KADDISHEL
A Life Reborn
son says Kaddish every day for the first year and thereafter on the anniversary of the death. Saying Kaddish is a way for a child to add merit to the soul of his parent, so that it can go to a higher level in heaven. People used to be petrified of dying and having no one to say Kaddish for them, but they felt safe if they had a son. Many times, when my mother spoke to me affectionately, she would call me Kaddishel , the one who would say Kaddish for her. This was not meant in a morbid way; rather, it was in recognition of this deeply ingrained tradition. Being plump was an obsession with the townspeople, who be- lieved that chubbiness in children and babies was a sign of good health. To them it was meant that you were well-nourished and am- ply provided for. Because I was not plump, my mother was always terribly concerned that I was not eating properly. As we lived right next-door to my school, many times she would bring a glass of co- coa to me during class. She discovered that I was so embarrassed by her presence that as soon as she showed up, I gulped it down quickly, whereas at home I probably would have refused to drink it at all. When I was sick, my mother used another incentive to get me to take my medicine: for every spoonful of medicine I took, she gave me a zloty (a Polish coin). By the time I was better, perhaps a week later, I had a whole pile of coins. Of course, she always took it back. After all, what was I going to do with it? I had nothing to spend it on. She probably told me she would save it for me until I grew up. I used to have to take all types of cures and terrible-tasting med- ications like cod liver oil. Since people were always concerned about children getting worms, we used to eat something like sau- erkraut as a remedy. It was like straw, finely chopped, and it stuck in your throat. My mother used to mix it with jam to try to make it more palatable. I hated those cures like poison. In our town we had a felsher , a folk doctor who prescribed med- icine; for more serious problems, the townspeople would bring
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