Yom Hashoa.
I have just packed-up our Pesach...its all nicely sealed in plastic bags, to be fitted into a small cupboard in the 'back', ready for next year; only my 'daily', who comes in once-a-week, knows how to fit it all in there...she is coming in to do just that, and to replace the stuff she has "hidden" during pesach...it actually takes a week for me to find 'stuff', she has put away...we are both getting on and her memory is about as good as mine...right! I know that "plastic-bags" is a no-no; and I have this fight within myself and really want to go 'out-there' and fight the establishment...IF, plastic bags are so bad for the environment...why do they not invent ones that are?...We all pay taxes, let them "put-themselves-out-for-us", and invent something we can use...and I really think that once we have learned to live with plastic bags, helpful in every possible way...who today, can live without them?...'they' now tell us to stop?...OK; this is my pet-peeve...and I feel very strongly about this... and I am gripping to you about this now....why? Just hiding...hiding from the real subject I need to address...Yom Hashoa; yes, it's this week; so, forgive me; we will start cooking and drinking next week...

Some of you know that I am a survivor...let me tell you, this week, here, gets more difficult for me, every year...I have lived in this country for close to 45 years...I am not a member of any group...I have not made any speeches, and have written about my past very little...my book of Short Stories have been full of fun and humor...I have tried to keep my past and memories within the bounds of my home...I think, I have succeeded; but now, I know that I should speak up...there is so much written about the Holocaust lately in the press; at this time, it feels as if we could not read another word...but, we do; WE, feel its our duty to do so...and so, even I, have started to talk about my past in the shoa... and we all know why: we, the survivors, are dying out, and if we do not speak up now...it will be too late.

So, again, you-all out there, are 'it' today...bear with me, please... We are the lucky ones; we made it till 1945...we survived; we are here today, living in our own Jewish State, proving to the world that we can not be defeated...my grandparents on my mother's side did not make it...they were trying a new escape route from Poland to Hungary; they were caught, send to Auschwitz....my grandmother was ordered to strip...she refused, and was shot dead; my grandfather, wanting to help her...was shot dead as well. We know that from witnesses who were there...yes, they saw it, and they somehow made it, and were able to tell the ones who made it as well...my other grandfather, proved beyond any doubt, how Hitler was defeated; he, and his four sons, my father being the fifth, were part of the extermination process... but: they made it too; they came back, and today, between Jerusalem, New York and Belgium, there are at least 400 decendants from the five brothers... the five, miraculously saved, coming back to recreate a clan which is increasing every year!...and another proof to the world that no matter what horror... we will not be 'removed'.

Our own miracle: by 1943, we lived hidden, on assumed papers and assumed names, as Catholics; we were advised that if we did not leave Poland, we would not make it; someone would find out who we were, denounce us...someone else would take credit for getting rid of another Jewish family...new escape routes to Hungary were created every day; it was still the safest way to escape...the one presented to us was THE safest one of the lot; organized by forest rangers, they convinced us that we would make it, telling us about our good friends who went ahead of us...and made it safely to Budapest, where they were enjoying fresh coffee in a coffee house...sending their love...a post card was shown for proof...we took the route...made it; found out that our friends were shot dead on the first border they tried to cross...

Yom Hashoa: the siren will sound, this Thursday at 10 in the morning... and the flood of tears will release the load I have been carrying for a week...and I know the country will come to a complete stop for two minutes...the longest two minutes in the year...some of you will stand here with me...most of you, will not even hear it...lately, a lot of things are created throughout the world to commemorate the Shoa...they should just have the siren...wailing and crying through out the world...in every town, in every city, in every nation...maybe then, people will ask why?...

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Debbie Morgenstern is the author of "My Life in Israel" and other short stories.
http://www.trafford.com/robots/04-0655.html

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