Family Stories: Mauricio & Marcia Lisker & Family

A Second Home...

Mauricio and Marcia Lisker left much behind when they moved to St. Louis.  “You don’t know how hard it was for us to leave,” explains Marcia.  “We lived in Mexico our whole lives, and then we had to say goodbye to our family, our heritage, and even our language.”  However, as her husband Mauricio points out: “As difficult as the transition was, Traditional Congregation allowed us to grow the roots we had cut.”

Members since 2000, the Liskers quickly explain why Traditional made their move bearable.  “It certainly helped that the size of the congregation wasn’t huge, people knew us by name right away,” Marcia remembers.  “From the start we were getting invitations to Shabbat dinner.  And since our two oldest kids we’re born in Mexico, they met lots of children their own age who helped them catch up on English and the American culture.”

Once life-cycle events appeared, the Liskers found Traditional even more helpful.  Marcia recalls that “one evening, without much fanfare, I went to the synagogue for my father’s yahrzeit, and everyone there went to great lengths to make sure we had a minyan.  I never asked for any extra attention, but the people here gave it to me anyway.”  Mauricio beams when he recalls the warm reception his Mexican family received when they arrived for his kids’ bar and bat mitzvahs: “It was like we blended two cultures together for an afternoon.  There was great respect and admiration for where we came from.  Our two families became one.”

One event in particular sums up Mauricio’s experience best: “During my youngest girl’s baby naming, I stood up in front of the whole congregation and cried.  For a second I thought ‘I’m crying in front of strangers.’  But then I realized that none of these people are strangers.  For us they’ve made this country a second home.  They helped us find what we left behind.”