This One Really Got to Me

A letter to the editor I found in The Forward comes very close to home, although "hippie" is not the proper nomenclature for my wife and myself and, I would guess, many of our activist agenda items would be different than the Mendelsohns. Nevertherless, the idea expressed and the recalling of the commitment of those younger years is something I very much identify with.

Bubbe and Zaide Still Fighting for Justice

We got great naches from reading our daughter’s December 1 opinion article (“But Bubbe and Zaide Were Hippies”). It is rare to hear such wonderful words about oneself from one’s children while one is still alive.

However, we would like to make it clear that Bubbe Lala and Zaide Eric are still hippies and their story is not yet completely written. Despite the fact that Zaide Eric’s arthritic shoulder prevents him from lifting the Torah or carrying a placard, and that Bubbe Lala needs a large-print prayer book to read the service and no longer can join protest marches without special shoes, we are still using our strength to build the evolving religious civilization of the Jewish people.

We are still fighting to build a better tomorrow, one that we may not see but one that the world needs. We hope to devote the rest of our 60s, 70s and 80s (and however much we have left) to this struggle.

And for the record, we are both much younger and much younger looking than we are rendered in the art accompanying our daughter’s opinion article.

Lillian and Eric Mendelsohn
Toronto, Ontario

Aurora had witten: It is through the stories of their modern grandparents, however, that our children will gain a framework for maintaining that faith in the nuanced world of today’s Judaism.

I agree totally and trust my children are already formulating how to pass on our legacy and out two granddaughters hopefully will greatly benefit from our past actions, those of the present and, God willing, our future activism on behalf of Jews and Judaism, Israel and Zionism.