Who is the “song and dance” man from Russia that Peter refers to?
His name was Velvo, which means wolf. According to my mother’s story, he was, indeed, a song and dance man who so charmed my mother’s grandmother that she left her husband for him. This was quite a scandal, of course, for a small Jewish community in Russia at that time. Fortunately, according to my mother, another wife was found for my great grandmother’s husband before she and Velvo left town together. I think someone still has the wonderful picture of him that used to be in David and Bev’s home. When Peter was growing up, did you ever think he would choose to get stricter in his observance of Judaism? When he began to change his lifestyle, did you think he would stick with it for the long run? Did he ever come to you to talk about it? Not when he was growing up. Peter has told me he was not engaged by the ways that the family expressed its faith or practiced Judaism. I would certainly agree; this is very common for children growing up in suburban, middle-class Jewish families. I woul
