Just the Facts Ma’am My mother and I lived alone in a New York City apartment, so when cleaning we often dressed scantily. Our apartment was diagonally across from the trash room. My mother had recently toured the FBI. As a souvenir, she brought home the life-size sheet of paper […]
Tough Lessons
25 posts
A friend who lives in Jerusalem recently posted on Facebook that she was locked out of her apartment. She was sitting on her balcony drinking her morning coffee. Her husband didn’t see her and subsequently, locked the balcony door. Fortunately, he returned to the apartment five minutes later. I can […]
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, […]
It was supposed to beA short errand that day.But it turned into a balagonWhat else is there to say? Appointments were madeWith a time to keep.But as we all knowMan plans, then weeps. We stood in lineFor what seemed like hours.My back began hurting,My mood became sour. Fifteen minutes to check […]
The phone rang at 8:30 that morning. “Lin, I’m so sorry. My battery’s dead. You’ll have to drive,” my sister said, her voice quivering with distress. “No worries. I’ll pick you up,” I said, even though I really didn’t want to drive since my cataract surgery was still a week […]
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 […]
Even though the Baltimore Orioles have been struggling, my husband, Stuart, and I have been diehard fans even before we met. We’ve been there through the happy times (think Cal Ripkin era) and the very unhappy times like the past five years. Twenty years ago, we purchased four Sunday season […]