Spoken Like A Litvak
Boxer Shorts

Tim Boxer

Englewood Mayor Michael Wildes and
Hal Linden

At a Jewish National Fund briefing at his Manhattan law firm, Mayor Michael Wildes of Englewood, N.J., mentioned the blue and white pushkeh (charity box) his mom kept in the kitchen.

"Excuse me," said Hal Linden, "it’s pishkeh." (Obviously a Galitzianer; Wildes is a Litvak.)

The star of TV’s Barney Miller and spokesman for JNF, recalled how his mom used to lift him up so he could drop a coin in the pushkeh, er pishkeh, on the butcher’s block. The kid would cry that his nickel was gone and mom would say, "It’s alright, they’re building a country for the Jews."

Linden said his family was not really religious but mom kept a kosher home. Dad was a co-founder of the Order of the Sons of Israel, now known as Bnai Zion.

"My dad’s life revolved around the potential of a Jewish state," Linden said.

"I came home from school one day in 1948. I found my father sitting alone in the dark. I turned on the light. Tears were coming down his cheeks. It was the day Israel was declared a state."

REPRODUCED FROM: http://www.15minutesmagazine.com/boxer_shorts.htm

Paid for by Friends of Michael J. Wildes, Claudia Colbert, Treasurer