Another Diary

      More Letters From Paradise
           Another Diary

I am pretty sure that most people in the world know the tragic story told in the "Diary of Anne Frank".   Her diary has been translated into 67 languages.  A stage play and a motion picture all tell of her life and death along with her sister Margot, of typhus in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.

I recently bought a few books at a local book sale and made a discovery. It is a diary written during the same time of Anne Frank. The title is "Young Moshe's Diary." It cost me one dollar. It first appeared in 1958 and was published in Jerusalem. The first English edition was published in 1965. The diary was written by Moshe Flinker.

There are some similarities: both were young adolescents and both were Dutch citizens. Anne lived in Amsterdam and Moshe lived in The Hague. And they both were killed by the Nazis. But there are many differences. Anne was from an assimilated Jewish environment and wrote her diary in Dutch.  Moshe lived in an Orthodox family and wrote in Hebrew. That is probably why his diary is comparatively unknown. Young Moshe was deeply religious, and lived according to the strict rules of Jewish orthodoxy. He prayed daily for all the Jews who were suffering, and for his own family.

Moshe's father was a wealthy businessman.  Moshe's family consisted of a father, mother, three sisters and a younger brother. They  were living in The Hague when the Germans swept over Europe. Thousands of Jews fled before the Nazi menace. Moshe's mother begged the father to flee to Switzerland, but he had been doing business in Brussels for over twenty years, and he felt that it was a safe place for them.

So the family moved to Brussels, where the Nazis were more lenient towards Jews.  Moshe's father paid for permission to live as aliens for three months. Then he paid again for six months, and he paid again for a long time permit. These permits allowed the family to use food stamps and lead an almost normal life. Unlike Anne, who was in hiding for two years, Moshe was free to attend school, going on his bike. Then Jews had to turn in  all bikes. So he took the trolley. The Jews were then forbidden to use the trollies. So Moshe walked to school.

All around them Jewish families were being rounded up and sent West. Moshe notes in his diary hearing Gobbels, the Nazi propaganda leader on the radio, raving against the Jews. He writes about the fighting between the Nazi's and Russians at Stalingrad. But more important are his thoughts about the persecutions of the Jews.

Moshe asked the question:
What can God mean by all the suffering, and why did he not prevent it happening? He also wondered if the anguish they are suffering is a continuing suffering of the past two thousand years, or is it  very different? He came to the conclusion that the earlier sufferings of the Jewish people had been localized. In some areas, Jewish people lived in peace and quiet. The Germans were out to destroy the entire people of Israel. Moshe struggled in anguish for the Jews, he felt guilty that he was not with them. He prays again and again for a miracle to end their suffering.

Moshe was teaching his sisters French, and he was learning Arabic on his own. He dreamed one day to go to Israel, and become an ambassador. But it was all too late.

Moshe, his father and mother were sent to Auschwitz where they were gassed, and disappeared in the smoke of the crematorium, along with millions of other Jews.

Moshe's writings were discovered by his surviving sisters in the cellar of the house in which they hid. The sisters are living today in Israel. I don't know what happened to the son.

As far as I know there are no plays or movies about Moshe Flinker. I felt that it was important to tell his story. The diary can be found on Amazon.

     Aloha
     Grant

Bag It

      More Letters From Paradise
               Bag It

"Do you have your bag?" the pretty young clerk behind the counter asked. "No," I replied, "I forgot." I went on to explain that my wife had even hung a paper bag on our door, to remind us. I looked over my purchases. A six-pack of beer, a small can of jalapeño peppers, two bunches of green onions, a can of pinto beans (they were out of black-eye peas), and a head of iceberg lettuce. The lettuce was to be used to provide crunch in a roast beef sandwich to be made later. Everything else but the beer would be added to the other stuff I already had, to be made into Texas caviar.

What was I to do? I saw that I could carry the beer in my left hand, no problem there. The jalapeño peppers would fit in the right side pocket of my shorts, the two bunches of green onions I could stuff in left side pocket. It would look pretty silly but what the hell. I could tuck the head of lettuce under my right arm and carry the can of pinto beans in my right hand. I thought I could manage alright. Then a voice on the other side of the counter invaded my thoughts "I could put it in a paper bag." I was saved. "Thank you very much," I replied. I swiped my credit card, took my receipt, and slunk out the door like a dog with its tail down.  

The island of Oahu where we live is the last of the islands that make up our state, to ban the use of plastic bags. One by one the other islands some time ago put the ban into effect. Even sleepy Molokai, the most Hawaiian of all the islands, three years ago put the  ban in place. Merchants here on Oahu fought the ban saying it would cost them money to do so. Anyway, the ban is here to stay, effective July lst. It is a very good thing as fish and other wildlife were being harmed.

This got me to thinking of back in the day when there were no plastic bags, only paper ones. We got along just fine. I worked as a kid at the local A&P Supermarket, and packed and carried many a paper bag to customers' cars.

Teena and I have a great number of sturdy bags, both cloth and plastic. Some of them in our car, ready to be put into use. Somehow we will manage to survive.

       Aloha
       Grant

Tom ( A Mostly True Story)

     More Letters From Paradise

     Tom  (A mostly true story)

  She had always known that she had loved Tom. Even in grade school when he had  pushed her on the swing. But as they grew older and graduated, they began to drift apart. She went away to a small Christian college, and Tom entered the university.     Upon graduating, he found a job and began taking flying lessons.

Tom was often to be seen flying over town and buzzing farms. That is until a farmer reported him for scaring his cows.

War came to Europe in 1914, the same year that she fell in love. Tom was invited to the wedding, but he sent his regrets saying that he was needed at his job.

It was nine months later that Tom received the news that she had delivered a baby boy. Tom bought a sterling silver baby mug with the name of the baby engraved, and sent it to her. After that he crossed the Detroit River to Windsor, Ontario and took a ship to England.

Tom quickly enlisted in the Royal Air Force. His university education and flying experience caused him to become an officer.

Not long after, she began receiving letters from Tom. She did not tell her husband, but buried them in her underwear drawer. She did did not write back to him. But the letters continued to come. Tom wrote about the bravery of the British pilots who flew against the Huns. He also wrote about how he had always loved her, and his hope of their being together. She cried, and put away his letters.

The letters grew more grim as Tom wrote about his friend being shot down over the trenches. And one morning in the mail a gray envelope arrived, and she knew without opening it, that Tom would never return from France.
   
        Aloha
        Grant