In the late-1920s, Lithuania was an increasingly difficult place to live for Jewish families like my wife’s great-grandparents. They had built a stable life near the border of Germany, but as the economy faltered, anti-Semitism was on the rise.

One night, at a play they attended, there was a violent attack against a Jewish person. Then while walking in the street one day, a neighbor (whose house they had helped rebuild after a fire) said an anti-Semitic slur as he walked past. The family decided it was time to leave Europe.

They almost didn’t make it because of a hangnail. At the port, the youngest daughter was denied boarding papers because the ship’s doctor was concerned it could lead to an infection on the ship. They had little time before the ship sailed for Canada.

With the money they saved, they were able to find and pay a doctor in the city who would write her a clean bill of health.

Money: life or death.

Nomi’s great-grandparents and their children in Lithuania, circa 1920s.…