Good Friday Observations

Good Friday Observations

Philadelphia PA

1962- 1970s

I went to Catholic school which meant I was filled was Catholic indoctrination as a young girl. I didn’t have to give any thought to what was right or wrong. I was told in no uncertain terms what was right and what was wrong.

I was clearly taught how to spend my time on Good Friday, that day which the nuns deemed as the saddest day of the year; the day Christ died for our sins. That day was to be spent in silence, prayer and in sorrow.

However, my parents had a different idea of how to spend this particular day. We got up bright and early and loaded up our car and the nine of us went to the 9^th Street Market, also known as the Italian Market, in South Philadelphia. In this neighborhood, we stopped first to visit my father’s friend, Percy Rothberg. We loved going to that house. It was so much fun.

Percy and his wife and daughter would be waiting for us. He would have already been to the bakery and purchased piles and piles of donuts and sticky buns and cupcakes and pound cakes and other delectable treats. We would gorge ourselves on these pastries. And once we finished we would go down into the basement where Percy’s daughter, Ellen, had her own pinball machine. And we would play pinball for free, for hours, eating donuts, drinking cokes and just feeling so damn lucky.

Then around noon we would go his brother’s winery. His brother made and sold Kosher wine. Percy would give us little tasting cups and we helped ourselves to samples of some very very sweet wines. I felt so naughty doing this. I loved it. The wine was too saccharine and distasteful to me but I love the thought and the freedom of choosing what wine I would drink.

Thereafter we would hit the streets and walks through the market. There was lots of activity at the market. People were there in preparation for their Easter dinner. Butcher shops had chickens, lambs, goats and pigs right outside their store. Customers could pick what animal they wanted their dinner. The butcher would take that animal in the back room and butcher it on demand. I was repulsed by option.  How could anybody look at those sweet lambs and then have them butchered? That part of the day was upset.

 Then we wandered into a deli and grabbed seats while Percy ordered us big hunking, meaty sandwiches. We ate pastrami, corned beef, brisket, lox, bagels, cream cheese, big pickles and every other Jewish delicacy in the deli. We left feeling like little stuffed pigs.

We would go back to his house for a few more cokes, a little bit more pinball and use of the bathroom before our drive home. We would get home just before dinner but nobody could eat because we had eaten all day long and to our hearts content. We were too full.

And then Monday morning, as we would leave for school, our mother would remind us to be honest but vague in reporting back to the nuns as to how we spend our Good Friday,  

“We spent the day as a family.”

That was the truth. We didn’t add any more detail and with that minimum description, we didn’t suffer any negative repercussions for a day well spent.