MY BROTHER CHAIM

Chaim was born in Russia in March 1896. He was the fifth child, after two girls and two boys. I was the second girl and at seven years of age, already had the responsibility of watching over the younger ones.

Chaim was born on a Friday after my mother had put the last pot of cholent into the big baker’s oven. Mother was a very energetic and hard working woman. Weekdays she baked bread, mostly pumpernickel, and all night, Thursday she baked challah, to sell in our grocery store, which was connected with the bakery and our apartment.

The year that Chaim was born, four weeks before Passover, the bakery was transformed into a matzoh factory. My mother employed several helpers to produce the matzo. My sister and I also helped. I remember standing on a bench in order to reach the table to roll the matzoh.

One sunny day when Chaim was a few days or maybe it was a few weeks old, my mother put him outdoors in his cradle to get some fresh air. He was warmly dressed and covered with a blanket. Two very husky women who were employed to make matzoh, took their lunch with them and sat down on the cradle without realizing that a child was sleeping there. I happened to come out and started to yell at them that my

brother was in the cradle. The women jumped off and uncovered Chaim. He was all blue and white slimy stuff was oozing from his mouth. My mother rushed to the scene and finally revived him.

Chaim grew up a healthy and obedient child capable and good in his studies especially in mathematics. In Russia, he had a grade school education and at fourteen, Chaim as well as our parents and two more brothers came to America landing in Boston, where my sister and I lived. It was the month of July, the year 1910.

In September, Chaim enrolled in grade school. His teachers who were very fond of him had a farm and a son Chaim's age and invited him for the summer. There Chaim learned to speak English without a trace of an accent. He also met a student in his class who became and remained a lifelong friend. This friend, Dave Grosser became a friend of the entire family. Our mother had great compassion for him and treated him as one of her own. Dave was selling newspapers for his livelihood and advised my brother to do the same. Rain or shine, Chaim was there on a busy corner in Boston selling papers.

After five years of grade and high school, this paper round was the means of saving two hundred dollars to pay for his tuition at Harvard College for a course in Engineering. In snow and sleet, without proper clothing, he continued selling papers, coming home frozen to eat his breakfast, then ran off to attend his classes.

After two years at Harvard, the first World War broke out. Chaim was then twenty-two at that time and was advised by our patriotic father to enlist. After a short time of military training, he was shipped to France as an ambulance driver picking up the wounded and bringing them to a hospital in Paris. After two years of France, he mastered French and was released from the service.

He returned to New York where my sister Mary and I were already settled. Mary was married and had her first child named after our Mother, Minna. Chaim was simply mad about that child and still is ... after sixty-five years of her life. He is a most affectionate and loving uncle.

Chaim now took a new direction in education. He took a course in accounting and also worked part time in a grocery store. After graduating, he worked for an accountant for a small salary.

About that time, he met a beautiful and capable young lady with whom he fell in love at first sight. They were married and raised a son named Lionel after our father and a daughter named Judy.

When the depression of 1930 set in, Chaim lost his job but luckily his experience as an accountant paid off. He got work in W.P.A., at fifteen dollars a week while his wife Augusta got a job as a commercial artist and helped with the budget. It was a hard struggle until the economy improved under the Roosevelt Administration. Finally, Chaim was appointed a Federal Tax Agent at a fairly good salary. He worked for the government until the age of seventy retiring with a generous pension.

His son Lionel is now a scientist in the computer field and lives in California. Judy, his daughter, is happily married and has raised a family of five children. They have a home in Western Connecticut. Chaim is a frequent visitor there and a most welcomed guest in their home. His grandchildren love him and treat him not only as a devoted grandfather, but as their comrade as well. They respect and idolize him.

Chaim and his wife Augusta who is not a well woman now live in Rockaway, New York. In spite of his own ailments, he shops and helps her with the house chores. Chaim visits us annually these days escorted by one of his grandsons. My sister and I can hardly wait for the day he arrives, our wonder brother whom we both adore.