Freeze Frame
Picture
Princeton, New Jersey
Jonathan Blinken
Jay Jay B's paternal great grandfather, Maurice B, was the President of the American Palestine Institute. In 1952 he had a meeting with the chairmen of the American Palestine Institute and Albert Einstein at Princeton University. The meeting’s agenda was to determine if Albert Einstein would accept the honor to become the second President of Israel. Albert Einstein declined, despite his strong connection to Israel. He continued to help the growing country for many years after this meeting.
This picture is of Maurice B, Albert Einstein and the other men at the meeting.
Pictures
Brooklyn and Poland
These pictures are of Remi S’s maternal great grandparents, Louis and Francis S, and of Remi S’s maternal grandfather, Mortin S when he became a Bar Mitzvah. Louis was twenty six years old when he came to America in 1906. Louis was the first president of the Carpenter Union. Then, Louis became a builder and built apartments instead. Louis got married to Francis in 1923. A year after they got married, they had a baby and named him Mortin. Mortin S was in the first class of Yeshiva of Flatbush. When he turned thirteen, he became a Bar Mitzvah at the shul his father built, Kings Highway Jewish Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Remi S’s family has kept these pictures in their living room and will continue to pass them on from generation to generation.
Siddur
Cleveland, Ohio
This siddur was Addison H's paternal grandfather Sanford H’s first siddur ever. This siddur was given to Sanford before there were zip-codes. It says Cleveland 18 which was the zone that Sandford live in. This was given to Addison’s Grandpa Sandy in about 1952. Sanford's parents bought it for him because he needed it for Cheder (Hebrew School). Sandy used this every Shabbos until today. As a child, he drew and wrote inside of this siddur. He wrote “in case of fire, throw in.”
Addison's Grandpa Sandy has had other siddurs, but this one was his first siddur ever and it has a lot sentimental value to him.
A Picture
United States
This picture is a picture of Shira M’s maternal great-great grandfather. He opened a kosher restaurant with a partner during the 1930’s. They sold regular food as well as takeout food. They sold coffee for only a nickel. In 1930, when there wasn’t a lot of food, the family was always able to have food.
They cherish this picture.
Picture of My Great Grand Father
Bagdad Iraq
Shaya M’s heritage item is a picture of Shaya‘s great grandfather. He was born on October 28, 1901. Shaya’s great grandfather went to Baghdad, Iraq to wed Shaya’s great grandmother. Then, they traveled to New York. It took them three weeks to get to New York. They raised 3 children and one of the children was Shaya’s grandfather. Shaya’s great grandfather was a businessman. Shaya wishes that his great grandfather was still alive because he would want to meet him.
He died in 1971 due to an illness.
The Last Coat
Libya
Amit H’s maternal great grandfather on his mother’s side, Yosef T had a special jacket that he would wear every time he went to shul. Yosef T was the Rabbi of the Jewish community in Tripoli, Libya in 1948. On June 12, 1948, there was a pogrom (a massacre against Jews) in Libya. Rabbi Yosef T was praying with everyone at the shul until someone notified him that there was a massacre going on outside of shul. He told everyone to leave the area. At the time, Amit's great grandmother was pregnant with his grandfather. Yosef T told her to go out the window and straight to Israel where he had an apartment to live in case of an emergency. When everyone left, he tried to grab the Torah and leave but as he tried to reach out he was stabbed. The soldiers left him in the shul as they burned it down.
The only remnant of his life was his jacket that he wore to shul every day.
Photo
Switzerland
This is a picture, taken in December of 1945, of Nathanael V’s maternal great grandparents (2nd row from top, 1st & 2nd from left,) and great-great uncle (top row, 2nd from left) among some of the members of the so-called “Kasztner Transport.” This was the outcome of bribery and negotiation between a wealthy Hungarian Jew named Rudolph Israel Kasztner and Nazi officers, which saved about 1,700 Jews from destruction at the hands of the Nazis. Nathanael’s maternal great grandparents and great-great uncle, for whom Nathanael is named, were among those fortunate enough to be part of the transport. In June 1944, the ransomed Jews were allowed to board a train bound from Budapest, Hungary to Switzerland. The Nazis, however, as typical, betrayed them. Instead of having the trains take the passengers to Switzerland , they sent the trains to Bergen-Belsen, a concentration camp in Germany. There the prisoners stayed until December, when a second train took them to a displaced persons camp in Switzerland to stay the remainder of the war. Nathanael's great grandmother kept her copy of the picture until she died. It now belongs to Nathanael's maternal grandmother. (Something else about the picture: Another copy of it actually appeared in the movie Killing Kastner.)
The photograph is now a treasured item to Nathanael V's family.