Honoring their family history

CYNTHIA RAMSAY

There is an added gravitas in reviewing books when you know the author or some of the people about whom they are writing. This is why a few books have been sitting on my desk a little longer than is usual. Now that I have sat down and read them though, I wish I had done so earlier. They are three really unique publications that have left me with much to think about.

The most recently released book is I Have My Mother's Eyes (Ronsdale Press and Vancouver Holocaust Education Society, 2009) by the late Barbara Ruth Bluman. It is the work of three generations really: Bluman's mother, Zosia, whose escape from Nazi-occupied Poland to British Columbia forms the bulk of Bluman's narrative and who contributes an afterword to the book; Bluman herself, who shares intimate details of her own life, from emotionally devastating and exhilarating moments to everyday-life anecdotes; and Bluman's daughter, Danielle, who completed the story after her mother died and who has written the foreword and an afterword. Bluman died of cancer on Sept. 8, 2001; her mother, Zosia, also died of cancer, on Oct. 15, 2004.

I Have My Mother's Eyes begins before the outbreak of the Second World War, with a happy six-year-old Zosia Hoffenberg, beloved by her father, but having a more difficult relationship with her mother. At that young age, she first meets her future husband, Natek (Nathan) Bluman, who "taunted her and pulled her pigtails. She quickly learned to stay out of Natek's way."

Luckily, she didn't maintain her resolve on this issue because, not only did she fall in love with Natek Bluman, but, as she writes in her afterword, "Even now, it is hard for me to comprehend that I, the youngest in my family, with the fewest life experiences, was the only one to have survived. This was largely due to Nathan's foresight and determination."

She and her husband fled Warsaw, travelled to Lithuania – where they were one of the thousands of Jews saved by Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Lithuania – and, through Japan, eventually made it to British Columbia. The description of how the couple settled here, with $40 US to their name, is also fascinating.

That Barbara Bluman inserts fragments of her own life into the story of her mother makes I Have My Mother's Eyes all the more impactful – her struggle with cancer and her divorce, as well as happier moments, such as finding love again and her deep bond with her brothers.

Though touching and sad, there is an important, positive message in I Have My Mother's Eyes. Danielle summarizes it well at the end of the book, when she writes about confronting her grandmother about Zosia's harsh reaction to Bluman's divorce. "Mom was in pain and she needed your love and support," Danielle tells Zosia.

"'I know she did,' my grandmother answered. 'And it was awful to see her so upset. But I also know that we just have to keep pushing forward when life is hard. That is how we survive.'"

Survival and family are also at the heart of Victoria writer Barbara Pelman's Borrowed Rooms (Ronsdale Press, 2008). She dedicates the collection to her mother, daughter and father, Solomon (Pucky) Pelman, who passed away in 2006. The poems about her late father are particularly poignant, and the humor that makes the occasional appearance in these verses evokes a smile amid the sadness. In "What is Mortal," for example, Pelman writes:

"Who else / will sing like him? And who / will call the wheelchair, his stroller, / will say to his wife, when she asks / who they should tell he is dying: / Well honey, you should hire / the plane that will fly a banner / across the sky."

Pelman also tackles mother-daughter relationships, divorce, online dating, aging – basically, life. The collection begins with "Back to the Ordinary" – "That in between time / when your clothes still smell of the beach / you walked along that morning, but the stone / in your pocket has faded from its bright / pinks and purples...." – and ends with "Simka" – "The kabbalists call it simka, joy / that comes like a small child in the early morning, / leaping onto the bed...."

Borrowed Rooms celebrates impermanence, which most of us fear – the fact that nothing, including our relationships and our bodies, lasts forever. Pelman's words and rhythms welcome us to confront mortality and acknowledge the beauty that exists in our day-to-day experiences. This concept, of course, is not new, but we really can't hear it enough, as routine continually threatens to make us numb to wonder and the amazing fact that we are here on this earth at all.

Our malaise is often blamed on the busy, high-tech, ever-growing and increasingly individualistic and politicking world in which we now live. But throughout our history, there have been such challenges.

Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshis'cha: His Life and Teachings, which was written by H.M. Rabinovits in the 1940s, has been translated from Hebrew into English by Vancouverite Gloria Levi and published in 2007 by Trafford.

"Rabbi Simcha Bunim lived during a time of great political instability and upheaval in Poland: the three partitions of Poland (1172, 1793 and 1795); the invasion of Napoleon's army, 1807; and the weakening of central government control," writes Levi.

Calling the translation a "labor of love," Levi explains that she is a descendant of Yaacov Yitschak Rabinovits, the "Yehudi HaKadosh."

"His granddaughter, Goldeh Layah Ruchama Rabinovits, was my great-grandmother and I am named after her," she writes. "In the summer of 2001, my eldest daughter and I traveled to Poland, searching for my father's roots. We visited the town of Pshis'cha, the synagogue and the ohel of Rabbi Simcha Bunim and the 'Yehudi HaKadosh.' As my daughter, Tamar, and I stood there saying Kaddish with tears in our eyes, the linkage of past and present years was immediate and direct."

The first half of Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Pshis'cha gives the details of Bunim's life and describes Pshis'cha Chassidism, while the second half focuses more on Bunim's philosophy and how it compares with that of other Chassidic teachings and practices.

Between the different Chassidic groups, the mitnagdim (religious Ashkenazi Jews who opposed Chassidism), the maskilim (followers of the Enlightenment, who saw Judaism as a "non-dogmatic, rational faith that is open to modernity and change"), the general unrest at the time, as neighboring countries waited to pounce on the weakly governed and divided Poland, and widespread anti-Semitism, it is hard to imagine a spiritual voice being heard. But, Bunim's teachings were not only influential in his time, but are still relevant.

Levi describes Bunim (1765-1827) as "a remarkably independent-minded, worldly man": he spent time in Western Europe, could speak German and Italian, wore European clothing and earned his living as a pharmacist. That he was also a deeply religious and inspirational man is evident from the teachings and parables that Rabinovits documents.

While there are many examples one could choose to illustrate his insight and intelligence, the one that came up more than once in conversation with others who had read the book was the rabbi's saying that, "Every person should try to remember two sayings, 'I am dust and ashes.' (Genesis 18:27) and 'for my sake the world was created.' (Mishna Sanhedrin 4:5)"

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