Fran Lebowitz
👤 SpeakerAppearances Over Time
Podcast Appearances
And so basically his job was to clean the horses.
That was his job.
And he ran away.
You know, he escaped.
And my grandfather, his son, came here.
He didn't know how old he was.
He didn't know when his birthday was.
So my mother and her sister made up a birthday for him.
He said he remembered that soon after he got here, he had his bar mitzvah.
So they knew he was 13 soon after he got here.
And he said it was summertime.
So my grandfather's birthday was always celebrated August 15th in the summer, even though we have no idea when that was his birthday.
He went right to work at 12 years old.
My grandfather never went to school.
Jews weren't allowed to go to school in Russia.
And he went right to work.
And yet he was the only relative of mine who loved to read.
I don't know where he learned to speak English, but everyone when I was a child and reading all the time, they would say, she's just like Phil.
Look, she's just like Phil reading all the time.
This was somewhat frowned upon.