Believe it or not I have two
parents. This means I have two stories of how I came to the “great” country of
America. I’m ¾ Russian Jew, and the last fourth is my grandma who was born in
Poland in an area that is most likely now Russia. On my Dad’s side I have my
late grandpa, whose family came over from Russia to escape the communist
persecution of Jews and there xenophobic culture. (Against the Jews
specifically) This is a major push factor at the fact that they would have been
literally pushed out of their homes. The fact that they could live freely in
the US was a pull factor, and the economic opportunity was a pull as well. My grandpa
was born in Brooklyn New York, where his family settled after moving. There he
met my Grandma who was born in Poland in the 1920’s. My Grandma moved in the
early 1930’s, with the Nazi party developing to the west, and Stalinist Russia
lurking to the east, my grandma and many other Jews fled Europe to the
democratic United States. Again, religious persecution was the push factor, and
the opportunity to flourish and be free in America was a pull.
My
mother’s mother ‘s parents came from Russia as well; they too avoided the
pogroms. My Great Grandpa, known to me as the late Papa Rudy, was just young enough
to receive the mercy of another family who hid mine long enough for them to
leave Russia. His father had a cousin who gave them work, (pull) in Youngstown,
Ohio. When papa Rudy grew up he became a jeweler and moved to Cleveland to find
a larger market, (pull). His daughter, my late grandma decided to attend The
Ohio State University (The biggest pull there could be) where she met Richard
Eli Neustadt my grandfather or Pappy. Pappy’s grandfather was, surprise, from
Russia, and he too was pushed by the Pogroms and pulled too the States. He was
given the last name Neustadt, which ironically in those times was German,
meaning New City. His son developed a Jewish gazette after being pulled for
work to the great Columbus, Ohio. There Pappy was born in 1929, and would also
go to OSU where he would turn his families blood from just scarlet, to scarlet
and grey. He was pulled back when his father died and had to drop out to take
over the gazette. After already marrying my Grandmother and having four kids.
My grandparents settled in a Jewish neighborhood Bexley, Ohio a suburb of
Columbus. Bexley was, and still is, a large Jewish community, which again
pulled in my family. His second child,
Carol, would attend Ohio State as well after transferring from American, she
would stay in Columbus until she was 48, because she was pulled by family and
the homie quality of the area.
By then my Grandpa on my Dad’s side and my
Grandma had had two kids. The older child, Barry, would be taken with them to
Long Island. (My Aunt Bev also went with them, but I thought I’d introduce my
dad to the story.) Long Island was also
a large safe haven for the Jewish people, and this again pulled my family. The
high cost of Brooklyn with two kids must have been a push. My Grandpa Solomon,
Sol, Cohen, came from the Ancient Hebrew Priests. Or I assume from the name
Cohen, it is possible it was changed when his family moved to Russia. My dad
however, went to a high school that sent many kids to a small liberal arts
school in Oberlin, Ohio, known as Oberlin College. After graduating and
completing law school, like many a Jew before him, he got a job in Columbus
where surprise, surprise he met my mom.
Long story short, they had two
kids, I think the first son is in Atlanta now, not very interesting, but the
highly achieved and celebrated younger son, Jacob (Jake) Louis Cohen, would be
the most important part of what came out of this story. However, it was not my
choice to move to Potomac when I was 7, when my father lost his job a huge push
was created, and when he was offered a job in DC for much more than he had made
in Columbus, ( but they say not to talk about money) a pull factor had formed.
And on December 31st of this year it will have been the 11th
anniversary of the Cohen family moving to Maryland.
