Hills That Divide (eBook)

Robert T. Cohen (Autor)

eBook Download: EPUB

2020 | 1. Auflage
292 Seiten
Bookbaby (Verlag)
978-1-0983-2744-6 (ISBN)

The Hills That Divide transports you to a time between 1848 and 1924 when America represented an escape from persecution, poverty, starvation, and death for 30 million European immigrants. Among them were a Jewish shoemaker from Russia, an Italian sulphur miner from Sicily, and an orphaned son of a tannery worker from Ireland who came to Haverhill, Massachusetts to find work in one of its many shoe factories. The immigrants and their children became laborers, managers, union representatives, or even factory owners. Haverhill was surrounded by hills that not only reflected the geographic and residential division of its immigrant population, but also their religious, cultural, social, and economic differences. Haverhill was a true melting pot; that was a good thing. But ethnic and religious prejudice, greed, income inequality, and class envy caused the pot to boil with hostility that was further heated by disputes between owners and workers, often resulting in strikes, lockouts, and violence. While love, religious faith, human kindness, and self-sacrifice helped to lower the pot's boiling point to a more tolerable simmer, the immigrant families had to deal with other challenges, including alcohol abuse, sibling rivalry, teenage rebellion, interfaith marriage, homophobia, betrayal, and tragic death. The Hills That Divide lays bare the eternal human themes of survival, resilience, love, success, disappointment, prejudice, betrayal, tragedy, and redemption; it reflects the dynamic struggle between the good and the dark side of human nature.

CHAPTER TWO:

THE JEWISH IMMIGRANTS

Was it by choice, by accident, or by the invisible hand of God’s will that generations of Jews lived in Odessa, Russia, a multi-ethnic city founded by Catherine the Great? Secular historians contend it was a combination of circumstances beyond their control and decisions made by a people accustomed to being expelled from hostile countries. Religious Jews believed that everything was God’s plan.

In 1877, the year of Jacob Philip Kahn’s birth, there were 125,000 Jews living in Odessa, one-third of the city’s total population.

Regardless of why and how his parents settled in Odessa, if Jacob, whom everyone called Jack, had free will, he never would have picked December 25th to be born. Like most children, he did not want to share his birthday with anyone else, let alone with someone believed to be the son of God by 20% of the world’s population. For at least one day of the year, Jack wanted to feel special. But sharing a birthday with Jesus was always too much competition. But this apparently was his fate.

As a child, Jack lived with his father, his mother, and his two-year older brother Benjamin on 18 Gospitalnaya Street in a rundown apartment in the Moldavanka district of Odessa, a poor and crowded neighborhood. Like most of their neighbors, the Kahns made just enough money to feed, clothe, and shelter themselves.

When Jack was eight years old, he could remember his mother Rebecca, predictably called “Mama” by her loving family, standing over a pot of boiling potatoes. He would never forget the sweat from her saturated babushka scarf dripping into the pot. Complaining in a strident voice to her husband Naftali, affectionately called “Tata” by everyone including friends and neighbors, “This apartment is so small, we could put the children’s tiny bedroom into our slightly larger bedroom and stack them into the kitchen like Russian nesting dolls.”

“Tata,” she continued, “look at the plaster. It’s peeling off the walls showing studs crooked as a witch’s nose. The ceilings are bulging like your brother Sam’s belly. I’m afraid for our family to walk under them. They are ready to collapse and kill us all, God forbid.”

“But Mama,” Tata responded while stroking his salt and pepper beard. A 55-year old man of short, frail stature, and a conflict-avoider by nature, Tata was not inclined to take on his taller, heavier, and more assertive wife.

Approaching Tata with a menacing ladle in her shaking hand, Mama shouted, “Don’t ‘but’ me. You’re a shoemaker. Make more shoes that I can sell so we can move out of this death trap. And, in the meantime, wash those filthy windows. The soot is so thick, I can’t tell if it’s day or night.”

Without being told, Jack knew that his family lived in poverty. They ate the meals of poor people…cabbage, potatoes, beets, herring, and as many variations of boiled and fried chicken that you could imagine. No part of a chicken was thrown out. Jack and Ben fought frequent battles over the last pieces of gribenes (chicken skin fried in its own fat). Tata even sucked the marrow out of the chicken’s bones, almost choking to death one time.

One of Jack’s chores was to go to the neighborhood market and bring home a live chicken. Jack never forgot the cacophony of dozens of clucking chickens as he opened the front door of Salinsky’s Meat Market on Puskinskya Street. As if the deafening noise was not bad enough, the pungent odor of chicken droppings was so bad it was enough to make anyone a vegetarian.

On one near-death occasion, Jack turned to the blood-covered owner and told Mr. Salinsky, “This place smells worse than a morgue.” Then risking a meat cleaver in the head, he suggested with great irreverence, “Why don’t you take your chickens out for a walk in the park once in a while? Maybe they’ll crap less in your store.” Mr. Salinsky was not amused.

“Jack, geyn dred,” countered Mr. Salinsky with the Yiddish request that he go to hell; a fine thing to say to a nice Jewish boy who was running an errand to bring a chicken home for Friday night Sabbath dinner. Wasn’t life in Moldavanka already living in hell?

Along with Tata and Mama, Jack shared his poor existence with his older brother Ben, with whom he competed for the attention, affection, and approval of their parents. It wasn’t enough that Jack also competed for an exclusive celebration of his birthday with the world’s most famous Jew, i.e., Jesus Christ. For these and other reasons, Jack grew up needing to be seen as somebody special. He promised himself that, in one way or another, people would eventually come to admire and respect him.

Jack’s appearance would be described by most members of the fairer sex as pleasing to the eye. Brown eyes. A full head of black curly hair. A straight, but clearly Semitic nose. A lean and muscular build. Not tall, but average height. When asked about his height, Jack would claim that he was taller than what he was. He believed that a man’s height was correlated with athletic ability, leadership, and sex appeal. “You’re really cute, Jack” were words often used to describe him by women of all ages. Jack may not have been tall, but he was perceptive. He knew instinctively that cute was not handsome. So began his need to compensate for not being as tall, as many women would prefer.

Jack had above average athletic ability. He was fast. But he was also smart and cagey. Football in Russia (known as soccer elsewhere) became popular in the late nineteenth century. Football did not put a premium on height. As a result, Jack fell in love with the game. His reputation for being a very good football player brought the highest compliment from his neighborhood friends; he was among the first to be selected to play. Peer approval made Jack feel good about himself. His self-confidence and positive self-image increased with every precision pass and goal scored. Successfully competing in athletics became very important to Jack. Later in life, he shared his passion for sports with his children.

In school, Jack also distinguished himself as an excellent mathematics student. His logical mind helped him solve problems with numbers. This skill and knowledge would serve him well in business. But Jack had little interest in other subjects like history, which he found comparable to reading an obituary or stories about dead people, as he would lament. Whatever happened in England in 1215 was of no practical consequence to Jack. So what if a King’s divine right to rule was successfully challenged by the English lords? Whatever happened in England nearly 700 years earlier should have stayed in England and be England’s concern, not Jack’s.

Jack spent much of his high school years focused on sports and favorite subjects like math. However, as either fate or luck would have its way, his most favorite subject became Rose Levinson, who sat next to him in his boring history class. What irony! Rose, who was not only loving and kind, but also beautiful. With long black hair, piercing hazel eyes, olive complexion, an ear-to-ear smile framing alabaster white teeth, all resting on a fully-developed curvaceous body, she was the stimulus of many teenage boys’ nocturnal emissions, including Jack’s.

After several months of staring at and dreaming about Rose, Jack passed a note to her asking if she would walk with him the following Sunday through Alexander Park. As an inducement, he even offered to treat her to a blini. Rose read Jack’s barely legible note and replied, “Only if it’s a blini with sour cream.” The deal was sealed.

That Sunday morning, as he unsuccessfully tried to brush his unruly hair into some form of compliance, Jack was interrupted by Ben, who walked into their shared bedroom and asked, “So where are you taking the future Mrs. Jack Kahn on your first date?” Jack glared back at Ben with sibling contempt. “It’s none of your business.”

“Jack, I know why you’re so nervous about taking out Rose. She is only the most gorgeous girl in Moldavanka, if not in all of Odessa. And you must be asking yourself why would she go out with Quasimodo? Certainly not for your looks or money, because you have neither.”

Having had enough of Ben’s sardonic humor, Jack took full advantage of his athletic prowess and threw his hairbrush into pretty-boy Ben’s nose. Ben’s nose bled like the raging flow of the Don River. Had Jack broken his nose, he would have returned the favor by breaking Jack in half. Jack made his escape before Ben could retaliate, and left to pick up Rose.

The weather that Sunday was cloudy with a threat of rain. But nothing was going to forestall Jack and Rose’s destiny. As planned, Jack found Rose standing next to the Alexander Monument. Rose greeted Ben with a flirtatious grin and said, “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for you to ask me out?”

Jack was speechless. Time stopped. Seconds turned into minutes that felt as if they had morphed into hours. Jack collected himself enough to recall his bedroom conversation with Ben. “Rose, why wouldn’t I ask you out? I am talking to the most beautiful girl in Moldavanka, if not in all of Odessa. Yes, I took a chance that you would say no to my invitation. But...

Erscheint lt. Verlag	11.8.2020
Sprache	englisch
Themenwelt	Literatur ► Historische Romane
ISBN-10	1-0983-2744-6 / 1098327446
ISBN-13	978-1-0983-2744-6 / 9781098327446

Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt?

EPUB (Ohne DRM)
Größe: 3,4 MB

Digital Rights Management: ohne DRM
Dieses eBook enthält kein DRM oder Kopierschutz. Eine Weitergabe an Dritte ist jedoch rechtlich nicht zulässig, weil Sie beim Kauf nur die Rechte an der persönlichen Nutzung erwerben.

Dateiformat: EPUB (Electronic Publication)
EPUB ist ein offener Standard für eBooks und eignet sich besonders zur Darstellung von Belletristik und Sachbüchern. Der Fließtext wird dynamisch an die Display- und Schriftgröße angepasst. Auch für mobile Lesegeräte ist EPUB daher gut geeignet.

Systemvoraussetzungen:
PC/Mac: Mit einem PC oder Mac können Sie dieses eBook lesen. Sie benötigen dafür die kostenlose Software Adobe Digital Editions.
eReader: Dieses eBook kann mit (fast) allen eBook-Readern gelesen werden. Mit dem amazon-Kindle ist es aber nicht kompatibel.
Smartphone/Tablet: Egal ob Apple oder Android, dieses eBook können Sie lesen. Sie benötigen dafür eine kostenlose App.
Geräteliste und zusätzliche Hinweise

Buying eBooks from abroad
For tax law reasons we can sell eBooks just within Germany and Switzerland. Regrettably we cannot fulfill eBook-orders from other countries.