The Good Man

A Match made...

B"H, Uncle Yosef was a good man.  Uncle Yosef was the son of Bubbe Raisel's best friend.  She did not have many friends in the family nor out of the family, but, Uncle Yosef's mother, Irena, was very sisterly to her.  And I would imagine that in Bubbe Raisel's loneliness and loss that she was sisterly in return.  When Uncle Yosef was a young man he fell in love with the only child of a  survivor.  Sonia survived some dreadful pogroms, massacres.  Her only child came to her from a brutal rape.  So brutal that Sonia had been left for dead.  A peasant woman found her still breathing and nursed her back to life and health.  Polina was born nine months later.  The peasant lady, Bogdana, may G-d elevate her soul again and again, loved Sonia and baby Lina.  They made a wonderful family.  But, the world they knew continued to convulse.  Bogdana -- the healer, caregiver, home-maker, savior -- decided that she, Sonia, and Lina should leave all they knew and should walk, no run, far away from the madness.  



Uncle Yosef met Lina in Chicago.  Sonia was her Mameh, Bogdana, now Dana, was her Bubbe, and whenever anyone questioned the whereabouts of Lina's father, the older women keened and wailed so that the topic was left alone.  Everyone understood he must have died a most tragic and violent death.  Only Sonia and Dana knew the never spoken truth.  


How did Bogdana know to be a Jewess?  In her village, she was a servant in the Rabbi's home where she learned to understand Yiddish.  The Rebbetzin's name, Sara, became her mother's name and her father was Avraham Avinu.  No one in Chicago was wiser for these deceptions.  And when she died they buried her in a most pious section of Waldheim for she knew how to keep Shabbos better than any woman born Jewish except for her Rebbetzin mistress.  The day of Bogdana's burial, Sonia and Lina cried an ocean of tears.  Even Dana cried ... salt pearls... yes, the dead can cry.  


The day of Bubbe Dana's burial was also the first day Lina drank schnapps.   The rabbi from the burial society thought it might take away the edge of death if only for a moment.  But far from a break, the schnapps felt like a homecoming.  Was it possible for Lina to know the drunken state of her father?  Today you might find someone to answer, "yes".  But, really, who knows the answer?  


Uncle Yosef fell in love with Lina.  He liked that she didn't mind if he had a schnapps away from shul and kichel.  In fact, she joined him.  Uninhibited passion is thrilling.  With parental approval they married that week.