HUNGRY GERALD

HG’s father,  Hershele Zvi Freimann ( Nicknamed “Grisha”),  arrived in New York from Smulovich, Belorussia,  somewhere aound 1907.   His name was swiftly Americanized to Harry Freeman.   He found employment as an assistant cutter in a lower east side garment factory.   He slept on a bench in the rear of the factory.   His pay was eight dollars a week.   He woke very early so he could bathe in the public baths on Chrystie Street.   He was always meticulous about his appearance.   In order to save money, he ate one meal a day.   It consisted of a large schmaltz herring, a pumpernickel bread, a raw onion, a schooner of beer.   Cost: Eight cents.   HG thought about Harry Freeman last night as he ate a substantial amount of Russ & Daughters (the store is located about two blocks from Harry Freeman’s first place of employment) schmaltz herring washed down with Russian vodka and India Pale Ale. An HG explanatory note: Schmaltz, in Yiddish, means animal fat (such as chicken fat or schmaltz).  Yes, schmaltz also refers to cheap melodrama and sentimental fiction and music.  This is a digression.  Let’s get back to food.     Referring to herring, schmaltz herring is a fish that is quite salty and has a unique fatty mouth feel. HG finds it addictive.   The drawback: Ingestion of schmaltz herring leads to a raging, unquenchable thirst.   No amount of vodka and beer can make a dent. You just have to live with it with the knowledge that this too will pass.   As HG knocked off the schmaltz herring, he mused that more than one hundred years have elapsed since Harry Freeman arrived in the Goldener Medina (the Golden Land).   Yes, schmaltz herring tastes good but it’s also a link to a very complex past.   You’re still in my thoughts, Hershele Zvi Freimann.