In August, 1939, I arrived in New York from what was then the Free City of Danzig in the Polish Corridor. Instead of being grateful for my freedom in having left Europe just before the start of World War II, I was saddened at leaving two loved ones behind. My distant relatives in New York showed no interest in giving me advice or help, so I had to adjust myself to a new life and a new language.
There came a day when I had just a few dollars left to my name. Adding to my dilemma were the distressing reports from home that the entire ethnic community was threatened with deportation to an unknown location. I felt that suicide was the only way out of the problem.
However, God had a better plan for me. At this point I was prompted to go to my suitcase and take out The Herald of Christian Science, which I had brought with me, and to consult the list of Christian Science practitioners in my neighborhood. I was not a student of this religion. In Danzig friends of my mother's had invited her to attend church services with them. Born and raised a conservative Jew, I held that I should die in that religion and would not have anything to do with any other. Upon my mother's request, however, I would occasionally go with her to the Church of Christ, Scientist.
