Four Languages of My Father

   I didn't have much time to prepare for this occasion, because on an occasion like this one is always ready but never prepared.

   I was shuffling my thoughts yesterday, I was thinking what to say, what not to say, how to emphasize major cornerstones of his life, and I decided that the best way to describe life of this man would be writing this tiny story about languages he spoke during his life.

   He was born few years after tragic events, now called on a language of the land he was born in - HOLODOMOR. Why I’ve mentioned that tragic event in Ukrainian history, if he was born after that? Well, for thou, it was somehow a little better, when he was born, it was not a Garden of Eden by all means.

   Ukrainian language.
 

   Second language of his life.

And first stories of this event I heard from him, which he told me when I was old enough to listen to such stories were in third language of his life –

Russian.

    The last phrase I've heard from him in our last phone conversation (believe it or not, considering nature of his illness..., well, one of his illnesses) was in fourth language of his life –

English.

   The last phrase was - I am very glad.


   So, what was the first one? The first language? He was born in place two hundred something miles away from Kiev, and seventy something miles from Zhitomir, and ten something miles from Lyubar in a tiny little village where everybody spoke first language of his life

    Yiddish.

   And that was a language of fist four and half years of his life. That was language he communicated to his mother. He didn't have a blessing to communicate to his father, because he died before he learned to speak any language.
 
    And after memorable in all of its horror day of October 27th 1941 he started his conquest of his second language of his life -

Ukrainian language

   For two reasons - there was no one to speak Yiddish any more in that SHTETL, but his mother and his uncle by his side, and speaking Yiddish meant death. So, he started his rapid reeducation. 

   It helped. Two of them survived. And from that point when he and his mother survived (when he was 7) and to the age of 18 it was the only language he knew

 - Ukrainian language

   And in a next memorable for the country year of 1953 there was not much to choose from for future education for young Jewish boy, who spoke only Ukrainian. Odessa was perhaps one of very few, if not only city where he can pass an entry exam in

Ukrainian language

But passing an exam meant only university acceptance. The study was conducted in

Russian.

And..., as he learned fast - it was not cool to speak that beautiful melodic language, he was only able to speak, among other sophisticated Jewish Odessa's boys.  And hence, parallel to studying technical disciplines he started his second linguistic reeducation.
   So, Russian became language of his life. Language he spoke to his children, language he spoke the love of his life, with whom, after almost 10 years of separation he will be reunited today.

   But Russian, as the next twist of his life dictated (mostly by his son) was not the last language of his life. When he was fifty five or so, his children decided that he must learn a little

English.

   He didn't want to..., but... children have decided....

   He succeeded (considering his other debilitating illness – twenty seven years of blindness) only to some point.

    But in that last telephone conversation conducted in Russian, he was asking - how is everybody.  I was telling him, that everybody is all right…
Your doughtier is all right…
I am all right….
Your grandchildren are all right…
He was mostly listening.  I was not sure that he understood everything I was telling him. But at the very end of that conversation he concluded. In English...

I am glad... I am very glad.

So, dear dad. In all four languages of your life. Thank you for the life you've given us.
Rest in peace.
Спи спокойно.      
Cпокій у спокої.
We will be all right.
Ru in shulem.
Me Vet der laben.

We will be all right.
Thank you!