A Shtetl Grew in Bessemer - Southern Jewish Historical Society

20 SOUTHERN JEWISH HISTORY
who owned Pizitz Department store (a separate store from the
older and larger Birmingham Pizitz) on Second Avenue, immigrated
to the United States from Vladivostok, and, according to
his son Jack, he “never forgot that this country afforded him opportunities
that he didn’t have before.” Levi’s wife Eva was born
and raised in Birmingham, and though neither Jack nor his sister,
Elaine, remembers their family keeping kosher, they do recall
other family rituals. Elaine has memories of her grandfather
(“Pompa”) living with them and leading their Passover seders:
“We were expected to sit, read, and observe for at least two to
three hours.” She also vividly remembers her mother lighting the
“short, white” Sabbath candles on Friday night, “A napkin over
her head, her hands sweeping over the candles, then covering her
eyes with her hands as she recited the prayers. And every morning
she said a prayer welcoming the new day.” 93
But as with Jewish people across America, there was at least
some degree of internal conflict during the Chanukah/Christmas
season for Bessemer’s Jewish citizens. These tensions were reflected
in the compromises Bessemer’s Jews made both within
their own families and with the greater community. Estelle Seigel
Silverstein’s memories are representative:
when Christmas came along, my grandfather Charles who, like I
said, was very religious, would celebrate Chanukah by giving us
Gelt. We never lit the menorah; he always did it and said all the
prayers, and then he’d give us a quarter or something like that.
We’d save the money, and then my brother and I would go to
the dime store and buy Christmas presents. Every Christmas,
while we didn’t have a tree, we did have Santa Claus. And Papa
would get up and watch us open presents. The Cherners had a
furniture store [Jefferson Furniture], but also carried bicycles,
and one year we went downtown on a day not long before
Christmas. Daddy was talking to Mr. Cherner, and I was with
Mother, when I saw a bicycle there. I got on it and then noticed
that it had my name on it. Mother said, “Well, you know like in
the shoe business they name shoes after people like the ‘Sarah’ . .
. the same thing’s true for the bicycle business.” And like a jerk I