Rachmonis (the Yiddish word for mercy and pity)
I remember coming home from school many times and being very angry. Good thing my favorite person, Bubbe, was there to greet me. She always had a way to soothe my feelings. She said to me in Yiddish, “When you calm down, we’ll talk.” After I finally did calm down we talked.
I told her that as I was walking home from school some boys were making fun of me because I was Jewish. She sat me down at the kitchen table and placed a plate of freshly made kugle in front of me. Bubbe’s raisen noodle kugle was better than any tranquilizer.
Then she talked to me in Yiddish. “Maish” (my middle Jewish name.) “Kids can be nasty to other kids; they learn prejudice from others including their parents. You need to have rachmonis on them. You’ll grow up with a lot of prejudice; that’s just the way it is.”
“Bubbe, it hurts a lot! I can’t help it if I’m Jewish.” “Maish, I’ll say it once again; you have to have rachmonis, which isn’t just mercy, but pity. You can do it!”
“Bubbe, I love you.” “I love you too Maish.”
