Rena's father, Chaim, believed that a woman's place was to bear the children, keep a kosher kitchen, and know how to pray. But Rena's mother was determined that her girls know Hebrew. "I'm not going to have my girls embarrassed like I was, when they get married in temple, because they can't read from the prayer book." She made such a fuss that in order to placate her, the elders of the synagogue decided that in this one instance they would allow Sara Kornreich's daughter to attend the cheder, the Hebrew school for boys, after her regular school day. Her mother paid the melamed, the teacher, with eggs, butter, and milk so that Rena could sit on one side of the room (the boys sat on the other side) and learn Hebrew. After class Rena would take the lessons home to teach Danka
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"What am I doing?" Rena exclaims. "I'm starting in the middle without the beginning!" We backtrack
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Rena was born in Tylicz, Poland, in 1920, when Sara was in her late thirties and Chaim in his late forties. The family was split between the two children of their youth and the two children of their later years. Gertrude, the oldest, was sixteen years older than Rena. Then there was Zosia, who was two years younger than Gertrude. Danka, the youngest, was born when Rena was just two years old
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I remember looking in Danka's cradle with Mama. She was so delicate, so small. When she was just a few months old she got the croup. It was awful. She coughed and coughed all day and all night, then there was no more coughing. The silence was terrible.
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Mama began to lament. I had never seen her so distraught. Slowly, she covered Danka's head with a white sheet and her baby blanket.
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The stillness in our house was so sad . . . I was only three, but I remember wanting to wipe away Mama's tears and I prayed to God in heaven to bring my baby sister back to Mama.
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Then there was a wail from beneath the blanket. First there was terrora ghost, an apparition, something unknowable had entered our house. But the wailing did not stop. Mama ran to
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