Coaltown and Citation
They were two very feeble and very old Orthodox Jews. Their nicotine-stained milk-white beards were topped by faded black derbies. Black velvet collars, sprinkled with dandruff ringed the necks of their heavy woolen overcoats. This was their dress uniform and only uniform as they emerged from their apartment building on Seabury Place.
We called them Coaltown and Citation after two notable Kentucky Derby winners. While Coaltown braced himself onto his mock bamboo cane, Citation clenched his arm. Slowly they trudged down the street. Each measured step was taken with the hope that they would remain upright as they made their way to to their dilapidated synagogue on Seabury Place. The synagogue consisted of two contiguous empty stores that surrendered to the Great Depression and never recovered. Were there other congregants? As far as we knew, they could have held services in a phone booth. The boys were too busy playing stickball to see if anyone joined them in their daily and Sabbath services. Our fathers, victims of The Great Depression found a more promising future in socialism than pie in the sky.
Based upon the number of men who returned after Moses sent them to spy on the land of Canaan (ten), Hebrew prayers should be recited by a group of ten or more men. The group is called a minyan. It was time for evening prayers. The boys were playing stickball. Citation was in no shape for the round up, but Coaltown made his usual attempt to capture the boys for a minyan.
“Coaltown is coming!” shrieked Mutt.
We made a mad dash for the nearest building and hid under the steps until he left. What if we spent ten minutes with him to satisfy the need for a minyan? Wouldn’t it add a bit of pleasure to their dreary lives? How would it impact on us? It wasn’t that we rejected him; it was the fun of not getting caught. Although I was always left with the uneasy feeling that we had taken advantage of two old and feeble men, this macho kid didn’t utter a word.
Victory in Europe! Many families had full time breadwinners during the war. Through their savings, they accumulated enough money to move to a better neighborhood. Coop-City was built in the northeast Bronx. Families that could afford it, moved there leaving numerous empty apartments. It was no longer the neighborhood I had known. Coaltown and Citation seemed to have dissolved into the pavement of Seabury Place. They were gone and so were the cement sidewalks, asphalt streets and the candy store, but not the treasured memories of our beloved little shtetl (village).