Meh Ken Mishigeh Veren! (One Could Go Crazy!)

Zoog mir in Yiddish

By Sol Awend, GenShoah SWFL

One of the more exciting events that took place in our home growing up was the time my parents bought their first car. It’s fun to hear other remark about events I’ve shared, and I know this will be at the top of the list.

We’d been in America about two years, and my parents got the bug to “see the USA in their Chevrolet!” They were the fourth couple amongst their friends to get a car. It was like the Jewish version of keeping up with the Berkowitz’s. “Ahz zei kennen! Ken men ins oc’het!” (If they can! So can we!)

They spent time with the car owners, learning the ins and outs of how to buy a car, finance it, and above all, how to drive it. Just like becoming new Americans, there was a learning curve they had to surmount.

The biggest hurdle was learning how to drive a stick shift, as many of the cars in the 1950s were not automatic, nor were they air conditioned and came only with AM radios.

My parents qualified for a loan, got insurance and assumed ownership, in ah mazeldikeh shoo (in a lucky hour). There is a herky-jerky beginning to stick shift driving, and many was the time my mom tried to get out of first gear. Had she had a cowgirl hat, she would have looked like she was riding a bucking bronco. It was one thing to watch; it was hilarious to listen to. “Geb gez! Mac’h ahroop deh klawtsch! Yetzt loz arof!” (Give gas! Push down on the clutch! Now let it up!)

Having a car changed the whole dynamic of our lives. “Miz arim geh fooren ibber ahl.” (We drove all over.) There was the time we even went on a vacation — to Hot Springs, Arkansas.

Jump forward 70 years. Imagine going into a Tesla dealership and test driving an electric car — that drives by itself. “Oy zaynoh! Es foowet allein!” (Oh look, it drives by itself.) “Un s’ot ah cahmerah in hinten un ah televizieh layben deh rahdyo!...veeih deh rahdyo?!” (And it has a camera in back, and a television screen next to the radio! ...where is the radio?!)

I took one of those cars on a test drive recently, with no salesman to hover over me. I went for a 20-minute cruise around Naples and onto the highway. Incredible. “Deh kah iz ahlein geh fooren!” is what my parents would have gasped. (The car drove itself!) Even more, “Es ot zec’h allein ahvek geh shtelt!” (It even parked itself!)

And we don’t even want to talk about other modern miracles, like cooking a meal in 3 minutes, or watching a movie on a flat screen TV in color; much less using the remote.

Considering all the advancements in the last generation, I know exactly what they would have said, “Meh ken mishigeh veren!” (One could go crazy!)