Miracles in Chaos: Moments in Revolution

B"H


Bubbe Bracha was a Communist.  Well, she wasn't always a Communist.  First she was a very pious daughter of the hasid*, Reb Herschel.  Then, she was a Communist.  Do you know what she did?  After she was no longer the daughter of Reb Herschel, she kissed the rabbi's son.  But first, the boy cut off his peyos* and took off his tallis-katan*.  Wow, what a kiss!  So, Dovid and Bracha were a couple.  Their fathers said kaddish* for them at schul* and sat shiva* for them at home.  It was a small town after all and this is what was expected.  But, in the privacy of their study time together, these two old friends drank a "l'chaim"* to G-d who managed to make such a couple even in these crazy times.  


I knew Bubbe Bracha in America.....



Bubbe Bracha baked bread every day.  When she wasn't in the kitchen she was in her room quietly knitting wool socks for all of the children in the family.  Full bellies and warm feet.  Her socks were so wonderful that we prized them as our ice-skating socks.  She did other stuff, too.  Once a week her friends came over to play cards, drink schnaps*, sing and recite poetry.  Songs of fallen comrades made their faces shine with tears.  Poetry recited from an era when words were still an oath upon one's soul.  My Tante Deveira went nuts.  She closed all of the windows, shades, and curtains.  No one should know that her mother-in-law was a Communist.


N.B.  From the historian:  I doubt she was actually a Communist, more likely a socialist.  After all, many of the early labor leaders in the US were Jewish.  She was just a touch "pink".



 *Dictionary:

HASID - a religious Jewish man who follows the tenets of Hasidism: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Hasidism.html

L' CHAIM: Literally "to life", a traditional Jewish toast.  Remember Reb Tevia in "Fiddler on the Roof" :

PEYOS - side curls that men and boys wear in the religious Jewish community:  http://judaism.about.com/od/prayersworshiprituals/f/peot.htm

TALLIS-KATAN - a four cornered undergarment worn by Jewish men and boys: http://www.judaica-guide.com/tallit_katan/

KADDISH - an Aramaic prayer praising G-d recited at the death of a loved one.  A Jewish prayer: http://www.ou.org/news/article/kaddish. 

For a more scholarly discussion see Leon Wieseltier's Kaddish (http://www.amazon.com/Kaddish-Leon-Wieseltier/dp/0375403892) .

SCHUL - Yiddish word for synagogue

SHIVA - from the Hebrew word for seven.  Mourners sit shiva, i.e. sit at home for seven days to grieve the death of a loved one.  This is a Jewish tradition.  http://kaddishbands.com/sitting-shiva-tradition-and-rules/

SCHNAPS - a Yiddish word for a powerful alcoholic beverage.