Both my husband's family and mine came to the U.S. via Ellis
Island. My in-laws' name in Europe was Psharalske, which was
changed to Perlman. In later years, I learned from a woman
lecturing on Jewish names that this was taken from the Hebrew
word pshara or compromise. They must have been people
who helped settle arguments in their European home towns.
This trait truly described the Perlman's home, where never a
harsh word was uttered.
I can well remember the Depression. I recall my third-grade
teacher asking what we had eaten for supper the previous
night. Half the class said they had eaten a potato and a
glass of milk. My father-in-law would tell us, later, how his
employer had come to him suggesting that he give up half of
his job to someone who was unemployed so that he could feed
his family. He agreed, of course.
My husband followed his parents' good example and was also
always willing to lend a helping hand, literally. And after
many neighbors learned how handy he was, they would often ask
him to fix things, which he succeeded in doing.
Across the hall was a family with two boys, aged four and
six. Somehow they were always around when my husband was
making repairs. After a while, they actually asked him to
teach them how to use his tools. "So long as you don't
neglect your Torah studies, you can watch and help and
learn."
They were diligent students, both at school and as
`apprentices.' Whenever my husband had a spare tool, he would
give it to them. His lessons came to very good use.
*
It is many years later and I have befriended an elderly lady
who is all alone in the world. I try to visit her every week.
She recently told me an amazing story. Her refrigerator broke
down last week but she couldn't afford to have it repaired.
The two boys heard about it and asked her if they could look
at it. After a bit of tinkering here and there, they actually
were able to put it back into working order!
My husband in heaven must be having nachas from his
protogees, who really kept their promise and are fine Torah
scholars today. "Just look at that," a friend of his
commented, "he's gone from this world but he is still
performing mitzvos!"
I guess the name Perl-man suits our family just as well . .
.
