Letters To My Grandchildren
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---NUMBERS Dear Nathan and Max: Nathan, I found it interesting how you developed your screen name "669" by counting the number of letters in "Nathan", "Robert" and "Wanderman." My head sometimes rolls down a similar land and I thought I might share with you boys certain curious observations I have made about our lives and patterns of numbers. Let’s start with July 3, 1951, the day Alice and I got married. The way to write that date is "7/3/51." You will notice that we can rearrange those numbers into an arithmetic progression: "1-3-5-7." What number should come next? It’s nine (9). And who got married on that day? "Wanderman," a nine-lettered guy, as Nathan so cleverly saw. And whom did he marry? None other than a "Rothstein," a nine-lettered girl. We shall digress a moment. The newlywed nine (9) and nine (9) add to eighteen (18). Did you know that many Jewish people believe that eighteen (18) is the luckiest number there is? Well, take it from me they do and if you don’t believe me than I say, look it up and you’ll see I’m right. Why is eighteen (18) considered so lucky? Because the number eighteen (18) in Hebrew is written by combining two letters from the Hebrew alphabet which together spell "chai", the root of the word "chaim", the Hebrew word for life and nothing is more important than life. [Do not under any circumstances pronounce the "ch" in "chai" like the "ch" in children. The "ch" in "chai" sounds like someone clearing their throat at the same time they say "high."] Say you have a sweetheart or a really good friend. You pour the wine into glasses, clink them together and say "I’chaim", ("to life".) My grandfather, my Dad’s father, was named "Chaim." He was you great-great-grandfather and he came from Austria-Hungary to the United States at the beginning of the 20th Century. We are lucky he did. My Dad’s Hebrew name was "Mosheh" (Moses) "ben" (son of) "Chaim." His English names were Morris Michael. My Hebrew name is "Reuben ben Mosheh." Mark was named for my father. Your Dad’s Hebrew name is "Mosheh ben Reuben." Some people think there is one number luckier than eighteen (18.) That number is thirty-six (36.) The reason they give that thirty-six (36) is luckier than eighteen (18) is because thirty-six is double-chai. Your Great-Grandma Rose thought so. In fact, if you look in her checkbook, and I’ll show it to you if you remind me, the last check she wrote to a charity on May 1, 1996, a few weeks before she died, was to "Young Israel" for "Yizkor Passover" (for memorial services on Passover in memory of loved ones who had died), and the amount of the check was thirty-six ($36) dollars. What do you think about that! Where were we? Oh yes. We had gotten up to "1-3-5-7-9." Next big event; Bob and Alice have a daughter. They name her "Karen." Now we better take a look at the English alphabet. A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J and K. Count them up. You are right. "K" is the eleventh (11th) letter of the English alphabet. So now we have "1-3-5-7-9-11." Karen was named after three people, one of whom was fictional, and a thing. The fictional person was named Karen in the World War II novel "From Here to Eternity" by James Jones and in the movie directed by Fred Zimmerman in which her character is played by Deborah Kerr. The movie also starred Burt Lancaster, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra. It came as no surprise to me that Karen decided to go into film. The real people she was named for were my Dad’s mother Yetta (Karen’s Hebrew name is "Y’hudit") and Alice’s Dad’s mother Libby (Karen’s middle name is Lynn.). The thing she was named for were the little blue metal Jewish National Fund boxes that people kept in their kitchens and put loose change into to buy land from the Arabs in what was then called Palestine and now is Israel so that Jewish people would have a homeland of their own. The boxes were called "Karen Kayemet." Time passes on. A little boy is born. He is our first and only son. As I mentioned above, he must have a name beginning with an "M" because he is to be named for my father. Therefore, we name your Dad, "Mark." A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L and M. Did you get the same as I did? Yep! Thirteen (13) it is. So, let’s see. "1-3-5-7-9-11-13." So your Dad is a thirteen (13). And in time he and your Mom have three boys, Nathan, Max and Jack. Well, Nathan knows he is a six (6), Max, you are a three (3) [now you know why you had to end up with such a short name] and Jack could be nothing else other that a four (4). Count them up. Six (6) and three (3) and four (4) make thirteen (13), a thirteen (13) just like your Dad. Wendy could not be a fifteen (15). Between the time Mark was born and Wendy was born, Alice’s father William Rothstein had died and we wanted to name Wendy for him. So Wendy is a twenty-three (23). A,B,C,D,E,F,G,H,I,J,K,L,M,N,O,P,Q,R,S,T,U,V and W. Well, we were able to keep her an odd-number at least. So that leaves you boys to fill in "15-17-19-21". You can’t plan these things. The pattern is set. We will see what life brings. L’chaim. Your Grandfather, Bob March 10, 1997
Boca Raton, Florida
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About the Book
These letters in this book are reflections on our times, a memoir, extravagant opinions, and what I believe to be some good advice for my grandchildren, your grandchildren, your children and you. I wrote these letters because I am Jewish, my son Mark is their Dad, and his wife Kris is a gentile. The boys are being brought up as "nothing." While I not a religious person, I wanted to give my grandchildren some sense of what being Jewish means to me. I wanted them to know more about their Dad's family. And I wanted to teach them what I believe are some valuable life lessons.
About the Author
Robert M. Wanderman was born in Chicago and grew up in Cleveland Heights, Shaker Heights, Dayton, Ohio and Ligonier, Indiana. He sailed on the Great Lakes on a sandsucker and on an ore carrier, studied engineering at Purdue University, and fought on Okinawa in World War n in the Marine Corps. He went to Indiana University after the war where he studied journalism and was named an Ernie Pyle Scholar. He was editor of the Crimson Bull, the college humor magazine, and night editor of the Bloomington Daily Herald. He moved to New Yark and wrote a television show and radio and TV copy for an advertising agency. He went into manufacturing dolls and toys and then into the synthetic wig business, where he became the largest maker, importing goods from the Orient and manufacturing hair pieces in Brooklyn and Puerto Rico. He and his wife invented the capless wig. He went to law school in his forties and practiced law for many years. He retired to Florida where he plays golf, tennis and bridge and now has gone back to his first love, writing.