This is our story

It was raining outside, and Layla’s parents decided to go visit her great grandmother.

Layla was excited because it was a long drive and at 9 years old, she enjoyed watching all the beautiful world go by her through the window.

She was also excited because her great grandma made the best chocolate chip cookies

and potato pancakes. Boy was she excited for those!

Her great grandmother was an amazing cook and no one in the family was able to

replicate her potato pancakes.

She lived in an apartment in Brooklyn and today her aunt rose would be visiting too.

When Layla and her family arrived, she bounced out of the car, excited and full of

energy.

Once Layla got to the 9th floor, her great grandma Jeannette greeted her with a big hug

and kiss as she always did.

"Ahhh mamala I love you, I’m so glad you’re here" Great Grandma Jeannette said

"Great grandma I love you too, can we make cookies?"

Great Grandma Jeanette laughed and said, "yes we can, go say hi to your aunt rose and

then go to the kitchen"

Layla nodded and went to say hi to her aunt rose

"Ahhhh mammala" she said as she gave Layla a big hug, " I’m so happy you’re here"

Layla then went to the kitchen. Jeanette had many pictures all around her apartment and

one caught Layla's attention.

"Great grandma who is that in the picture?" she said and pointed to one of a man and

woman in a black and white photo, smiling as if they had won the lottery.

"Ooo that is your grandma and grandpa the day they were married. Did you know I am your grandpa’s mommy?"

Layla’s eyes grew wide and shook her head no.

"Yes, I am your grandpa, uncle champ and uncle Marvin’s mommy" she said

"And my sister" aunt rose said coming into the kitchen with a big smile

"Mammala i adore you! How are you?" Aunt rose said to Layla as she gave her a big hug.

“I’m good aunt rose, were going to make chocolate chip cookies my favorite” Layla said,

excited.

“chocolate chip cookies” aunt rose said laughing. “Layla mammala I love you you are so like me; I love chocolate chip cookies too”

Layla smiled and began to get a chair to move over to the side of the counter to stand on.

“Great grandma can you tell me more about our family please, I did not know you and Aunt Rose were sisters” Layla said.

“Oh yes honey, your great grandma here married my brother, but did you know when they met, she was supposed to marry someone else?” aunt rose said laughing.

They all began to laugh

Great Grandma Jeanette winked at Layla and said, “soon as I saw your great grandpa, I knew I would marry him. It was love at first sight”.

“Wow really, it’s like a fairy tale great grandma” Layla said.

As Great Grandma Jeanette put out the bowl for mixing, she said “Sure I can, ill tell you my story and your Aunt Rose can you tell you hers”.

Aunt Rose laughed and said “ah mammala I love you so much, of course I can”.

Great Grandma Jeanette helped Layla put the cookie mix into the bowl. She gave her the spoon to stir as she put in the rest of the ingredients.

“Well, my mammala I was born in Austria and a very bad man decided he did not like people like us that were Jewish”.

Layla stopped stirring and stared at her Great Grandmother.

“Not like us. How can anyone not like us?” she asked confused.

“Well mammala some people just grow up to be bad people and this person was one of them, you’ll learn more about him in in school” Great Grandma said.

Aunt Rose was standing next to Layla who was standing on the chair mixing the cookie dough.

“That bad man started something called the Holocaust. He would take anyone that was Jewish and make them disappear for good, it was incredibly sad” Great Grandma said.

“I came here with my dad and sister through Ellis Island in New York” Great Grandma Jeanette continued. “I almost couldn’t get through too, it was scary”.

Layla’s eyes widened and she said, “Really how come?”

Great Grandma Jeanette said, “The man who was doing my health check purposely made my eye bleed. Back then there were people who did not want to let us through so they purposely made things happen so we couldn’t”

Layla said, “that was another very bad man, what did you do?”

The cookies were mixed, and Aunt Rose began to help Layla make them into balls to put onto the cookie sheets.

“Well, my sister had the star of David on her jacket which meant that she could pass through. She took her star and rubbed it on my jacket, it was chalk. She rubbed it so well it looked like we both had the star. Then I was allowed through” Great Grandma Jeanette said.

“Wow your sister is very smart, I am happy she helped you Great Grandma” Layla said.

“Me too!” Aunt Rose said with a wink. “If she had not gotten through, she would not have met my brother and our whole family could be different” she said laughing.

“I am very proud of our family” Layla said as her great grandma put the cookies in the oven.

She began to lick the spoon as her aunt rose said, “My turn to tell my story, I was actually the first in the family to be born here”.

“My family is from Russia; did you know that? Your part Russian mammala” Aunt Rose said, and Layla shook her head.

They had moved to the living room couch to talk while the cookies baked.

“My family came through Ellis island too; we did not have such a hard time as your Great Grandma though” Aunt Rose continued.

“My father, Morris, came here with my sister Silvia and your great grandpa Lou so he

wouldn’t have to go into the Russian army’ Aunt Rose said. “It was a terrible thing the Russian Army in the 20s, they were better off coming here. My father’s brother was already here, and my father had everyone take the last name he adopted”.

“Is that how we became Jacovsky?” Layla asked

“Yes, it is, I am not sure why his brother took that last name but t it is what my father signed in with at Ellis island “Aunt Rose answered.

Layla continued to look at her Aunt Rose in awe as she spoke while Great Grandma Jeanette would nod her head and smile during the story.

“My mother, Miriam, though would sometimes use her Russian last name which was Diacova” Aunt Rose continued. “She didn’t know any English and I had to take her to night classes and interpret for her”.

“My father knew some English and learned more over the years because he had a pushcart, he would sell food to people from, ohhh we were very poor though mammala” Aunt Rose said.

Then the buzzer went off to signal that the cookies were ready; it made all three of them jump.

“Ill go get the cookies and you finish the story” Great Grandma Jeanette said.

“My mother went on to have my two other brothers here in America, Philip and Abe. We barely had enough to eat and at that time only boys went to college. It just wasn’t in the cards for me even if I wanted to” Aunt Rose said.

“You remind me a lot of my mother and myself mammala” Aunt Rose said.

“I do, that makes me happy” Layla replied smiling.

Then Great Grandma Jeanette came in the living room with cookies and drinks. “Here we go, cookies are ready. Let us have some while we talk” she said.

“We did the best we could and then when I was two years old your great grandma married my brother Lou. She became a second mom to me; we became so close “Aunt Rose said as she squeezed Great Grandma Jeanette’s hand.

“Your Great Grandpa Lou was a painter and he worked for the union but never had his own business. He even painted your grandma and grandpa’s apartment in Bloomfield” Aunt Rose said winking.

Layla giggled while eating her cookie.

“Your great grandpa passed in the 70’s of a heart attack. But I know you’re close with your uncle Phil” Aunt Rose said.

“Yes, we talk every week, and he tells me the best stories of different places he’s traveled to. I want to be like him when I grow up and see everything too”

Aunt Rose and Great Grandma Jeanette started laughing and both hugged Layla.

“I love you mammala so much. I just adore you and cannot wait to see all the things you do when you get older. You are so much like me” Aunt Rose said.

“I love you both, thank you for telling me your stories. I will always remember them, how we became our family”.