He Has Me Covered

Hashem’s protection started even before I was born

Looking back over my life from the vantage point of more than eight decades, I see that Hashem has always had me covered. In fact, His protection started even before I was born.

My father and mother were living with my brother and sister in Jaroslaw, Poland, when the Germans and Russians invaded in September 1939. As the Germans approached Jaroslaw, my parents tried to conceive a plan to keep the family safe. There was no time to waste. In the middle of the night, they hired a wagon, loaded in my brother and sister and some basic belongings, including their sewing machines, then swiftly fled eastward to my maternal grandparents in Lvov, which had fallen under Russian occupation.

As the Nazis and Soviets divided up the spoils in Poland, my parents and grandparents tried to figure out the best way to survive. Zeide was convinced that taking Soviet citizenship would give us protection in the event the Germans moved further east.

“Go to the consulate and get citizenship for the family,” he directed his son-in-law. “If the Germans come here, they will take the refugees, but they won’t dare start up with those who are citizens of the Soviet Union.”