ABSTRACT
One of Yossel’s sons, Meir Shlomo Koppel, was the author's paternal grandfather. Meir inherited his father’s poverty, but not his love of Torah. He was a perfect shlemiel who could be trusted to mismanage everything he touched. Meir was a typical Galician provincial. When the Russians invaded Galicia in 1914, he fled to Vienna, where for the first time he saw motor-cars in the streets. Meir’s marriage created a ticking legal bomb which went off after his death. Like many hasidim, Meir did not bother to register his marriage and legalize it with the authorities. Meir refused to allow his daughter to marry a baal melocheh, even if he could make a good living. Meir believed that his blessings were better than medical treatment.
