Page 14 - Boca ViewPointe - March '21

Page 14, Viewpointe March 2021

The Schvitz

By William A. Gralnick And the sounds, grunts, groans, occasional shouts of pain, So, we come to the grand finale, the reason some said they
and curses that broadened my vocabulary, a lot. The chorus played altogether, the “schvitz.” This made no sense to me.
Everyone should do an oral history of their parents. of sounds was bi-lingual—English and Yiddish. As I recall, In English it was “the baths.” Schvitzing was sweating. Why
Parents of our day almost never told their kids about the area was the size of a school yard and it was intersected would one sweat one’s brains out and go “take a schvitz,”
themselves and their lives, lives that in many cases had with walls making the courts. In handball, there’s no back a sweat? I was to find out. The schvitz was a public steam
real gems in them that occasionally got dug out. Those wall. You didn’t have the option of letting the ball bounce bath. All these men, of all shapes and sizes, headed to the
gems would make one wonder what else there was to off the back wall and then hitting it like you did in racquet schvitz and waded into a heated version of the fog of London.
know. ball. You had to get it before it got by you. I was told that And they were all naked as the day they were born but not
My paternal grandfather was related to the vaudevillian unless there was snow on the ground you could always find nearly as cute. I had never seen a herd of naked men, but I
known as, “The Mad Russian” who toured with Eddie a group of die-hards smacking the ball around. The “Polar couldn’t believe that some of these men would want to be
Cantor and who I did see a few times on the Ed Sullivan Bear Club” of handball, if you will. Hard as it was in summer, seen naked by others. Yet there they were partaking in one
show. My mom had two cousins, one who was the agent I could imagine what hitting that ball in the winter would be of Brooklyn’s communal happenings.
for Judy Garland. Another cousin, his brother, was one of like. A hockey puck shaped like a ball came to mind. This was to change, or at least I became aware of the
the great so-called “Big Band” leaders. I thought this was All of this is told to you to tell you that the players were diversity one could find in the “bath community.” The
cool. My mom was pursued by one of the early big names schvitzing (sweating) like animals. The sweat was like a Russians did it one way, the Fins another, and so on. Then
in the news business—until my grandmother decided sheet of water that began at their hairlines. It poured down came “Plato’s Retreat” and the growth in “the city” of the
a “professional man,” in this case my father, a dentist, their faces, parting around the protective googles of those gay baths. Handball. Or even sweating, was not a prerequisite
would be far more suitable. When her suitor showed up who wore them. If someone played in a shirt, it was soaked for going to these baths.
at the house to find an 8 x 10 picture of my young father through to the skin as were soon enough their shorts. Without
in dental school on the piano, he took the hint. a shirt, if someone was big-bellied, the sweat poured over Columnist and author Bill Gralnick was born and
As for my father, one such revelation was that my their gut like water in a run of rapids, flowing over boulders. raised in Brooklyn. His latest book, titled “The War of
dad was an accomplished violinist, an instrument never They might have been fat, but their guts were hard as rocks. the Itchy Balls and Other Tales from Brooklyn,” offers
seen in our house in my lifetime. His dream was to be a You could hear feet squishing in sneakers from the sweat more memories. His writings can be found at https://www.
concert violinist. The Great Depression ended that. pooling in them. williamgralnickauthor.com/. 
One day he walked out of the house while a bunch of
us were playing catch with a spauldene. He motioned for
the ball and then proceeded to throw me a curve ball that
Dodgers. Who knew? My mother frowned on his doing Dining Reopens
looked like a rival to the one Clem Labine threw for the

anything that could bang up his fingers or hand. No pitch
Another was that in his youth, he was a neighborhood At Edgewater At Boca Pointe
and catch with him.

champion in handball and here begins the story. I think
under the ruse to my mother of taking me to Coney By Lisa Sileo “It was a pleasure
Island, he took a detour in Brighton to the “world seeing how much the
famous” handball courts. Here you found for hand ball Edgewater at Boca Pointe celebrated its residents residents enjoyed
players the equivalent of the almost pro street ballers return to dining in its restaurants on February 22. The being back dining with
on the basketball courts of Harlem. These men, many community moved forward safely opening its dining us,” said Jonathan
pretty well up in age, at least to my young eyes, were venues after a significant number of resident COVID-19 Pinsker, Southeast
the legends of their game. Few wore handball gloves. For vaccinations and routine COVID-19 testing and Regional Director of
the uninitiated, a handball is about as hard as a golf ball, screening. Culinary and Nutrition
and not much bigger. When you hit it, you felt it and in “Our residents were thrilled to get a taste of services, “Thank you
a game of handball you hit that round rock a lot. normalcy,” said Executive Chef Steve McCracken. “Just for this marvelous
My father had snuck me away to let me peek into great vibes to be back. I was excited. It felt more like welcome.” 
a world he used to live in. I was mesmerized by the pre-COVID times.”
contortions these old guys could perform, many of them McCracken welcomed residents with a
performing while carrying bellies well built on years of delicious appetizer of steamed bun tacos filled
pastrami, corned beef, and knishes. They jumped and with duck confit, pickled vegetables, roasted
smacked the ball overhand, they dipped and slapped it just pineapple and scallions. Residents were served
before it hit the ground, they raced to and fro following mock mimosas and serenaded by a violinist as they
this round, black demon. walked to their tables decorated with balloons and
confetti. Everyone could feel the excitement.

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