By: Carole Imber Soloff
I was blessed to be born in 1942 to the best father a child could hope for, Ben (Benny) Imber. A man of few words, he had a way of making you feel safe and comforted. It was the same for my Uncle Harry his next older brother. Ben and Harry were close in age and could be taken for twins. There was also an older brother Sam and a younger sister Jean. My father worked as a window cleaner with his brothers and a nephew, my Uncle Harry’s older son Maurice. Even as a child I sensed my father’s strong inner core. My father could not be swayed by fleeting ‘americanized’ theories of psychology. He always believed that I, Chayalah, his precocious younger daughter, was good. He loved and accepted me for who I was and he carried in his wallet until the day he died my Hebrew school graduation picture My father was a man of few personal needs. After WWII he bought our first Chevy which opened up the world for us. We could now take trips to ‘the Island’ and more importantly we could attend the Family Circle in some far off section of Brooklyn. We lived on East 12th Street between Kings Highway and Avenue P. The Family Circle was held in a hall for Jewish War Veterans. I remember that you could hear the sound of the elevated subway going by during the meetings. There were Bomzers, Imbers, Kleins…and everyone was either an Aunt, an Uncle, or a Cousin. You were everyone’s child and you could feel the love. The elders who had their private, personal stories of survival wanted to pass on to us a hopeful future. Remember this was the time of the founding of the State of Israel (1948) and an Imber, Naftahli Herz Imber, had written the words to the Hatikvah, the Israeli national anthem. Boy was I proud! At the Family Circle there were lots of kids and we would be ‘shushed up’ when Cousin Yetta Bomzer brought the meeting to order. She was the organizer and she led the business meeting. A celebration was always planned for us the next generation. I remember the Family Circle as being fun. We celebrated Jewish holidays that those of us who didn’t come from observant homes, or those of us who were not lucky enough to be sent to Hebrew school, and many girls were not, would have forgotten. We were living in the land of opportunity and families were assimilating. The older people wanted us to remember where we came from and who we were. Families took turns in providing the delicious food. There were also talent shows. They were less competitions than an opportunity for the older people to kvel over their Jewish children. You did whatever you chose to do: read Hebrew, play the accordion, sing, or dance. You were always rewarded. The Family Circle and seeing my much beloved father enjoying himself amongst his extended family, many of whose first language was Yiddish, made me proud to be an Imber. The Imbers understood what it meant to be part of something greater than themselves, a family, a community, a people. They were good Jews and proud Americans. They worked hard in their new country so that their children would have a better future. People of the Book, education was of utmost importance. I think ‘scholarship’ was one of my first vocabulary words. Before I even knew what it meant, I knew that I was going to win one. Like all lives mine has not been a straight journey but one with many twists and turns. However, one thing has been constant. Whenever the going has gotten rough, I have gone deep within myself and have retrieved those values learned, oh so many years ago, in the embrace of a wise and resilient family. Gratefully, Chaya (Chayalah), Carole Imber Soloff June 13, 2019
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June 2019
Binny LewisBinny's passion for discovering his family history has taken him on a journey. Over the past few years he founded and lead the first JGS on a college campus, the Family Discovery Society at Yeshivs University. Having traced his family back hundreds of years with tools like JewishGen & MyHeritage, he has instructed dozens of University students to do the same. |