Eastern District High School - Eastern Senior Yearbook (Brooklyn, NY)

Page 13 text:

A MODERN SARAH By LEA:-1 wiu-iELM Sara was a modern girl, and she was proud To Tell This To The world. Look, she had even changed her name Trom Sarah To Sara. Didn'T iT look more-arisTocraTic-The new way? Oh, she was modern in a loT oT diTTerenT ways, Too. Une oT her peT schemes was whaT her Triends had nicknamed The SaTurday lVlaTinee lRelTreaT, Tor This was The Time when The gang oT girls wenT down To The Commodore Tor an early show, and aTTer ThaT, To Diamond's Tor a luscious banana spliT- wiTh plenTy oT whipped cream on Top, Too. NaTurally, Sara had To sneak ouT oT The house beTore her TaTher saw her. Sara used To say, Dad's iusT an old religious Tool. AcTs so silly abouT an old Tashioned Thing! Why! BuT Then, maybe old-Tashioned dad did suspecT someThing. l.asT week, when she had come in Trom The show wiTh a nonchalanT Lo, dad, The beseeching, paTheTic look he had given her had almosT done some- Thing To her. BuT only-almosT. ATTer all, religion was an old-Tashioned Thing, wasn'T iT? For old people, CK.-or in Europe . . . BuT l'm a modern American girl. Why boTher wiTh such an old Thing, anyway . . . So, you see, Sara was modern. The high holiday season was on and almosT over. Try as she did To resisT, some oT The spiriT was geTTing inTo Sara and she decided To do someThing abouT iT. So she and The girls made a plan To celebraTe- and To go on a liTTle spree To The Chink's around The corner and have a liTTle Tun- To celebraTe Yom Kippur, The mosT sacred oT all holy daysl l-lal l-la! ThaT's a good one-'sacred'-isn'T iT a scream? Some Tun . . . And oT course, RiTa,iT you drop a genTle hinT To your broTher To drop around wiTh The gang . . . iusT a genTle hinT mind you, well, we can have some Tun, huh! And so They wenT and had a good Time, so good, in TacT ThaT iT puT Sara in a good mood. So she said, Well, l may as well humor dad along and drop inTo The synagogue Tomorrow aTTernoon. lT's an old- Tashioned idea, buT I'II humor The old guy along. AT abouT halT pasT Tive The Tollowing day, Sara TipToed inTo The old, rickeTy synagogue. The place consisTed oT one big room. In The cenTer was The wooden pulpiT and all around ThaT were rows oT benches, upon which were siTTing men and boys. ln The back was a curTain, cuTTing oTT a secTion Tor The women. Sara sTood TlaT againsT The wall, Trying To caTch a glimpse oT her TaTher, To show him ThaT she had come, and as she waiTed, she waTched and saw. 9

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FirsT The challenge, Then The leap and The swiTT climb, The Plunge FluTed bark grooving The warm Tlesh, By Philip Lerner Up, up Through The snapping Twigs To The swaying cresT and The giddy heighT, The TrighTened peak, Then The screaming urge, And The plunge. The Museum By Joseph Paperofsky Curious preTenders Gaze wiTh wonder: ATTecTed nonchalance, SuperTicial ponder: Nodding assenT TO Talse comprehension OT works OT arT And queer invenTiOnq Medieval pageanTry ln conspicuous display, Asia's ancienT lore The polished walls array They look wiTh awe AT color, beauTy blending lgnOranT individuals STill preTending. The Thunder-beaT OT unshod hooves Whrre S.I.alIIon CuTs sudden grooves Of sound lnTO The ground. Wide-eyed, wi+h speed unchecked, Foam-Tlecked, Flying mane caughT in The wind, Fear-iavelined, Through The waving pampas grass The pounding legs pass In a wild raTaplan ATraid OT man. 8

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AlThough The room was crowded, iT did noT appear so. On The plaTTorm were a Tew men reading aloud and The men were siTTing, slumped murmuring To Themselves, praying guieTly. The enTire aTmosphere was one oT guieT prayer, resTrained and subdued ouTwardly, buT ever anxious, pushing Trom The inside ouT. From The women's secTion came a sTeady low sobbing, guieT desperaTe prayer. The men also unashamedly wepT and prayed aloud. There was a spiriT oT humble men, humble yeT hope- Tul, despairing yeT anxious, eager, repenTing. And Sara sTood There, and ThaT spiriT oT humbleness swepT Through her. The lasT rays oT sun resTed in This guieT aTmosphere againsT The wall, blushed wiTh shame when caughT peeking inTo This eThereal scene. And, alThough wanTing To linger here, TelT humbled and crepT away. And Sara sTood s+iII. lT was nearing The end oT This TasT day. Time was growing shorT. SenTence was soon To be pronounced Tor The deTendanTs. And The whole congregaTion was praying as if iT were one voice. A surging wave Tlowed Trom The core oT each soul, ran over The cracks and ruTs oT each sobbing breasT. lT was The voice oT a guilTy deTendanT pleading To a Judge Tor mercy. And Sara sTood and her hearT prayed Too. And Then, The clear call oT The ShoTar, The ram's horn-The call oT The TaiThTul shepherd To his wandering sheep, calling, Taking Them back To The Told. The TasT was over, l.eshona haba biyarushalayumu-The cry oT a hungry people-hungry Tor mercy, hungry Tor Their land, and, more prac- Tically, hungry Tor Tood. And everyone was hurrying home. Sara hur- ried home, Too. The nexT morning, when Sara woke up, iT was raining, a good, clear, brisk rain. BUT Sara woke up Tired and lazy. She lay in bed Thinking Tor a while. Wasn'T iT Tunny? She had almosT become religious yesTerday -she, oT all people! Queer how iT happened. Lucky she hadn'T been Taken in wiTh all ThaT senTimenTal old sTuTT. Thank heavens l'm a modern girl and can'T be Tooled wiTh all ThaT TornToolery. O. K., mom. l'm coming. Yes, ma'am. Sara sure was a modern girl. I0