Synopsis: Ma and Pa have made peace with the fact that
they are in Toronto to stay, but hold on fiercely to Alte
Heim dress, lifestyle and strict Halachic observance. They
finally capitulate as far as allowing their children to
attend public school, as there is no alternative and no
proper Jewish education.
As told by Pa to daughter-in-law Sudy, in the Vizhnitz Old
Age Home, decades later.
"The girls were Ma's only comfort, quietly playing with the
dolls that she sewed from the scraps of material left over
from the dresses she sewed for them, and later stuffed with
beans.
"The only time that I helped with the children was on Sunday,
when the factory was closed. I'd come home from shul,
sit down on one kitchen bench and seat all the children on
another bench opposite me. Then I'd take the basin with the
leftover Shabbos challa that Ma had soaked in hot milk and
start spooning it out. All the children sat across from me
like little feigelach, mouths wide open. As soon as I
filled one mouth, I'd slide over on my bench to the next. By
the time I'd gotten to the last child, the first one had
already swallowed his spoonful, and I began all over again
till the basin was empty.
"Oh, yes. And I also gave the boys their haircuts," Pa added
as an afterthought.
I laughed. I had been introduced to the family with the story
of Pa's haircuts: how the boys used all their cunning to
escape the monthly scalping because afterwards, forced to sit
bareheaded and baldheaded in public school, their classmates
taunted them with "Chicky, chicky."
"Now where was I?" Pa mused, with some annoyance.
"You were up to the truant officer coming and this time
forcing you and Ma to send the children to public school," I
offered.
Pa leaned back again in his armchair. It wasn't that
comfortable, just a raffia chair that we'd bought from some
Arabs, but we'd lined it with pillows all around to make it
soft.
Pa's eyes were distant; a smile slowly formed around his
mouth.
"Well, if the Board of Canadian Education thought that they
had won a victory in finally getting those -- what they
referred to -- as `bright, well-mannered children who spoke
nothing but Yiddish' to integrate by attending school, they
never made a bigger mistake, because with the homemade
knickers and black velvet skullcaps, the shaven heads and
long curled sidelocks, the children remained as apart as if
they'd never left Ma's kitchen. And the amazing thing was
that the Canadians brought it on themselves!"
There was a Canadian law, stringently upheld, that no
headcovering was allowed to be worn in any government or
public building. Because of this law, the teachers forced the
boys to remove their yarmulkas in school and sit
baeheaded. Their shaven heads and payos made them the
laughing stock not only of their class but of the entire
school. In no time, the children were outcasts in the new
world they'd entered.
But as long as they were winning all the prizes, and having
their test papers exhibited on the bulletin board, school was
a challenge and fun.
But Pa was worried. What would become of his children in the
goyish school, in the treife street?
He was always shlepping them to shul, bribing them to
come along to the Stretiner Rebbe's tish where they
could feed their souls with Chassidishe niggunim and
fill their minds with Torah thoughts. Whenever a rabbi in the
community gave a talk or taught a class, his boys were the
first ones there, afterwards buying ice cream and soda with
the pennies with which Pa bribed them to go.
Soon the collectors were raising money to start a Talmud
Torah where, when children got out of public school at three,
they would begin to learn Jewish subjects. But after sitting
like little angels in public school all day, all the boys
wanted to do was run and jump and round up all the kids in
the neighborhood to make concerts and plays and organize
crazy ball games.
*
"Peace came to Poland and we were still in Canada," Pa
continued, "this time waiting for Toibele to be born. But
even afterwards, we seemed to never be able to get ourselves
sufficiently together to make the trip back `home.'
"The years were passing and Ma's promise to the Bobover Rebbe
[to return] gave her no peace. But in 1934, unrest again
cropped up on Polish borders; how could we think of returning
with seven young children?
"Shmiel turned thirteen. He was our pride and joy. His one
and only friend all the years had been Shloimele Shlissel's
son, Yossele. But how much longer could we keep him away from
the other boys his age who thought and talked about nothing
except making money and going to the movies and having a good
time?
"How could the dream that our child grow up holy ever come
true in an unclean land? For that matter, how could we expect
any of our children to aspire to be servants of Hashem,
surrounded as they were with all the temptations and
pleasures of a goyish world?"
Although there was no official yeshiva in Toronto, religious
boys received Torah instruction on a private basis. At that
time, many great scholars such as Rabbis Ochs, Price,
Kamenetsky, Breish zt'l lived in Toronto. Most of them
held rabbinical positions in the different shuls.
These people were students of the greatest Lithuanian
gedolim, and leaders in their own rights, as well. All
the years, the boys were included in whatever religious
instruction these figures gave their own children.
"But despite the boys' exposure to such great Torah scholars
and scholarship, and their friendship with the rabbis'
children, we both knew that a Torah education was only half
the story. Any person, especially a young one, also needed an
atmosphere that was conducive to Torah observance.
"We both realized that the time had come to keep Ma's promise
to the Rebbe. If we couldn't all return, we had to at least
begin by sending one of our children back to Poland. Ma's
family were Bobover chassidim. It was decided to send Shmiel
across the ocean to study in the Bobover Yeshiva there.
"When Shloimele Shlissel heard of our plans, he was
overjoyed. If Shmiel was going, his Yossele would go
along."
Shmiel locked his bicycle in the cellar and kissed everyone
good-bye. Together with Yossele Shlissel, he went by train to
New York and there, boarded the Queen Victoria that
crossed the Atlantic. In a smaller boat, they crossed the
Channel and for the rest of the way, till they reached the
Polish border, they traveled by train. Once there, the only
way to get to Bobov was by horse and cart; and that bumpy
ride lasted two full days.
"We probably would have had strong reservations about sending
a thirteen-year-old boy on such a trip alone, but it seems
that just as Hashem had sent Shloimele Shlissel to lead me to
Canada, He now sent his son, Yossele, to accompany our son
back home.
"Ma worried about Shmiel all the time but his letters were
full of joy. He was keeping up with the learning, had
wonderful friends, loved being part of the Rebbe's
hoif, his court, populated with scholars and mystical
figures.
"When Ma once asked if she should send Shmiel his bike, he
answered that she must never mention that word again. He
would be utterly humiliated if anyone there ever found out
that he had wasted so many precious years on foolishness."
*
"In 1939 we were at last ready to go back `home.' We found a
customer for the house at an excellent price, packed our
bundles and ordered our tickets. But when we all came
together in the lawyer's office to finalize the sale of the
house, there was a misunderstanding over the dining room
fixtures and the customer stalked out in a rage, yelling that
he didn't want the house, anyway.
"It all happened so fast that we didn't know what had hit us.
The customer's change of heart was totally unexpected; the
whole situation was impossible to understand. Everything had
moved along so smoothly, and suddenly, out of the clear blue
sky, PFFFFT to all of our plans...
"We kept asking ourselves what had happened, and why?
"Three weeks later, when the Nazis invaded Poland and World
War II broke out, we had the answer to all of our
questions.
"Instead of us returning to Poland, the Rebbe called Shmiel
and Yossele into his office, handed each one his passport and
begged them to make haste and return to Canada. At least they
should escape the smouldering inferno that would soon
erupt."
