It was quite tall,
tall stalks of corn. On the other side of with a broad trunk and elongated, leafy
the dead-end lived the Stein family. She branches – in other words, fully mature.
was from Lithuania, and he was Ameri- There was no reason for a person to plant
brought some thingamajig made can born, working as a salesman in a tire it there, and if someone did, it would
of three balloons to celebrate my store. They had two children, Morty and have taken a truck and crane and a lot of
63rd birthday. I had just returned from Janet, who were about the same age as digging and noise to go about it. It was
Switzerland and I was tired. It was the my sister and I. I don’t remember if Mrs. one of those strange phenomena that
first time I can remember that I would Stein was a Holocaust survivor like my happen very rarely in life which you can
cut a hike short because I had run out of parents. I do remember that, except for count on one hand. It was the first time
energy. Who wants to admit it, but I had us and the Delheims, none of the Jewish I had such an experience, but it wasn’t
to concede that I was getting older. I’m households were affiliated with any syn- the last.
not throwing in the towel yet, but if I can agogue. uuu
still love ice cream, I can also hark back The Delheims were active members The forest behind our house was a
to the days when I ate a lot more of it – of a Reform temple, and actually took magical place for me. I was enchanted
days that it wasn’t affecting my waistline their version of Judaism quite seriously. by the sunbeams that shined through
or arteries or sensitive teeth. Dr. Delheim even built a sukkah, the only the tree branches like stage lights onto
And so, reminisce I will. Just please sukkah in the neighborhood besides ours, the green moss that grew near the bot-
don’t compare me to Arnold Fine, the and I remember how he amused himself tom of the trunks. The trees spread their
Jewish Press columnist who wrote the to see the expression on my face when he branches over me like the protective
hokey column, “I Remember When.” invited me to inspect his sukkah with the arms of a parent. They were my friends.
uuu nailed-down schach. Dr. Delheim was a One time, when I was six years old,
I was around four years old when my brilliant chemist, who invented a whole having spent about two hours in that
parents moved from their tiny apart- array of new plastics. When he “struck patch of woods, I came back to our yard
ment on Quantico Avenue in Lower Park gold,” due to his plastics, the Delheims to find my mother in a panic-stricken
Heights all the way out to the sticks, out- moved to a more affluent neighborhood. state. “Where were you? I was looking
side the Baltimore Beltway, to 3502 Mil- I remember the other Jewish kids on all over for you! Don’t you know that the
ford Mill Road in the Liberty Road area, those blocks. The last I heard, most of world is a dangerous place? How could
near Randallstown. them had married out of the faith. you do this to me?” Her eyes commu-
The houses there are similar in design Our next-door neighbors, the Shus- nicated even more than her words. She
to the split-level homes on Nerak and ters, were interesting people. Once, they was an adult, and I relied on her for my
Olympia with the roofs that slant just dropped over before going to some kind sense of reality. Her reaction was quite
one way. It was a new development, two of fancy ball, dressed in a gown and black sensible for a person who spent her teen-
blocks long, with older homes on either tuxedo. What interested me, of course, age years in the Nazi slave labor camp of
side, starting near Subet Road. Behind us was Mr. Shuster’s gun. His job, collecting Skarżysko-Kamienna in Poland.* But I
was a small forest, and behind the forest rent from tenants for landlords, required began to internalize that the world “was
was farmland. Parallel to Subet Road, him to carry a firearm. a dangerous place,” starting with Milford
three blocks up, was Rolling Road, which Our backyard adjoined theirs, with no Mill Road.
was bordered by fields and a horse ranch. barrier between them. But on the other The most frightening day of the year
The area definitely had a rural feel to it. side of their house, their backyard was in that neighborhood was Halloween.
The new development was inhabited demarcated from the next house by a Besides having to deal with the trick-or-
mainly by Jews, none of them Orthodox. cluster of trees. One afternoon I saw the treaters, we had to endure the spectacle
All around us was a sea of lower-mid- Shusters and a few more people staring of some kind of informal Halloween pro-
dle-class “Real McCoy” Southerners. at the trees in disbelief. Curious, I walked cession. The hillbillies came out of the
Next to our house was a dead-end over to take a look. Something seemed woodwork and rolled down Milford Mill
86 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
unday, August 20th, I was sitting
at an ice cream parlor on Keren
Kayemet Street in Rechavia, ap-
preciating some rum raisin ice
cream with my nephew, his wife
Sand their three children. They
road that abruptly terminated at the field very strange – something was out of
of “Farmer Jones.” Most memorable for place. Mr. Shuster pointed to a large tree
me (when I didn’t catch a rare glimpse and asked me, “Do you remember this
of the farmer on his tractor) were the tree?” I said I didn’t. It was quite tall,
tall stalks of corn. On the other side of with a broad trunk and elongated, leafy
the dead-end lived the Stein family. She branches – in other words, fully mature.
was from Lithuania, and he was Ameri- There was no reason for a person to plant
brought some thingamajig made can born, working as a salesman in a tire it there, and if someone did, it would
of three balloons to celebrate my store. They had two children, Morty and have taken a truck and crane and a lot of
63rd birthday. I had just returned from Janet, who were about the same age as digging and noise to go about it. It was
Switzerland and I was tired. It was the my sister and I. I don’t remember if Mrs. one of those strange phenomena that
first time I can remember that I would Stein was a Holocaust survivor like my happen very rarely in life which you can
cut a hike short because I had run out of parents. I do remember that, except for count on one hand. It was the first time
energy. Who wants to admit it, but I had us and the Delheims, none of the Jewish I had such an experience, but it wasn’t
to concede that I was getting older. I’m households were affiliated with any syn- the last.
not throwing in the towel yet, but if I can agogue. uuu
still love ice cream, I can also hark back The Delheims were active members The forest behind our house was a
to the days when I ate a lot more of it – of a Reform temple, and actually took magical place for me. I was enchanted
days that it wasn’t affecting my waistline their version of Judaism quite seriously. by the sunbeams that shined through
or arteries or sensitive teeth. Dr. Delheim even built a sukkah, the only the tree branches like stage lights onto
And so, reminisce I will. Just please sukkah in the neighborhood besides ours, the green moss that grew near the bot-
don’t compare me to Arnold Fine, the and I remember how he amused himself tom of the trunks. The trees spread their
Jewish Press columnist who wrote the to see the expression on my face when he branches over me like the protective
hokey column, “I Remember When.” invited me to inspect his sukkah with the arms of a parent. They were my friends.
uuu nailed-down schach. Dr. Delheim was a One time, when I was six years old,
I was around four years old when my brilliant chemist, who invented a whole having spent about two hours in that
parents moved from their tiny apart- array of new plastics. When he “struck patch of woods, I came back to our yard
ment on Quantico Avenue in Lower Park gold,” due to his plastics, the Delheims to find my mother in a panic-stricken
Heights all the way out to the sticks, out- moved to a more affluent neighborhood. state. “Where were you? I was looking
side the Baltimore Beltway, to 3502 Mil- I remember the other Jewish kids on all over for you! Don’t you know that the
ford Mill Road in the Liberty Road area, those blocks. The last I heard, most of world is a dangerous place? How could
near Randallstown. them had married out of the faith. you do this to me?” Her eyes commu-
The houses there are similar in design Our next-door neighbors, the Shus- nicated even more than her words. She
to the split-level homes on Nerak and ters, were interesting people. Once, they was an adult, and I relied on her for my
Olympia with the roofs that slant just dropped over before going to some kind sense of reality. Her reaction was quite
one way. It was a new development, two of fancy ball, dressed in a gown and black sensible for a person who spent her teen-
blocks long, with older homes on either tuxedo. What interested me, of course, age years in the Nazi slave labor camp of
side, starting near Subet Road. Behind us was Mr. Shuster’s gun. His job, collecting Skarżysko-Kamienna in Poland.* But I
was a small forest, and behind the forest rent from tenants for landlords, required began to internalize that the world “was
was farmland. Parallel to Subet Road, him to carry a firearm. a dangerous place,” starting with Milford
three blocks up, was Rolling Road, which Our backyard adjoined theirs, with no Mill Road.
was bordered by fields and a horse ranch. barrier between them. But on the other The most frightening day of the year
The area definitely had a rural feel to it. side of their house, their backyard was in that neighborhood was Halloween.
The new development was inhabited demarcated from the next house by a Besides having to deal with the trick-or-
mainly by Jews, none of them Orthodox. cluster of trees. One afternoon I saw the treaters, we had to endure the spectacle
All around us was a sea of lower-mid- Shusters and a few more people staring of some kind of informal Halloween pro-
dle-class “Real McCoy” Southerners. at the trees in disbelief. Curious, I walked cession. The hillbillies came out of the
Next to our house was a dead-end over to take a look. Something seemed woodwork and rolled down Milford Mill
86 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
