From: "David Simon Bendory" To: "Schelly Dardashti" References: <3BA6F255.9531BE13@barak-online.net> <02aa01c14167$7307ea20$64fa1dc7@david> <3BAA07FB.243E1F60@barak-online.net> Subject: Re: Your siddur Date: Thu, 20 Sep 2001 22:53:49 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit 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 > David, would please provide me with some bio on > yourself: age, education, what you do, family, etc. > --how you got into genealogy, how long, etc. > --How the siddur was finally retrieved from your desk? > --some more info about your family(ies) and places of > origin > --the previous trials and tribulations of the siddur OK, here's some bio info on both me & the siddur: David Simon Bendory Age: 33 Education: A.B. (Princeton, 1990); M.A. (Jewish Theological Seminary, NY, 1994), both in Jewish Studies I speak fluent Hebrew and have lived in Israel for about 3 years in total in trips ranging from 3-15 months. Numerous shorter trips as well -- 1-2 weeks for weddings, etc. Most recently there last Pesach for a wedding. Family: married 7 years; 2 children Occupation: Vice President, Private Wealth Management Technology, Goldman, Sachs & Co. (http://www.gs.com) Siddur: It originally belonged to my great-grandmother Helen Kohn. Helen and Franziska Kohn (my grandmother) traveled together on the Patricia from Hamburg, Germany to Ellis Island from March 18, 1904-April 2, 1904. They arrived with $1 en route to husband Aron Kohn at 526 Morris Avenue, New York. Their last residence is listed as Anina, in present day Romania; their ethnicity is listed as Hungarian Hebrew. Helene could read and write, and both were in good health. Grandma Fanny was 2 years old. Helen brought her German / Hebrew prayer book with her from Hungary. She gave it to her oldest daughter, Fanny Kohn, who gave it to her oldest daughter, Kay Simon, who gave it to me. The prayer book records, in Hungarian, the births, marriages, and deaths in the family from the death of Aron and Helene's parents in 1893 and 1895 through the marriage of Uncle Charlie in 1932. The prayer for the government in the Shabbat Torah reading service mentions by name Emperor (Hebrew: "Kaisar") Franz Joseph the First and Empress Elizabeth Amalie Eugenie. Franz Joseph was the emperor of Austria from 1848-1916 and king of Hungary from 1867-1916. He married Elizabeth in 1854; she died in 1898. This dates the prayer book between 1854 and 1898, which is consistent with the inscriptions therein. According to the book conservator I'm working with, the binding is typical of a German publication in the latter half of the 19th century. I brought the prayer book to Rabbi Dr. Meir Rabbinowitz at the Jewish Theological Seminary, who examined it with other rare book experts at the JTS library and concluded that it is most likely the Vienna, 1878 printing of Gebete der Israeliten. Here is a scan of the inscription in the front cover: http://members.home.net/dbendory/siddur/cover.jpg It's in Hungarian. Here is the translation: My unforgettable blessed late Mother died on May 4, 1895. Father - January 3. My unforgettable blessed Mother died on May 16, 1893. My unforgettable blessed Father died on July 18, 1893. Married on August 17, 1901. My dear daughter Fanni was born on May 2, 1902. My dear Filip was born on January 2, 1905. My dear Karl Moritz was born on February 9, 1906. My dear daughter Teresine was born on March 3, 1908. Harrison Tess My dear daughter Rose was born on August 7, 1910. Harrison My dear son Leopold was born on March 9, 1914. My dear daughter Bertha was born on September 7. Fanny got married on August 21, 1926. Katherin was born on June 6, 1927. Elaine was born on November 11, 1930. My dear husband died on December 28, 1931. Tessi got married on April 30, 1932. Cha... got married on June 12, 1932. The "Married on August 17, 1901" is my great-grandparents. "Fanni" is my grandmother who is later married ("Fanny") on August 21, 1926. Katherin is my Aunt Kay to whom my grandmother gave the siddur; my father's birth in 1938 is not listed. "Harrison" is where the family lived when Teresine ("Tess") and Rose were born. Leopold, born on March 9, 1914, is the last of the generation and still alive. (More about Uncle Leo below.) Trials and tribulations: Well, the siddur fled Hungary with my great-grandmother. I don't know the details of why they left; it was presumably the push-pull of persecution in Hungary and opportunity in America. My grandmother said she remembered the trip by boat and described it as very long, hungry, and cold. I don't know if any of that is real memory or if it is just what her mother told her -- she was 2 at the time. My family has not been religious for generations, for so long that everyone called this book the family "Bible." When it was given to me, I opened it and announced that it is a prayer book, not a Bible. (I'll send you another e-mail about the family's assimilation.) I davened from it on the day of my son's bris and have brought it each time I visit Uncle Leo, who is sick, to say a misheberach with him. I'll send another e-mail on how the siddur was retrieved... Genealogy: I was always interested in my roots. I have tape recordings and notes of interviews with my grandparents & great aunts & uncles going back 20 years ago. I always asked my grandmother & her generation where they came from in Hungary, and no one ever knew. One day, when my grandmother was 89 years old and long suffering from Alzheimer's, when she didn't know who I was any more, when she called my father Philip (her brother) and asked where her husband was though he had been dead for 20 years, I asked her where we were from in Hungary. She blurted out, clear as day, "Resciza -- R-E-S-C-I-Z-A. It's near Temesvar -- T-E-M-E-S-V-A-R. It was a mining town in Hungary." Sure enough, she was right, and I now have wedding pictures of her parents in Temesvar. Today it is Timisoara, Romania; Resita (or Resicabanya) is nearby. Helen's father, Rabbi Philip Brauch, was supposedly the rabbi in Temesvar, but I have been unable to find any record of him. At any rate, I have some 400 relatives in my family tree now, of whom 99 are direct descendents or married to direct descendents of Helen & Aron. 84 are alive today.