We Should Be So Lucky

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A hundred-year-old lady speaks on attitude and humor in a most endearing way

Bella ‘Bel’ Kaufman is a teacher, speaker and best-selling author (Up the Down Staircase). She was born in Berlin, Germany and raised in Odessa and Kiev (now Ukraine) before emigrating to the USA in 1923, and is the granddaughter of Sholom Aleichem, Yiddish author and playwright; based on his stories about ‘Tevye the Milkman’, the musical ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ became a successful production played on stage to this day.

At the time of writing, Bel Kaufman is more than one hundred years old and she quipped that she believes she is the last person alive who remembers him and his impish humor.

Last February she was hired by her alma mater Hunter College to teach coursework on Jewish humor at age 99. Asked about her age she reportedly said she is too busy to get old and that “Retirement means death – you retire from life!”

This short interview shows this remarkable lady and the importance of attitude and humor in our lives.

Bel Kaufman’s second husband is 94 year-old Sidney J. Gluck, who runs the Sholom Aleichem Memorial Foundation. Mazel tov!

Thanks to Tao for sending us the video
Bhagawati for Osho News

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