Replies

OMG - that's awful. She must have felt badly - that eternal question, why is one spared and others lost?

(You realize that 100 years from now somebody will be saying the same thing to somebody who lost or nearly lost a relative on 9-11 - and the response will be the same.)

Did you know your g-grandmother? I only knew one of mine, she lived to age 97.

OMG - that's awful. She must have felt badly - that eternal question, why is one spared and others lost?

Actually, I have no idea how she felt about it - but I'll ask my mother next time I talk to her. It may be she never spoke about it - something I've found not to be uncommon among the oldest members of my family. A great-uncle who served in the European theater of WWII, who found out his entire family had been murdered by the Nazis, but who has never talked about it. My paternal grandmother's first husband was, uh, a gangster (mentioned by name in the book "Gangs of New York"), but she never, ever, ever talked about that - not even 60+ years later.

Did you know your g-grandmother? I only knew one of mine, she lived to age 97.

No, I didn't get to know her personally, as she passed away when I was six months old. There is a well known family photograph of her holding me, with my mother and grandmother standing behind her - we call it the "Four Generations Photo."

What I know of her came from my parents. She was apparently an incredibly sweet natured lady who loved everyone - my father says she was the only in-law he truly loved, which was borne out by the fact that she was known as "Honey," even though her real name was Clara. My mother told me that when she was a little girl, she wanted Easter eggs one year, despite being raised as an observant Jew. My grandmother told her it was impossible, but my great-grandmother, who was very devout, said that if her darling granddaughter wanted Easter eggs, she would make them - and she did! She dyed them using vegetables - spinach, beets and onion skins, so the eggs would still be kosher.

My other great-grandparents were dead before I was born, which is why I'm named after two of them (it's an Ashkenazic Jewish tradition to name children after deceased family members). I was named after Honey's husband and my father's paternal grandfather (which is odd when you think about it because I'm a female!).

Maven