THE REAL ANGELS
Rabbi Lionel Blue tells of his grandmother (bubbe) taking him on weekly “expeditions.” “On Thursday nights she woke me up and at dead of night, when the gas-lamps were turned down to a flicker, we went round the block, putting little packets through letter-boxes. They were little parcels of money and food to help poorer families celebrate the coming Sabbath. They were given at night so that giver and receiver would never meet, and neither would feel obligation or shame. Occasionally we met other bubbes, wrapped in shawls and shadows, waddling from house to house. I was surprised when I first saw a picture of angels after I became an evacuee. Who could believe in their too-sweet smiles, the peroxide blonde hair and the fairy wings? My angels were solid from the neck down. They were Semitic, rheumatic and waistless.” From Daytrips to Eternity, Darton, Longman and Todd, London, 1987, pg. 48
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