Two organizations formed the cornerstone of the Jewish community during the time I was growing up in Milwaukee. The first was Hadassah, the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, founded to help create the state of Israel and to spread knowledge and understanding about its cultural heritage. The second was Bnai Brith, an organization with roots dating back to pre-Civil War New York with a mission of serving the American Jewish community.
Both organizations have youth groups. Young Judaea is a program designed by Hadassah to familiarize young Jewish teenagers with the nation of Israel and why a country less than twenty years of age at the time was considered the promised land to a people with a five thousand year history. It was less popular throughout Milwaukee at the time than the Bnai Brith Youth Organization, BBYO, whose main mission was helping adolescents establish a Jewish identity.
Now for some reason my sister had become involved with Young Judaea, and while I knew she wanted me to participate as soon as I was old enough she never convinced me it was the right organization for me. That is until she was able to clean up the basement enough to get permission from Mom and Dad to host a party her chapter had planned. Two things took place during the party that swayed me to join. First, the adult leader of the group named Dav an Israeli graduate student at the local university, talked with me like I was a young adult. And second, two of Peggy’s friends, who had been dating for a while, sat on the basement steps and made out.
When I attended my first meeting at Rosie and Leo’s house I found most of the kids in the chapter were first generation Americans. Unlike Peggy and me whose grandparents were immigrants during the pogroms in Russia, their parents were holocaust survivors, or had left Europe just prior to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis.
Rosie and Leo, whose house was actually in the suburb of Wauwatosa, attended Wauwatosa West High School, while their cousin Goldie, who lived across the street, was still at Longfellow Junior High. Gilda and Harold, who preferred to be called Hal, both attended Marshall. Gilda was easy to talk to, but it was her cousin Goldie who held my attention even though she said very little. Peggy felt Hal was conceited, but I thought he was just self-assured. Besides, I really liked the Thunderbird he gave us a ride home in after the meeting.
At a party held at Rosie and Leo’s house I met yet another cousin, Freddy. I had seen Freddy in the halls of the junior high wing at Marshall and realized he had the same self-assured swagger Hal possessed. He assured me the attraction I felt toward his cousin Goldie was a mutual one, and he encouraged me to walk her home. I did, but the conversation was awkward, not easy like it was with Gilda, and the goodnight at the door was just a smile and a nod.
Our shared attraction continued over the next several months. Perhaps it might have run its course sooner had we attended the same school and seen each other on a daily basis. I vaguely remember attending a birthday party at her house, but I’m not sure if it was for her or someone else. No matter how much we felt an attraction we never were able to feel the comfort we felt with others. For whatever reason, nothing came naturally between us; we were just awkward.
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