Starting Agfiin Starting Again
Another Country, a New Family
During our courtship, Kibbutz Yagur sent a representative to try to convince me to return to the kibbutz. We entertained him well (I remember taking him to see Damn Yankees on Broadway), but I did not go back. This decision saddened me. I remember calling my friends at the kibbutz and telling them that they could have my things, including my treasured books and my excellent mattress. The Kibbutz Ad- ministration had given me gifts every so often in appreciation for the work I had done in Tel Aviv. My most precious possession was a famous book they had given me called The Book of the Palmach. I gave all of these possessions to my friends. But I felt very comfortable with Ruthie’s family. Her parents lived in a two-stoiy, one-family house with stained-glass windows in the living and dining rooms, on Shepherd Avenue in East New York, Brooklyn. They grew grapes in their large garden, which they pressed to make wine, a process they learned from their Italian neighbors. They grew raspberries and other fruits in their garden. They even had a permanent sukkah with a movable roof, which made it kosher. I was giving up my kibbutz home and family, but I was joining a new family and home. two-story, In his own way, Ruthie’s father Phillip was a warrior, a unique person who was deeply concerned about the welfare of the Jewish people. He was a major contributor to the United Jewish Appeal, giving thousands of dollars to the organization. He and his family genuinely lived more modestly than they had to so that they could support the UJA. Prior to the war, Phillip had had the good sense to get his entire family, and Ruthie’s mother’s family from the Pul- tusk area, out of Poland. When he came to the U.S. he worked hard and sent money to Europe to bring over additional relatives. Phillip was able to get about fifteen people out of Europe. Thank God for his foresight. Many people were barely making ends meet at the time, and my father-in-law’s business was to enable people to buy items on
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