The Children of Willesden Lane

   I was in high school when Iraq invaded Kuwait. Actually, we were on a family vacation and Dad pulled me aside someplace out west. He had me look at the price of gas before we went into our hotel for the night. Sixty seven cents. "You'll never see gas that price again, Emily," he told me. I was convinced he was clairvoyant when the same station had raised its price to a whopping eighty six cents the next day.

That same year, I began to look into colleges. Although I was reluctant to make any change that involved growing up, the only two colleges that seemed to merit the sacrifice of leaving home were Bryn Mawr and Haverford. At the time, they were interconnected to me. I liked Haverford because it was coed. I liked Bryn Mawr because my host played handbells and enjoyed Charlotte Bronte. I was comfortable in both colleges because they were intellectual, small, and havens for individuals.

My mother, though, was a war worrywart at the time. She was scared that the unrest in the Mideast would escalate. She remember the draft from her young adulthood and was convinced that if a war broke out and there were a draft again, the draft would be a egalitarian one and her teenage and twenty-something daughters would be at risk of being called in. I'll never forget sitting on the ledge of the green couch in our living room as she spoke to me about college choices. "It can't hurt that Bryn Mawr and Haverford are Quaker schools. It would help your case that you are a pacifist." 

Hmmm. I balked at that conversation. A Jewish Quaker. Hmmmm. (There are, in fact, a lot of similarities between my Reconstructionist Humanism and Quaker beliefs, but that's another story and one I didn't know back then.) My mother really wanted to protect me, I thought, and still do. 

After that, I started thinking about pacifism. I hate war. I detest violence and even humor about violence. War movies make me cringe and the video game violence is incomprehensible to me. I've always considered myself a pacifist....ever since I learned about the Pacific Ocean and what its name means! 

But I began to have doubts about Pacifism too. Never mind that my mother's well-meaning protective plan was dishonest ( and, fortunately, unnecessary...). What if the U.S. had not intervened in WWII? What if nobody resisted the violence of the Nazis?  I'm all for not initiating violence, but what is a pacifist to do when under attack? To me, turning the other cheek doesn't feel like a very pragmatic or dignified response. And what is a pacifist to do when other people are in need of help?

The Quakers are heroes of the Holocaust for their role in the Kindertransport. This program to save children from Nazi occupied countries didn't last for very long but its impact was immense. The Quakers were instrumental in orchestrating the movement of children, provision of housing and schooling when necessary, and even helping older ones find jobs in England. 

I first learned about the Quakers in WWII from my friend, Bea Schmidt. She is the mother of a dear friend of mine, and the grandmother of another dear friend of mine. One July 4th, we were all seated outside on Ken's porch in South Brunswick and Maddy and I began to ask Bea questions about how she eded up in the United States. She told us an amazing story about leaving Germany before her parents and being sent to a Quaker boarding school in London to wait out the troubles. She was fortunate; her parents got out and there was a complete family reunion. When we went together to the Quaker Meeting House in Princeton, I said a quiet prayer of thanks for that! Without her escape, there would be no Ken, and hence no Maddy. In saving one soul, the boarding school which took her in saved many. 

This summer, a musical came out that focused on the Kindertransport and the life of refugees in London who came of age while separated from their families. Mona Golabek told the story of her grandmother, Lisa Jura, and how music helped her during these rough times.  Unfortunately, I missed seeing the musical when it came to New York, but my parents saw it and came back with a copy of the book that Mona Golabek wrote to share her grandmother's story.

Slowly, over the past few weeks, I have been reading this book, The Children of Willesden Lane. I have been reading it slowly, nursing it, because I didn't want it to end. I wanted to imagine each character, each scene, each bit of life lived in England, and feel gratitude that Lisa risked all to be safe.

I return to my conversation with my mom about Quakerdom. Imagine a parent knowing their homeland was increasingly unsafe and knowing it was necessary to send a child away on a train to be raised far away by whatever ( hopefully better) dates await. Imagine being a teenager on the receiving end of the conversation. Or the older sister who had aged out of the opportunity...or the younger sister who was too young to go but not too young to understand it all. To think I was nervous simply about going away to college!

Lisa Jura was lucky to survive and to have her sisters survive. She was unlucky to lose her parents and to have her childhood so harshly disrupted. Her story is one of so many realities of risk and change, of peaceful people reaching out to help the needy, of newly constructed families and ever-aching losses. This was common in the Holocaust, and still occurs in places of great need now. It is not only war that makes parents take great risks (I think of the Lost Boys or Sudan); it is also poverty, illness, and violence. I cannot wage wars to fix the world, but I need to always look for ways where I can add my strengths to do my part to help heal the world. 

I am not a Quaker, even if I went to a Quaker college, helped out at a recent Quaker wedding, love "Tis a Gift to be Simple" and appreciate the great spiritualism of silence as well as the power of community.  I am a Reconstructionist Jew who is proud of her heritage and who believes firmly in Tikkun Olam. My particular gift is speaking with tweens and teens. This past week, we began a deep look into microaggressions and we just published a YouTube video on the gender gap. I will keep raising awareness and creating a safe place for growth. And I will thank the Quakers  and all the other people who risk to make the world better.