I never met Sky and I had never even spoken to Sky. It wasn't until about two years ago that I even knew that Sky and his siblings existed. It was back then that I used the amazing technology of the internet to locate my Rashby cousins on the west coast. I have always been fascinated by my family's ancestry and there was always a piece missing in our family as it related to the Rashby line. As families go, our family is probably not much different than most. Family members either remove themselves or are removed by others for reasons that are not necessarily sensible. But it happens and it happened in our family. Sky's Dad and my Mom were first cousins. While growing up, they were pretty close. They played together in their youth. There was a falling out in the late 1950's/early 1960s and that was it. No more contact with each other for the rest of their lives. They too are now both gone from this earth. But their children do have contact. We email and call each other and we have resurrected a lost family connection.
I was not sure what it is that I wanted to say on this blog in memory of Sky. How do I write something meaningful about someone who I never had the privilege of personally knowing. I have thought about it this past week and decided that it may be comforting for family and friends to know something about Sky's "Rashby" heritage. In my youth, someone very wise once told me that in order to know where you are going in life it is important to know where you come from. How true that really is....From generation to generation a piece of generations past is carried forward to the next. Sky and I shared the same blood....we shared the same heritage....we shared pieces of the same generations past.
I had the privilege of knowing our great-grandmother. When I was a little boy I would see her quite often because she lived with my grandparents. Her name was Rose Rashbaum (the surname before it was changed by Sky's grandfather Robert Rashby). She was quite an amazing woman and from what I know of Sky and what I did know of my Great Grandma Rose, they would have loved each other dearly. She was a very warm and loving lady. She was also extremely sharp and bright even up until her dying day at the age of 87. Rose Rashbaum was quite a humanitarian. Even in the last years of her life, Rose, with failing eyesight and severe vascular disease, would travel by three city buses to a nursing home on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, where she would feed the residents , many who were much younger than she. She cared so deeply about those less fortunate. From what I have learned about Sky and his love of humanity....his caring spirit....I can see now how a piece of our Great Grandmother had transcended down to Sky, her great-grandson....a piece of a generation past....
I did not have the privilege of knowing Sky's grandfather, Robert (Bob) Rashby, the son of Rose Rashbaum. Bob Rashby passed away in the late 1950's before I was born. From the stories that I have heard over the years, Robert Rashby was quite a unique soul. He too was very bright and excelled academically. The son of immigrant Jews from Balystok, Poland, he reached great heights by becoming an assistant principal for an elementary school in Brooklyn, New York at a time when barriers prohibited American Jews from attaining such positions in the education system. While he accomplished so much in his career, it's what he did for the community that really deserves attention. Sky's grandfather lived his life in a most altruistic way. The community in Brooklyn where he worked was inhabited by many Hispanics. The people who lived there were quite poor and disadvantaged. My grandfather owned a pharmacy in that neighborhood. After school would let out, Bob would stop by the pharmacy. He would go to a room in the back of the pharmacy where he would teach English to Hispanic immigrants to help them better their lives and to help them prepare for citizenship. My grandmother told me that Bob would also buy shoes for the children in the school, whose parents were unable to buy such necessities for them. He bought them shoes on a very modest teacher's salary. Robert Rashby, like Sky, was a true humanitarian....a piece of Robert Rashby had transcended down to Sky....a piece of a generation past.
Our great-great-grandfather immigrated to America at the very end of his life. His name was Mayer Yacov Eisenstadt (he was the father of Rose Rashbaum). When he arrived in New York City in the mid 1920's his son would take him to the New York City Public Library on 42nd Street in Manhattan every week. Mayer would stay at the library all day and peruse book after book about astronomy. He had a passion to learn about the planets and the stars and a thirst for scientific knowledge. How ironic, that four generations later, Mayer's great-great-grandson Sky would become a scientist and pursue an academic career at such esteemed levels. A piece of Mayer had transcended down to Sky....a piece of a generation past.From what I know and have learned about Sky, the generations past would have been proud to have him as their progeny. His life continued to ignite many of the same sparks as those who walked before him . His soul is now with theirs. He made his contribution to this earth....in many ways beyond what most contribute in lives lived twice as long.
I see that on September 22nd there will be a memorial for Sky in Topanga, California. How befitting it is that the memorial will take place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the Jewish calendar. Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a day to remember, a day to reflect. I will be in our synagogue on that day. This year I will be saying Yizkor (Prayers of Remembrance) for my Mother for the first time. I lost my Mom earlier this year. I too will be saying Yizkor for Sky, my cousin who I did not know personally, whose blood I shared, whose ancestry I share. My prayers will be with all of yours....May Sky Rashby rest in peace....Amen.
Michael J. Moore
New City, New York
email: mmooreesq@aol.com
No comments:
Post a Comment