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“I LovedMy Motheron Saturdays”
and other talesfrom the
shtetl 
and beyond
Roslyn Bresnick-Perry
recipient of theNational Storytelling NetworkLifetime Achievement Award
 
edited & with an introduction by
Caren Schnur Neile
 
Praise forRoslyn Bresnick-Perry and
I Loved My Mother on Saturdays
 Ben 
 Y 
ehuda Press 
www.BenYehudaPress.com
Memoir / Storytelling / Jewish life $16.95
“T bigpicl i i I Loved My Mother on Saturdays,b   ’ lif — fi i  l i Bl,    w Amic immig i Nw Yk,  fill   gm c ig m — w fi p ll. Ti gi  wiig  lil, pk w m,  if  i  c i  liig m llig l f cl. Ti i  l ii i i  : i p b li  b im. Bick-P’ i  will f  pl mig.”—
 Na’amat Woman
“Tg  m-pl mli-l cicl pl i,fill wi m  pig mm, Rl’ ic   !S ci  wi   p  f  m pii.”— Pi Scm, ,
 Jewish Stories One Generation Tells Another 
“Rz P i  f i i’ fi ll f l. Wig mmi f  i w f Wki Liwki i i,  c  picl c b f ig  lifw i lc f Bl    f E Ep,  wll  Amic immig xpic. I c  imgi   w wl fi  bk  gif   lig.”— S Zili, ,
Because God Loves Stories: An Anthology of Jewish Storytelling 
“Rl i  il . Y cil ’   b Jwi  l  llig.”— Jimm Nil Smi,F  Pi,Iil Sllig C
 
Roslyn Bresnick-Perry34
The Prophet Elijah, My Uncleand Me
When I first started working on this story, I wasvery interested in getting down all the preparations for the holiday, because those preparations meant more tome than the holiday itself. I truly missed them here in America. –RBP 
I was born in a little Jewish town called a shtetl, in what is now the country of Belarus, a long, long time ago. But I still remembermany things about my old home. My father left for America whenI was only six months old. While my mother and I waited to joinhim, we lived with my mother’s family. I especially remember themany wonderful holidays spent with them.Pesakh, Passover, was the holiday I liked best, because there wasso much to do to prepare for it, and I loved to be able to help. Yousee, I was almost grown up by then. I was seven years old. Te Pesakh I want to tell you about still makes my heart beat with excitement, because of what happened when Elijah the Proph-et, my uncle, and I upset the Seder and got into trouble with the whole family.It was an early spring morning. Outside, the sun shone on ev-erything, the houses, the trees, the alleyways. Inside, the womenof my family were sitting around my grandmother’s large woodentable sewing. A lamp lit up the room, as the windows still had their winter shutters on them.Suddenly the door opens, and in comes my young Uncle Avrom-Layb. Spreading his arms out like an actor on a stage, he recites ina loud voice, “For lo, the winter is passed, the rain is over and gone,the flowers appear on the earth. Last night, I think I heard the voice of the turtle dove, and it said it was time to start preparing forPesakh. When do we start taking off the shutters and let in spring, wonderful spring?”My three aunts look up from their sewing, start laughing, and
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