As a small Jewish girl growing up in Brooklyn, I dreamed of becoming a British soldier. Specifically, one of the wounded British soldiers who marched, whistling through broken teeth, in the film “Bridge on the River Kwai”. I knew my father admired them and I wanted desperately for him to admire me too. I tried very hard to be brave, like them. When the gory killing scenes came on I did not wince. “It’s just ketchup,” he would say at the spurting geysers of blood on the screen. “Just ketchup,” I would parrot, although I wasn’t really sure.
It was easy to see why he admired soldiers. My father claimed to have been a short order cook in the Army. Or perhaps the Navy. It was never quite clear. The story changed every time he told it and my mother would neither confirm nor deny. It didn’t matter really. The important thing was that he knew how to cook for hungry men. “Time to feed the troops!” he would say on those special occasions when he pulled down pots and pans and plates. Strangely, it seemed that the only thing the troops ate were eggs. But what eggs he made! Gourmet omelets, heavy with sauces, mushrooms, cheeses and olives. “That’ll make a man out of you,” he said as he added a splash of Tabasco. I loved those eggs. And even when I didn’t love them, I wanted to love them and ate every last drop and asked for more.
I loved those eggs. And even when I didn’t love them, I wanted to love them and ate every last drop and asked for more.
The Army (or was it the Navy?) had also taught him to shine shoes, a job which he did weekly with an equal mixture of precision and vigor. My father’s shoes, neatly lined up like animals waiting to board the Ark, would be subjected to the cream, the rag, the buffer and the brush. Afterward, they shone like new. No, better than new! I could see my face in them. “You know I love you, right?” he would ask, without looking up, as his dress shoes took their punishment. I nodded yes, yes, I do and my reflection in his shoes nodded too.
My father was fearless. At the mall when he bought us ice cream cones he would always take a big lick of each of ours before handing them over to make sure they weren’t poisonous. “I don’t care what happens to me,” he would say selflessly as his tongue paved a deep groove in the soft vanilla cream. “Just as long as you kids are safe I’m willing to risk it.”
I marveled at his courage. Someday, I hoped, I would be brave enough to take the first lick for my own children, disregarding my safety for theirs.
It was different with my mother. Her love was the motherly kind, hot chocolate on cold days and help with your homework. It was kind and dependable and constant. But my father, busy with the strange and mysterious doings of grown men, would often seem uninterested, unwilling to hear about my petty dramas, my schoolgirl conceits. His love asserted itself in other ways. It was in the way he cooled off my hot tea, pouring it patiently from one glass to the other, so I wouldn’t burn my tongue. Or how sometimes in the kitchen, he’d command, “Open your mouth and close your eyes!” and squirt whipped cream from the canister into my mouth. It was in the hours he spent blow drying my hair and painting my little fingernails. It was in the way he’d circle his fingers around my wrist when we walked together, only barely holding on.
Even shopping with my father was different than shopping with my mother. My mother went by a list, she shopped according to price and need and availability. My father had much more important criteria. “Sniff this, Yael,” he said and handed me a bottle of shampoo. I sniffed. It smelled like coconuts and suntan lotion and summer. “Always buy the shampoo that smells best, no matter what it costs. That’s what’s important, so make a note of it.” I did. I filed it in my mind under S for shampoo and sniffing and summer. Later, the shampoo would be joined in the cart by cashews and fresh rolls and tuna fish. Always tuna fish, which my father loved. “The white kind, Yael, not the chunk. That stuff’s cat food.” Was it really? I didn’t know and I didn’t want to find out.
My father loved music and cold milk and old movies. He loved exotic foods and medical journals and elephant figurines. But what my father loved most was my mother. “Still the best looking woman I’ve ever seen,” he would marvel as she walked down the stairs, without makeup. My mother waved his comment away but I wished fiercely that someday I might be the object of that kind of admiration from someone too.
Now, as then, I study him closely when he cannot see me looking. I am older now but he hasn’t changed very much. His eyes are still blue and his cheek deeply dimpled, his light brown hair parted neatly to the side. My father looks ordinary. But he views the world differently than other people. He is a student of the Jewish mussar movement, constantly disciplining himself to refine his soul.
“Ask yourself every time, is this worth losing my integrity?” By my father’s yardstick, nothing was.
My father loved the underdog, he loved each broken thing. And he hated the easy way, avarice, pride and greed. “Be straight, Yael,” he’d say and “Ask yourself every time, is this worth losing my integrity?” By my father’s yardstick, nothing was. He believed that each action defined a person, changed his DNA somehow. So people who lied were liars and those who stole were thieves. Life as my father understood it was black or white but never gray.
And he didn’t only preach it; he lived by a strict code of conduct. You do the right thing because it’s the right thing. That’s all. No reward, no parade; at least not in this world. You do business honestly. You tell the truth. “Your word is your bond,” my father would say, although I didn’t know what a bond was. And sometimes he would narrow his eyes and ask, “Do you give me your word?” when I said something that seemed questionable. I hesitated. I knew that the lowliest specimen in the world was the one who gave his word but didn’t keep it. I did not want to be that specimen. My father’s gaze demanded the truth even of children.
Sometimes it was hard to live up to. Sometimes I thought it impossible. I do not doubt that I disappointed him, and his unyieldingness often frustrated me. We cannot always please our parents, much as we may want to. We cannot always eat the eggs. In the complicated world of fathers and daughters there are many moods and moments, unspoken words and misunderstood gestures. A love so deep can be painful, hard to share.
Without meaning to, I grew up and away. My teenage years arrived with all the usual drama and angst. I developed my own sense of humor, my own favorite movies. I learned to shop by myself. I dated and found a man with whom to grow old. Somehow, I grew into my own separate self. I grew into my husband and his particular needs and theories and interests. I grew into my children and their wants and desires and demands. I grew into my own busy life. I moved out of Brooklyn, I never polish my shoes.
It’s a funny thing though. I still believe in right and wrong, in black and white. I still cherish bravery above vanity and truth above peace. I never lost my desire to be the object of someone else’s desire. I never lost that need to be good and true. And I still buy the coconut shampoo.
(11) Chaya, July 3, 2010 11:35 PM
Thank you
... that we may know of your story. It's wonderful in its kind, in the way you tell it and in its meaning. It's warming the heart and enlightening. You example may teach us how to honour and appreciate our own parents. Thank you.
(10) Irving Langer, June 21, 2010 11:07 AM
Dearest Yael, Your article is touching and real. It speaks all languages. It confirms my good taste in choosing your father as a best buddy a guy can have. I was always a proponent of making living hespeds to the deserving. May your father, my dearest friend, have a long and healthy life with your mother at his side. May you all come to the final conclusion, as I believe you have, that your parents are the greatest. It is a true blessing to all of us who had the good fortune to be touched by them in our hearts and souls. I also agree with dad, buying good smelling shampoo is worth the price. Love Irving
(9) yaffa shilman, June 21, 2010 12:40 AM
i know this much is true
As the second daughter of this same father, I know that what Yael writes is true. Our father is not a man who, if passing him on the street, you would look back at for a second glance. But if you take a few moments to get to know him, you would find a man with a sharp wit and a clever sense of humor. He has many layers, like an onion, each one complete and unique in its own right. He is a man who can be called upon to give an answer to a tough question, or just a question of where to find the best cup of coffee in town. He is admired by those who know and love him best. You might not look back for that second glance, but that would most definitely be your loss.
(8) yaffa Shilman, June 20, 2010 11:09 PM
this i know is true
As the second daughter of this same father, I know that my sister's words are true. Our father is someone who, if passing on the street, you might not look back for a second glance. But if you take a few moments to get to know him, you'll uncover a man with a sharp wit and a sense of humor. He has the layers of an onion-each one complete and unique in it's own right. He is someone you can go to when you need an answer, be it to an important question, or just where to get the best cup of coffee in town. He is admired by those who know him, and if you do pass him and don't get to know him...it's your own loss.
(7) D.K. Milgrim-Heath, June 20, 2010 6:23 PM
My Darling, Dearest Daddy You Loved Me Unconditionally By D.K. Milgrim-Heath©2010 My darling, dearest daddy you loved me unconditionally- No matter that I was born with bad hearing disability. You loved my Mother and I like no other- The other female in your life you adored being your mother. So family oriented were you in every sincere loving way. You instilled that with me with my own children today. You loved your religion as that was your heredity- I - your adult daughter feels this way too as that’s so important to me. With you at Central Park in general and riding the ponies and observing animals and all- To Radio city Music Hall, The Statue of Liberty and Rockefeller Centre I had a ball! Saturdays were ‘Barbie Doll shopping’ those little girl memories of yesterdays- You took me and mom to the Metropolitan Museum of art for culture always. Seeing ‘My Fair Lady’, ‘The Sound of Music’, ‘Mary Poppins’ those movies of beauty- Filling my 1950-1960’s childhood with your love of music being your fatherly duty. Never seeing your grandson act in ‘The Sound of Music’ you would have been thrilled- Darling Daddy your heart attack came and my life with you was forever stilled. To me via photos and memories you’ll be forever young- Bob Dylan written immortal words fitted you Daddy perfectly- forever to be sung. I miss you Daddy you're forever in my heart- I miss you Daddy you're forever in my heart- Emotionally and spiritually you're still with me we’re not apart.
(6) Alan S., June 20, 2010 1:43 PM
Some dad's are indeed lucky
What a wonderful daughter you are Yael. Your father is truly blessed. I enjoyed your article. Yael, your father clearly deserves this homage to him. He is one lucky man. How blessed is the parent that receives such loving devotion and adoration, whether the parent deserves it or not. It is indeed a strange and unfair thing in life that some parents -- it doesn't matter whether it's the father or mother -- are truly blessed with children that appreciate their parent(s) and show it constantly thru loving devotion or adoration -- even if the parent hasn’t done anything special to merit such adoration. One would think that by just being a parent and at the very least “being there” for the child, that they should merit at least the normal amount of love and devotion that should normally exist in a standard parent child relationship. Some parent’s don’t even receive that. And perhaps it is true that they don’t even deserve it. How often have we heard of parent's who truly 'deserve' such love yet their children do not offer it. What truly boggles my mind is the opposite situation: the parent that’s done little to receive such devotion yet the child gives it unconditionally. Who knows, perhaps luck has something to do with it. Perhaps the truly blessed parent somehow makes their own 'luck’. In the movie Back to School, Rodney Dangerfield meets his child's college roommate (who has either a Mohawk or has colored his hair pink or purple) and says: 'I think you're trying to get back at your parents."
(5) Deborah Wood, June 20, 2010 1:42 PM
My Dad
His word was also his bond.I was not as close to him as I was my Mother. My Mother was always the one who reassured me, that I was smart & that I could do anything I set my mind to. I learned later that he bragged to other people about me.Mother said that he thought I would get the big Head.He worshiped the groung that my Mother walked on & proved it everyday in every way.He worked 2 & 3 jobs to provide the best he could for his Family. He was a Great Dad in everyway. The Best thing he did was choose my Mom to be His Wife.He told her at 13 that he was goingto Marry her, and 5 years later he did.
(4) Melissa, June 20, 2010 1:35 PM
Lovely Article
Such a blessing to have such a father. It is indeed a complicated world between fathers and daughters. Your writing brings us right in and reminds us how much our fathers live in us. Many thanks.
(3) joanne, June 19, 2010 6:41 PM
very good writing
How distinctly this piece has described that special relationship between a father and daughter. Only daughters and fathers will ever understand this. Thanks for this,Yael, you will always be my favorite writer.
(2) Miriam, June 17, 2010 5:34 PM
What a Human Being! What a father!
Thank you!
(1) tzippi, June 17, 2010 4:08 PM
Great article to inspire
This is a great article. Very sweet and touching... makes me try to think about my own father and the good things I remember from my time with him.