Bialystok family residence

... My family lived in the tallest building in town, a “skyscraper” consisting of 4’4 stories, which looked down with pride upon the entire area. As I peered through the attic windows at the large city lying at the foot of my house, I beheld roofs in various forms and colors: roofs of batei midrashim and factories, for-and three-cornered roofs, the pointed tops of churches that pierced the clouds, and chimneys atop factories. The streets below appeared distant; the people seemed like ants. I remember best a yibrant, bustling Bialystok from that vantage point.