Why Can't We Be Friends

My father spent most of his time working outside the home. My mother and us children felt very happy when he occasionally managed to work at home. There was something special about him, a kindness which radiated from his soul and deeply touched us, filling us with a special glee. Even our neighbors liked to visit us when my father was around and enjoy his company! At home, my father often took breaks from work to nap a little, or read newspapers, some borrowed books or the Bible.

Thanks to his kind personality, everybody liked him, even the gentiles, who preferred to do business with him. A certain Mrs. [Be-kish] used to say, "Mr. Bleier - we all need each other - the Jews need the gentiles and the gentiles need the Jews". She was one of the few intelligent people who deplored anti-semitism. Her family lived on Arany Yanos street by the Er River, near the edge of town.

I can recall several kind gentile families who we knew as neighbors or as business acquaintances. We had mutual trust and reverence with the Bede family who resided on Kurucz street (no. 10?). The Szasz family were our next-door neighbors for a couple of years. They were most kind, and our friendship continued long after they were no longer our neighbors. Mr. Szasz would open his heart and purse and lend my father as much cash as my father asked for and he could afford. And he didn't take any interest. What kind souls he and his wife were. May the Almighty bless their memory!

© David Muskal, 2001