The Links

My friend and I hadn't resumed talking yet

when along the same stretch of sidewalk,

giving off a majestic air of regal tranquility and ease,

two women came strolling into view.

It was Henny Machlis and one of her married daughters,

on their way to the Kotel, and all at once I understood.

Without explaining myself to my friend,

I jumped up and crossed the street. "Henny!"

- From A Beggar And A Man

By Sarah Shapiro

She came to America from Romania

when she was eight years old

and though she spoke English well,

I personally never heard her use a sentence

that didn't contain some Yiddish.

And there was the Yiddish song

that she used to sing to my siblings and me.

A tragic folksong really, composed by a woman

whose husband had died of tuberculosis.

Grandma Rose learned it while rocking the cradle

of the woman's fatherless daughter.

- From Grandma Rose's Song

By Peter Himmelman

,

Special thanks to my brother

who passed me the two articles above

from the fresh stash of printed articles in his tallis bag.