NARRATOR:  Lisa, backgrounding/commenting. Although the problems with Pauline had been building for a couple of years, in the last few months their marriage swiftly and wrenchingly deteriorated. The calls from Florida began to arrive more and more frequently – one from Max, one from Pauline – each telling their side of the story. The five sons, all of whom now lived in New York, decided to go on a rotating calling schedule for about three weeks before her departure, so that Max was sure to be called each night. The situation was becoming intolerable, and eventually got to the point where Max really could not deal with what was happening.

NARRATOR: A family conference was called, and it was decided that George and Paul would go to Florida right before she left to gather some of Max's clothes and bring him back to New York. It was not known exactly where Max was going to live. The most immediate problem was to get him back with his family as soon as possible.

NARRATOR: When Paul and George arrived in Florida, Max's confused mind was constantly struggling for lucidity. It was as if they were confronting an old man in an advanced stage of senility. While they were making arrangments Max followed them around like a puppy dog, comprehending little that was going on. As they were leaving for the airport, he kept asking if they were going to Boston, his first destination in the United States seventy years earlier.

NARRATOR: The painful process of piecing Max together again was thus begun. He stayed for a week with Florence and Ben. But at night Max would wander around the house in his underwear, not knowing where he was or why he was there.

NARRATOR: But the devastating disintegration of Max's spirit ceased as quickly as it had begun. The tonic of the presence of his family was a true wonder-drug; working subtly and often unconsciously, it helped Max clear his mind and return to his senses. Of course he was not "cured" overnight; in fact it can be argued that Max never really recovered. Nevertheless, the Max who had to be physically and emotionally led through the ordeal of leaving Florida and the Max who sat at the Passover table three weeks later were two different men. To be with his children again was a primary calming factor.

NARRATOR: Concurrently, however, his children had to constantly put things into perspective for Max. He suffered a great deal from self-imposed guilt, convinced that there was something he could have done to prevent the divorce. His sons were adamant about the fact that it was not his fault, that Pauline was not concerned with Max's best interests. Intellectually Max could understand all these realities, but emotionally he could not.

NARRATOR: It was this side of Max that kept his hope – and his dispair – alive. "A man should not be without a woman" he cried to us, months after he came to New York. For although it was "an act of God" when your beloved died, for Max this was not an act of God, but was a symbol of Max's imperfection.