Bubbe's Place: Stories

Bugsy Siegel

Right about now, I can hear your father snickering," Ha! She never heard of Bugsy Siegal or Meyer Lansky or Murder Inc. "

Of course I heard of them. Like all immigrants we had some people who tried to get ahead by using extortion, arson, cheating, running rackets, bootlegging etc. We had those people in the old country too. But we never romanticized them. We never applauded them. We were embarrassed by their dishonesty. We didn't want to do as they did. If we knew a man broke the laws of the land, we cried, " Er iz a shandah far di Yidden!" "He shames our Jewish People, and we would ostracize him and his family.

Yiddishists were always aware that they were a part of the Jewish folk. They carried on the tradition of family loyalty and the obligation to help other Jews. These two compulsions remained all powerful even as they assimilated into American life.

Now instead of the Rabbi as the most admired person in the community, it was the intellectual who was the most admired. The intellectuals were often self-educated. Many times I heard my elders talk with great admiration about the "intelligencia". They all hoped that their children would grow up to be one of the intellectuals. The emphasis in the new liberal assimilated community was still on learning. The new immigrants and their children flocked to night school to learn English and American ways. Their idea of good entertainment was a lecture, a concert, an opera, or a play.

My mother would be happy to baby-sit for me if I went to one of the above. She would not baby sit if I wanted to go out to dinner. "Eat at home, "she'd tell me. Would she baby sit if I wanted to go to the movies? That depended on the movie. "You must try to stretch your mind," she urged.