Sneaking Matzos

My grandfathers did not want to have anything to do with religion. With all the death, horror, and upheavals they have lived through, is it really surprising?

My grandmothers were not so quick to dismiss G-d. With all the death, horror, and upheavals they have lived through, is it really surprising?

The only somewhat-observant person in our close family circle was my uncle's mother (my sort-of-grandmother through marriage  but not by blood). As kids, we would ask her, "Baba Tanya, why do you believe in G-d?" Because, of course, as proper Soviet children, we found the idea to be bewildering, as in why would any sane educated person believe such a thing?

She made a deal with G-d. 

When WWII started, her husband was drafted into the army during the early days. Then, her town in Belarus came under attack. The residents got some advanced warning over the radio. They knew the German planes were coming, they knew they had to evacuate. Imagine a column of people, carrying their most precious belongings, holding their children, all leaving the town. Baba Tanya was in such a column, with 3 young kids. Two older ones were walking, holding on to her skirt. She was carrying the youngest. They got to the bridge and started crossing over. That's when the German airplanes came, bombing the town. A crowd of people, on the bridge, exposed, can't turn back, can't run. Bombs falling all around. She made a deal with G-d. If she would cross the bridge with her kids, unharmed, then for the rest of her life she would do everything she could to follow the tradition. And so she did. Even if it meant she would sneak through late-night streets, her head covered in "platochek", her shoulders hunched, hoping no one would recognize her. Sneakily and stealthily, she would walk to the place that made Matzos for Pesah. 

Those secret Matzos - they made their way across the country, from Riga, where Baba Tanya ended up after the war, all the way to the Far East. Because our family mailed a package of Matzos to us. My parents did not do any religious stuff, but those Matzos - they were pretty special.

Baba Tanya's husband was killed in battle. 

Baba Tanya and her 3 children survived the war, Stalin times, perestroika, and collapse of the USSR. She emigrated to the US with her son and daughter back in the 90's. Her other daughter has emigrated to Israel.