viewpoints >> Send letters to: letters@thejewishnews.com DETROIT JEWISH NEWS commentary theJEWISHNEWS.com For Want Of An Egg Bagel Arthur M. Horwitz EDITOR'S NOTE: About midday on Wednesday, Oct. 14, 2015, as he walked through a shopping center parking lot at 12 Mile Road and Evergreen Road in Southfield, journalist and author Norman Prady was struck by a hit-and-run driver. He suffered a severe concussion and the fracture of a spinal bone. As he continues his rehabilitation program, his doctors have assured him that there is no cognitive impairment and that a full recov- ery is expected. Police continue to search for the felonious driver and a reward has been posted for information leading to arrest and conviction. Here is his personal reporting of the experience, written in a manner that might be called pain-relieving survivor's humor. N othing. Not the stove's moist puffs mystical message to me that today was a day of mother's ketchup-slathered to get some egg bagels. slowly braising beef brisket. Not "How fresh are the egg bagels?" I asked the the delightfully challenging spices of grand- bagel store man. ma's dill green tomatoes pickled from her "Very:' garden. Nothing. Nothing ever demanded "I'll take a dozen:' access to my mouth with the determination "I should tell you," he said, "because some and promise of an egg bagel freshly drawn people object. This batch came out with from a letter-box oven by a European man in extra crispy crust. Some people don't like a shoulder-strap undershirt. that:' As if born to the weekly Saturday "Extra crispy? Then give me two dozen:' evening adventure to prepare for the next day's brunch, my two sisters With two dozen extra crispy and I would climb into the back seat egg bagels in an extra-large brown of our father's blue Chevrolet and paper bag, I again headed out into head down Linwood Avenue to Joy the comforting October sunshine, Road, a part of Detroit that smelled anticipating filling my car with a like no other, its industrial atmo- bouquet like no other. As I stepped Norman Prady sphere covered over with a flavor off of the sidewalk in front of the joyously found in every direction store, my eyes shouted for me to within a few blocks of the bagel factory. stop moving. They'd seen the front of a small Although named the New York Bagel gold-colored car about to turn the corner Company in 1921 by founder Morris into my path. Jumping back onto the side- Goldsmith, a turn-of-the-century Russian walk, I held still, waiting for the car to pass. immigrant, for the U.S. city he and many But it stopped. other new Americans first saw, we always I made the assumption — foolish, as so knew it as the bagel factory. Lost is the name many are — that the driver was allowing me of the deli next door where my father would to cross the lane toward my car. When I was run in for lox or other smoked fish —say, about 8 or 10 feet from the sidewalk, the car white and sable — perhaps a small treat of started moving again, headed directly toward corned beef or salami. Perhaps a few slices of me. I quickly learned that it is not possible to nutty Switzerland Swiss cheese cleaved from stop a small gold-colored car — or probably a wheel big enough to drive a Mack truck. any other kind — with your belly. Nothing. Nothing in any of the sacks he As my sunglasses, my keys and two dozen brought into the blue Chevrolet could over- extra crispy egg bagels in an extra-large brown paper bag went flying from me, I power the egg bagels. The scent would linger into our Sunday afternoon car rides and pos- spiraled to the concrete in a clumsy pirou- sibly on for the next owner of the car. ette that fractured the last bone in my spine. Then, some generations and hundreds or Then, as the small gold-colored car backed thousands of egg bagels later, as I finished up and sped down the driveway to escape an errand in a west side office building and out onto the street, I felt myself falling back- walked out into the bright sunshine of a ward. Here comes the concussion, I warned mid-October morning and opened the door myself, believing I never again would be of my own car, there it was, the aroma of able to write a coherent English sentence. egg bagels, the tap-tap-tap of poppy seeds First came the pain. Then the fear. Then a dancing along the perfect crusts, all part of a string of why and what questions. Why did he stop and then drive into me? Why did he flee? Why didn't I die? What happens to me now? Then the anger. Hatred. Vengeance. Kill him. Make him hurt as much as I'm hurting. More. Then retribution. Sue him for millions. Give the money to charity. Just make him pay. Then justice. Punish him. Jail him. Imprison him. Then more pain came. And nothing else mattered. Conscious for every second of this esca- pade into agony, I noticed, just as my skull hit the concrete, that the bagel man came running out of the store. I saw him bend down, perhaps to pick something up, and then rush to my side. As he knelt next to me, that incredible fragrance once again splashed across my face. "Don't worry," the bagel man said, clutch- ing the extra-large brown paper bag. "Don't worry:' the bagel man said as he patted my shoulder. "Don't worry," the bagel man said as I tried to conjugate a verb. "Look:' the bagel man said, "It's OK. See? I saved the bagels:' * Norman Prady, 82, of Berkley declared himself a writer at age 9 when his father brought home a used Underwood standard typewriter. He has contributed Publisher / Executive Editor ahorwitz@renmedia.us F. Kevin Browett Chief Operating Officer kbrowett@renmedia.us Editorial Managing Editor: Jackie Headapohl jheadapohl@renmedia.us Story Development Editor: Keri Guten Cohen kcohen@thejewishnews.com Arts & Life Editor: Lynne Konstantin lkonstantin@renmedia.us Senior Copy Editor: David Sachs dsachs@renmedia.us Editorial Assistant: Sy Manello smanello@renmedia.us Senior Columnist Danny Raskin dannyraskin@sbcglobal.net Contributing Editor: Robert Sklar rsklar@renmedia.us Contributing Writers: Ruthan Brodsky, Suzanne Chessler, Annabel Cohen, Don Cohen, Shari S. Cohen, Shelli Liebman Dorfman, Ryan Fishman, Stacy Gittleman, Judy Greenwald, Ronelle Grier, Esther Allweiss Ingber, Harry Kirsbaum, Barbara Lewis, Rabbi Jason Miller, Alan Muskovitz, Steve Stein I Creative Services Corporate Creative Director: Deborah Schultz dschultz@renmedia.us Graphic Designer: Rebecca Schock I Advertising Sales Sales Director: Keith Farber kfarber@renmedia.us Account Executives: Kathryn Andros, Wendy Flusty, Andrea Gusho, Annette Kizy, Melissa Litvin, Paige Lustig Sales Manager Assistants: Joelle Harder, Karen Marzolf I Business Offices Billing Coordinator: Pamela Turner Collections Analyst: Hazel Bender articles to the Detroit Jewish News, Detroit's daily Production By FARAGO & ASSOCIATES newspapers, Hour Detroit magazine, Crain's Detroit Manager: Scott Drzewiecki Business, the Christian Science Monitor, and the New Michelle Sheridan, Susan Walker Designers: Amy Pollard, Pam Sherevan, York Times Syndicate, among others. His novels and story collections are listed at Amazon and at book- Published by: Renaissance Media stores. "Bill's work is much more challenging than mine Chairman: Michael H. Steinhardt ever was," he proudly says of his television-writer son, President/Publisher: Arthur M. Horwitz ahorwitz@renmedia.us Bill Prady, co-creator of TV's The Big Bang Theory and Chief Operating Officer: F. Kevin Browett kbrowett@renmedia.us The Muppets. Controller: Craig R. Phipps The suspect in this hit-and-run was described as a white male, 18-25 years old, with a medium complexion who was wearing a yarmulke If you have any information about this incident, call Southfield police at (248) 796-5500. Corporate Creative Director: Deborah Schultz dschultz@renmedia.us I Fulfillment circulationdesk@thejewish news.com Customer Service Manager: Zena Davis I Departments General Offices: 248-354-6060 Advertising: 248-351-5107 Advertising Fax:248-304-0049 Circulation: 248-351-5174 Classified Ads: 248-351-5116 Advertising Deadline: Monday, 2 p.m. Editorial Fax: 248-304-8885 Deadline: All public and social announcements must be typewritten and received by noon Tuesday, nine days prior to desired date of publication. letters Limmud Michigan Gains Presenters Thank you so much for your recent article about our first-ever Limmud Michigan on Sunday, March 13, in Ann Arbor ("Exciting Learning," Dec. 17, page 22). It was spot-on in its description of Limmud as an exploration and celebra- tion of all things Jewish, appealing to and including any and all Jews in our entire area. We are sure that excitement for this unique opportunity will grow from this important and wide-reaching publicity. Just a couple of corrections are in order. Davey Rosen of Ann Arbor is actually the co-chair with Iry Goldfein. It is because of Davey's hard work, energy and dedication that this event will be happening. We will indeed have a terrific program run by Ramah Fellows for kids K-8 but we are unable to offer babysitting this year for younger children. Our list of presenters continues to grow. Please go to limmudmichigan.org to look at the wide range of sessions (click on Event 2016 then scroll down to Presenters) and for more information on the event and its supporters. See you there! Sue Birnholtz Sylvan Lake Subscriptions: 1 year 2 years 3 years 1 year out-of-state 2 years out-of-state Per year foreign $85 $153 $204 $125 $225 $300 Detroit Jewish News 29200 Northwestern Highway, Suite 110 Southfield, MI 48034 ©copyright 2015 Detroit Jewish News tetkelt.ig ,Akv ok-f JEWIshi At , C.,:c ov \ 1 DAT/6V To make a donation to the DETROIT JEWISH NEWS FOUNDATION go to the website www.djnfounadtion.org 6 December 31 • 2015