In 1961, my wife, myself, and our two year old son moved into an apartment, which was the top floor of a three story house in Far Rockaway, NY. The house was owned by a Jewish family name Levine. Their family consisted of Louis (the father), Rose (the mother), and Billy and Rena (their children). Louis, as with a lot of men, was not into kids and they consequently weren’t so outgoing to him. When we arrived, Louis was outside and my son Lance ran to him to be picked up. He immediately had Louis’s devotion.

In any event, we were treated almost like family, and they were one of the nicest families I have ever met. Rose was a school teacher, Louis a furrier, and Billy & Rena were students. Rose had Lance come down quite often to visit, and we were glad to have some time being together. Rose would be cooking, sometimes for the family, and sometimes to freeze for her father to take home, defrost, heat, and eat. Both her and Louis’s fathers were Rabbis. While she was cooking, she would give Lance a pastry brush and a cup of water to have him paint her cabinets. I guess he had seen me re-painting the apartment and wanted to paint also. At any rate, she must have influenced him, because his business is as a painting contractor.

Her kitchen was, I think, the best smelling kitchen I have ever known. I know she used lots of garlic, but there must have been other spices as well. We had a Christmas tree decorated in front of a window on the top floor of a three story house. In this Jewish neighborhood, this was glaring, especially on weekends. A lot of the traditional Jewish people wouldn’t have lights on. With this family, it was only when Louis’s father, the Rabbi, came. He was bearded with the hat and black clothing of a Rabbi, and he seemed to fascinate Lance.

Lance, as a baby, as babies will, destroyed the Christmas tree, and my wife decorated it again. Rena asked Rosemary, my wife, if her and her cousin could decorate our tree - not knowing that it was already decorated. My wife said that would be alright and said she would call them to come up when ready. She took off all the decorations and had them come up and decorate. Needless to say, it wasn’t very professional, and my wife, once again after they left, took the decorations off and re-decorated for the third time. Even Billy and his cousin Michael visited with my wife, and she enjoyed their company. They were not phony, yelled at each other occasionally, and were a warm and loving family. Also, they were kind and generous to us in many ways. That’s when I first heard the phrase “Use it well.”

While living there, we had another baby named Gregory. When we left, it was as if we were leaving family. This has influenced my thinking on world issues as it pertains to the Jewish people. I now get very upset when people like Jimmy Carter puts them down and sympathizes with the Palestinians, also with the U.N. and how it treats Isreal. Then you have Ahmadinejad, invited to speak at Columbia University when he says he wants to destroy Israel. Now you know why I think the way I do.

Anti-semitism, to me, is a hate crime!