After the fire, life was difficult. The store was never rebuilt and the once proud edifice that my father built from the ground up, with nothing but grit and unnatural hard work, became an empty shell. It stood there for years with a tired old sign in the window “Perl’s Meat. The Tradition Continues.” But… Continue reading The Final Chapter
Up In Smoke
It was a Friday night on November 10, 2006, when the frenzy of the day had wound down and the quiet calm of Shabbos had begun that all was not well inside Perl’s Meats. An industrial oven was overheated and the wooden interior wall had caught fire. Within minutes, smoke began to pour out of… Continue reading Up In Smoke
Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage
In 1956, my father met my mother, Esther Langner (who sadly passed away six years ago), the daughter of Rabbi Avraham Langner and the granddaughter of the illustrious Rav Moshe Langner, the Strettiner Rebbe. The Strettiner Rebbe of Toronto was the son of Grand Rabbi Yehudah Zvi Langner of Strettin, Poland, a widely known Chassidic… Continue reading Love, Marriage, and a Baby Carriage
The Years of Backbreaking Struggle
In 1954, my father opened a small kosher butcher shop in rented premises on the north side of Bloor, between Euclid and Manning Avenues. There was only one other kosher butcher at the time, but according to my father, they had terrible customer service. “I knew if I treated the customers well, they would come.”… Continue reading The Years of Backbreaking Struggle
Finding a Place to Call Home
After a year living in Nagyszalonta and following his father’s remarriage to Chana, my father went to the Pocking DP camp, the second largest DP camp in Germany. There, he received diploma from ORT, the organization for reconstruction and training, for his studies in the trade of weaving, dated September 2, 1947. The Pocking DP… Continue reading Finding a Place to Call Home
Liberation
After enduring seven months in Schachandorf, which included the frigid winter months, May arrived together with the resonant sounds of thundering cannon fire being exchanged between the German and the Russian Allied soldiers. With the prospect of liberation by the Russians imminent, the SS guards gathered the 2000 boys who remained of the original 5000… Continue reading Liberation
Miracle Under an Apple Tree
My father’s story up until this point is one I really didn’t know. Writing this blog has forced me to discover aspects of his life that remained in the dark. There was just too much pain that would have been dredged up for my father to speak about it. Better that the wound stay hidden.… Continue reading Miracle Under an Apple Tree
