Bubbe's Place: Stories

Sadie and Bubbaleh

"Mama! Papa! Why are you laughing? Behave yourselves. This is a cemetery. Is laughter a way to show respect? I can't believe you two. You are acting like children."

"No! No! Don't walk away," they replied in unison. "We'll try to control ourselves while we tell you Sadie's story. It's just that Sadie and her Bubbaleh brought about the only riot that the Koshovoto Landsman Cemetery ever had."

"What? There was a riot in the cemetery? You must tell me about this lady and her Bubbaleh!"

This is the sad story that they told me.

Papa began with a short history lesson. In the seventeenth and eighteenth hundreds in Eastern Europe, Judaism was basically what we term Orthodox. In Koshovoto during the nineteen twenties and thirties there were three synagogues, but there was only one kind of Judaism, Orthodoxy.

In the United States during those same years, Judaism was changing and flowering. In America for every two Jews, there were three varieties of Judaism. Under those circumstances there was no longer a single definition of a Jew. Instead you had a Jew by birth and a Jew by choice. You had an Orthodox Jew and a Reform Jew. There were now Conservative Jews and Ethical Jews. If not one of those you might be a cultural Jew or a socialist Jew. You could be a Litvac or a Gallicianer, (Place of origin) or an Arbetering Jew or Farband Jew. (Organization) There were Sephardim Jews and Yekkas (German Jews). There were Jews who came to synagogue or temple three days a year and there were Jews who came every day. There were Jews who never entered a Jewish prayer house, who still were ardent committed Jews. They were called Zionists. Some Zionists were Mizrahi, (religious). Some Zionists were Labor Zionists (Socialists) and others were General Zionists. You've got the idea. The list could go on endlessly."

Now Mama continued, "But by far the largest group of Jews were identified and defined by their food consumption. Their Yiddishkeit was apparent by their loyalty to their Mama's kitchen. When all else was forgotten or ignored, they remained Jews by diet. This did not mean that they were kosher. It simply meant that they could not, or would not, live without a little chopped liver, or kugel, or bagel or deli etc.

Sadie was a delicatessen Jew. She never went to a synagogue or read a Yiddish paper. But every Saturday evening, religiously, she served and ate Jewish delicatessen food. She would serve a corn beef sandwich, on kimmel rye, dripping from juicy coleslaw, or a pastrami sandwich, on kimmel rye, dripping from juicy coleslaw. On the side she served green sour tomatoes and pickles, with a knish or a piece of kishka. (Stuffed derma) For dessert she served ruggelach and or strudel, or maybe a cherry blintz.

Sunday mornings Sadie served more Jewish deli delights. There were bagels with cream cheese, belly lox, white fish, and smoked salmon. On the side were thick slices of onions, tomatoes, and cucumbers. Sometimes the menu included kugel, blintzas and borsht with sour cream. In Sadie's opinion this was the best that the Jewish world could offer.

When her children heard stories about their friends' homes, they were convinced that their Mama had the most authentic Jewish home of all. They snickered when they heard other children talk of kosher homes that had two sets of dishes and pots. Ha! Their Mama Sadie had three sets of dishes and three frying pans. She had flaishik, (Meat), milchiks, (Dairy), and traifidik. (Non-kosher) And she was very strict and never mixed the three.

Sadie's children never went to Hebrew school. They didn't need to go there. Sadie was a maiven (expert) in all things Jewish. She taught her children all they needed to know about Judaism. When they became teens and started to date, Sadie would stand them in front of a mirror and say, "See that face? It is a Jewish puneem (Face). God help you if you go out with a goyish puneem (Gentile face)!

Sadie's children heard from the neighborhood children about a Jewish holiday called Passover. When they asked her about a Seder feast, she said, "Bah…too much work for mothers and no room for deli anywhere on the table. You'd hate it. They tell the same story year after year. The story telling goes on so long, a person could faint from hunger. And imagine this…you can't have cake and ice cream for desert. All they have for desert is compote (Stewed fruit). Don't worry. I am sorry that I forgot. I'll buy a box of matza the next time I go to the store."

Whenever there was a question about how to act appropriately, the three children asked Mama. Sadie always had an answer. Azoi (So) the children never needed a rabbi or a book to answer a fraggah. (Question) This worked satisfactorily until Sadie's last days.

After the children were married they left Sadie to establish their own homes. Sadie was lonely. To fill the laydikite (Emptiness) Sadie bought a little dog. She called her dog Bubbaleh. (Little grandmother) Bubbaleh and Sadie were inseparable. Before Sadie had Bubbaleh, she had no idea how much love a little hunt (Dog) could give a person. Oh how she loved that kleine hunt. (Little dog) Years passed and Sadie began to worry about what would happen to Bubbaleh if she Sadie died first.

Sadie was old and failing, when the unexpected happened. One morning Bubbaleh didn't wake up. Sadie the maven, the solver of all problems, called her children and asked them to come at once. Even though Sadie was broken hearted, and her body was weak, her saichel (Common sense) did not fail her. She told the children to wrap Bubbaleh in plastic wrap and then in aluminum foil. Then she had them put Bubbaleh's sweet little body in the freezer chest in the basement.

Now she ordered the children to listen to her last wishes. They were to listen and obey. They were not to tell anyone, not even their mates, about her last will and testament.

"My days are numbered. When I expire I want you to share all my worldly possessions equally. No fighting! And this is the most important part. Listen carefully and keep your mouths shut now and forever. I want you to put Bubbaleh in my coffin. That way Bubbaleh and I will always be together! Now swear that you will do as I asked. If you fail me, I will come back and haunt you all the days of your life!"

The children had a premonition that burying Bubbaleh with Mama might create problems. All the secrecy bothered them. Was it proper? Well Mama Sadie ordered it and Mama would not even suggest it, if it wasn't the Jewish way. Still to avoid gossip and other problems, and to keep their promises, the children improvised. The oldest daughter bought an oversized purse. The youngest daughter bought a giant clear zip lock plastic bag. The son unwrapped Bubbaleh from the aluminum foil and the plastic wrap. Carefully he put Bubbaleh's cold, cold body in the zip bag and into the oversized purse.

At the funeral parlor the three children asked to be left alone to say their final goodbyes to Sadie. The funeral director, the children's mates, and Sadie's siblings all left the room. Carefully Sadie's son raised the coffin lid. The two girls unzipped the bags and put Bubbaleh's cold body into the coffin by Sadie's feet. Then they carefully closed the lid and opened the door. Once again, before they took their seats for the ceremony, they told the funeral director, "We want a closed casket."

"Of course," he replied. "It is the Jewish tradition."

And so Bubbaleh was buried with Sadie in the kosher Koshovoto Landsman Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

Delicious stories like this are too wonderful to stay buried. We can't tell you how the story got out. Maybe someone talked in his sleep. We really don't know. But Who! Hah! There was a terrible tsimes (Fuss) and people began screaming "Gvald!" (Help) when word got out.

"It is a sacrilege!"

"A dog in a kaiver…Blasphemy!"

"Throw Sadie and the dog both in the garbage!"

"Mentchen (People) be rational. We need a Rabbi or better yet a Beth Din (A rabbinical court) to tell us what we should do."

That last was a great idea, but suddenly every rabbi in all of New York and its suburbs, and all the rabbis in New Jersey were summoned to Florida for a special meeting. And they gave no date for their return!

The fight went on. It was bad when it was just words. But it got worse. Suddenly no one wanted to be buried in the Koshovoto cemetery. The cemetery was facing bankruptcy!

Then three hooligans grabbed Sadie's son and they were dragging him behind the bushes. He was saved by the skin of his teeth and by a shovel-swinging employee of the cemetery.

It was a scandal! What if a newspaper reporter stumbled onto this story? It would be a terrible Yiddish shanda, (Jewish shame), a skandal. The fighting must stop. The cemetery board appealed to the o'lem. (The people) "Pray for a Solomon!" Their prayers were answered, but not by King Solomon.

Rescue came from an unexpected source, from a Yiddisher Zorro. He came out of the night dressed all in black, wearing black gloves and a mask. He was wielding a mean shovel instead of a sword. He came in the dead of the night. No one was awake to watch him work. He must have worked geech, schnell vie der blits. (Fast, fast as lightning) No normal mentch (Man) could have done it alone. Maybe a moving spirit abetted him.

"Moving spirit? Yiddishe Zorro? Oei Vey (Good grief) Maybe you need to get out of the sun. What are you talking about?"

"Sha Shtill! (Be silent) while we tell what our Yiddishe Zorro did."

The Yiddishe Zorro dug up the coffin and meticulously removed every trace of Bubbaleh from the coffin. He then carefully transferred Bubbaleh's remains into a miniature coffin. With care he reburied Sadie. He did a wonderful job. He even put fresh sod over the kaiver. (Grave) On top of the sod he gently lay Bubbaleh's coffin.

Early the next morning the Koshovoto Cemetery manager called Sadie's children to tell them what had happened. The children rushed to the cemetery and took Bubbaleh in her lovely little casket to a pet cemetery in New Jersey. Here they reburied her. They did it right. They even erected a little tombstone that read," Mama I'll meet you in heaven. Just whistle for me."