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Family Is All That Matters 56 The Braverman kids were a talented bunch, each with their own special gi. The eldest brother, Mikhail, was very handy; he could repair just about anything mechanical. The curly-headed Aleksander, who played the part of Russia's greatest poet, Aleksander Pushkin, in the drama club, was nicknamed just that— Pushkin. He was also a great athlete and track star. Rosa was recognized for her straight-A grades. Zhenya was known as a "gypsy" for her theatrics. At school, she was an indifferent student because all she could think of was the stage, her new parts, songs, and dances. Many years later, aer a performance in Cincinnati, Zhenya was approached by a man who introduced himself as a neighbor om Pavlovskiy Posad. His name was Moisey Farber. Zhenya asked him to put in writing what he Below: Lyubov Volsun in Pavlovskiy Posad, Russia, 1937. Facing page: Aleksander Braverman in Pavlovskiy Posad, Russia, 1948. The photograph was taken at Summer Pioneer Camp, where Aleksander was a leader. remembered about her parents. Soon she received a letter in which Moisey recalled how, as a 10-year-old boy om a non-religious family, he once came to visit the Bravermans at Passover with a piece of bread in his hand. He had no inkling that at such time leavened bread (or any kind of hametz) was a violation of Passover. "I distinctly remember the explosion that followed. I flew out of the apartment like the cork out a champagne bottle, wondering what made your dad so mad." Since many Jewish kids in that Russian town had little knowledge of the traditions of their people, ethnic Russians had every reason to entertain even quainter notions about their Jewish neighbors. Once at Passover, Zhenya was waiting for her iends to go to the dance club. Usually her iends would rush in a crowd into the Braverman house, but that time they lingered on the street. When asked why they were reluctant to come in, one of the girls said that her mother had warned her that the Jews needed Orthodox blood for their Passover cooking. Malka was a smart and wise woman, a true rebbitzin ("wife of the rabbi"), as she was known among the Jews. She helped her daughters avoid conflicts with their girliends at school and at the dance club, even though on the whole the family was on good terms with its Russian neighbors. By the start of World War II, Leib and Malka's children numbered seven: sons Mikhail and Aleksander and daughters Klara, Zina, Rosa, Zheyna, and Lyubov. Fira and Yura had died, and the elder daughters, Klara and Zina, were already married, each with a child of her own. The primary concern of the large family was survival. The children were taught an old Yiddish wisdom, "The lazy one goes hungry." Food was scarce and exceedingly plain. A piece of bread, dunked in sunflower oil, and liberally sprinkled with salt that Zhenya munched on as she rushed to dancing lessons, was normal fare in those years. Jewish parents,

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