Lynn, I loved this story. It reminds me so much of my own life, having come from a large protestant family and being the last of eleven children. My first marriage was an old Kentucky shotgun wedding that lasted thirteen hell-filled years. Your story was very open and uplifting. Thanks.
Paul Winston Rice replied on Tue, 05/18/2010 - 08:50am
Lynn, as a nice Jewish man, I understand the attempt to preserve history by demanding tradition observance. I had a phonetic bar mitzvah too. It didn't hold much meaning for me, but it certainly did a lot for the grandparents. "White Fish" is a great story in honor of your Grandmother. She was a real bubbe from the old school. They don't make them like that any more.
I am Jewish and grew up in an area where anti-semitism was quite common. Grown women would often ask if I drank Christian blood at Passover. I didn't know what that meant at the time. I now teach a Sunday School class where I urge my students to either know what the Hebrew means or to ask, but never to recite anything by rote. "White Fish," a story written for non-Jews (as Jews need no translation) resonates most at the five-pointed star around your throat. Fear of differences masks our similarities when it is these similarities that transcend food and words, and resolve in love.
joyce jwinslow replied on Thu, 05/20/2010 - 11:44am
Lynn, I loved this story. It reminds me so much of my own life, having come from a large protestant family and being the last of eleven children. My first marriage was an old Kentucky shotgun wedding that lasted thirteen hell-filled years. Your story was very open and uplifting. Thanks.
Thank you for the wonderful description of your grandmother, your family, and the gefilte fish.
Lynn, as a nice Jewish man, I understand the attempt to preserve history by demanding tradition observance. I had a phonetic bar mitzvah too. It didn't hold much meaning for me, but it certainly did a lot for the grandparents. "White Fish" is a great story in honor of your Grandmother. She was a real bubbe from the old school. They don't make them like that any more.
I am Jewish and grew up in an area where anti-semitism was quite common. Grown women would often ask if I drank Christian blood at Passover. I didn't know what that meant at the time. I now teach a Sunday School class where I urge my students to either know what the Hebrew means or to ask, but never to recite anything by rote. "White Fish," a story written for non-Jews (as Jews need no translation) resonates most at the five-pointed star around your throat. Fear of differences masks our similarities when it is these similarities that transcend food and words, and resolve in love.