I was born on the lower east side of Manhattan but at a very
early age my parents moved to Queens. My father was one of eight children and,
while we and one of his sisters (my father was the youngest of the 8) trekked
to Queens, the rest of the family remained in the Al Smith housing projects. It
was a very “close knit” family and we spent almost every Sunday at my
grandparents’ small apartment with my aunts and uncles and my countless cousins
who were coming in and out all day. It was never dull.
There was a gypsy lineage on my paternal grandfather’s side.
My mom informed me of this when I was quite young. She told me about the
rituals she was required to go through before she married my dad. Several of my
aunts and uncles and their kids had a dark exotic look to them. I had a few beautiful cousins. I thought it
was cool to have a gypsy connection and the coolest thing about it was watching
my aunts and uncles put curses on each other.
Sundays were pretty much spent watching my aunts and uncles
going through their checklist of curses. There would be negotiations and
apologies. Several curses were lifted only to be replaced as some grievance, often
from their childhood, re-emerged. There would be screeching, shouting and pulling
of hair. Once in a while a fight would
break out. Then the curse would come. They remembered them all.
Even my older cousins would get into the act. If their
parent cursed a sibling they would throw curses on their cousins.
It was fantastic. I would sit there sucking on sugar cubes
that I was dipping in strong caffeinated coffee. I would drink it out of a memorial (yahrzeit)
glass. Sometimes I would add matzo farfel. I was flying and enjoying the show.
I guess because we lived in Queens I never connected with my
father’s family and they sort of ignored me so for me this was anthropology. I
have no idea if these curses ever worked but watching my family cursing each
other, and taking it as seriously as they did, has stayed with me my entire
life. Which brings me to donald trump and his stooges contracting COVID.
It appears that this may have started during the ceremony to
announce Amy Coney Barrett as the replacement for Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the
supreme court. Now I don’t know if RBG shared my jewish/gypsy bloodline but I
would like to believe that after she told her granddaughter….
My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a
new president is installed
…I like to think that Ruth’s face darkened and she pulled her
grandchild near her and said…
or there will be hell to pay
That’s what I’d like to think.
