Bluestone

Sunday Feb 17

by


After a rather monotonous
day spent the Evening at
home with some friends
(Bluestone, Blaustein & Julius)
at a little sociable game.

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Papa was hanging out that night with at least two important figures (Bluestone and Blaustein) from the early days of the Order Sons of Zion. I learned this when I called B’nai Zion’s New York office a few months ago; I don’t remember exactly how the conversation went, but I think one of the people I spoke to mentioned Bluestone and Blaustein without prompting, and the historical brochure they subsequently sent me devotes prominent space to them.

Since I’m not a practiced historian and I was just starting this project when I made that call, I didn’t yet know what it was like to stumble on the the answer to a question I’d never considered, in this case “who were Bluestone and Blaustein?” At most, I’d made a mental note to ask my mother if she’d ever heard of them, but they certainly weren’t on my mind or written down anywhere. So, it really rang my bell when they suddenly showed up in my research — it was like I’d found $20 in the lint screen of the dryer or bumped into David Bowie at the deli.

I half expected the B’nai Zion people to thank me for some reason. They had, after all, devoted their lives to an organization founded by Bluestone and Blaustein. If they hadn’t visited my grandfather that night, Bluestone might have gotten run over by a trolley, or Blaustein could have been falsely arrested for smuggling prohibition hooch. At the very least, my grandfather probably served them sandwiches. Doesn’t B’nai Zion at least owe me lunch?

Anyhow, nowadays the buzz of sudden discovery is more familiar and routine, more along the lines of finding a parking spot in Chinatown as opposed to hitting the numbers. Still, every name on my Cry For Help list could give me that Bluestone/Blaustein feeling again, so there’s nothing for me to do but chase the dragon.

Friday Feb 29/Saturday Mar 1

by

[1924 was a leap year, so I’ve published February 29th and March 1 on this page]

Little Ruchaly still seriously
ill, which worries me greatly.

After listening for some
time to the radio. —
I went to Jack Zichlinsky’s
house where in company of
friend I spent until 1:15 a.m
Ruchaly feels slightly better

after visiting some Zionist
societies in the Evening with
friend Louis Bluestone, I spent
the rest of the evening at the
Cafe Royal where I met many
friends until 3:30 a.m.

I sent to parents $5.00

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Matt’s Notes

Once, around twenty years ago, my mother, grandmother, sister and I were driving around Brooklyn when my grandmother looked at a building and suddenly blurted out “Jack Zichlinsky lived there!” I laughed for about three hours because she really exploded and I had no idea who she was talking about.

Obviously, though, Jack was a good friend of Papa’s since at least the 1920’s, so they had really been through the ringer together if their lives were at all similar. My mother tells me that, when Papa died in 1971, Jack cried while saying kaddish for him. Jack’s tombstone apparently displays the insignia of the Order Sons of Zion (B’nai Zion) the fraternal order to which he and Papa belonged.

Speaking of B’nai Zion, the March 1 post mentions Louis Bluestone, which surprises me because I thought the “Bluestone” Papa has talked about was Dr. Joseph Bluestone, one of the early B’nai Zion leaders (Papa often says “Bluestone” in the same breath as “Blaustein”, who was also a B’nai Zion leader). Perhaps Louis was Joseph’s brother or son; I’ll have to look into it.

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Update March 1

My mother adds:

What was even more funny about the J.Z. story is that every time we passed Sheepshead Bay, Nana would point out his home. It became a dumb family joke.