Mr. Monday and other tales of Jewish Amsterdam

MY FATHER AND MR. LEBOVITZ

iVlY FATHER HAD A FAITHFUL FRIEND whom he Called "Mr. Lebovitz". Nobody had ever seen this Mr. Lebovitz, including Father for that matter.

In reality Mr. Lebovitz did not exist at all. He was born in Father's imagination and became a piece of his personality. I can just imagine the birth of Mr. Lebovitz. My father was born a very timid man. He had in his system, however, a very keen sense of judgement about the realities of life and about its problems. "G-d created the world in such a way that everything would come out all right by itself if only people would not interfere," he used to say.

From this philosophical thesis, he tried to explain to his children that controlled indifference is the very essence of the true "art de vivre". But in doing so he constantly had to face Grandmother's opposition, for she tried to govern our household like a tyrant.

I can well imagine how, during one of their arguments as to the proper way of bringing up children, Grandmother might have said, "You are sane and crazy at the same time. How can anybody teach his children a thing like this? When they are grown up, they'll be just the same kind of fools as their father is."