Inspiration through Adversity

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Contents

The Introduction.......................................................xiChapter 1: Sam and Sophie..............................................1Chapter 2: Jerry the Child.............................................15Chapter 3: School......................................................26Chapter 4: The Marriage................................................35Chapter 5: University 1960.............................................45Chapter 6: Pharmacy....................................................58Chapter 7: Shoppers Drug Mart..........................................70Chapter 8: Success Continues at Shoppers Drug Mart.....................81Chapter 9: The Children................................................99Chapter 10: Born to Run................................................115Chapter 11: Travels....................................................127Chapter 12: Return to University 1997..................................143Chapter 13: The Accidents..............................................156Chapter 14: The Start of Adversity.....................................169Chapter 15: Operations.................................................179Chapter 16: Operations Continued.......................................192Chapter 17: Coping.....................................................209Chapter 18: Nachas.....................................................224Appendix...............................................................233Master's Thesis........................................................238

Chapter One

On September 30, 1930, a bewildered Polish-Jewish immigrant, Symcha J. Zjaidenberg came ashore at Pier 21 in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Symcha was tightly clutching his $5.00 Canadian and a scrap of paper that contained the address of his sister at 166 Robert Street, Toronto. To this day, I still ponder how Sam made it ashore and somehow arrived in Toronto, despite his lack of English and the culture shock of being in Canada.

Sam sailed from Copenhagen on the Prince William VIII, an immigrant transport ship, on September 20. The manifest shows that Sam was grouped with a number of other Polish Jews who were also going to Toronto. Perhaps there was some sort of group dynamic that guided these bewildered men. There did not seem to be any women on the manifest.

Sam left his family-four sisters, two brothers, his parents, uncles, aunts and a warm, close-knit family-behind in Warsaw, Poland. Zjaidenberg (which became Ziedenberg in the New World) was a fairly common Jewish name in Poland. He had left behind him a Poland that was becoming increasingly anti-Semitic and a Poland that was in the deepest throes of the Great Depression. It was also a Poland that had been governed by a wise dictator, Marshall Pilsudski. As Pilsudski's health slipped, Poland sought to accommodate herself more and more with Germany. Symcha was lucky to have left when he did.

When he arrived finally at 166 Robert Street, he did not find his sister as documented on the manifest and his scrap of paper. Instead, he found his sweetheart Sophie, who had emigrated from Warsaw two years before, in 1928. Sophie-who shared a similar last name to Sam's-was able to deceive Canadian immigration officials into thinking Symcha was her brother. When Sam met Sophie, he was overwhelmed; the culture shock and all the excitement were simply too much. Sam, in a state of panic, immediately fled to the upstairs attic and locked himself in.

Nevertheless, people living at 166 Robert Street decided that Sam had to go through with the arranged marriage. A rabbi was summoned to the attic to perform a marriage. On examining the papers, he declared vehemently that he could not endorse such an incestuous relationship. Finally, after a great deal of persuasion, Sam and Sophie were married.

Sam was always a hard-working man who never seemed to stop. Coming to Canada at age thirty, he never quite managed the language. This was exacerbated by the surroundings of the mostly Yiddish-speaking tailors that he worked with. Sam was a great craftsman, but he never really managed the speed necessary for real success. Nevertheless, he always provided food, accommodations, and all the basic necessities for his family.

Sophie, in contrast, was not slow-moving, but she was overly impulsive and hard working at the same time. Compared to Sam's easygoing demeanor, she seemed to antagonize people.

The Ziedenberg/Zeidenbergs (both spelled the name differently) underwent three heavy blows through the 1930s as they integrated into Canadian life. In 1934, they had a daughter named Carol; by the pictures and accounts, she was beautiful both as a baby and young girl. Unfortunately, at age four, she died of a form of spinal meningitis which is easily treatable today by antibiotics. Then, on October, 22, 1939, I was born. Somehow, my mother received erroneously the advice to lie in bed and eat chocolates. That was her tale. As a result, both she and the baby gained an enormous amount of weight. It was a difficult birth, and the physician pulled me by the right arm. This delivery method caused me to develop a condition called Erb's palsy. I never had full use of my right, naturally dominant arm. For the most part, this was a lifelong affliction that I managed to overcome, but it was always there, hindering me. I always have had difficulty getting dressed and it even hinders my walking and balance.

At age seven or eight, in grade two, I was asked to write some letters; frustrated, I wrote the letters, each one about the size of a page. Disturbed by my seeming disobedience, the teacher gave me the strap, but on my left hand.

Years later, as I became a historian, I read that Kaiser Wilhelm II, the leader of Germany during World War I, had a similar affliction. His withered right arm, also caused by a birth injury, became the subject of many historical dissertations. They even claim the kaiser's overcompensating personality may have contributed to World War I. I can claim no such contribution to world events.

Years later, I found it very interesting that many doctors immediately recognized who had delivered me. Apparently, I was not his only victim. This defect was perhaps the second blow to the Ziedenberg family.

My parents made their way through the cultural Yiddish milieu of Spadina Avenue, the tailoring mecca for Canada. Sophie worked at Caps hats and Sam worked as a cutter at various enterprises. Sophie took English lessons at night, which helped with her integration to Canada. Sam stayed with his mostly Yiddish-speaking fellow workers and never developed a great facility with English.

Two family stories seem to resonate down through the ages. Sophie, always adventurous and impulsive, decided that they should have a picnic at Niagara Falls. She dutifully made her signature dish of roast duck and filled a picnic hamper. They took the bus to Niagara Falls and made their way across the Rainbow Bridge. With no passport or papers, they made their way to the American immigration checkpoint. Even in those pre-9/11 days, this was a mistake; irate American immigration officials almost had them incarcerated.

When Sam came to Canada in 1930, work was hard to find. The first winter of the Great Depression was particularly difficult. One cold winter night in January of 1931, Symcha found himself outside the Ladowski's United Bakers on Spadina Avenue near...