She believes that the memory loss that comes with very old age can be a gift, as rereading a favorite book becomes a new experience. Bel's favorite character is Motl, the cantor's son. He continued writing even on his death bed. Sholem Aleichem had diabetes in his last years and suffered terribly. She remembers her grandfather's distinctive cackling laugh and that he could have been an actor due to his beautiful speaking voice. She talks about some of the similarities and differences between her grandfather and Mark Twain.

Bel believes that Jews had to learn to laugh to survive. At camp she recalls trying to make a small piece of meat last a long time and a child stealing her precious orange. Bel remembers admirers of her grandfather coming for tea and going to a camp for children of the working class. Although he spoke perfect Russian, and wrote to Chekhov and Tolstoy in that language, the fact that he wrote in Yiddish changed the way that Yiddish was viewed by the world. He loved the Yiddish language, which was often disparaged as a 'kitchen language' spoken by illiterate women. He wrote standing at a lectern, appearing to be listening to his characters speaking. He had long hair and wore pince-nez and elegant clothes. She remembers her grandfather as a source of laughter and love. Bel's family were cultural but not observant Jews. She remembers not having enough to eat and care packages arriving from her grandmother in New York. When she visited the street where she grew up many years later, it had gone back to its original name, Rishelyevskaya Street, after having been changed to Lenin Street. She recalls the frozen dead bodies of people shot on the street during the Russian Revolution and two women justifying stealing her brother's carriage. Bel describes the house that she lived in as a young child in Odessa, Russia. One of his first works, written at fourteen, was a glossary of the curse words that his stepmother hurled at him.

Her grandfather died when Bel was very young, so much of what she knows about his life comes from reading his books. Abstract Bel Kaufman, z'l, granddaughter of Yiddish writer Sholem Aleichem and author of award-winning novels, was interviewed by Christa Whitney on April 1st, 2014, in New York City, when she was 103 years old.

Bel kaufman books