“Planting Seeds In Your Jewish Heritage Garden”
by Mort Laitner
My fourth-grade teacher read aloud all of the tall-tales— Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, Davy Crocket, Casey at Bat, John Henry and Johnny Appleseed.
As my teacher read, she held up the book so I saw my heroes painted in primary colors. These supermen wore no pastels.
My eyes ate those pictures of giants as my heart fell in love with story telling.
Enthralled, I sat listening to these tales of American heroes—especially Johnny Appleseed.
You remember Johnny Appleseed that classic 1948 Disney cartoon. (I wondered why Walt never created a tall-tales village at his park.)
You remember, barefooted Johnny with his sack of seeds hanging over his shoulder, tin-pot hat on his head and in his right hand he held the Bible.
Johnny reached into the sack and sowed his seeds so future generations would have apples to eat.
As Johnny planted seeds he sang:
“Oooooh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.”
I had forgotten that Appleseed was a real guy. (John Chapman)
I wondered what type apple seeds John Chapman placed in the ground: Red Delicious, Granny Smith, or McIntosh.
So when I hiked in the forest near my Catskill Mountain home and found a lone apple tree, I imagined that Johnny had randomly spread that seed on the ground and now I was eating the fruits of his labor.
I filled a paper bag with those yellow apples and presented them to my grandmother.
“Grandma, please bake me an apple pie.”
I can still taste the sweet love baked into my grandma’s apple pie.
The sweet sugar-like smell intoxicated the room.
Those apples became part of my roots—my country-boy heritage.
My brain flipped from wild apples to Rosh Hashanah apples and honey—my Jewish heritage.
Questions blossomed in my head:
Who planted the seeds in my Jewish Heritage garden?
Why did they plant those seeds?
Which seeds sprouted and grew in to mature trees?
Which seeds rotted on the ground?
I thought about the my mom’s copies of Hadassah Magazine— cultural seeds.
I thought about my dad’s library of books on Israel and the Holocaust—historic seeds.
I thought about my grandmother’s chicken soup, her chopped liver, her gefilte fish—gastronomic seeds.
I thought about my rabbi, my temple, my bar mitzvah and the torah—religious seeds.
I thought about Philip Roth, Allen Ginsberg, Saul Bellow, Isaac Bashevis Singer and Chaim Potok—literary seeds.
I thought about Sandy Koufax, Hank Greenberg and Sid Luckman—sport seeds
I wore kippas, tallis and tefillin—prayer apparel seeds.
I ate latkas with apple sauce, blinsis with sour cream, kosher dill pickles and pastrami on rye mit a smear of mustard—Jewish deli seeds.
I dropped pennies or nickels into blue JNF tzedakah boxes emblazoned with Stars of David and maps of Israel.
I planted trees in Israel (not apple trees) and bought Israel Bonds—building seeds.
As I looked back on my heritage, I saw my Hebraic orchard:
Three boys bar mitzvahed.
Numerous trips to the Holy Land where I picked apples in a kibbutz.
This week alone, I watched two Israeli TV shows (Mossad 101 and Fauda), read two Israeli newspapers (Debka and the Jerusalem Post) and listened to an Audible book about the Israel’s military industrial complex, “The Weapon Wizards.”
I produced an award-winning Holocaust movie, “The Stairs” which has been seen by thousands of people.
I wrote my memoir, “A Hebraic Obsession” which has been read by thousands.
My “Hanukkah Bunny” book is loved by children of all ages.
My Jewish-themed short stories have been read by hundreds of thousands.
Thanks to my mom, my dad, my grandmother and my rabbis, Jewish-heritage seeds flourish in my life.
My Jewish roots dig deep into the rich soil of our people.
Study your Jewish-heritage garden.
Prune it.
Fertilize it.
Continue to make it grow.
And just like Johnny Appleseed spread our heritage to your friends and family so future generations of our tribe will always know our story.
Mort Laitner will be speaking on October 21, at 9:30 at the Jewish Heritage Breakfast located at 9275 Lake Royal Road Boynton Beach, FL 33473. The cost for the breakfast, the movie and the lecture is $5.00 for members and $7.00 for non-members.
For more information contact mortlaitner@bellsouth.net.
Mort Laitner lives in Cooper City, Florida. He is a writer, a producer and a public speaker.
What the readers are saying:
Excellent mort brought tears to my eyes. and memories.—Shirley
What a delightful piece, Mort. You do have a knack for capturing the moment.—Lois
My kids finally enrolled the grandkids in Sunday school. I agree that learning about our past allows us to embrace the future with strength and pride.— Dara
Great post!—Richard
That was beautiful!—Aimee
Beautifully written! Comes from the heart.—Maurice
Love your story!—Marianne
Nice!—Cari
Thanks for sharing, The story brought back memories.—Doris
Truly beautiful!—Terri
Thanks for sharing Mort! Loved it!—Joan
