Significant Moments: Hebrew Texts

My father's father, Moses, a factory worker, died in December 1929; my father was 23 years old at the time. Following my grandfather's death the my grandmother commissioned a Torah scroll as a memorial, with the names of family members inscribed therein, which she donated to her congregation (Ohel Jacob). "Those with an intimate acquaintance of Hebrew texts will recognize immediately" the value of such a gift and the unusual generosity that the gift represented. See Yerushalmi, Y.H. Freud's Moses (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1991). The gift was paid for with life insurance proceeds of about $2000. For the widow of a working class husband to spend her legacy on such a gift carries an almost bizarre poignancy; keep in mind, also, this was the beginning of the great depression.