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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe
Syosset, New York
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*In Yiddish, "A Gute Neshome" Is A Good Soul, A Gentle Person. A "Bag Lady" Is A Homeless Woman, Epecially In A Big City. It Also Means Someone Who Carries Her Possessions With Her, As In A Shopping "Tash" (Bag/Purse). Synonyms: Bag Person, Bum, Hobo, Derelect, Cart Lady, And Down-and-out.
A "Bag Lady" Is Not To Be Confused With A "Schnorrer"--a Beggar Who Usually Travels From Town To Town In Search Of Alms.
There's Even An Illness Called "Bag-lady Syndrome." According To Jay Macdonald, Bankrate.com, "Bag-lady Syndrome" Is A Fear Many Women Share That Their Financial Security Could Disappear In A Heartbeat, Leaving Them Homeless, Penniless And Destitute. It Often Paralyzes Women Who Want To Get A Better Grip On Their Financial Lives, According To Olivia Mellan, A Therapist Who Specializes In Money "Psikhologye." Lily Tomlin, Gloria Steinem, Shirley Mac Laine And Katie Couric All "Moyde Zayn" (Admit To) Having A Bag Lady In Their Anxiety Closet. Katie Boyle Says, "They Either Freeze ("Frirn") And Can't Make A Decision At All, Or They Just Put Their Head In "Dos Zamd" (The Sand) And Hope Everything Just Works Out."
On August 11, 2009, Many Newspapers Reported That A Homeless Woman, Who Passed Away Two Years Ago At Age 92, Left Hebrew University $150,000 In Her Will. She Had Fled Austria And The Holocaust With Her Mother In 1939. This "Breythartsik" (Generous) Soul Once Lived Out Of A Shopping Cart On The Upper West Side Of Manhattan. Her "Nomen" (Name) Has Not Been Revealed, But The Really Big Question Is, "Why Was She Living On The Street When She Had More Than $200,000 In The Bank"? Not Only Was She "A Gute Neshome," But A Manhattan Accountant And His Wife Made Sure She Had "Varem" (Warm) Meals And A Safe Place To Sleep. They Later Set Her Up In Public Housing. The Accountant, Also Jewish, Remains Nameless. He Had Hired The Elderly Woman To Move His "Oytomobile" So He Could Avoid Parking Tickets.
How Do Others Feel About The Homeless? "Gib A Kik" (Give A Look).
Dr. Eva Fogelman, A Psychologist In Nyc Said, "In My Neighborhood, The Upper West Side Of Manhattan, I Cannot Walk More Than A Few Blocks Without Confronting A Homeless Beggar Panim El Panim, Face To Face. I Am Inconsistent In Opening My Purse For This Or That Disheveled Young Man With A Cup In His Hand Asking For A Quarter Or Loose Change, Or Money For A Cup Of Coffee, Particularly After Working A Fourteen-hour Day. My Numbness To The Dire Social Conditions That Have Led To The Degradation And Humiliation Of A Homeless Beggar Is A Defence Against The Helplessness I Feel In Making A Real Difference In Society. A Quarter Here And A Dollar There Will Not Change The Basic Social Conditions That Allow Such Suffering Now And In The Future. Those Of Us Who Would Like To Think Of Ourselves As Basically Caring, Good, Charitable People Are Amazed At Our Numbness To The Plight Of Very Needy People. Some Of Us Rationalize That Poverty, Homelessness, And Crumbling Families Are The System's Fault."
Rabbi Neal D. Gold Wrote About An Evening When He Was Leaving Huc [Hebrew Union College] And Walking Toward His Subway Stop. "There Was Gary, Sitting In Washington Square Park. I Strolled Over And High-fived Him. When We Reached The Train I Innocently Inquired, 'so, Where Are You Staying These Days?' Gary Gave Me A Melancholy Look And Said, 'an ATM Machine Over On Ninth Avenue.'
I Couldn't Believe It. Here Was A Guy I Figured Was Eating Dinner With Us Just To Stretch His Budget. Was This One Of The Cases Of Homelessness In America? Is This The Type Of Person Whom This Cold Society Of Ours Spits Upon? A Guy As Classy As Gary?
From The Jewish Perspective, There Can Be No More Amorphous Abstractions Like 'the Homeless,' 'the Hungry,' Or 'the Poor.' Being Able To Generalize Away The Human Names And Faces Lets Us Off The Hook. It Makes Us Forget The Real Pain That Exists Out There. It Allows Politicians And Bureau- Crats To Play On The Stereotypical Fears About 'those People.' Instead, We Need To Replace Stereotypes With Faces And Names: 'sarah,' 'sophie,' 'gary.' Judaism Commands This Of Us."
And, Finally, New York Artist And Photo- Journalist, Ann Marie Rousseau, Found That It Was Seldom One Event--such As Losing An Apartment--that Caused A Woman To Be Homeless.
She Writes, "It Always Was Sort Of An Accumulation Of Events--having To Do With Economics, Mental Health, Addition-- Something Was Holding Them By A Thread Inside. Many People Subsist Marginally-- There Is Some Check That Comes From Somewhere, Some Little Room Where They Pay Rent. They May Be Eccentric Or Bizarre--but They Are Able To Maintain Themselves.
But Knock Over One Of Those Pins And They End Up Out On The Street."
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Marjorie Gottlieb Wolfe Reminds Us Of
The Tension Between Society's Haves And
Have-nots. Remember That "Generosity
Will Always Leave A More Pleasant Memory
Than Stinginess."
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