New Life, New Land

by Roberta Kagan

  Dovid folded the paper carefully as if it were a treasure and held it to his heart. Then he uncovered the body and looked into Cool Breeze’s closed eyes. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were asleep.”

  Dovid gave a harsh laugh. “Cool Breeze. Why my oldest and dearest friend. Why the hell couldn’t you have tried harder? You should have been able to fight it. Why Breeze? Why?” Dovid was yelling, his face was crimson with anger and covered with tears. “You son of a bitch. You were such a smart man. Damn it all to hell. I can’t stand to see the waste of a life with so much potential. I felt like you were my brother. I trusted you and I believed in you. In fact, you might have been the only person in this entire fucking world with the courage to tell me the truth about everything, even if you knew it would hurt me or anger me.” Dovid let his head fall on Cool Breeze’s chest. He felt the body already beginning to grow stiff and cold. Dovid shook his head. “Rest in peace. I’m really going to miss you and your crazy wisdom.” Dovid touched Cool Breeze’s cheek, then he covered him with the blanket and left the room.

  Tears still flowed freely down Dovi’s face as he walked into the office. Abby was waiting, sitting on a bench. She looked so small wearing the dress she had planned to wear to temple that morning.

  “Papa?” she said. “You’re crying.”

  Dovid nodded. “He was very close to me. Life just won’t be the same without him.”

  Abby got up and took Dovid’s hand. They began to walk towards the car, side by side. “I just finished reading his letter. In it, Cool Breeze said to tell you that he liked you, Abby. He said you were very special to him and he is glad that you’re taking care of Buddy.”

  That night, when everyone was fast asleep and the house was quiet, Dovid walked outside into his backyard and looked at the stars.

  “Nu, old friend?” he whispered, shaking his head. “I know you’re up there. You damn fool. I can’t tell you how much I wish you could have quit the needle. But even though you didn’t and it finally took you away from us, I forgive you. But I have to admit that I am going to miss you every day. Who the hell is going to keep me on my toes now that you’re gone? Well, Breeze, I have to say that it was a great privilege to know you. It certainly was, Mr. Crawford B. Dell. I learned so much from you. Arnie, he should rest in peace, always called you our street philosopher. And as I grew to know you over the years, I learned exactly what he meant. You had a way of looking at things and seeing them clearly, more clearly than most people. You made me laugh even when I wanted to cry, you shared my good times and bad. I’ll never forget you. Never, my friend. And when I look up at the stars I’ll know that you and Arnie are up there together just waiting for me to tend bar at our little slice of heaven.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX

  Dovid purchased the plot next to Glory for Cool Breeze. They closed the restaurant for the morning to have the funeral and then the Levis and the Rosens, including Mark, Haley, Abby, and Buddy, drove to the cemetery. Dovid gave a short speech.

  After the burial, everyone went back to open the restaurant. They wanted to make a dedication to Cool Breeze at the restaurant before they took the children home. Dovid parked right in front because they left Buddy in the car.

  “Do you think Buddy will be okay in there, Daddy?”

  “Yes. We shouldn’t be long,” Dovid said. Then he turned to the kids. “After you have something to eat your mother will take the three of you home. Abby, did you leave the car window open for the dog?”

  “Of course, Daddy. But just a crack. I don’t want her to jump out.”

  “Good girl.”

  They walked inside. Dovid carried a picture that he had framed. It was an old photo of Harry, himself, Arnie, and Cool Breeze. They were all smiling broadly, arms around each other, standing in front of the bar in the tavern. They were frozen there in the photograph. Frozen in time, all of them young, healthy, alive, together… it was so beautiful to Dovid that it hurt. And it felt like it had taken place so many years ago.

  “A memorial to a good friend,” Harry said, patting Dovid’s shoulder.

  “Yes. It’s actually a memorial to all of us, but especially to our two good friends who aren’t here anymore, Arnie and Cool Breeze,” Dovid answered.

  Just then a group of four customers came to the door. They knocked.

  Harry walked over to the door.

  “Are you open?” one of the men asked.

  Harry looked over at Dovi and made a questioning gesture with his hands.

  Dovid nodded.

  “Yes, we’re open, come in.” Harry unlocked the door.

  Two couples, about the same age as the Levis and Rosens, entered.

  “Four?” Dovid asked, picking up four menus and smiling at the customers.

  “Yes, four.”

  “Where would you like to sit?”

  “The booth over there, okay?” the man gestured.

  “Sure,” Dovid said.

  “Would you mind turning on the television?”

  “Of course. Any particular channel?”

  There was a television in the back of the room. Before the restaurant got busy, Ida and Harry kept it on all the time. But since the increase in business, it had not been on in a while. Dovid turned it on.

  “The news. We want to see what’s happening with that Collin’s bastard.”

  “Who’s that?” Dovid was curious.

  “The Nazi who wants to bring an American Nazi Party here to Skokie to march. He’s trying to get a permit to bring a band of bastard, sons of bitches in full Nazi uniforms, swastikas, and everything here…right here to Skokie.”

  “What?” Harry said, turning the volume higher so he could hear.

  “This Frank Collin has the batsum, the balls, to carry an American flag while he hangs a swastika at his meetings.”

  “My God,” Ida said, sinking into a chair.

  Dovid and Eidel sat down too.

  Dovid looked for the children. He wasn’t sure he wanted them to hear what the reporters had to say. At least not until he heard it first.

  Abby, Mark, and Haley were sitting at a booth at the front of the restaurant eating pastries and talking amongst themselves.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN

  It was true! And the worst part of it was that the American Nazis were being defended by Jewish lawyers who worked with the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). They were adamant about defending freedom of speech.

  Dovid leaned forward in his chair and caught Harry’s gaze. Harry had gone pale and so had Ida. A deep wrinkle had formed in Harry’s brow. Eidel looked over at Dovid. He nodded to her and gave her a brief sad smile, as if to say, “Don’t worry, everything will be all right.” But she doubted that he felt that way. She folded and unfolded her napkin several times. There were tears in her eyes.

  “My God,” Eidel said, taking Ida’s hand. “This is horrible.”

  “My worst nightmare,” Ida shook her head.

  On the television screen, Nazis in uniform were speaking. A young man named Frank Collin said they wanted to come to Skokie because Skokie had the largest population of Holocaust survivors.

  “They are coming here to remind us that we are never safe,” Harry said. “They want us to know that Hitler might be dead, but there are still plenty of anti-Semites in the world.”

  “They’ll never get a permit,” Dovid said.

  “And if they do?” Harry asked.

  “What can we do?” Ida said.

  “We can always move to Israel,” Eidel said. “Dovi and I were there, it’s beautiful and we have a dual citizenship automatically because we’re Jewish.”

  “Run? Not me. Not this time. I’m an old man. I’ve looked evil in the eye before. I know what hell is. This time, I’m not going willingly. This time they’ll have to kill me. But … mind you, that won’t be an easy task because I will fight until my last breath. I will do it in honor of those who I loved who died under that uniform.” Harry said

  “Let’s ho
pe it doesn’t come to that,” Eidel said.

  “I hope it does. I would like to see Harry kill them. I would,” Ida said. “You don’t really understand. You weren’t there, Eidel. They murdered my sister. For no reason, killed a young beautiful girl with her whole life ahead of her. My sister, my twin.”

  Eidel was trembling as she folded the napkin.

  Dovid pulled Eidel’s chair closer to his. Then he put his arm around her. “They will not march here in Skokie. They will not march where my wife and children have made our home.”

  “But Dovi, what can you do?” Eidel whispered as tears ran down her face.

  “I will do whatever I have to do, my love. Whatever I have to do.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT

  For a year, the American Nazi Party worked toward getting a permit to march. They argued under the guise of free speech, while the survivors openly told the press that there would be violence if they came.

  “If they come to Skokie, I can guarantee you that there will be bloodshed,” Rabbi Mittleman said when he was interviewed by the press.

  “The entire purpose of this march is to cause us emotional pain,” another survivor said on television one night.

  One night, in May of 1978, Harry was so upset that he was taken by ambulance to the hospital with chest pains. Ida called Dovid and Eidel. They met her at Skokie Valley Hospital where she was waiting outside his examining room in the ER.

  Harry had been having trouble breathing for hours before he finally fell, gasping for air.

  “I think he is having a heart attack from all of this,” Ida said. “It’s too much for him.”

  Dovid was sick with worry. His heart was heavy with the loss of Arnie and Cool Breeze. Now he was distraught. He couldn’t bear to lose Harry too.

  Eidel and Ida sat together alone in the corner, while Dovid paced the room. Eidel held her friend’s hand, but neither spoke.

  It took several hours, but a doctor finally came out to speak to Ida.

  “Your husband suffered a mild heart attack,” the doctor said. “But he will be okay. He is getting on in age and the daily pressures of life are getting to him. Perhaps he should try to lighten his workload.”

  Ida glared at the handsome young physician.

  “What do you know?” she said, her voice harsh with bitterness. “It’s not the restaurant or hard work that has upset him so. Did you not see the tattoo on his arm? He’s a concentration camp survivor. And I am sure you’ve heard the news. Such a terrible thing … an American Nazi party. We travel thousands of miles to get away from them and they are here … here in America. This is what has upset my husband.”

  “My father is a survivor,” the doctor said. “He’s very upset as well. So I do understand.”

  “Now the people on the news are saying we should ignore them. If we ignore them, they’ll go away. They didn’t go away in Europe when we paid them no attention. They got stronger.” Ida said

  “I know. It’s a dilemma. The press is saying that if they march and nobody shows up that they will feel that their movement is futile and give it up.”

  “Eh, you think so?” Ida said, shaking her head. “I know better … from experience. When can I see my Harry?”

  “You can go in now. But he needs to stay here a few days, and I would greatly appreciate it if you would try not to upset him. Let him relax and heal.”

  Ida nodded. “Then take away his television set because this stuff with the Nazis is on the TV every day.”

  “I think that’s a good idea. Why don’t you bring him some books or magazines?”

  Ida nodded. The doctor walked away. Then Ida turned to Eidel. Ida suddenly looked as if she’d aged ten years during the past twelve months. Her face was lined, gray had started filtering in at her temples, and she was pale and tired looking.

  “First my parents, then my sister, now my husband. Hitler is dead, but I am still not free of him.”

  CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

  Harry was released a week later on bed rest. He and Ida purposely avoided discussing the march. But when Dovid came to visit and the women went into the kitchen, Harry sat up in bed and looked Dovid square in the eye.

  “So, are they coming?”

  “Who?”

  “Dovid, don’t act like an idiot.”

  “They have been denied the permit to demonstrate here.”

  “That’s good. Very good. But you look like you’re hiding something. What is it Dovi?”

  “They got a permit to march in Marquette Park. It’s far away from here.”

  “Still, this gives them a chance to build their group. It’s no good for us,” Harry said. “No good at all. I want to go and show them that we aren’t going to allow them to take over without a fight. Not this time. I want to gather a group and go to Marquette Park. Let’s show them we are not cowards.”

  “Harry, you’ve been sick. You can’t go out and fight.”

  “I can and I will. When is this meeting of theirs’ supposed to take place?”

  “June.”

  “You know the date?”

  “Yeah, I know it. It’s in ten days. But you’re still so weak, Harry.”

  “Don’t you worry about me. Go to the shul. Gather as many men as you can who are willing to go and take care of this situation.”

  “Okay, Harry, I will. But I don’t think we should tell our wives our plans. Ida would understand. She’s tough but Eidel is delicate. We both know how she can become depressed. It’s best that the men involved all keep this top secret”

  “I agree with you,” Harry said. “And I know that plenty of the men, the rabbi included, will want to go and show the Nazis that we will never again go like lambs to the slaughter. Our slogan must be “Never Again.”

  “Yes, Harry. You’re right. I’ll take care of it all this afternoon. For now, please try to stay calm and get better. If you don’t, you won’t have the strength to go with us.”

  “I will find the strength. If FDR could run the country from a wheelchair, I can fight with a broken heart.”

  Dovid nodded. He was worried that the event would be too strenuous for Harry. But he would keep his promise and organize a group of angry survivors who were eager to make Collin and his men pay for what they’d lost.

  CHAPTER SIXTY

  Dovid kept his promise to Harry. He talked to all of the concentration camp survivors he knew. They, in turn, talked to others that they knew. Finally, a gang of men gathered together to make plans. They were well past middle age but willing to be arrested, go to jail, or even lose their lives, if need be, in order to stop the Nazi party from growing. They knew that the march was to take place on June 25th. It was not to be in Skokie, that much they had won, but the Nazis were still being allowed to gather, to speak, and to build their party. The survivors would not tolerate this without a fight. There was a secret meeting the night before. Dovid never told Eidel where he and Harry were going but he was sure she had an idea. At the meeting, it was decided that the survivors would meet at the designated spot the following day. When Dovid arrived home, Eidel was awake. She was sitting on the sofa with the television on. He knew she’d been watching the news.

  “They are going to do the demonstration tomorrow,” she said. “But you already know this, I am sure.”

  “Yes, I know. But you shouldn’t be watching it on television. You get upset easily. Everything is fine. They aren’t coming here to Skokie. And that is what matters.”

  “Are you going to the march, Dovid?”

  “Eidel,” he said, walking over to her and touching her hair. “Please get some rest.” He didn’t want to lie to her, but he knew how easily she could become depressed.

  “Are you going, Dovi?”

  He looked down at the thick shag carpet, then he met her eyes. “Yes, Eidel, I have to go.”

  “But you could get hurt, or worse.”

  “I know. I know.”

  “What will happen to the children? How will I manage without you?”


  “I will be all right.”

  “Dovid, please don’t go.”

  “I love you, Eidel, but I have to go.”

  Dovid went into the girls’ room to kiss them goodnight. Haley looked like an angel with her hair spread across her pillow. Dovid gently placed a kiss on her forehead. Buddy and Abby were cuddled together, like brother and sister. When Dovid kissed Abby, Buddy looked up at him. Then he walked into Mark’s room. Mark slept soundly with the moonlight shimmering through the opening in his window shade. Dovid touched his son’s cheek. Then he left the room and, as he did, he wondered whether this would be the last night he ever kissed them as they slept.

  Will I return tomorrow, or will I die defending an ideal?

  Dovid went back into the living room and sat down. He wanted time alone to think. Eidel was not there so he thought she’d gone to bed.

  I have to leave her a note. I have to tell her where to find the insurance policies. Somehow I have to make her understand that Harry and I must do this.

  He had talked to Ida the week before and Ida had promised him that if anything happened she would help Eidel raise the children.

  My Eidel is so delicate and everything is hard for her to cope with. I wish I didn’t have to put her through this. My God, what is a man if he doesn’t stand up for what he believes in?

  Eidel came out of the bedroom and walked into the living room. She sat down beside her husband and took his hand.

  “Why don’t we just take a break from watching the news tonight?” she said, taking his hand. “I know what you are going to do, Dovi. I am not happy about it. I am terrified of losing you. But, believe it or not, I understand why you must do this. I know that in the past I have been unstable. But I will pull myself together this time and stand behind you. If I lose you, God forbid, I will take care of the children and I will tell them that their father is a hero.”