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| Building Dreams |

Building Dreams: Chapter 32  

I took a deep breath. We found hand-me-downs for Leiba, Miriam, and Yisroel, but there was nothing of mine that could be fixed to fit me

 

Elka

“They look so nice lined up like that, don’t they?” I commented to Miriam, scanning the row of bottles of wine we had made for the Seder this year. Until now, Papa had made the wine by hand, squeezing the grapes and turning them into wine, pure and perfect for the Seder.

“Yeah,” Miriam agreed, watching the sun glinting off the glass bottles. “Baruch really worked hard on it.”

“And Dovid,” I added. Dovid had helped; we hadn’t just left it to Baruch.

“Elka?” Mama’s voice called out through the window, “can you come upstairs and take down this wet laundry to hang on the line?”

I bounded up the steps and relieved Mama of the heavy laundry basket at her feet. Descending the stairs slowly and carefully, I made my way through the building and outside to the yard. We shared the area with the rest of the people in our building, and it was not just our lines that were filled with clean clothing. Everyone was busy getting ready for Pesach, only two days away. When the basket was finally empty, Miriam grabbed it and the two of us went upstairs to see what else needed to be done.

“Mama?” I called into the house. Leiba and Yisroel came dancing to the door. “Where’s Mama?” I asked them. Yisroel pointed towards the dining room.

“Come try it on,” Mama said, shaking out the dress she had been working on.

I took a deep breath. We found hand-me-downs for Leiba, Miriam, and Yisroel, but there was nothing of mine that could be fixed to fit me. Yocheved gave Mama some old clothing of Faiga’s — she’s taller than I am and her outgrown clothing would still fit me — but I refused to wear them. Mama insisted. She didn’t have time to make me something new. So while I sulked, Mama fixed up Faiga’s dress to fit me.

Excerpted from Mishpacha Magazine. To view full version, SUBSCRIBE FOR FREE or LOG IN.

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