Bubbe's Place: Stories

Where Could I Turn?

I have rambled on. Let me turn back to 1950 and what was happening then. In May 1950 I had my twentieth birthday. In June I was married. These were big changes in my personal life. At the same time there were huge changes occurring in Jewish life. The Jewish language, Yiddish, was disappearing. Hitler and Stalin had destroyed the European Yiddish world. In America Yiddish and Yiddishkeit were fast becoming memories. What was once radical and cosmopolitan was rapidly becoming a memory. In just a few years Yiddishkeit became a dusty chapter of history that only a few young people were interested in studying. Suddenly its rich literature was read in translation. Yiddish was spoken only by old people or by the ultra-orthodox.

Jewish life in America was changing even more. Young Jewish families left the old tight little neighborhoods. They scattered to the suburbs and mixed with their Christian neighbors. The Folk Shulen were disappearing. Synagogues grew in size. Synagogues began to include more social centers and activities. Halacha was still taught, but less people observed it. Fewer young people kept kosher. They wanted their Rabbi to be kosher for them.

Israel was a recognized Jewish state. Secular and religious Jews were united in support of the fledgling state. As I saw it, Zionists needed to move to Israel. I didn't believe that you could live in America and be a positive Jew if your only expression of Judaism was Zionism. By 1953 I had a child, a car, and a house. I knew that I was not going to move to Israel. Yiddishkeit was no longer an option. I was determined that I would remain Jewish. I needed a new way to live a positive Jewish life. What could I do? Where could I turn?