The Full Catastrophe

A while back I wrote briefly about my family tree on this post along with a photo of Laurel wearing a babushka. Our friend, Lydia, left a comment on that post mentioning a children’s book called “The Keeping Quilt” that I finally read for the first time. It is indeed an amazing book that felt especially poignant to me. My mom’s mom had a stroke recently (and is recovering well, thankfully) and it is my mom’s mom’s family that has the Hungarian heritage. Moses Herschkovitz and his son Emmanuel were born in Hungary and lived in Vienna, Austria where Emmanuel served as a rabbi. They immigrated to the US in the late 1880’s and settled in Denver where they operated the city’s only Jewish bakery. Emmanuel’s son, David, was my great grandfather.

In “The Keeping Quilt” younger generations possess a family quilt which is incorporated in the weddings, births, and other significant moments in their family history. I don’t have any keepsakes from the Herschkovitz’s, but I am so glad that do have my mom & grandma. Here’s a picture of my own Keeping Quilt. made by my mom to celebrate my marriage to Brian.