KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
What should I do? On the other hand, who knows when I’ll be back in Greece? I’m here,” and I decided to take advantage of the op- portunity. It was a wonderful tour and well worth the money and, as things turned out, I never have gotten back to Greece. I went to the Acropolis, which was not fenced in at that time, and was able to go all over the place. A nice lunch was provided in the package deal, for good measure. Next, the ship stopped in Spanish Morocco. By then, I had be- come acquainted with a sailor who said, “You spent two dollars for a sightseeing trip? You’re out of your mind! Come with us. If six of us share a cab and expenses it will only cost us seventy-five cents apiece.” Another benefit of going with the sailors was the sense of safety it gave me to know that the ship would not sail without them. If I ventured forth on my own, I might be held up by a flat tire, a traffic jam, or other mishap, and not be back in time. So I went with the six sailors and, for seventy-five cents, toured Spanish Morocco. The ship then crossed the Atlantic and docked in Halifax for a day, but the Canadian government only allowed holders of Brit- ish and French passports to disembark. Israelis were not allowed ashore, so my remaining funds remained intact. On November 10, 1954, I arrived in New York. My devoted cous- ins Shalom and Sally closed their fruit store so that they could greet me at the ship. I stayed with them in the house my grandfather left to us, 555 Hopkinson Avenue between Sutter and Pitkin Avenues in Brooklyn, which was a thriving Jewish neighborhood. Pitkin Avenue was a major commercial street with many fine stores and the Loew’s Pitkin Theater, a large, glamorous movie house. On Friday nights, thousands of people strolled in the neigh- borhood, and it was delightful. My U.S. relatives, who had lived in Brooklyn for over twenty years, received me warmly though we had never met before they left Europe, and they made me feel at home. Shalom and Sally’s four-room apartment was small and quite crowded with their four children and me. But my Uncle Jack, a widower who lived with his
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