Blogfinger

One of my relatives made the NY Daily News.

I never met Max Weitzman.  But my dad told me that we were cousins to the Weitzman family who did have a deli in lower Manhattan by the Bowery.

He took me to that deli  once where I met some people. I must have been 7  years old or so.

Many Jewish immigrants of that era came to  “The Golden Land” and they were overjoyed to be here and to experience America’s freedoms and opportunities.

My dad was very proud of that news clipping which he gave to me.   But it’s no surprise because the Jewish people have a tradition of learning.

In my immediate family, immigrants on both sides, I became the first college graduate. The spirit of  curiosity and quest for knowledge goes back for us  thousands of years, but this news clipping is the only tangible piece of evidence which I possess.

I met a man today who told me that he was Sephardic Jewish.   He knew about his families past, more than I know about mine.  I was impressed.

They began in Spain where Jews, Muslims and Christians did very well together for some time,  but in 1492, the Jews were expelled.

They then left to go to North Africa, Morocco, where a unique Jewish culture developed and thrived.  They stayed there for many generations until they were forced out by Muslim persecution.

He was a child when they moved to France. They stayed there but had to move again; this time to America. Some went to Israel which is the last stop for Jews seeking their ancestral homeland.

Yesterday he got to attend his daughter’s graduation from Monmouth University.  She is the first for his family.

Now I am concerned for the future of the American dream.

Paul Goldfinger, MD.  Blogfinger.net.  5/10/24

The choral anthem is called “Shalom” by the  Beckenhorst Singers, a Christian group which was inspired by the  Hebrew greeting and wish for peace.