End of a World

Abstract

What my father learned during his foundational years was that there was danger in the air outside the house. There was a history that pressed in on you every moment of your life. As a Jew, you didn’t walk out onto the roads alone, without remembering the warnings and reminders. You heard the stories of the wars against the Jews, the stories in the Bible, of course, and the stories of the pogroms, here and now, the spontaneous outbursts against the Jews, the little ones and big ones. The stories were real, and you learned the lessons early.