Grandpa Irwin - A tribute

Dear Alex and Avery,

It is with a heavy heart that I write to you today.  Your Saba passed away in the early hours of the morning on Monday. Below are a series of hopefully not too disjointed thoughts that I want to share with you.

I like the word erudite - and not just because it was made popular as one of the four factions in the Divergent book series.  No, I like the word erudite, because it rolls around in my head and off my tongue as the perfect word, the perfect embodiment of my grandfather.  An intelligence that cannot be bought with education, a sense of class that is lauded in movies that make fun of "new money".  Some people might associate erudite with snobbiness and being judgmental; to that I say, oh yes! And as the third in the line (hi mom!) of absolute judgy snobs, I say this with glee and pride. My grandfather is better and he knows more.  Proof positive is this renaissance man who has a clearly thought through view on world politics, who is a self taught engineer, who speaks six languages (don't fact check me on that number), who cooks, loves music and culture and who believes in the power of love making life worth living.

Armin Goldstein is a Holocaust survivor.  This identity forced upon him has fundamentally formed his world view every single day. He was born in the spring of 1926, the youngest of eight children in his family. Irwin is the master of reinvention, of choosing life in the face of loss. And he suffered so. much. loss - his people, his parents, his siblings, his wives (married three times, never divorced). I would say with reinvention, at times he had to (or chose to) let go of old parts of his life and when these 'old parts' were people, it hurt those left behind, leaving them running to catch up, to stay in his orbit or sometimes running away and choosing to disappear; this is the one less than perfect part of his personality - forgivable, understandable, yet flawed. He knew this part of himself.  I believe that he just didn't know how to be everything to everyone.

From his beginnings as Yisrael Tzvi to each reinvention, to Armin and then Irwin, there are two parts of himself which he never let go, his dignity and his Jewish identity.  We tell our kids Zachor! Remember! 6,000,000! What we also need to talk about is Zachor! Look at this will to survive, to thrive, the strength, the choice to live to love and to do so as a Jew.  Remember! Zachor! That even Irwin at his most American and furthest from his beginnings as Yisrael Tzvi, Irwin chose proudly to be Jewish. To that I say Am Yisrael Chai! Not only do the people of Israel live, but the people of Yisrael Tzvi live.

Today I stand here as his legacy, I strive to emulate his intelligence and his class (and yes, with a wee bit of judgment), I am confident in my Jewish identity.  I started writing today with the word erudite and I am ending with dignified.  At 95 he was ready to let go, to not be inscribed in the book of life for another year.  He left this world peacefully with his wits about him.  He left this world better.  He filled it with children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren.  Am Yisrael Tzvi Chai.  

Love,

Mom