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| OHCC LIVING | OCTOBER 2021 | 17 Yiddish Club Our August "Welcome Back" meeting was quite successful! Our guest speaker, Cantor Caitlin Bromberg, spoke of her most fascinating, and quite unique life journey into Judaism! In keeping with our theme of "Getting to Know You," Yiddish Club Board Member, Debbie Garey, reflects on treasured childhood memories as she shares some from her Jewish culture: In 1948, we lived in a primarily Jewish neighborhood in Los Angeles, CA. My cousins lived next door, and my Aunt Edy's brood lived just down the street. We were FAMILY. In and out of each other's home all of the time; lots of hustle and bustle between the houses, and no one needed an invitation. My great Aunt Pearl was a wonderful baker and spent many hours at Edy's house. One day I walked into the guest bedroom (remember when we had those?) and saw a strange sight. Stretched across a carefully made twin bed, atop a clean white sheet, was a very, very thin substance, gossamer-like in its supple consistency, thinner than a fairy's wing. It took up the whole bed and even overlapped the sides! This dough is, in Yiddish, "blevin." It is used to make strudel, a delicious fruit and nut filled pastry. What a treat; a real labor of love! It took forever to get this buttery but light mass of dough thin enough to spread thinly without any tears in it. We all of us loved Aunt Pearl and greatly admired her baking skills. Family get-togethers were always punctuated with many conversations with, between, and over each other. There was plenty of delicious food and plenty of well-meaning concern served along with it. Grandpa would exclaim to my mother, "Ethel, you should eat more, you look so pale!" Grandpa would then trumpet across the room, "Edy, why isn't Michael eating? He's not well? What's wrong?" "Wrong? Nothing is wrong. He's fine!" Then another adult would question/complain, "I don't understand, why isn't Davele (Yiddish for Davy) wearing the red sweater I knitted for him? He doesn't like it?" "Auntie, you gave him two sweaters, this blue one and the red one, G-d should bless you; he can only wear one at a time!" Those were sweet times. I want to thank Debbie for this warm and touching article! I know that so many of us can relate to it! Be sure to mark your calendar for our upcoming meeting, on Mon., Oct. 18 at 7 pm, in Abravanel Hall. I know we all will look forward to our delicious deli luncheon with special entertainment, on Sun., Dec. 19. See everyone in October! ~ Elaine Massei, President

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