Betty Fagenson Lewis: My Autobiography, 1903 -- 1998
Marriages
The main reason my mother had married my father was that her mother feared her becoming an old maid. After all, she was already 25 when she married, and that was considered old. The marriage to my father was a shiddach (an arranged marriage) made by my paternal grandmother after my father came out of the army. From what I understand, my maternal grandfather was a man of law and order. They both treated their children with an iron hand.
My mother always told the story about making a shiddach for her brother. The match maker came with the aunt and the prospective bride to my grandmother's house. The family had to check to see if the bride would do, would be suitable for their son. They were all sitting around, and the aunt started cutting up her clothes and wrapping the pieces of cloth around her finger. When the prospective groom heard about the mishigina (crazy one), he said that he didn't want to get into a mishigina family, and shortly thereafter, left for America.
