By Jeff Marden, Founder of Peace At The Table
Peace’s Featured StoryI recently had the pleasure of interviewing Noah Lederman, a published author and travel writer whose love of food has taken him around the world. Noah enjoys exploring local restaurants, meeting people, and connecting with different cultures through their food.
During our interview, Noah shared a story about his grandparents, who were victims of the Holocaust, and an unexpected experience on a trip to Poland that was deeply moving to me.
My interest in his story is very personal. Like Noah, I have family members who were victims of the Holocaust. As a young child, I remember seeing a concentration camp number tattooed on the arm of a man who handed out tickets at Katz’s Delicatessen in Manhattan. It took me decades to fully appreciate the significance of that memory and what it meant to see a Holocaust survivor working in a place where people could gather together to share food.
Noah told me how, growing up, his grandmother always made sure everyone had plenty to eat and that their “bellies were full.” He went on to say that it “came from a place of love and it came from a place of trauma.”
While Noah was traveling through Europe years after his grandfather’s death, his father unexpectedly sent him the addresses of the homes where his grandparents had grown up in Otwock, Poland. Noah hadn’t known the addresses existed and hadn’t planned on visiting Poland.
He changed his plans and decided to look for both homes. Finding them wasn’t easy. The street names and house numbers had changed over the years.
While going door to door searching for his grandfather’s childhood home, Noah met Teddy, a local man who lived on the same street. Teddy helped Noah with his search, and when Noah returned to the street later, Teddy invited him into his home to get out of the rain.
Teddy kindly offered Noah tea and something to eat. He also introduced Noah to his grandmother.
Remarkably, she remembered Noah’s grandfather’s family. She recalled the five children, a boy and four girls, and how people brought animals to their home, where Noah’s grandfather slaughtered them according to Jewish law.
And she knew exactly where Noah’s grandfather’s family home was.
With her help, Noah found his grandfather’s childhood home. He told me how he climbed the fence and stood in the yard where his grandfather’s family had lived and worked before the Holocaust.
It was more than just finding an old house. He discovered a significant part of his family’s history that he had known very little about.
When I asked Noah how that felt, he described a sense of accomplishment and said that finding his grandfather’s home inspired him to learn more about his family’s past. It eventually led him to write his book, A World Erased.
Back home, his grandmother was still grieving deeply over her husband’s death years earlier. It was painful for Noah to see her suffering for so long.
And she had stopped cooking.
Noah returned from Europe and saw his grandmother at her place in Brooklyn. When he told her about visiting her hometown in Poland, meeting people who remembered his grandfather’s family, and finding his grandfather’s childhood home, her face lit up.
“We started talking about her memories and the camps and the Holocaust,” Noah told me. These were stories he’d always wanted to hear.
He went on to say that as they continued talking about her past and as time went by, she began ordering chicken soup and gefilte fish. These were dishes she had made for him when he was growing up. Eventually, she “started cooking chicken soup and making gefilte fish again.”
One of the many things that stays with me about Noah’s story is how food brought people together across generations. In Poland, a simple, kind invitation for tea and something to eat led Noah to a grandmother who remembered his grandfather’s family many decades later.
Back home, talking about that past brought Noah closer to his own grandmother, who began sharing memories she’d kept to herself for so long.
And eventually, she was cooking chicken soup and gefilte fish again.
You can learn about Noah’s book, A World Erased, and read his writing on food, travel, and sports at NoahLederman.com.
Thank you, Noah, for sharing your touching story with me and for the opportunity to share it here on Peace at the Table.
Thanks for reading and peace,
– Jeff Marden
These stories need to be told. The world needs to hear news and stories about healing and building peace — now more than ever.
Please Share This Page –
