A Day of Learning!

Today, I am grateful that I am able to spend quite a bit of time alone with my two youngest daughters. Yesterday we visited Heritage park in Calgary. There a Jewish woman taught us a little more about our Jewish heritage. Surprisingly, it brought tears to my eyes. It was not the lesson but after she asked us where we were from. When I told her we were born in Belize, she told us of a Hungarian Jewish woman who was sent to Belize to marry her cousin. After she got there not being able to speak English and unable to find her cousin, she sat on a park bench and cried. Fortunately, a man came by who understood Yiddish and he was able to take her to her cousin. They got married and relocated to Mexico.

I cried because I empathize from knowing how it feels to be alone and far from home, and feeling as though no one speaks my language. I also cried, because I often thought about my greatgrand mother and how she might have felt after leaving Germany to live in Belize. Although, for me Belize is not a strange land. It is the place where I originated from and its people became my people. I, however, from the lack of teaching lost out on knowing Jewish traditions and customs. The good news is, it is never too late to learn and for that I am greatful.