Early Memories
Nestled in the Gunz valley of southern Bavaria is a town called Ichenhausen. There my father, Rabbi Meyer Schuster, was a teacher, and in his free time he studied Talmud with the revered Ichenhausen dayan, Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Goldberg. The young teacher and the humble spiritual giant had much in common, such as their rich background in Jewish studies and their roots in eastern Europe, and naturally the two men spent much time together.
The seed planted by this spiritual partnership sprouted and blossomed into a different relationship on May 16, 1920, when Rabbi Schuster married Rabbi Goldberg’s daughter Rebecca. She was the sixth of nine children in the Goldberg family. Her brothers and sisters were Izzy, Dina, Hanna, Hirsch, Isaac, Willy, Meyer, and Frieda.
The Schusters moved to Stuttgart, in the state of Wurttemberg, Germany, for a few years. There my brother, Avraham Yehoshua (Harold), was born on August 15, 1921, a month after my grandfather had died. I came along two years later on July 16, 1923.
My brother was a good-natured lad and let me have any of his toys that I wanted. He took on the role of elder brother and was very protective of me. I was told that when I was an infant, I inched my carriage toward a beautiful antique vase and knocked it over, causing it to shatter all over the polished hardwood floor. Family legend has it that Harold locked the door to keep my parents out, and said, “You can’t come in because she didn’t break anything.”
When I was still an infant, Father took up a position as teacher in Ellingen. You’ll have trouble finding the place on the map - it’s a small, semiwalled town about thirty miles south of Nuremberg by rail. At that time Germany was divided into many semiautonomous states, and Ellingen was in the Franconia section of the state of Bavaria, on an elevated plateau hugged by the Franconian Jura mountain range. Father was referred to as Lehrer (teacher) Schuster. He accepted the responsibilities of rabbi, teacher, cantor, shochet, and ba’al korei for Ellingen and the surrounding villages, and dedicated himself fully to performing these special, holy tasks with great care and attention.
Although Father was busy with all these obligations, he spent most of his time studying and giving shiurim. He taught Talmud and other Jewish subjects clearly and comprehensively. One former student’s Israeli grandchildren marvel at her command of the intricacies of Hebrew grammar, which she had learned from Father as a young girl.
Father also stressed the ethical teachings of mussar that he had learned from his father-in-law, a student of Rabbi Simcha Zissel Broide (Ziv), the legendary Alter of Kelm. The Alter had established a small study hall in Kelm, Lithuania. There students synthesized intense Torah study with a strong emphasis on analyzing the human personality and shaping personal character traits, such as concentration, order, discipline, humility, and caring for others.
With his sincere, caring, and unassuming personality, Father was an influential teacher and made a difference in people’s lives. True to his German background, he was urbane, yet humble and unpretentious, and ran from controversy at all costs. He was well liked, and instilled in his congregation a deep appreciation for and understanding of Torah and mitzvos. Some of his students remained close to him for decades, often reiterating how his influence had made a lasting impression on their families. Their descendants are fine frum Jews, many of whom study in yeshivos today.
Actions were more important to Father than words. He loved his fellow man and showed him genuine concern and attention. In a different community, a popular young physician who possessed many friends caught a contagious disease and suddenly found himself ill and alone. His friends and relatives were afraid to go near him, and his landlady wanted to evict him from his apartment. Father visited him every day, did his shopping, and took care of his laundry. The physician never forgot my father’s kindness.
Father was also a historian and researched Stammbaume (genealogies) for people who originally had come from Germany. This was difficult for him because as a kohen, he was forbidden by Jewish law to enter cemeteries. Instead he did his research in archives, which were ubiquitous in Germany, where everything had to be recorded in great detail. His broad knowledge of history, old Hebrew texts, Jewish customs, and his precision in research earned him the reputation of being the unrivaled expert in the field of genealogy in Bavaria.
The extent of Father’s expertise in German Jewish history was unusual and fascinating. One could have asked Father anything about even the smallest villages in Germany. For instance, when asked why a certain community moved to a different town sometime in the distant past, he would describe in great detail, without hesitation, the relationship between the Jewish community and the duke over hundreds of years, and what influenced the duke to turn against the Jews. He knew every custom practiced in Germany and had intimate knowledge of where to look for ancient facts and records. I was too young to understand or remember all that was discussed during his engaging conversations with people in our home, but I cannot forget how they came from all over to speak with him.
Later Uncle Willy (Mother’s younger brother) - a talented artist and portraitist - helped him research tombstones and handled the artwork involved in preparing the genealogies. These were serious projects for which there was a demand among German Jews, and they provided a lucrative income. My parents were hoping to rise from the horrible depression of the 1920s and move to a larger city where our formal educational opportunities would have been more suitable. In the end, the family trees facilitated not only our escape from Germany, but also our passage to Cuba and immigration to the United States.
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