I try not to make too many personal posts on here, but have to make an exception today.
Today the world is a little bit worse off as it lost a great man. He’s not someone you will read about in history books, but he made a real difference in my life.
RIP Grandpa
Today the world is a little bit worse off as it lost a great man. He’s not someone you will read about in history books, but he made a real difference in my life.
RIP Grandpa
My Grandfather was born in Belarus in 1929. Obviously I loved him as anyone would his or her grandfather, but far more importantly… I admired him. I know I could never become 1/100th the man that he was, but at least he set an example that I can strive to emulate.
He managed to survive the Holocaust, the horrors of the USSR, and incredible hardships, but lung cancer finally got him at the age of 89.
The stories he would tell of what he went through, mostly forced out by me, are things that are hard to really imagine nowadays.
The stories he would tell of what he went through, mostly forced out by me, are things that are hard to really imagine nowadays.
It made him tough, but also provided him with incredible patience and a stress-free perspective. I almost never saw him get angry. I assume because he knew what real stress was and the extent to which our daily concerns are rather insignificant.
He would also never complain, which was very frustrating when you were trying to get a real feel for how he was doing. So let me give you some brief insight into what kind of man the world lost today:
When my grandma, who he had been married to for 50 years, had a stroke in 2007, my grandfather committed to spending all his time taking care of her. She had another stroke in 2014 that almost fully incapacitated her & it became clear she needed to be moved 2 a professional home.
The closest one was 3 miles away from the condo they lived in. Over the next 2.5 years (until she died in 2016), he spent almost every day walking 3 miles there and back to spend a few hours with her.
We tried to convince him that he should at least take days off because she was mostly gone by that point and would clearly have no idea, but he refused. It didn’t matter to him that she wouldn’t know because he would.
Every time I'd visit him in Israel, he would give hundreds of dollars for me and my brother. Keep in mind that he really didn’t have much money to give away as he worked manual labor most of his life and lived of a pension (& small payment given to holocaust survivors).
He would never treat himself to anything to the point where my family would get into fights with him because he would try to buy spoiled groceries and collect cans so he could save up more to give to us.
I kept trying to convince him to stop, but being able to give us something made him happy at that point. That’s who he was. He lived for his family.
I will always be grateful for everything he gave me. Some of my happiest memories are fishing with him by the lake when I was a kid. Even if it did drive him crazy that I could never sit still and would demand a new worm ever 5 minutes if I hadn’t caught a fish by then.
I’m sad that the world and my family has lost a great man today, but I am happy that he has now been reunited with the woman he devoted his life to and can finally get some peace.
RIP Grandpa
RIP Grandpa
Thank you for all the condolences. they mean a lot. I just wanted to share a little about him.
Also, #FuckCancer.
Also, #FuckCancer.
