Radical Reflections of an American Jew
Remembrance /Zachor: Part 2 of a 4 Part Series
by Howard Richard Debs
Summers with Aunt Sissy
“May their memory be for a blessing” — Jewish honorific
His name was Mel, a traveling
salesman. He almost always
smoked big cigars and he had
a big car. In boyhood I didn’t
pay much attention to things
like make and model but it
all fit just right; there he sat,
puffing away on his stogie,
cigar smoke fleeing out the car
window which he rolled down
all the way, his left arm resting
there his left hand dangling,
holding the steering wheel
with his right, heading towards
Grand Rapids with me along for the ride.
She was there to greet me
through how many summers I
can’t recall. There were sleep away
camps back then, but those were
for the snooty kids from neighborhoods
where I didn’t ride my bike. When I
was older, I remember going to day
camp at the “Y” each camper wore
a tee shirt with the camp name
on it so the counselor could keep
track of us on field trips, but before then,
it was summers with Aunt Sissy.
Mel worked with Uncle Bill, each
had a territory to cover, so mostly it was
me, my cousins, and my aunt, for two
maybe it was three weeks that I stayed.
I lived in the city, in Chicago, so
back then the visit was like going to
the country. I played outside, thinking
back, there was lots of open land nearby
where I’d conjure up all kinds of fantasy.
Then it was dinner time. She’d call me
to come in and made sure I washed my
hands. She’d ask if I had fun, if I enjoyed
being away, and I’d say something childish
in reply and she’d answer “now you tell me”
she said that all the time. Those were
special days, except for the cottage
cheese and peaches, canned I guess,
or the cottage cheese and pears she
served it seemed with every meal. I don’t
like cottage cheese and fruit but that’s
about the only thing I don’t think
of fondly to this day.
In memory of Sariece Rubin, (1926–2022)
Postscript: In Judaism the world begins with the word, from which arise a cluster of core ideas within the context of the Bible, (Tanakh) and the Talmud, each embodied in a Hebrew word which by its very nature encompasses and conveys nuanced meaning, these are “Jewish concept-words.”
References: For further exploration related to each “concept-word” addressed in this series, the following reference is given as a starting point, taken from Sefaria* the nonprofit platform of open access to Torah texts online. While there may be any number of articles associated with a particular topic, the material cited is felt to be particularly pertinent to the perspective here considered:
Regarding Justice, Tzedek [Go to Part 1]
Regarding Compassion, Rachamim [Go to Part 3]
Regarding Peace, Shalom [Go to Part 4]
*Sefaria ensures that it is open to all to “join the conversation” allowing the combining of sources from its library with one’s own comments, questions, images, and videos.
Acknowledgments: “Summers with Aunt Sissy” first published in Impspired
