the frenzied weathervane.

the unbridled cruelty of humanity has pushed so many of us into predicaments that have no right existing along with humanity, but they do. and like a frenzied weathervane spinning uncontrollably in strong winds, no sure direction is apparent. but when the winds begin to diminish, and (if) a sense of calm is before you, look, look, and love.

my maternal grandparents came to america from the pogroms of belarus; and my paternal great grandparents came to america from romania. my grandma lillie would hold me in her arms and tell me so many frightening tales of her childhood in belarus. she whispered about the hateful and dreaded cossacks on their mighty horses. the cossacks, her voice trembling, would rummage fiercely through all the jewish villages to burn, rape and pillage their lives and homes. she told me of how she, her mom, mom's sisters and her sisters, would all frantically run and jump into their secret hiding places when they would hear the pounding of the horses hooves. after the dust cleared, and they'd re-enter their home, everything would be turned upside down, broken and trampled upon. many of the houses and businesses in the village would be burning or burnt down: unbearable, unrelenting fear. one of her sisters, my great aunt rose, just 10, never made it out of belarus; and the rest, with some fathers, uncles and sons, the ones that weren't miraculously killed, were able to "get out", with underground jewish agency funding, to "ellis island, america". great grandpa and grandma preefer from romania, aka grandma & grandpa from the country, moved to the catskills mountains of new york state, thus the country, and opened up a bungalow colony on what became known as preefer farm, which was on preefer road in glenwild, ny. while my great grandparents lived in romania during its appalling oppression of romania's jews, this was not their sole reason for coming to america, because everyone hated everyone according to great grandpa, but also to leave a small-minded, very stale, gray society. and since they had saved enough money, and just a bit more to "get out", they would find a way to america to build "the golden life". grandma lillie gave birth to 3 kids, one was my mom, the other 2 were my uncle eddie and uncle sonny. my mom became a psycho-therapist, uncle eddie the director of united cerebral palsy, nyc, and uncle sonny opened h& h bagels, which he sold in the 1970's. but h & h was one of the first bagel kingdoms in nyc, and has grown to become a global behemoth. my great grandparents gave birth to 4 sons, one was my grandpa artie. grandpa artie and his brother, jack, opened a textile factory named after my dad, melco textiles; the two other sons became doctors, good ones too. my dad and his bro, uncle joel, along with their cousin, roger, built melco into one amazing enterprise. ah, here in the land of plenty these jews became doctors, directors and merchants extraordinaire: doctors preefer, melco and h & h, wow! how could i uphold and build upon these traditions of excellence? an heir to a bloodline espousing the economics of supply & demand juxtaposed with über-liberals preaching freud, marx and palestine. jewish, yes absolutely. orthodox, conservative, reformed, agnostic, atheist...? i suppose so. sounds jewish to me!
i lived in israel to study my historical roots, met my great, great aunt lena, who traveled to palestine while her brother, grandpa from the country, chose new york. i went to law school and practiced law to learn how to represent the poorest folk of kings county, nyc, & of an exceptionally rural county in pa. i learned fairness.

and how sacred chow? from hearing the stories of the pogroms to working for the poorest of folk, my focus became how could i build fairness with less violence? i found the answer looking through a webster's dictionary, sacred, sacred cow, sacred heart, sacred scriptures, ah, sacred chow! i know, that having brought a jewish and legal sensibility of fairness into being at sacred chow, that creation is a bit more restful and soothed. and i know, here on earth, that my child, who is half korean and half jewish, lives with this sensibility as well, and much more: his agile mind, body and soul grow in the presence of a truly sacred chow.
in the darkest days of the pogroms, in the darkest days of our lives, the frenzied weathervane turning and turning in the winds of time, in search of real peace and freedom, stops at love. i say, i love you! i hold you in my arms and drink in your tears, and tell you that sacred chow is here to help fill your broken hearts and bellies with love. i will do my part, you do yours, let's speak to g-d, ask for direction, and we will find our way to each other. this i promise.