Freidin Family Newsletter

Thatís Aramaic, for ëMaster of the Place.í It is one of a number of metaphors, used to describe the chief rabbinical authority of a locale, ranging from a tiny shtetl to a major metropolis. I am pleased to tell you that, at my suggestion, Rabbi Zalman Kossowsky has agreed to become the Virtual Mara DíAsra of Virtual Zelva in Cyberspace.

The idea for this came to me shortly after I had located and identified him. When I first proposed the idea, he demurred. Rabbi Zalman takes his responsibilities of office seriously, and he didnít want to assume an obligation he could not discharge. Over the past year, however, I think he has come to recognize that my request for him to supply us with a seasonal sermon, dovetails nicely with his ongoing duties as Mara díAsra of Zurich. And so, he has agreed. Those of you that visit our online facility will continue to enjoy his holiday offerings every time we publish a Newsletter, and this Rosh Hashana season is no exception.

'Zelva in Cyberspace' expresses an indomitable will to rise from the ashes that cruelly robbed our forbears of their earthly existence. Our ultimate victory, over the forces that would have destroyed us, is crowned not only by having our own 'virtual Chief Rabbi,' but one who is of direct lineal descent of the very real, flesh and blood human beings, who served in this capacity during their lifetime.

As the Starotsa of our website (thatís Venerable Elder, who deals with all the tsoris in town), I welcome Reb Zalman, and convey his admonition to you that, "I do not always read my mail so promptly." Despite this, I will tell you he has been a warm and understanding correspondent.

Now: how do you suppose we can create a virtual Vaíad Arba Aratzot (Council of the Four Lands)..............?

We are delighted to announce the name of our newest grandson after having returned from his Brit Milah in Scranton, PA today, Sunday April 28, 2002. We are equally pleased to let everyone know that mother Monique and Son Isaac are doing just fine.

As was his custom, begun with big brother Adam, Dr. Dan circumcised his own son. This is a great mitzvah, since it is the obligation of the father to do this for his male offspring (the next time you go to a Brit Milah, observe that the Mohel will turn to the father and ask whether the father consents to delegate this obligation to him).

There is a triple significance to Isaac's first name in Hebrew. He is named Yitzhak for his:

Isaac's middle name, Moshe, is given in memory of his Paternal Great-great-great uncle Morris Freed, brother to "Uncle Izzie." Thus, the little baby bears the names of both brothers of his Great-great-grandmother Hannah Freed.

It was a special pleasure to have Bea Melnick (my Uncle Izzie's daughter) and Bernie & Irma Dansky as guests for this simcha, and a good time was had by all.

Moe, Dan

Isaac, Adam

We extend special congratulations to Great-grandmother Sarah Berger and Great-grandparents Dr. Morris & Frances Kleinberg.

Eytan, in July, to Erez & Michal Bratt in Israel, grandson of Chaim & Irit Bratt...

We welcome Michelle Jennifer, daughter of Dr. Arie & Annie Steiner. Granddaughter of Dr. Ira & Susan Hollander. Great-granddaughter of Harold & Pearl Freed. Named Meira Shayna in Hebrew, for Pearlís mother Jennie Goldstein...

Arie, Annie & Baby Meira Steiner Great-grandpa Harold Freed and Baby Meira

Martin Kasen, on April 17, after a long and debilitating illness, in Florida. Beloved son of Sarah Kasen, brother of Charles Kasen, Andrea Grunberger, and the late Zachary Kasen. Husband of Anne, and father of Shari, Staci & June. Marty had been a career NYC police officer, and had been residing in Florida since his retirement from the Force.

We received a nice chatty letter from Gloria & Allan Cantor late this spring. Gloria writes: that we are all well, that Susan has recovered from her surgery (Feb) and is back at work as of the 15th of April. We had a wonderful visit with David, Kedma (Chris), Joash & Avniel in September 2001, and in March / April 2002. We helped Joash celebrate his 4th birthday on March 26^th , and took him and Stephen to Boston for 2 days, visiting several museums. Gloria reports a series of visits with Susan, Doug & Diana and that they had excellent weather and a great time with friends vacationing in Mexico.

We extend Mazel Tov and warm wishes on the occasion of the Cantorís 45th wedding anniversary, which was celebrated in August...

We received the following update from Larry & Sharyn Rubin in Pittsburgh: Our children are growing and thriving, thank G-d. Our oldest Ranisa had been in Boston, working as an advocate for abused women. She has returned to Pittsburgh and we, of course, are thrilled... Our youngest Raimy (named for Reuven Jonah) was home from his Yeshiva in Israel for Passover. He is now a sophomore at Yeshiva University...

We are delighted to let you know that Rachel Elise Lowenbraun was born on 17Feb02 to Dr. Norman & Loreen Lowenbraun in Los Gatos, CA. Granddaughter of Nathan & Carole Lowenbraun, she is a fourth generation descendant of the late Foyka & Alta Gelman of Zelva, who with Carole and older sister Zina, were the only Jewish family unit from Zelva to survive the Holocaust intact...

We are equally delighted to hear that Manya Ritz celebrated her 96^th birthday surrounded by all the Ritz and Neutra families with all the great-grandchildren were. Missing were Ronen Neutra, his wife and their children - but they spoke with Israel on the phone from New York...

Wedding bells have been ringing, here and yonder, producing the following matches:

Jason Boyarsky, son of Joel & Ellie Boyarski to Robin Katz, on April 27, in New York. The groom is the grandson of Gertrude (Gutka) Salutsky-Boyarski, our landsfrau from Dereczin and Zelva...

Hilary Haika Glazer, daughter of Roseline & Dr. William Glazer married Craig Bromberg on June 2, in New York...

Kalany Rachel Rubin, daughter of Larry & Sharyn Rubin, was married to Barry Kislowicz from Montreal, this June. Barry is studying for the Rabbinate at Yeshiva University and earning a Ph.D. in Education from Columbia.. Kally just graduated from Stern College in New York, and the couple will be living in Riverdale until Barry completes his studies...

Shlomit Gilony, daughter of Dr. Yair Gilony & Miri, was married to Gil Barak, son of Gabi & Rada Barak in Israel this summer..

In addition to becoming a grandmother, Susie Hollander reports the following about her children: Eldest daughter Shari completed her PhD in mathematics ay MIT, and is on a three-year post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Chicago. Shari has been traveling the university circuit, both here and abroad, presenting the results of her research.. new mother Annie Steiner continues her studies at Albert Einstein Medical School, where her husband, Arie graduated this past semester. Son David enters his second year at Queen College, while Michael graduated from Manhattan Talmudical academy HS. Mikeís graduation was especially poignant for his grandfather, Harold Freed, who attended, and noted that he had graduated in that very same auditorium some sixty-five years ago...

Congratulations are in order to Jesse Itzkowitz, son of Gary & Doris Itzkowitz and grandson of Jeanette Freed Socks, on his engagement to Jennifer Smith. Both are graduate students at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and a June 2003 wedding is planned...

Even pets count: the Bergers of Mahwah lost their last surviving dog, Teddy, who left us at 18 years of age ñ not bad for a poodle. When Dr. Dan lost his cat Jerome, that was the last straw: we all went cat- shopping. So now, Dr. Dan has two new Siamese cats, Rufus and Phoebe. Mother Carol could not walk away empty-handed, so Feivel Katzkowitz becomes the fourth Siamese cat in our domicile...not to be outdone, Susie Hollander, after a lifetime of abstinence, adopted a dog, who "was an adorable little puppy for a short while, but now he is this big, destructive, sad-eyed, lovable creature. I can't figure it out. I hated animals all my life, and now I run home in between appointments because the dog needs me to tickle him.!"

This picture was taken during Harry's visit to the U.S from London last summer. In my haste, I neglected to publish it in the last edition, but I thought you all would be interested to see it. Born Hirsz Jablonowski in Zelva, Harry survived the Holocaust, fought in the Second World War, and ended up settling in London, where he continues to reside today with his wife Valerie.

I would like to thank all of you who helped make the publication of Volkovysk: The Trilogy a success. My estimate for a first printing was a bit conservative, and I will be going back to the printer for an extra dozen or so. Some of you are aware that I ran into a ëglitchí with the first production run. A binding error by the printer led to a recall of about forty books that had gotten out before the error was detected. This stretched out my distribution process over the summer, but in the end, no harm was done. I want to thank Michael Friedman for his sharp eye, in being the first to detect the error, and alerting me, so I could attend to it.

For my next (fourth) project, I am turning to the southeastern Polish city of Zamo&emdash;É. This is not an arbitrary choice: it is the home town of a significant part of my fatherís family. My father, himself, was born in Szczebreszyn, adjacent to Zamo&emdash;É, and that Yizkor Book is scheduled (with G-dís help) to be my fifth project. To give you some measure of our collective closeness in kinship, this corner of Poland, which fell under Austro-Hungarian rule at the end of the 18^th century, when Poland was partitioned, is a scant 150 miles from western Belarus, where you find Zelva, Dereczin and Volkovysk. It is important to bear in mind, however, that this was a formidable distance, well into the 20^th century.

Like Volkovysk, Zamo&emdash;É boasted a population that had a Jewish majority up to the time of the Holocaust. The Jews of Zamo&emdash;É never suffered in the death camp system of the Nazis: they were summarily marched off into the forests outside and about the city, and nearly fifteen thousand Jews were machine-gunned to death, in a massacre that parallels those of Babi Yar and the Katyn Forest.

The preliminary historical chapters reveal that Zamo&emdash;É was both an interesting city, and the cradle for an array of renown Jewish personalities. Itís enlightened founder, Jan Zamoyski, chancellor of Poland, had it built, starting in 1580, employing the services of one of the finest Italian Renaissance architects of the day: Bernardo Morando of Padua. The city survived largely unscathed by the Second World War, and is known as ëThe Polish Padua.í It is the birthplace of the author I. L. Peretz, and the firebrand communist ideologue, Rosa Luxemburg, just to mention a couple of names.

As I work my way through this tome (originally published in Yiddish in Buenos Aires Argentina), Iíll keep you appraised of interesting things that I come across.

As the anniversary of the September 11 tragedy closes in on us, we can look back and see that we live in troubled, and unsettled times. Adding to the malaise, is the evidence that the world easily forgets the terrible lessons to be learned from the experience of the Holocaust. Recently in the U.K., a manufacturer of footwear, seemingly not knowing, named a line of sneakers ëZyklon B,í recalling the cyanide pellets used to exterminate Jews in the gas chambers. It speaks volumes about education and awareness, that such a faux pas could occur in the one country that took a terrible shellacking from the Nazis, and prevailed. It is also a supreme irony that anti-Semitism needs virtually no encouragement to thrive in the bosom of western civilization, but that the lessons of manís inhumanity to man need to be continuously revisited, lest they vanish into the sands of time. Just as the Haggadah at Passover time instructs us to re-tell the Exodus from Egypt, never fail to retell the cataclysm that befell our people in the 20^th century ñ lest we ñ and the world ñ forget