Heritage Florida Jewish News - Central Florida's Independent Jewish Voice

I have written before about my dad. A two-fisted fighter who fought and fought hard for what he believed in. One thing he fell short on in his younger years was his Judaism.

As I have said, his paternal grandfather was a nasty, bitter old man. He hated the Russians for throwing him out of Russia to live in a bitterly empty wasteland that today is Ukraine.

He came to America to find that the streets were not lined with gold and life in America was not a paradise after all. His religion was his only escape — and he dove in head first.

His son, my grandfather, Abraham Shiplacoff, was an ac...