Mother’s Day is coming! I found a special “deal” online: two dozen roses for $50.00. You cannot resist such a deal. I love roses, so I quickly purchased them. I was a little apprehensive – was this for real or a scam? But the offer came from the Jewish Press, […]
Felicia Graber
29 posts
As recalled by my parents Salomon and Tosia Lederberger Pictured above: The City Synagogue, capable of holding some 10,000 people (the largest synagogue in Galicia). As its completion (c. 1910) coincided with an anniversary celebration for Austrian emperor Franz Josef, it was also known as the “Franz Josef Synagogue.” I, […]
Our lives are filled with wonderful Passover memories. Here is a sampling. We hope you enjoy reading this group effort. Happy Passover! The wine police Aunt Bex was most famous in our family for giving graduated Chanukah gifts by age. The oldest great-nephew got $10, next child got $9, etc. […]
Below is a German poem I used to love as a teenager, with a professional translation and my own very loose one. ∼ Er ist’s ∼ Frühling läßt sein blaues BandWieder flattern durch die Lüfte;Süße, wohlbekannte DüfteStreifen ahnungsvoll das Land.Veilchen träumen schon,Wollen balde kommen.– Horch, von fern ein leiser Harfenton!Frühling, ja du bist’s!Dich […]
It is Thursday evening, December 22, 2022. The fifth night of Chanukkah. A few days earlier, our son had suggested that we sponsor a Chanukkah family get-together in our condo. My husband’s physical condition does not permit us to join our family at another location. “You will not have to […]
Remembering December 5, 1959. Written in Ellwood City, PA, 1966.Updated on the occasion of our 63rd anniversary, December 6, 2022. Tomorrow I am getting married! Tomorrow! I am getting married! Me, Felicia Bialecki, I am getting married! I still cannot believe it. Me, who always seems to be at the end […]
It is a cold winter evening in 1944. A group of farmers sits around the kitchen table in Chyliczki, a small village near Warsaw. Even though it is only four o’clock, it is already dark outside. This is the only heated space in the two-room wooden farmhouse. During the day, […]
Originally written in 1965. Edited in 1983, 1990, 2019, 2022. The rear lights of the car disappeared. A second later even the faint growl of the motor was engulfed by the silence of the night. I was brutally dumped into a cold, dark, isolating solitude. The bright stars were staring […]
An article in the Wall Street Journal weekend edition of July 2-3, 2022, by Joseph Skibell titled “When the Prayers at School Aren’t Yours” triggered some memories of events that happened during my teen years. Growing up in Lubbock, Texas in the 1970s, Mr. Skibell writes: “There were only a […]