.gif)
My mom's great-great-grandparents came across the Mexican border illegally in the 1900s. However, they-- unlike an interesting family who I once heard about-- did not decide to become Anusim to assimilate into Anti-Semitic America (I once asked my mom if our family did that. She said "No. I know what you're referring to, and I wouldn't be surprised if that family's story was more common than you think. But my great-grandparents remained haredim even at the risk of getting killed either in Poland or in America.").
Unlike that family, however (who became Anusim to try to avoid the pogroms, got kicked out of Poland by their families, and came to America as Anusim via Ellis Island), Mom's great-grandparents never once even thought about being Anusim either in Poland or in New York (where, like that family, they were intending to head but-- unlike that family-- stay)-- and they couldn't have been as convincing as that family, anyway; which is part of why pretending to be ethnic Poles and Catholics would've been hard for them.
And thanking G-d that they weren't caught by a Polish Catholic at the border (because who knows what they would've done then?), they had to deal with the Pole who caught them-- an ethnically-Jewish Pole who had become a naturalized American and an Immigration and Naturalization official, and happened to be stationed at the border when they were crossing it.
"Where are you from?" he asked in Yidish, being able to tell that they were fellow Jews.
"We are from Polinyah." they returned. Then they explained that they had first tried to make aliyah to Palestinian-occupied Yisra'el, deciding to follow the Zionist lead. But they were denied the opportunity to go "el Ha'Eretz" because they weren't haredi enough-- or maybe they were too haredi.
The fellow Jew understood; eventually helping them go through the immigration and naturalization process in Texas, then helping move them to Brooklyn in New York.
They remained haredim up to my mother's generation, and deliberately moved to haredi Northwest Baltimore when they moved. Then my mother moved out of the haredi community in Northwest Baltimore and met a New Yorker who was studying at Morgan State University-- my dad.
And that's when my mom's family were no longer haredim-- at least the generations since my mom's haven't been; and so far, my siblings and I are of the only generation that's proceeded from the Lewjes of Suwalki, Poland and Brookyln, New York.
Unlike that family, however (who became Anusim to try to avoid the pogroms, got kicked out of Poland by their families, and came to America as Anusim via Ellis Island), Mom's great-grandparents never once even thought about being Anusim either in Poland or in New York (where, like that family, they were intending to head but-- unlike that family-- stay)-- and they couldn't have been as convincing as that family, anyway; which is part of why pretending to be ethnic Poles and Catholics would've been hard for them.
And thanking G-d that they weren't caught by a Polish Catholic at the border (because who knows what they would've done then?), they had to deal with the Pole who caught them-- an ethnically-Jewish Pole who had become a naturalized American and an Immigration and Naturalization official, and happened to be stationed at the border when they were crossing it.
"Where are you from?" he asked in Yidish, being able to tell that they were fellow Jews.
"We are from Polinyah." they returned. Then they explained that they had first tried to make aliyah to Palestinian-occupied Yisra'el, deciding to follow the Zionist lead. But they were denied the opportunity to go "el Ha'Eretz" because they weren't haredi enough-- or maybe they were too haredi.
The fellow Jew understood; eventually helping them go through the immigration and naturalization process in Texas, then helping move them to Brooklyn in New York.
They remained haredim up to my mother's generation, and deliberately moved to haredi Northwest Baltimore when they moved. Then my mother moved out of the haredi community in Northwest Baltimore and met a New Yorker who was studying at Morgan State University-- my dad.
And that's when my mom's family were no longer haredim-- at least the generations since my mom's haven't been; and so far, my siblings and I are of the only generation that's proceeded from the Lewjes of Suwalki, Poland and Brookyln, New York.
No comments:
Post a Comment