When I worked at Cornell-Hillel, it was during the time that I.B. Singer had won the Nobel Prize for Literature. We invited him to come to campus, and I was invited to join him and Rabbi Larry Edwards, then director of Hillel, plus some students for lunch at the Moosewood.

In his honor, the menu was written (which was posted daily on a chalkboard) in Yiddish, and my mother provided homemade potato knishes, which Singer loved (of course!). I was so starstruck, I hardly ate anything and didn't say a word. He was sitting opposite me at the end of a long table and would glance my way on occasion. Finally Singer looked at me and asked, "Sandy, since you haven't said anything, would you like me to autograph a potato for you?"

Posted by Sandy Loeffler