Jacob wanted his son to be Bar Mitzvahed which was not going to be possible in Alsip, Illinois where there wasn't a Synagog and only two Jewish families. So in the summer of 1965, the Stones moved to Skokie Illinois. A village with five Jewish Temples and over 40,000 Jewish families.
Ira missed his friends in Alsip. He also knew that there were not going to be any Christmas Trees in his neighborhood, but he just had to tough it out!
September 9, 1965 was the first day Jane Stenson School. Ira's teacher's name was Miss Lynd. She was the tallest and toughest fourth grade teacher in the school, but Ira really liked her. There were no paper airplanes or spit-balls flying in her class!
The school was only three blocks from home, but Ira rode his Schwinn Stingray to and from. His Dad gave it to him as reward for not making a big deal about the move to Skokie.
September 9th was also the first day of Hebrew School. So as soon as he got home, his Mom drove him to Congregation Bnai Emmunah. On the drive over, he popped a full wad of Bazooka Bubble Gum in his mouth, chewing and blowing bubbles like it was the last day on Earth.
Ira wasn't in the classroom for five minutes when Mr. Rosen walked up to him, held his hand in front of his mouth and in a heavy accent said, "spit out the chew!" Ira did as he was told, and to his shock, the Hebrew school teacher put the gum on the tip of his nose. Ira wore the badge of honor until the end of class, enduring 2 hours of giggles and snickers.
After that day, Ira learned to swallow his gum if he was ever caught chewing.
No comments:
Post a Comment