I took a deep breath and said, “I noticed your maiden name is Fraiman. That’s also my mother’s maiden name”
M
y bubby and zaidy came to Canada from Eastern Europe in the late 1920s as an engaged couple. Bubby’s father had already preceded them by a few years, setting up his grand business: a horse and cart to sell alte zachen.
My grandparents were second cousins. Bubby was the only child in her family to survive infancy, and while Zaidy came from a large family, only five siblings reached adulthood, although both his parents passed away before his bar mitzvah.
It took some time after the Second World War for my grandparents to absorb the enormity of the loss that had occurred to Klal Yisrael. Still, they hoped to find close family members who had survive — perhaps Zaidy’s siblings, or even a niece or nephew.
Distant cousins appeared one by one in Toronto. With their limited means, Bubby and Zaidy did whatever they could for these survivors, serving as substitute parents and helping them set up home. Still, no one could say what had happened to the members of Zaidy’s immediate family.
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