The Schwartzes moved to Newark in 1946 after suffering through Auschwitz. Reb Meir became a baker and his wife Hinda was a stay-at-home balabusta. They wanted to rebuild. As fellow survivors were blessed with children the Schwartzes waited in anticipation. They were both full of hope for a brighter future after their dismal past.
They lived in Weequahic in Newark’s South Ward. It was a Jewish middle-class neighborhood a place where most families dreamed of saying “My son the doctor.” During the 1950s the local high school graduated more future PhDs than any other school in the country. There were shuls and kosher restaurants. The Jews “built” Newark Beth Israel Medical Center and life was good.
Unfortunately the Schwartzes were unable to build a family of their own. In the late 1970s they moved to Elizabeth and then to Passaic to be near their only surviving relative a niece. They moved near my shul and became unassuming members.
This Pesach their niece was away and they agreed to join us at the Seder. They asked what they could bring. Although we were touched by their offer we told the nonagenarian couple that the most precious gift they could bring was themselves.
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