MY GRANDMOTHER TZERNA MALKA ZELIGMAN LEV^[1]

                                                  dictated by Samuel Holland in 1972©

My grandmother Tzerna Lev who also had the additional names of Mishkla and Malka has always appeared to me and still appears to be like a person in a dream, somewhat unreal.  And the life of involvements and attachments of the world of trouble seemed evil and problems.  She was very small, certainly almost tiny in comparison with my grandfather.  She was the daughter of a famous rabbi Chaim Davit Zeligman and of her mother Feiga Pesa^[2] nee Tzioni.  Both the Zeligmans and the Tzionis^[3] are descendants of many centuries of rabbinical tradition where their direct ancestors and collateral relatives have been holding rabbinical assignments in the various parts of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and even Germany and other countries.  And who have contributed much with their books and personal activities to the maintenance and development of the Jewish traditional life in the European cities and villages.  She was a sister of Israel Zeligman^[4], rabbi Israel Zeligman, the grandfather of Dr. Israel Zeligman of Baltimore, who was also for several years my teacher and mentor in the Talmud and the author of some very important books of commentaries, mishnah, and the author of an encyclopedic book known as the Treasure of Numbers which represented a lifetime of research work into the significance of numbers in the Bible, Talmud, Mishnah, commentaries, and other traditional books.  She was also a half-sister of my uncle Abraham Soyer, the father of the painters by that name in the United States who was a teacher in Russia before he came to this country and was a member of the faculty of University teaching medieval Jewish history.  In spite of all of that I do not remember and do not know of anytime or case when my grandmother Tzerna ever mentioned her background or her ancestry with any degree of pride.  As of a matter of fact, I know that in her life and actions she never displayed any type of pride whatsoever.  Going about her activities and business as she found it necessary and in accordance with the teachings of her parents and the books she has been reading continuously when not occupied or busy with her household chores.  On the whole she was silent, she was meek, pious, regularly saying her prayers three times a day in Hebrew which I am sure that she has learned in her childhood days.  Continuously saying the blessings required for various types of food or daily activities or any happenings.  And attending to her chores and when not busy reading the books of morality based on the Bible and the stories and legends of Jewish rabbis of the Talmudic times as well as of more modern times.  The books of Tz'ena Ur'enah(?) in heavy German-Jewish dialect produced in Germany in 18th Century.  I don't think that she had to read those books for the purpose of knowing how to behave as a good Jewish mother and Jewish person in a non-Jewish world.  She has known it all by tradition and experience.  She has read all the necessary books on morality and religion apparently only as a collaboratory and as a parallel and affirmation of her own life and activities.  Of my grandmother, I am thinking of her piety, gentility, and of her kindness to me and to members of the family, to strangers, to servant girls, to Jew and gentile.  For her house and her special place, the kitchen, was always open to the needy.  I remember well the many times when I found beggars,

Jew and Gentile, sitting in the kitchen, being served a hot meal by my grandmother.  I cannot remember and I cannot think that it ever happened that my grandmother ever engaged in gossip, intrigue, or was ever ready to listen to ordinary gossip.  She was intolerant to the condemnation of other people for any alleged wrongs.  She has maintained and repeated many times that it is immoral and unwise to judge other people until one is in the place of such people confronted with the same problems.  She had her place in the women's gallery in the synagogue where she was leading the other women in prayer on Saturdays, holidays, and other days of importance as she was familiar with the siddur prayer book, with the order of the prayers, and was one of few women who could be properly classed as leaders and teachers to the other women in religious matters.  My grandmother, however, knew who were the needy and the poor in the community and many a time, especially, on the eve of Sabbath or holidays, she would send me around to the homes of the poorer members of the community with fresh-baked white bread, challah, with some portions of fish and other types of food, always insisting that I not disclose to anybody my destination or my mission.  She was not looking for praise or recognition of her activities.  These activities were only part of her own life, her religion, her morality, and some satisfaction to the fact that she was able to be of help to others.  She never appeared without the wig, her hair was shorn after her wedding day as required by or was thought to be required by the strict orthodox tradition.  She was wearing a wig all her life.  And in addition to the wig, she most of the time had some other type of cloth covering for her head.  In her quiet demeanor and in her definite show of kindness and consideration at all times, she had the affection of all the children and all others who came in contact with her.  And I know that my grandfather had always been proud of her, proud of her personal demeanor, proud of her ancestry which he in his own way never failed to show to the younger members of the family.