I Am Meir's Brother
Allow me to introduce you to the parents that birthed two remarkable sons, whose efforts in life changed the world. To do this I am enclosing Chapter 1 in this blog. Read and enjoy. There is so much more to experience and I hope you will join me on the magnificent adventure. tinyurl.com/2d4h7g5d
Chapter 1
193S6, Lukow, Poland
Sixteen-year-old Mina Slushni was quiet and a bit shy. But beneath that exterior facade laid an obstinate streak of resolve that was focused on Shmuel Huberman, the young man she intended to marry. Three years her senior, Shmuel was friendly, outgoing and magnetically charismatic. Only 5' 6", he had a presence that seemed to take up more space than he actually did. Dashing and handsome, his face was shaped like a gentle “U,” accentuated by intense dark eyes, a prominent nose and a contagious smile that radiated warmth.
Mina was short and compact with thick wavy raven-colored hair that cascaded down her back, wide set dark eyes, a straight nose and a pretty mouth that all seemed to fit perfectly on her oval-shaped face.
Mina’s parents, Sara and Berl Slushni, were the proprietors of a successful dry goods store. And Mina was the niece of Rabbi Aaron Freiberg, a rabbi in the shetetl town whose Jewish population neared ten thousand. Rabbi Freiberg’s influence as a spiritual leader was so profound his entire extended family was considered yichus nobility. As a sign of respect, Berl was known by the honorific name Reb (Rabbi) Slushni. Proud to be observant Jews, they did not even comb their hair on the Sabbath, for fear it might be considered working.
On the other hand, the boy was openly and proudly non-religious. To make matters more intolerable, he was an outspoken leader in the socialist-Zionist group known as Hashomer Hatzair, The Young Guard.
His mother, Rachel, had lost her husband to typhoid. Widowed, she had supported her young son and daughter by selling lamp kerosene from a pushcart. A beautiful woman with luxurious blond hair and penetrating blue eyes, she remarried after ten years of widowhood to Levi Shulshtein, a successful owner of a bakery. She no longer worked but that changed nothing. Shmuel’s family would always be thought of as socially beneath the Slushni family.
The very idea that their daughter, Mina, would even be seen in public with Shmuel Huberman was outrageous. Consequently, Mina was absolutely forbidden to see Shmuel. She begged her parents to reconsider, but her entreaties fell on deaf ears.
Refusing to turn away from each other, the young couple did the unthinkable. They eloped. Mina’s parents were brokenhearted and furious, believing that Mina had dishonored their traditions and their name in an unforgivable act of disrespect. The result was a decision too often observed in orthodox religious homes: they declared their daughter dead and sat shiva, seven days of mourning.
Three Years Later
It was a bitterly cold winter day, the wind howling and icicles hanging in claws from the roof eaves, the streets and sidewalks slick and treacherous. Yet, tucked inside a stove-heated cozy room in the shetel of Lukow,
Mina Slushni Huberman gave birth to a son they named Eliezer. It was February 8, 1939. Exactly eight days after the birth, as commanded in the Torah, a circumcision ceremony was per- formed. In attendance were both sets of grandparents.
The birth of their first grandchild obliterated the idealistic declaration Berl Slushni had made that his daughter was dead.
That proclamation was reversed by the obligation he had to make sure that his grandson Eliezer, nicknamed Eli, would study Torah and Talmud and that he would be raised as an observant Jew.
Seven months later, on September 1, 1939, one and a half million Nazis under orders from Adolph Hitler invaded Poland. The attack was brutal and all-encompassing as the Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and the German warships and U-boats decimated the Polish naval forces. In a series of cataclysmic and catastrophic events, bombs were dropped over Lukow, and dozens of innocent civilians were killed. Fear, panic and shock set in with the invasion.
The hopes and dreams of a generation imploded in grief. It was a nightmare that would for- ever scar the soul and the conscience of humanity.
When the German’s invaded Lukow, the resistance fighters of the Polish Home Army fought back and managed to kill several German soldiers. In retaliation, the Germans rounded up every Jewish man in the shtetl. They chased them through the streets, beating, maiming, shooting and setting Jewish buildings and homes afire.
During the chaos, Mina was shoved into the synagogue along with hundreds of other women, weeping and screaming for their fathers and husbands, their sons, and their grandsons. She clutched her little boy Eli to her chest, terrified, trembling and in shock.
Hours and hours passed before the doors of the synagogue were finally unlocked, and the women were allowed to leave. Mina ran through the streets, sheltering her son from the searing heat of the rag- ing fires. Arriving home, she and Eli were greeted with wailing cries of joy, hugs and tears by her miraculously unharmed parents and husband.
Chapter 1
193S6, Lukow, Poland
Sixteen-year-old Mina Slushni was quiet and a bit shy. But beneath that exterior facade laid an obstinate streak of resolve that was focused on Shmuel Huberman, the young man she intended to marry. Three years her senior, Shmuel was friendly, outgoing and magnetically charismatic. Only 5' 6", he had a presence that seemed to take up more space than he actually did. Dashing and handsome, his face was shaped like a gentle “U,” accentuated by intense dark eyes, a prominent nose and a contagious smile that radiated warmth.
Mina was short and compact with thick wavy raven-colored hair that cascaded down her back, wide set dark eyes, a straight nose and a pretty mouth that all seemed to fit perfectly on her oval-shaped face.
Mina’s parents, Sara and Berl Slushni, were the proprietors of a successful dry goods store. And Mina was the niece of Rabbi Aaron Freiberg, a rabbi in the shetetl town whose Jewish population neared ten thousand. Rabbi Freiberg’s influence as a spiritual leader was so profound his entire extended family was considered yichus nobility. As a sign of respect, Berl was known by the honorific name Reb (Rabbi) Slushni. Proud to be observant Jews, they did not even comb their hair on the Sabbath, for fear it might be considered working.
On the other hand, the boy was openly and proudly non-religious. To make matters more intolerable, he was an outspoken leader in the socialist-Zionist group known as Hashomer Hatzair, The Young Guard.
His mother, Rachel, had lost her husband to typhoid. Widowed, she had supported her young son and daughter by selling lamp kerosene from a pushcart. A beautiful woman with luxurious blond hair and penetrating blue eyes, she remarried after ten years of widowhood to Levi Shulshtein, a successful owner of a bakery. She no longer worked but that changed nothing. Shmuel’s family would always be thought of as socially beneath the Slushni family.
The very idea that their daughter, Mina, would even be seen in public with Shmuel Huberman was outrageous. Consequently, Mina was absolutely forbidden to see Shmuel. She begged her parents to reconsider, but her entreaties fell on deaf ears.
Refusing to turn away from each other, the young couple did the unthinkable. They eloped. Mina’s parents were brokenhearted and furious, believing that Mina had dishonored their traditions and their name in an unforgivable act of disrespect. The result was a decision too often observed in orthodox religious homes: they declared their daughter dead and sat shiva, seven days of mourning.
Three Years Later
It was a bitterly cold winter day, the wind howling and icicles hanging in claws from the roof eaves, the streets and sidewalks slick and treacherous. Yet, tucked inside a stove-heated cozy room in the shetel of Lukow,
Mina Slushni Huberman gave birth to a son they named Eliezer. It was February 8, 1939. Exactly eight days after the birth, as commanded in the Torah, a circumcision ceremony was per- formed. In attendance were both sets of grandparents.
The birth of their first grandchild obliterated the idealistic declaration Berl Slushni had made that his daughter was dead.
That proclamation was reversed by the obligation he had to make sure that his grandson Eliezer, nicknamed Eli, would study Torah and Talmud and that he would be raised as an observant Jew.
Seven months later, on September 1, 1939, one and a half million Nazis under orders from Adolph Hitler invaded Poland. The attack was brutal and all-encompassing as the Luftwaffe bombed Polish airfields, and the German warships and U-boats decimated the Polish naval forces. In a series of cataclysmic and catastrophic events, bombs were dropped over Lukow, and dozens of innocent civilians were killed. Fear, panic and shock set in with the invasion.
The hopes and dreams of a generation imploded in grief. It was a nightmare that would for- ever scar the soul and the conscience of humanity.
When the German’s invaded Lukow, the resistance fighters of the Polish Home Army fought back and managed to kill several German soldiers. In retaliation, the Germans rounded up every Jewish man in the shtetl. They chased them through the streets, beating, maiming, shooting and setting Jewish buildings and homes afire.
During the chaos, Mina was shoved into the synagogue along with hundreds of other women, weeping and screaming for their fathers and husbands, their sons, and their grandsons. She clutched her little boy Eli to her chest, terrified, trembling and in shock.
Hours and hours passed before the doors of the synagogue were finally unlocked, and the women were allowed to leave. Mina ran through the streets, sheltering her son from the searing heat of the rag- ing fires. Arriving home, she and Eli were greeted with wailing cries of joy, hugs and tears by her miraculously unharmed parents and husband.
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