In the car yesterday my son turned on When Zaidy Was Young 2. I must have listened to it literally a few hundred times, but I still found it so enjoyable. The lines are the lines, and some of our favorites are below, but the characterizations are hysterical and true to life. We have all encountered people like Mr. Osborne (mainly at the DMV), like Mr. Farzammelt, like Mr. Genugshoin. Maybe I am reading too deeply into it, but when Mr. Genugshoin yells in his heavy (and yet untraceable) accent about the the Bullzoders coming up to the shul, one wonders whether he flashed back to his formative experiences of anti-semitism in Europe. The invocation of the saying “mayors never go to bar mitzvahs” is pitch-perfect, leaving Hyman and Zelda constantly on the line where we can’t tell if they are as comically foolish as the rest of the characters, or if they appreciate as well as we do the preposterousness of the goings on.
The story is so entertaining that you almost forget that the plot is this: some people daven in a run down building. They get an eviction notice. Instead of looking for alternate accommodations to rent, they do nothing. One of my favorite lines is when Eli asks Zaidy whether they did anything about the notice, and Zaidy says, “for the next two weeks, the Chevra Mishnayos and Free Loan Society met every night!” The bar mitzvah approaches, and still they do nothing. The only people doing anything are Heshy and Manny, and their plan has several flaws.
Finally, as the bar mitzvah is about to begin and the bulldozers are about to tear down the building, the mayor arrives, and threatens to prosecute a city worker for doing his job. But the characters are so endearing and the story so entertaining that the nonsensical story line doesn’t even register.
Some favorite lines:
“But by unz yidden, our hopes and our dreams and our dreams are our hopes. Do you know what I mean kinderlach?” “I hope so”.
“I imagine so, Zaidy, I imagine so…”
“Heshy and Manny are tearing up the city?”
“With deepest regards, Mr. Untervelt”
“There was a little nice hall where you could leave your coat.”
“Of course there were stains on the glass on the windows. And on the tables and chairs too!”