Dear Laura (Schoen) th"y,
I remember your name, voice and face but am surprised you remember me because I was shy and afraid of everyone, especially in the first two years.
ELISE'S BACKGROUND & NEW HISTORY
I had a divorce in 1991 and married Yerucham (Jerry) Teitelbaum the same year.
I already had 5 children, and we all moved from Monsey, New York upstate to Alligerville, where my husband had a farm, growing mainly Indian corn that changes from yellow to light blue to dark blue, to purple and black by the end of the summer. The children mainly schooled at home but my big girl Chaiya didn't want to so she lived in Wlliamsburg, Brooklyn, with my husband's cousin and went the school for Pupa hasidim.
We picked ourselves up without much preparation and came to Israel in July 1999, and we've never been sorry. Chaiya stayed behind and last June married a Skver hasid, carpenter and nice guy, Mendy Din. They live in Monsey. I didn't want to leave Israel so I missed the wedding, blessing my daughter and son-in-law on the cellphone as they stood under the huppa. You can see the wedding, but not me, on my sister-in-law's website:
http://Y42.photos.yahoo.com/yitzadina. Then, click on "Chaya's wedding".
One month after we came to Israel, I had a baby boy, Menachem, thanks to G-d. He's in nursery school now. We have some kids in between him and my 18 year old son Leibel, who can fix any computer that technical support gave up on. My father sh"y still sends him e-mails asking him what to do. I would like to tell you the website where you can see pictures of me and some of my kids in Israel but I misplaced the address. I'll try to send it soon.
I'm working 3-5 hours a day on an autobiographical novel, my first one. Before that I was taking small assignments, editing and writing short articles. Before marrying, I worked at Random House for Bob Loomis, the editor for Woody Allen, William Styron and Maya Angelou and I learned a lot from him. When I started leaving early in winter to light Shabbat candles, Random House (not Bob Loomis) kicked me out.
Yerucham used to be the house dancer at the Electric Circus, and he wrote a 250 page thesis on the effect of communications media on marketing some 30 years ago, predicting the internet. He used to correspond with McLuhan and still talks about him. He still plays be-bop and klezmer music on his clarinet, and writes high-tech patents.
Even though I was enchanted by Cherry Lawn in general, I used to feel frustrated that I couldn't remember the story of Hanukkah well enough to make a Hanukka pageant alongside the regular pageant. Now Dec. 25 has just come and gone without much notice, but Chanukah was a big production. "Just what you want to be, you will be in the end..."
Dec. 28, 2001
My son made a photo album on the yahoo website. I got there via Google.
http://photos.yahoo.com/aryeh_leib_beitz.
It's probably best to click on "new family", where you can see me (in the kerchief) and some of our kids at our place near Jerusalem.
You can see my daughter Chaiya's wedding too, but I'm not there.
Jan. 5, 2002
LAURA ASKS ELISE FOR AN EXPLANATION: What do you mean when you start your note with " b's'd ". And then, what does the th"y refer to after you addressed me. I also noticed that when you spoke of your father, your addressed him.."my father sh"y". So I don't understand.
ELISE'S RESPONSE: b's'd stands for b'siatia d'shmaya, which may be Aramaic, the ancient language of Jews exiled to Babylonia and the language of the Babylonian Talmud, meaning with the help of heaven. Some of us in Israel begin with these letters to remind ourselves that writing as an extension of speech has an awesome power for good or bad. Th"y stands for th'yichye, in Hebrew, the feminine form of a blessing for life. Sh"y is the male form.
ELISE'S MEMORIES ABOUT HER LAST 2 YEARS AT CLS:
My last year or two I was always in Victor Robinson's (may his memory be a blessing) studio, mainly working on my own. I'm still trying to find out what happened to the mural I painted that Victor hung up in the dining hall.
Has anybody located Mr. Smith ? Or Franklin Delno Holland III?
With blessings,
Elise