From: "David Simon Bendory" To: "Schelly Talalay Dardashti" , "DARDASHTI Schelly HOME" References: Subject: Re: the story, rough cut Date: Sun, 23 Sep 2001 20:20:14 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_002B_01C1446D.27382700" X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4807.1700 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.50.4807.1700 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_002B_01C1446D.27382700 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable the story, rough cutHi Schelly, I'm really touched that you have chosen to publish this story. I = continue to receive replies from people who see the story on JewishGen, = though they have slowed now. Your story is 100% factually accurate as written, but I'll just comment = on things that, while not factually incorrect, may not quite be right. I = leave it to you to decide what to do with these comments. Strictly = speaking, they aren't corrections. I have one editorial comment to offer -- I'd rather you didn't end the = "shaded box" on such a down note. I'd rather see a last line that says = something like: "David has since returned to work, relocated by Goldman = to a different building in the area. Like many others who have = personally experienced terror, his life goes on because it has to." Having made my one editorial comment -- you are, after all, a = professional journalist, so I leave the editing to you -- here are = factual comments: 1.. I assume, but don't actually know factually, that my windows were = blown in by the collapse of the south tower. That is how everyone = describes the damage occurring to 1 Liberty, but there are no eye = witnesses to it. 2.. I don't know if it matters for the story, but I got some other = personal items out of my office on Thursday. A worker in the building = took out all the family pictures he saw, and mine were among them. They = were coated in ash, soot, and cement dust -- a smell I will never = forget. I took the pictures out of the frames, which were ruined. Even = the pictures inside the frames had a film on them. In contrast, not only = was the siddur itself clean, but so was even the outermost bag it was = wrapped inside of. (It was inside my credenza.) 3.. Another JewishGen participant asked me for specifics on the = pogroms the siddur had been through. I know of no specifics. My family = left Hungary because of the push-pull of persecution in Hungary and = opportunity in America. So my description of the siddur surviving = pogroms is more a general statement of its escaping Jewish persecution = than a statement about a known specific event. 4.. Technically, my family didn't travel via Hamburg, they moved there = for a period between Hungary and NY. The Patricia certainly sailed from = Hamburg (it's on the manifest). According to Uncle Leo, Aron & Helen = lived in Hamburg for "several years" while they waited for immigration = quotas to allow them into America. I know that Fanny was born in = Hungary, so they left Hungary sometime after 1902 and left Hamburg in = 1904, but I don't know how long they were actually in Hamburg. 5.. Kay Simon's married name is Kay Levine. (Her birth name is Kay = Simon.) Genealogists call everyone by their birth name, but "Kay Simon = Levine" or even just "Kay Levine" is probably more correct for a = newspaper article. 6.. I always say my degree from Princeton is in Jewish Studies because = that is effectively what I studied, but it is technically in "Near = Eastern Studies." Princeton doesn't offer a degree in Jewish studies, so = I put together my own program by working with the NES department. (I = don't think anyone cares unless they are interested in my transcript, = which would say NES on it.) 7.. Technically, Yafitte & I won't be married for 7 years until our = anniversary this November. It will be 6 yrs 11 months as of your = publication date. 8.. As for time in Israel, the ~3 years is time spent "living" in = Israel -- working or studying -- which I differentiate from time = "visiting" -- touring, visiting family, going for a wedding, etc. There = have been lots of trips shorter than 3 months which fall into the latter = category. 9.. The comment about the size of my family is a little unclear -- the = 84 living relatives are direct decedents of Aron & Helen. There are far = more than 84 among the ~400. (Sorry, I guess that's editorial :-) 10.. I don't really know how many people I saw fall from the WTC. A = dozen is not an unreasonable guess. Certainly more than 5, certainly = fewer than 15. (My God, does it matter?) 11.. The firefighters' estimate is that the fire was between 1000-2000 = degrees F. 12.. The incident where I was throwing my son's Barney was actually a = day or two later, but I don't think it matters. I think that's everything. As I said, the story is factually accurate as = written; the above are technical details which I don't have any problem = with you choosing to ignore. As for my family... I have a daughter (5) and son (3). My son, by the = way, is named after my grandfather Avraham. Yafitte (that's how she = spells it in English) is American; her parents are from Rishon. All our = family in Israel is hers -- we had an engagement party with ~180 Israeli = relatives, most of whom are from the Rishon area. Yes, you may publish = my personal e-mail address and also the URLs for the web pages listed = below. As to cutting down the story, and the decision to include pictures, = etc., I leave that to you. It's already pretty tight... I suppose you = could cut some of the finer details without losing anything, like the = name of the boat, the street in NY, my grandmother's full name = ("Franziska"), etc. If you need to make a big cut, I suppose you could = cut the whole bit about the Schwartz family, as it is orthogonal to the = story of the siddur, but it really does round out the piece beautifully. = I suppose I would argue that your editors need to give you more space = for this one. :-) Let me know if I can be of further assistance... G'mar chatimah tovah, David ----- Original Message -----=20 From: Schelly Talalay Dardashti=20 To: david90@alumni.princeton.edu ; DARDASHTI Schelly HOME=20 Sent: Sunday, September 23, 2001 8:02 AM Subject: the story, rough cut Dear David: Cut-and-pasted, here is a rough cut. I checked your genealogy page = also. Am I correct in daughter and son? Also is Yafitt (sp?) Israeli? if = so, where does her family live? Would you want your personal email in for people to write to you? If = so, let me know. Won't put it in without permission. Story is at 50 inches which is upper limit for my page. so will have = to do some smooshing (technical term for more judicious editing) to get = in the text AND a picture. Will work/decide on picture tomorrow. Please let me know how you feel about it, also facts.=20 Editor has to check it tomorrow as we also have another early deadline = for the Oct. 5 issue (because of Succoth, printing on Monday instead of = Wednesday night). Please copy to both home and office address so I will have it in both = places. At the office we cannot open attachments, so cut-and-paste is = best. Best regards, Schelly ---------------------------------------------------------------- =B3MY world is still upside-down. My office is a wreck,=B2 says David = Simon Bendory of New Jersey. =B3The windows were blown in by the shock = wave from the South Tower collapse. Everything is covered with dust and = debris.=B2 When he finally got home to Livingston on Tuesday, September 11, = following the attack on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, he = posted the following to JewishGen:=20 =B3I work across the street from the World Trade Center in One Liberty = Plaza ... Thank God I was already on my way home. Thank God I made it = home safely today, without a scratch ...,=B2 wrote the Goldman Sachs = vice president. =B3Locked in my desk sits my great-grandmother=B9s siddur = [prayerbook], published in Vienna in 1878. I had an appointment to meet = with a book conservator tomorrow [Wednesday] to have it properly = preserved. Inside the cover, my great-grandmother, then my grandmother, = listed the births, marriages, and deaths in our family from the death of = my great-great-grandmother and great-great-grandfather in 1893 through = the marriage of Uncle Charlie in1932 ... =B3This siddur survived pogroms in Hungary, the journey to America, = and three generations. I won=B9t know if it survived today=B9s tragedy = until I can get back into my office, and I don=B9t know when that will = be. Thank God I have a scan of the writing inside the cover. DAVID thought the siddur was lost forever.=20 One Liberty Plaza, immediately adjacent to the WTC, remained standing = and, in his Goldman Sachs office on the 33rd floor, David=B9s office = credenza remained intact, protecting the old brown prayerbook. After a = week, it was retrieved and returned to him erev Rosh Hashana.=20 Earlier, David had said that he had no words to describe the = catastrophe from which he narrowly escaped, =B3I now have no words to = describe the miracle which has emerged from that same catastrophe. God = willing, there are more miracles to come, in the form of survivors who = emerge from the debris.=B2 The siddur survived Hungarian pogroms. It survived the journey to = America in 1904. And it survived September 11. It is a survivor. THE German-Hebrew siddur arrived in America in 1904 with David=B9s = great-grandmother Helen Kohn, who arrived with daughter Franziska = (Fanny), age 2. They travelled with $1 from Anina, (then Hungary, now = Romania), via Hamburg, Germany, on the Patricia to Ellis Island to join = their husband and father Aron Kohn on Morris Avenue, in New York. Fanny (David=B9s grandmother) gave the siddur to her oldest daughter, = Kay Simon, who gave it to David. It records =AD in Hungarian =AD the = births, deaths and marriages from the death of Aron and Helen=B9s = parents in 1893 and 1895 through the marriage of Uncle Charlie in 1932.=20 David plans on inscribing his story inside to add a literal page to = its history. HIS family had been secular for so long that =B3everyone called this = book the family Bible,=B2 says David, who is the first observant Jew in = four generations on both sides of his family. When he received it, he = realized it was a prayerbook, not a Bible.=20 =B3I davened from it on the day of my son=B9s bris,=B2 he says, and he = brings it each time he visits his Uncle Leo, who is sick, to say a = prayer for good health with him. Fluent in Hebrew, both his undergraduate AB (Princeton 1990) and his = MA (Jewish Theological Seminary, NY 1994) are in Jewish Studies. He has = lived in Israel for a total of about three years on trips of from three = to 15 months. He and his wife Yafitte have been married for seven years, = are the parents of a son and a daughter, and were last in Israel for a = wedding at Passover. Always interested in his roots, David has tape recordings and notes of = interviews with his grandparents, great-aunts and uncles going back two = decades.=20 DAVID asked his grandmother and her generation where they came from in = Hungary, and no one knew. One day, when his Alzheimer=B9s-stricken grandmother was 89 ... when = she didn=B9t know who David was ... when she called his father by her = brother=B9s name ... and asked where her husband was (dead for 20 years) = ... David asked her once more where the family was from in Hungary. = =B3She blurted out, clear as day, =B3Resciza =AD R-E-S-C-I-Z-A. It=B9s = near Temesvar =AD T-E-M-E-S-V-A-R. It was a mining town in Hungary.=B2=20 He now has wedding pictures of her parents in Temesvar, (today = Timisoara, Romania); Resita (Resicabanya) is nearby. Great-grandmother = Helen=B9s father, Rabbi Philip Brauch, was supposedly the rabbi in = Temesvar, but David has not yet been able to find a record of him. =B3I have some 400 relatives in my family tree now,=B2 he says, of = whom 99 are direct descendents or married to direct descendents of Helen = and Aron. Today, 84 are alive. DAVID=B9S great-grandparents on the other side, Leib and Ruchel = Schwartz, were clearly religious when they arrived in 1902 from Romania = with their children, Avraham (=B3my grandfather) and Itzchok. Like many = turn-of-the-century immigrants, says David, they worked to assimilate = into their new country, throwing off much of their Jewish identity in = the process.=20 Their children (=B3my grandfather=B9s generation=B2) married Jews and = rarely went to synagogue; their children (=B3my parent=B9s = generation=B2) married Jews and transmitted little beyond basic Jewish = values; and their children (=B3my generation=B2) entirely intermarried. =B3Except me. I am the first observant Jew in four generations on both = sides of my family,=B2 he says. As an observant Jew, it troubled him for = years that his parents never gave him a Hebrew name and didn=B9t name = him after anyone. So as an adult, he took on the Hebrew name Dovid to go = with his English name, and he has gone by the Hebrew version for years. This year, the only safe day to visit the historic Grove Street = Cemetery in Newark was September 16 =AD there are plenty of police, and = many older people go before the holidays to visit family graves.=20 =B3As a genealogist, I ventured out to see my great-grandparents on = both sides of the family to see what I could learn,=B2 says David. =B3As = a Jew, I went to pay appropriate respect before the holidays.=B2 =B3Imagine my surprise and joy to find Leib=B9s Hebrew name on his = tombstone: Leib ben Dovid.=20 In their efforts to assimilate, to give their son a nice American = Jewish name, unknown to anyone alive, after four generations, David=B9s = parents gave him the name of his great-great-grandfather. =B3I will no longer say I was not named after anyone,=B2 says David. = =B3God works in mysterious ways.=B2=20 ---------------------- YAEL, bold italic note above column box --------------------------------------- For a scan of the front cover inscription = (Hungarian)http://members.home.net/dbendory/siddur/cover.jpg = http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/i/m/David-E-Simon/index.html= =20 ---------------------- end bold italic note ---------------------- ----------------------------------------=20 YAEL please put following section in a shaded box: ---------------------------------------- David, 33, was late for work on Sept. 11 because he had taken his car = to be serviced. He decided to make it a late day and go to his gym = before going up to his office at Goldman Sachs where he is a vice = president. He had just finished a five-mile run when someone came in and told = them to turn on CNN, which had reported that a small plane had = accidentally flown into the WTC and it was on fire. He called his wife = and said there was an accident, that everything was fine, and he was = going to work. A few minutes later, he saw the second explosion and knew it was no = accident but a terrorist attack. =B3Self-preservation fight-or-flight = kicked in,=B2 he says. =B3I tried to call my wife to tell her I was = coming home, but the phones were already dead.=B2 The gym was at the basement level so the cell phones weren=B9t working = either. He got dressed and headed out to the street to see hundreds of people = milling about. Two people from his floor said their building had been = evacuated and to report to another of the Goldman offices in the = financial district. Would he join them? No thanks, said David, he was = going home to New Jersey. He figured that the ferry at the World = Financial Center was the only way across.=20 He also realized that being stuck in the financial district was not a = good idea. =B3I ran =AD literally =AD a mile to the ferry ... probably = my fastest mile ever, chanting tehillim (psalms) as I ran,=B2 says = David, who passed thousands of people milling about aimlessly. =B3I put = my cell phone on autodial to my wife. Though I had no personal = experience, I knew all about cellphone outages and jammed circuits = during attacks in Israel.=B2 David reached the dock, saw an empty ferry pull out, waited for = another one to pull in. =B3I caught my breath, pulled out my siddur and = continued to chant the psalms,=B2 as the crowd grew. The NY Mercantile = Exchange closed and its hundreds of employees and brokers joined those = already at the dock. =B3We all stood watching the WTC burn and I saw the images that = haunted me for days: people falling, jumping blown out,=B2 he recalls. = =B3Debris was falling ... some of it was burning ... some of it wasn=B9t = debris, it was people ... plummeting through the air.=B2 David believes = he saw a dozen people jump in the few minutes he waited for the ferry, = and he asks, =B3What goes through a person=B9s mind in a 1000 F fire on = the 100th floor with no way out?=B2 The crowd boarded the ferry, and David added tefillat ha-derech = [prayer for travellers] to the prayers he recited, as he stood in the = crowd of 399 (the ferry=B9s capacity) onboard, drenched in sweat from = the run, from stress, from panic. Those who travel this route know there is a brief minute or two when = the ferry crosses the Hudson, when it passes behind the Statue of = Liberty and the Twin Towers are blocked from view. =B3We saw the Twin = Towers standing,=B2 says David, =B3then passed behind Lady Liberty. We = emerged to see one tower and enough smoke to obscure the area where the = second tower should have been. We heard nothing, the ferry was too = loud.=B2=20 The passengers didn=B9t know about the South Tower collapse until the = ferry docked in Hoboken. David got onto a train which quickly filled, = and continued chanting psalms.=20 =B3When I would pause here and there, everyone around me =AD Jew, = Christian, Indian (I couldn=B9t identify any Muslims on sight), black, = white =AD nodded, thanked me, told me it was beautiful, asked me to pray = more. Everyone is religious in a war.=B2 Some people on the train cried, some read news reports from a pager, = one person got a cell phone call through and we all gave our home = numbers so the person on the land line could call home for us.=B2 =B3I finally arrived home at 11 am, two hours after I learned of the = first attack. =B3Fight or flight ceased, and I collapsed on the floor, = hysterically crying.=B2 David continued crying on and off all day, seeing the images of = jumping people passing before his eyes over and over. He played with his = son, tossed his Barney up in the air and saw people falling. =B3Everyone = I know called that day ... people I hadn=B9t spoken to for months ... = all our Israeli family.=B2 A few nights later, during a thunderstorm, he = awoke in a nightmare, seeing the WTC explode again. ----------------------------------- end of shaded box ___________________ ------=_NextPart_000_002B_01C1446D.27382700 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable the story, rough cut
Hi Schelly,
 
I'm really touched that you have chosen = to publish=20 this story. I continue to receive replies from people who see the story = on=20 JewishGen, though they have slowed now.
 
Your story is 100% factually accurate = as written,=20 but I'll just comment on things that, while not factually incorrect, may = not=20 quite be right. I leave it to you to decide what to do with these = comments.=20 Strictly speaking, they aren't corrections.
 
I have one editorial comment to offer = -- I'd rather=20 you didn't end the "shaded box" on such a down note. I'd rather see a = last line=20 that says something like: "David has since returned to work, relocated = by=20 Goldman to a different building in the area. Like many others who have=20 personally experienced terror, his life goes on because it has = to."
 
Having made my one editorial comment -- = you are,=20 after all, a professional journalist, so I leave the editing to = you -- here=20 are factual comments:
  1. I assume, but don't actually know = factually, that=20 my windows were blown in by the collapse of the south tower. That is = how=20 everyone describes the damage occurring to 1 Liberty, but there are no = eye=20 witnesses to it.
  2. I don't know if it matters for the = story, but I=20 got some other personal items out of my office on Thursday. A worker = in the=20 building took out all the family pictures he saw, and mine were = among=20 them. They were coated in ash, soot, and cement dust -- a smell I will = never=20 forget. I took the pictures out of the frames, which were ruined. Even = the=20 pictures inside the frames had a film on them. In contrast, not only = was the=20 siddur itself clean, but so was even the outermost bag it was wrapped = inside=20 of. (It was inside my credenza.)
  3. Another JewishGen participant asked me = for=20 specifics on the pogroms the siddur had been through. I know of no = specifics.=20 My family left Hungary because of the push-pull of persecution in = Hungary and=20 opportunity in America. So my description of the siddur surviving = pogroms is=20 more a general statement of its escaping Jewish persecution than a = statement=20 about a known specific event.
  4. Technically, my family didn't travel = via Hamburg,=20 they moved there for a period between Hungary and NY. The Patricia = certainly=20 sailed from Hamburg (it's on the manifest). According to Uncle Leo, = Aron &=20 Helen lived in Hamburg for "several years" while they waited for = immigration=20 quotas to allow them into America. I know that Fanny was born in = Hungary, so=20 they left Hungary sometime after 1902 and left Hamburg in 1904, but I = don't=20 know how long they were actually in Hamburg.
  5. Kay Simon's married name is Kay = Levine. (Her birth=20 name is Kay Simon.) Genealogists call everyone by their birth name, = but "Kay=20 Simon Levine" or even just "Kay Levine" is probably more correct for a = newspaper article.
  6. I always say my degree from Princeton = is in Jewish=20 Studies because that is effectively what I studied, but it is = technically in=20 "Near Eastern Studies." Princeton doesn't offer a degree in Jewish = studies, so=20 I put together my own program by working with the NES department. (I = don't=20 think anyone cares unless they are interested in my transcript, which = would=20 say NES on it.)
  7. Technically, Yafitte & I won't be = married for=20 7 years until our anniversary this November. It will be 6 = yrs 11=20 months as of your publication date.
  8. As for time in Israel, the ~3 years is time = spent "living"=20 in Israel -- working or studying -- which I differentiate from time = "visiting"=20 -- touring, visiting family, going for a wedding, etc. There have been = lots of=20 trips shorter than 3 months which fall into the latter = category.
  9. The comment about the size of my = family is a=20 little unclear -- the 84 living relatives are direct decedents of Aron = &=20 Helen. There are far more than 84 among the ~400. (Sorry, I guess = that's=20 editorial :-)
  10. I don't really know how many people I = saw fall=20 from the WTC. A dozen is not an unreasonable guess. Certainly more = than 5,=20 certainly fewer than 15. (My God, does it matter?)
  11. The firefighters' estimate is that the = fire was=20 between 1000-2000 degrees F.
  12. The incident where I was throwing my = son's Barney=20 was actually a day or two later, but I don't think it = matters.
I = think that's=20 everything. As I said, the story is factually accurate as written; the = above are=20 technical details which I don't have any problem with you choosing to=20 ignore.
 
As for my family... I have a daughter = (5) and son=20 (3). My son, by the way, is named after my grandfather Avraham. Yafitte = (that's=20 how she spells it in English) is American; her parents are from Rishon. = All our=20 family in Israel is hers -- we had an engagement party with ~180 Israeli = relatives, most of whom are from the Rishon area. Yes, you may publish = my=20 personal e-mail address and also the URLs for the web pages listed=20 below.
 
As to cutting down the story, and the = decision to=20 include pictures, etc., I leave that to you. It's already pretty = tight... I=20 suppose you could cut some of the finer details without losing anything, = like=20 the name of the boat, the street in NY, my grandmother's full name=20 ("Franziska"), etc. If you need to make a big cut, I suppose you could = cut the=20 whole bit about the Schwartz family, as it is orthogonal to the story of = the=20 siddur, but it really does round out the piece beautifully. I suppose I = would=20 argue that your editors need to give you more space for this one.=20 :-)
 
Let me know if I can be of further=20 assistance...
 
G'mar chatimah tovah,
David
 
----- Original Message -----
From:=20 Schelly=20 Talalay Dardashti
Sent: Sunday, September 23, = 2001 8:02=20 AM
Subject: the story, rough = cut

Dear=20 David:
Cut-and-pasted, here is a rough cut. I checked your = genealogy page=20 also. Am I correct in daughter and son? Also is Yafitt (sp?) Israeli? = if so,=20 where does her family live?
Would you want your personal email in = for=20 people to write to you? If so, let me know. Won't put it in without=20 permission.

Story is at 50 inches which is upper limit for my = page. so=20 will have to do some smooshing (technical term for more judicious = editing) to=20 get in the text AND a picture. Will work/decide on picture=20 tomorrow.

Please let me know how you feel about it, also facts. =
Editor has to check it tomorrow as we also have another early = deadline for=20 the Oct. 5 issue (because of Succoth, printing on Monday instead of = Wednesday=20 night).

Please copy to both home and office address so I will = have it=20 in both places. At the office we cannot open attachments, so = cut-and-paste is=20 best.

Best=20 = regards,
Schelly

----------------------------------------------= ------------------


=B3MY=20 world is still upside-down. My office is a wreck,=B2 says David Simon = Bendory of=20 New Jersey. =B3The windows were blown in by the shock wave from the = South Tower=20 collapse. Everything is covered with dust and debris.=B2
When he = finally got=20 home to Livingston on  Tuesday, September 11, following the = attack on the=20 Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, he posted the following to = JewishGen:=20
=B3I work across the street from the World Trade Center in One = Liberty Plaza=20 ... Thank God I was already on my way home. Thank God I made it home = safely=20 today, without a scratch ...,=B2 wrote the Goldman Sachs vice=20 president.
=B3Locked in my desk sits my great-grandmother=B9s = siddur=20 [prayerbook], published in Vienna in 1878. I had an appointment to = meet with a=20 book conservator tomorrow [Wednesday] to have it properly preserved. = Inside=20 the cover, my great-grandmother, then my grandmother, listed the = births,=20 marriages, and deaths in our family from the death of my=20 great-great-grandmother and great-great-grandfather in 1893 through = the=20 marriage of Uncle Charlie in1932 ...
=B3This siddur survived = pogroms in=20 Hungary, the journey to America, and three generations. I won=B9t know = if it=20 survived today=B9s tragedy until I can get back into my office, and I = don=B9t know=20 when that will be. Thank God I have a scan of the writing inside the=20 cover.

DAVID thought the siddur was lost forever. =
One=20 Liberty Plaza, immediately adjacent to the WTC, remained standing and, = in his=20 Goldman Sachs office on the 33rd floor, David=B9s office credenza = remained=20 intact, protecting the old brown prayerbook. After a week, it was = retrieved=20 and returned to him erev Rosh Hashana.
Earlier, David had said = that he had=20 no words to describe the catastrophe from which he narrowly escaped, = =B3I now=20 have no words to describe the miracle which has emerged from that same = catastrophe. God willing, there are more miracles to come, in the form = of=20 survivors who emerge from the debris.=B2
The siddur survived = Hungarian=20 pogroms. It survived the journey to America in 1904. And it survived = September=20 11. It is a survivor.

THE German-Hebrew siddur arrived = in=20 America in 1904 with David=B9s great-grandmother Helen Kohn, who = arrived with=20 daughter Franziska (Fanny), age 2. They travelled with $1 from Anina, = (then=20 Hungary, now Romania), via Hamburg, Germany, on the Patricia to Ellis = Island=20 to join their husband and father Aron Kohn on Morris Avenue, in New=20 York.
Fanny (David=B9s grandmother) gave the siddur to her oldest = daughter,=20 Kay Simon, who gave it to David. It records ­ in Hungarian ­ = the=20 births, deaths and marriages from the death of Aron and Helen=B9s = parents in=20 1893 and 1895 through the marriage of Uncle Charlie in 1932.
David = plans=20 on inscribing his story inside to add a literal page to its=20 history.

HIS family had been secular for so long that = =B3everyone=20 called this book the family Bible,=B2 says David, who is the first = observant Jew=20 in four generations on both sides of his family. When he received it, = he=20 realized it was a prayerbook, not a Bible.
=B3I davened from it on = the day=20 of my son=B9s bris,=B2 he says, and he brings it each time he visits = his Uncle=20 Leo, who is sick, to say a prayer for good health with him.
Fluent = in=20 Hebrew, both his undergraduate AB (Princeton 1990) and his MA (Jewish=20 Theological Seminary, NY 1994) are in Jewish Studies. He has lived in = Israel=20 for a total of about three years on trips of from three to 15 months. = He and=20 his wife Yafitte have been married for seven years, are the parents of = a son=20 and a daughter, and were last in Israel for a wedding at = Passover.
Always=20 interested in his roots, David has tape recordings and notes of = interviews=20 with his grandparents, great-aunts and uncles going back two decades.=20

DAVID asked his grandmother and her generation where = they came=20 from in Hungary, and no one knew.
One day, when his = Alzheimer=B9s-stricken=20 grandmother was 89 ... when she didn=B9t know who David was ... when = she called=20 his father by her brother=B9s name ... and asked where her husband was = (dead for=20 20 years) ... David asked her once more where the family was from in = Hungary.=20 =B3She blurted out, clear as day, =B3Resciza ­ R-E-S-C-I-Z-A. = It=B9s near=20 Temesvar ­ T-E-M-E-S-V-A-R. It was a mining town in Hungary.=B2 =
He now=20 has wedding pictures of her parents in Temesvar, (today Timisoara, = Romania);=20 Resita (Resicabanya) is nearby. Great-grandmother Helen=B9s father, = Rabbi Philip=20 Brauch, was supposedly the rabbi in Temesvar, but David has not yet = been able=20 to find a record of him.
=B3I have some 400 relatives in my family = tree now,=B2=20 he says, of whom 99 are direct descendents or married to direct = descendents of=20 Helen and Aron. Today, 84 are alive.

DAVID=B9S = great-grandparents=20 on the other side, Leib and Ruchel Schwartz, were clearly religious = when they=20 arrived in 1902 from Romania with their children, Avraham (=B3my = grandfather)=20 and Itzchok. Like many turn-of-the-century immigrants, says David, = they worked=20 to assimilate into their new country, throwing off much of their = Jewish=20 identity in the process.
Their children (=B3my grandfather=B9s = generation=B2)=20 married Jews and rarely went to synagogue; their children (=B3my = parent=B9s=20 generation=B2) married Jews and transmitted little beyond basic Jewish = values;=20 and their children (=B3my generation=B2) entirely = intermarried.
=B3Except me. I=20 am the first observant Jew in four generations on both sides of my = family,=B2 he=20 says. As an observant Jew, it troubled him for years that his parents = never=20 gave him a Hebrew name and didn=B9t name him after anyone. So as an = adult, he=20 took on the Hebrew name Dovid to go with his English name, and he has = gone by=20 the Hebrew version for years.
This year, the only safe day to visit = the=20 historic Grove Street Cemetery in Newark was September 16  ­ = there=20 are plenty of police, and many older people go before the holidays to = visit=20 family graves.
=B3As a genealogist, I ventured out to see my=20 great-grandparents on both sides of the family to see what I could = learn,=B2=20 says David. =B3As a Jew, I went to pay appropriate respect before the=20 holidays.=B2
=B3Imagine my surprise and joy to find Leib=B9s Hebrew = name on his=20 tombstone: Leib ben Dovid.
In their efforts to assimilate, to give = their=20 son a nice American Jewish name, unknown to anyone alive, after four=20 generations, David=B9s parents gave him the name of his=20 great-great-grandfather.
=B3I will no longer say I was not named = after=20 anyone,=B2 says David. =B3God works in mysterious ways.=B2=20

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YAEL, bold italic note above column=20 box
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For a scan of the = front=20 cover inscription=20 = (Hungarian)http://members.home.net/dbendory/siddur/cover.jpg
http://fa= milytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/s/i/m/David-E-Simon/index.html=20
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end bold italic=20 = note
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YAEL please put following section in a shaded=20 box:
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David, 33, was = late for=20 work on Sept. 11 because he had taken his car to be serviced. He = decided to=20 make it a late day and go to his gym before going up to his office at = Goldman=20 Sachs where he is a vice president.
He had just finished a = five-mile run=20 when someone came in and told them to turn on CNN, which had reported = that a=20 small plane had accidentally flown into the WTC and it was on fire. He = called=20 his wife and said there was an accident, that everything was fine, and = he was=20 going to work.
A few minutes later, he saw the second explosion and = knew it=20 was no accident but a terrorist attack. =B3Self-preservation = fight-or-flight=20 kicked in,=B2 he says. =B3I tried to call my wife to tell her I was = coming home,=20 but the phones were already dead.=B2
The gym was at the basement = level so the=20 cell phones weren=B9t working either.
He got dressed and headed out = to the=20 street to see hundreds of people milling about. Two people from his = floor said=20 their building had been evacuated and to report to another of the = Goldman=20 offices in the financial district. Would he join them? No thanks, said = David,=20 he was going home to New Jersey. He figured that the ferry at the = World=20 Financial Center was the only way across.
He also realized that = being=20 stuck in the financial district was not a good idea. =B3I ran ­ = literally=20 ­ a mile to the ferry ... probably my fastest mile ever, chanting = tehillim=20 (psalms) as I ran,=B2 says David, who passed thousands of people = milling about=20 aimlessly. =B3I put my cell phone on autodial to my wife. Though I had = no=20 personal experience, I knew all about cellphone outages and jammed = circuits=20 during attacks in Israel.=B2
David reached the dock, saw an empty = ferry pull=20 out, waited for another one to pull in. =B3I caught my breath, pulled = out my=20 siddur and continued to chant the psalms,=B2 as the crowd grew. The NY = Mercantile Exchange closed and its hundreds of employees and brokers = joined=20 those already at the dock.
=B3We all stood watching the WTC burn = and I saw=20 the images that haunted me for days: people falling, jumping blown = out,=B2 he=20 recalls. =B3Debris was falling ... some of it was burning ... some of = it wasn=B9t=20 debris, it was people ... plummeting through the air.=B2 David = believes he saw a=20 dozen people jump in the few minutes he waited for the ferry, and he = asks,=20 =B3What goes through a person=B9s mind in a 1000 F fire on the 100th = floor with no=20 way out?=B2
The crowd boarded the ferry, and David added tefillat = ha-derech=20 [prayer for travellers] to the prayers he recited, as he stood in the = crowd of=20 399 (the ferry=B9s capacity) onboard, drenched in sweat from the run, = from=20 stress, from panic.
Those who travel this route know there is a = brief=20 minute or two when the ferry crosses the Hudson, when it passes behind = the=20 Statue of Liberty and the Twin Towers are blocked from view. =B3We saw = the Twin=20 Towers standing,=B2 says David, =B3then passed behind Lady Liberty. We = emerged to=20 see one tower and enough smoke to obscure the area where the second = tower=20 should have been. We heard nothing, the ferry was too loud.=B2
The = passengers didn=B9t know about the South Tower collapse until the = ferry docked=20 in Hoboken. David got onto a train which quickly filled, and continued = chanting psalms.
=B3When I would pause here and there, everyone = around me=20 ­ Jew, Christian, Indian (I couldn=B9t identify any Muslims on = sight),=20 black, white ­ nodded, thanked me, told me it was beautiful, asked = me to=20 pray more. Everyone is religious in a war.=B2
Some people on the = train cried,=20 some read news reports from a pager, one person got a cell phone call = through=20 and we all gave our home numbers so the person on the land line could = call=20 home for us.=B2
=B3I finally arrived home at 11 am, two hours after = I learned=20 of the first attack. =B3Fight or flight ceased, and I collapsed on the = floor,=20 hysterically crying.=B2
David continued crying on and off all day, = seeing the=20 images of jumping people passing before his eyes over and over. He = played with=20 his son, tossed his Barney up in the air and saw people falling. = =B3Everyone I=20 know called that day ... people I hadn=B9t spoken to for months ... = all our=20 Israeli family.=B2 A few nights later, during a thunderstorm, he awoke = in a=20 nightmare, seeing the WTC explode=20 again.
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