They Not Like Us

 My son in law Jonathan has an amazing family -- and the true matriarch is his loving grandmother Judy. She has an origin story beyond anything Marvel Comics could have dreamed. When she was 6, the Nazis took over in her city, and her parents left her with a Catholic friend in hopes of saving her life. It worked -- and Judy ended up with a "Catholic name" and identity -- living in a convent, where she was raised as a Catholic girl until WW II ended.

Her parents and little brother were killed in Aushwitz,and she was spirited out of Europe and to Caracas. She met her husband in the US -- Judy lived in NY and Detroit -- and raised their family in Venezuela, including her one daughter, who would someday become our wonderful consuegra.

Judy is one of the most strong and loving people I ever met -- she and I hit it off when we met, in May of 2014, when D2 and Jonathan were graduating UF. Within a few years, she KNEW D2 would become another granddaughter, so much that when Judy introduced us to friends at Jonathan's brother's wedding, she said "these are my future in laws."

A wise person does NOT go against Judy, and Jonathan in fact asked to marry D2. At their surprise engagement party at the Grammercy Park Hotel, Judy came up to me, hugged me, and said "we did it!!" I assured her SHE did it...

Over the past years, Judy has dedicated herself to teaching South Florida school kids about the Holocaust. There are fewer than 200K survivors -- most of whom were, like Judy, children during the war.

And today, she was featured on CBS's "Sunday Morning," because of the project of a Survivor's granddaughter, who is a professional photographer and compiling portraits of the Survivors before they leave us. Judy was eloquent and beautiful as always -- Wifey and I watched the episode with great pride.

Of course, D2, like Jonathan, is the grandchild of Survivors. At their wedding, Rabbi Yossi brought up the Shoah, though admitting he never had before -- he was so moved by this victory over Hitler and the Nazis -- they're long gone, and the Survivors' grandkids are prospering.

I was woefully under-educated myself about the Holocaust -- none of my family, at least the cousins, aunts, and uncles, were affected -- my Ashkenazim had all left Europe around 1900 -- fleeing pogroms from the Czar, not Nazis. 

I first learned of it as a boy -- I was with my Dad visiting some of his customers -- a couple who owned a gift shop, and I noticed the tatoos of the numbers on their arms. My Dad explained what was what on our drive home.

At UM, I took "Literature of the Holocaust" and for the first time read deeply. And, of course, the Big Man decided I would marry the daughter of Survivors. I sure learned a lot through them!

Rabbi Yossi would always invite me to the adult version of "March of the Living," where you visit concentration camps in Poland followed by the uplifting trip to Israel. I replied that I already had "Marriage of the Living"  - had all the Holocaust education there was to have -- in some ways in deeper ways than those who merely visit the sites and don't live with it.

But boy did Judy shine today! And as we watched, D1 and Joey had their boys at Temple Beth Sholom for Mitzvah Day! Am I proud my Ds have embraced out heritage, and are proud Jews, raising their kids (and hopefully future kids) as Jews?

Durn tootin'! I know Judy feels the same way, and a wise person agrees with that wonderful lady.