Ahaba Congregation, now known as AN AMERICAN JEWISH STORY Temple Beth Ahaba. The nusach of this new congregation was the German IN HONOR OF MY PARENTS’ Ashkenaz rite. The survival of traditional was clearly a challenge in America. There were TRIPLE SIMCHA no , the level of learning was margin- al, and shechita and kashrus were difficult. by Robert Lehman, M.D. Richmond, Virginia, from Bavaria, in the All this led to the dissipating of the tradi- ur family recently celebrated the early 1830s. They were part of a wave of tions among the new immigrants. 95th birthday of my father, Mr. emigration from Germany in the wake of Additionally, the influence of the Reform Merrill B. Lehman; the 90th birth- riots and oppressive edicts – one famous movement quickly moved from Germany day of my mother, Mrs. Nanette edict decreed that only one son of Jewish to the United States. The Reform move- Lehman; and my parents’ 70th families could marry – that reversed many ment, which started in the early 19th cen- Owedding anniversary. This triple family sim- of the advances in civil rights, citizenship, tury, brought about an incredibly rapid and cha provides an opportunity to reflect on equal treatment, and economic opportuni- devastating decline in traditional Jewish life the path of Orthodox Judaism in America ties that the Jews had recently attained as in Germany and central Europe. It was over the past 175 years and, particularly, a result of Napoleon’s Emancipation. another result of the emancipation, which the perseverance of Orthodox Judaism in In Richmond, the first Jewish immi- gave the Jews more freedom but also ignit- Baltimore. grants were Sefardic and settled in the city ed their desire to be indistinguishable from My family’s history in America started in the late 1700s. The first shul was their non-Jewish countryman. nearly 175 years ago with the migration of Sefardic. The German Jews who came after Although Beth Ahaba continued as an my great-great-great-grandparents, the them formed their own shul, and soon Orthodox synagogue, the pressure for Bergman and Gundersheimer families, on became the dominant community. The Reform and change was growing. It was my father’s side, and the Sycle and Bear Sefardic and German synagogues merged into this environment that my great-great families, on my mother’s side, to in the early 19th century to become Beth grandfather, Jacob Gundersheimer, was born. As an adult, Jacob Gundersheimer Establishing themselves in Baltimore, they Hamburger. He had also learned under owned a confectionery store and became owned a dry goods business, Strauss , Chief Rabbi of president of Beth Ahaba. It was the late Brothers. The family maintained the min- Wurzburg, who had learned under Rabbi 1860s, the post-Civil War era, and the rum- hag Ashkenaz ritual in a country and a city Nosson Adler of Frankfurt and the blings of Reform were rampant in the shul. that were not conducive to the preserva- Chasam Sofer of Frankfurt (later of Immediately after the bar mitzva of his tion of halachic-based Jewish practice. Pressburg). He was encouraged by his son, Philip William (P.W.) Gundersheimer, Baltimore was no different than Richmond; Rosh to go to the new country to Jacob Gundersheimer saw the handwriting the pressure for assimilation and abandon- establish and preserve traditional Judaism. on the wall, and realized that he would not ing ritual was very strong. In 1845, Nidchei Israel became known be able to prevent the abandonment of the The first chartered Jewish congregation as the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation but traditional rite in the shul. He sent his son, in Maryland was established in 1830, and remained Orthodox. Just three years earli- P.W. to live with the Jacob Cohn family in was known as Nidchei Israel. Though er, in 1842, Har Sinai Verein was estab- Baltimore. The Cohns had migrated to founded earlier by Portuguese/Dutch Jews lished as an alternative to the Orthodoxy Baltimore in the early 1860s. Jacob from the West Indies, the subsequent of Nidchei Israel (Baltimore Hebrew), and Gundersheimer wanted his son to be members of Nidchei Israel were of German was the first Reform congregation estab- raised in the traditional home of Jacob Jewish origin. They met at various locations lished in the United States. Har Sinai is Cohn in order to continue his traditional around Fells Point until they constructed a now located in Owings Mills. Jewish education and observance. The synagogue, in 1845, which exists to this day Rabbi Rice spent a short time in descendants of the Jacob Cohn family in and is known as the Lloyd Street Newport, Rhode Island, and New York Baltimore are represented by Jeffrey Cohn, Synagogue, which is today part of the cur- before being offered the pulpit in Nancy Broth, and Rona Lerner, who lives rent Jewish Museum of Baltimore. Baltimore. He remained with Nidchei Israel in Silver Spring. In 1840, Nidchei Israel hired the first until 1849, at which time he became disen- ◆◆◆ ordained rabbi in the United States. Rabbi chanted with the pressures for reform, and Meanwhile, my mother’s family, the , born in Bavaria, learned in resigned. He wrote to his in Strausses, migrated to the United States the Yeshiva of Furth, Germany, where he Furth that “the religious life in this land is from Frankfurt in the mid-1800s. received smicha from Rabbi Wolf on the lowest level. Most people eat foul food and desecrate the Sabbath in public.” neer from Germany is buried in the old Abraham, Eliezer, and Moses. Eliezer From the 1851 to 1862, Rabbi Rice Baltimore Hebrew Cemetery on Belair Strauss was my mother’s grandfather. owned a small grocery store to support his Road, just north of North Avenue. Moses Strauss served as president of the family and was the spiritual leader of a Baltimore Hebrew Congregation offi- shul for 25 years until he died in 1905. The small congregation located at Howard and cially joined the Reform movement in shul rigidly adhered to the German min- Lexington Streets. This congregation 1871. (It is located, today, on Park Heights hag, and only allowed voting rights to called itself Shearith Israel; it was one of and Slade Avenues.) As a consequence, a members who were Sabbath observant. two congregations which ultimately united group headed by the Friedenwald family In 1892, contact was made with Rabbi to form the current Shearith Israel, Rabbi broke off and formed the Orthodox con- of the Rabbiner Hopfer’s shul on Glen Avenue. gregation, Chizuk Amuno. Chizuk Amuno Seminary in Berlin seeking a suitable can- The year 1879 is recognized as the later became a founding congregation of didate to be rabbi of the congregation. A onset of Shearith Israel, but we see that its the emerging Conservative movement. It is letter was also sent to Rabbi Dr. Philip roots can be traced to the small shul that now located on Stevenson Road. Hillel Klein, already a rabbi in New York Rabbi Rice formed after leaving Nidchei ◆◆◆ but previously a successful rabbi in Israel. It is probably from this early influ- It was in the early formative years of Germany. Both Rabbi Hildesheimer and ence of Rabbi Rice that many of the min- Shearith Israel Congregation that the Rabbi Dr. Klein suggested Rabbi Dr. hagim of Shearith Israel, prior to the Strauss family came to Baltimore, in the Schepschel Schaffer, who was a graduate recent change from Minhag Ashkenaz, 1850s. In 1879, Shearith Israel obtained a of the Rabbiner Seminary. Rabbi Dr. were from Furth, rather than Frankfurt. former Methodist church at the corner of Schaffer came to Baltimore in 1892, and Nidchei Israel reengaged Rabbi Rice in Greene and German (currently Redwood) continued to serve as Rabbi until 1928 1861 after assuring him of continued strict Streets, and converted it to a shul, which and as Rabbi Emeritus until his death in adherence to Orthodoxy. Unfortunately, included a mikvah. Among the members 1933. Rabbi Dr. Schaffer was an early Rabbi Rice died soon after this return. The who purchased the new building were my Zionist, who represented the United States 150th anniversary of his death will be 5 great-great-grandfather, Jacob at the first and fifth World Zionist Cheshvan, 5772, corresponding to Gundersheimer, another relative, Joseph Congresses in Basle, Switzerland in 1897 November 2, 2011. This true heroic pio- Bergman, and the Strauss brothers: Lewis, and 1901. At the time Rabbi Dr. Schaffer came to beautiful mikvah. The building is still Samuel Rauneker, also on Menlo. Baltimore, the immigrants from the standing, and is used as a Masonic Temple. Soon after the building was construct- Eastern European communities were arriv- This is probably the only shul of its era that ed, my father’s grandfather, P.W. ing in vast numbers. They settled mostly in was not sold to a church. I will relate some Gundersheimer, also moved to the neigh- East Baltimore, establishing large and details about this later. Soon after the ded- borhood, and purchased the large house vibrant congregations that were successful ication of the building, the long-standing on Glen Avenue directly across the street in transferring the high levels of Torah president, Moses Strauss, died and he was from the present parking lot of Shearith learning from the centers in Eastern succeeded by his nephew, Manes Strauss, Israel. Two generations, including my Europe. It was difficult to perpetuate the who served as president until 1930. father, lived in this house. Later, my father’s learning on to the next generation, as the ◆◆◆ parents, the Lehmans, moved back to the younger generation could not relate to In the period when my parents were McCulloh Street area, where my grandfa- their parents’ old-fashioned Orthodoxy. born (my father in 1916, and my mother in ther, J. Morton Lehman, was the last presi- Still, this East European migration was a 1921), there was another small migration dent of the McCulloch Street shul. When it major influence in the ultimate preserva- northward, with families moving to the became clear that a minyan could no tion and growth of Orthodox Jewry in “country,” what is now known as Upper longer be preserved, J. Morton Lehman Baltimore and the United States. Park Heights. Among the first families of executed a contract of sale for the building, As the Eastern European Jews moved the suburban branch of Shearith Israel which included a clause that the building into Baltimore, the German Jews began to were the Strauss brothers, including Oscar could never be used as a church. The sale move northward to the Eutaw Place neigh- Strauss, my mother’s father. Under the of the building was at a much lower price borhood. The shul decided to follow the leadership of my mother’s uncle, Manes than could have been realized if the build- migration of its constituents, and under Strauss, the shul purchased land at the ing had been sold to a church. Proceeds the leadership of Moses Strauss, Shearith corner of Park Heights and Glen Avenues, from the sale went to various charities, but Israel constructed a new building on in 1923, and dedicated the new building in the largest donation went to the support of McCulloh Street, just south of North 1925. The congregants living in the area the construction of the “new” Rogers Avenue. The new building was opened in met at the home of Sylvan Senkar on Avenue mikvah. My grandparents planned 1903 and included a most modern and Menlo Drive and then in the home of to move back to Upper Park Heights, but unfortunately, my grandmother passed the northern side of Fords Lane at the end Fords Lane to Calloway Avenue in Forest away. My grandfather lived with my uncle of the trolley line, to Glen Avenue. Mr. Ben Park. Mr. Flehinger had a mikvah built in on Strathmore Avenue until he died, in Adler recently related to me that Oscar his home to provide for the needs of the 1967. Strauss would daven Kabbalas Shabbos community and the growing yeshiva in ◆◆◆ each week, and had a beautiful voice – Forest Park. My mother’s father, Oscar Strauss, had although he also mentioned that the ◆◆◆ met his wife while traveling the East Coast younger children were impatient with his After Rabbi Dr. Schaffer retired, and selling dry goods and the products of his lengthy Kabalas Shabbos. then passed away, the shul remained with- company. Frequently in Richmond, As an adolescent and young adult, I out a rabbi. Part of the reason for this was Virginia, he was introduced to my grand- was always amazed at my grandmother’s the reemerging conflict over whether vot- mother, Rita Bear, whose family were mem- dedication to Shearith Israel and the old ing membership should be allowed only if bers of the Reform Temple, Beth Ahaba, minhagim. I was even more amazed at her the member was shomer Shabbos. An which was mentioned earlier. The wedding lack of tolerance of the non-religious, espe- unwritten tenet of the congregation took place at the Jefferson Hotel in cially since she enjoyed telling stories allowed a change in this stipulation by the Richmond, which is now a national land- about attending “finishing school” in New rabbi of the congregation alone. In the mark and completely renovated. The cater- York after graduating high school and absence of a rabbi, this rule could not be er traveled to Richmond from Baltimore enjoying a milkshake on Yom Kippur! changed, which allowed the congregation on the train in order to provide for a Once in Baltimore, however, she became to avoid the conflict and preserve strict kosher wedding. engaged in all the social activities of the adherence to the Orthodox German ritual. Rita and Oscar Strauss made their Kehila, and was famous for her cross- Eventually, through the efforts of home in Baltimore and joined Shearith stitched tablecloths that were auctioned off (father of Ben Adler and Israel, of course, where my grandfather at the annual sisterhood banquet. grandfather of Nathan Adler), Rabbi taught all the bar mitzva boys the parsha After my mother’s father, Oscar Strauss, Shimon Schwab was selected as the new until his untimely death at the age of 52, in passed away, my grandmother married Mr. Rabbi in 1936. Rabbi Schwab was born in 1936. My mother recalls walking to shul William Flehinger, who was born in Frankfurt, was educated in the Hirschian with her father from the Strauss home, on Germany. My grandmother moved from Kehila, and learned in Telshe and the Mir in Eastern Europe. Rabbi Schwab was for their children, grandchildren, and great- The wealthy German Jews sent their serving as Rabbi in Inchenausen, Germany, grandchildren. My parents were raised in a children to the almost exclusively German but the security and survival of the entire community where the level of learning was Jewish private school, the Park School. My German Jewish community was being fairly unsophisticated. The higher levels of mother, along with her siblings and threatened by Nazi terrorism. Immediately learning that existed in Baltimore were cousins, attended Park School from after Rabbi Schwab’s arrival, the conflict of mostly in East Baltimore among the kindergarten through graduation. voting membership was brought up, and Eastern Europeans who came after the Adherence to Orthodox Jewish life was cer- Rabbi Schwab was steadfast in maintain- late 1880s. The German Jews, by contrast, tainly constantly challenged in settings like ing that voting members must be shomer depended much more on the Kehila and the Suburban Club and Park School. In Shabbos. Since the suburban branch of on their adherence to ritual in their addition, the children were surrounded by Shearith Israel at Glen Avenue was the attempt to hold on to their religiosity. their Reform German Jewish relatives. In only shul in Upper Park Heights, the con- The drive to assimilate was powerful. this atmosphere, it was only through the frontation over membership led to a split My parents’ relatives, friends, and peers centrality of the Kehila that my parents and the formation of Beth Jacob were members of the very large Reform developed the traits that allowed them to Congregation (in the building recently German Jewish congregations and were maintain the connection to Orthodox used by Bnos Yisroel). Interestingly, the striving for education, advancement, and Judaism. first Rabbi of Beth Jacob was Rabbi wealth. In the 1920s, 1930s, and 1940s, the The general failure of most families to Bernard Lander (later founder of Touro wealthy German Jews were members of the maintain that connection had an excep- College), who maintained a very close rela- Suburban Club, which practiced the exclu- tion in the person of my grandmother, tionship with Rabbi Schwab. sivity that was of the exact nature that the Rena. Her parents, P.W. and Carrie ◆◆◆ German Jews were subjected to in being Gundersheimer, raised all nine of their sur- I have reviewed this history so that excluded from non-Jewish country clubs. viving children in the atmosphere of the readers will understand the environment The Suburban Club allowed only German Shearith Israel Kehila. Although the chil- in which my parents were nurtured, one Jews to join, forcing the emerging wealthy dren were influenced by the McCulloh that became the model not only for them, non-German Jews to form their own club, Street Synagogue and the Glen Avenue their parents, and grandparents but also the Woodholme Country Club. (continued on page 76) (Lehman continued from page 71) Derech Eretz. Along with Rabbi Azriel week to give lessons to my mother and her Synagogue, they were raised without high Hildesheimer, Rabbi Hirsch reestablished a two sisters. levels of Torah learning. Although growing and dynamic Orthodox communi- Shearith Israel did have an afternoon Talmudical Academy already existed in ty in Germany. In addition to shechita, Hebrew school for a time, whose principal East Baltimore, day schools were not a chevra kadisha, and kashrus supervision, was Mr. Rifkin. But in contrast to the thriv- choice within the German community. Of there were social organizations and, espe- ing Torah Im Derech Eretz model in the nine children of P.W. and Carrie cially, expanded learning opportunities, Frankfurt, the model in Shearith Israel very Gundersheimer, the only shomer Shabbos with schools run by the Kehila and Rav strongly emphasized derech eretz in the descendents come from my grandmother, Hirsch. sense of simply carrying on a religious way Rena Gundersheimer Lehman – and only Before Rabbi Schwab, the atmosphere of life from generation to generation. It was from two of her four children! Looking at was one of mere survival. (To demonstrate not until the arrival of Rav Schwab and of the relatives of my children’s generation, the flavor of things prior to Rabbi Schwab’s Rav Rudermann and his Ner Israel yeshiva, today, most are married to non-Jewish arrival, consider the invitation Mr. Kenneth as well as the expansion of the Talmudical spouses. An absolute failure, in spite of the Lasson recently showed me to one of the Academy and the opening of Bais Yaakov small strand of success! annual Shearith Israel New Year’s dances.) (spearheaded by Mr. Henry P. Cohen from I sometimes wonder if this failure was While the Kehila maintained the centrality the Cohn family mentioned above) that because the beauty of the Kehila of Rav of the rabbi, as well as kashrus, proper bur- Orthodoxy in Baltimore was infused with Hirsch in Frankfurt was not transmitted to ial, and mikvah, religious education was greater vitality. Indeed, it was the influence the United States until the arrival of Rav relegated to what the shul and families of the massive Eastern European migra- Schwab in Baltimore and Rav Breuer in could provide. For example, my mother’s tion, with its culture of high level of Torah Washington Heights. Rabbi S. R. Hirsch education consisted of Hebrew lessons learning that led to the growth of these had assumed leadership of the very small, given several times a week by Mr. Leon institutions and the subsequent growth of traditional Frankfurt community in 1851, Rifkin, in the late afternoon, after he fin- the entire Jewish community of Baltimore. and rebuilt the Orthodox community ished teaching in public school. Mr. Rifkin ◆◆◆ based on the centrality of the community, was a member of Shearith Israel, and came My parents’ shidduch was the old-fash- the Kehila, and the concept of To ra h I m to the Fords Lane home several times a ioned boy-meets-girl-in-shul-and-get-mar- ried story. This was a Shearith Israel shid- Hoffenberg, was impressed. When my Robert Guth Cohen. He was tragically duch. Throughout my childhood and ado- father proceeded to bring up not being killed on Rosh Hashanah, having been lescence, everything centered around the able to work on Shabbos, Mr. Hoffenberg struck by a tree in a terrible thunderstorm shul. Our friends and family were mem- readily agreed. It turned out that he had near the McCulloh Street shul. bers. Although Rabbi Schwab moved to grown up in a frum home but had moved Meanwhile, my mother was active in the Washington Heights in 1958, I have vivid away from his roots. Still, he had very ladies auxiliary of the shul and Bais memories of my father’s close friendship strong feelings about my father following Yaakov. She usually wrote the plays that and relationship with him. I remember fre- the right path, such that not working on were put on by these organizations. She quently waiting outside the office next to Shabbos was accepted. Later, at my bar and her two sisters, Carolyn Rubinstein the stage in the vestry room, as my father mitzva, “Uncle Harry” wrote me a note that Froehlich and Harriett Macklin, were would meet with Rabbi Schwab on Sunday I still have, telling me to continue to follow extremely close to each other and dedicat- mornings after minyan and breakfast, pro- in the footsteps of my parents and not to ed to my grandmother, Rita Strauss vided by the shammes, Mr. Herman. The make the mistake that he made. Although Flehinger. My mother drove Meals on same closeness was established when never again observant, “Uncle Harry” and Wheels for many years. She was always Rabbi Mendel Feldman came to the shul. his brother always davened at Shearith loyal and caring. We would be taken to visit Chesed and community service were a Israel for the High Holidays. Eventually, my her elderly maids from childhood for priority at home. My father served as an father became owner of the business, until Christmas and birthdays, and the maid in officer of the shul, as well as president of he retired at age 68. our home was more like a sister to my the PTA at Talmudical Academy, and was The business served as yet another con- mother than an employee. always involved in a variety of community duit to do chesed. Sherwood Press printed The war was another life-altering event projects. His work, too, allowed him con- all the banquet journals for the shul, Bais in my parents’ lives. My father enlisted in stant involvement in the Kehila of the shul Yaakov, Talmudical Academy, and Ner the Army Officer Training School just prior and the broader community. This warrants Israel. And, for as many years as I can to being drafted in 1941. He went to another interesting story. Sometime before remember, all the benchers at these and Navigation School, graduated first in his the war, my father applied for a new job at other occasions were donated by Mr. and class, and was selected to become a flight Sherwood Press. The owner, Mr. Harry Mrs. Henry P. Cohn in memory of their son navigator instructor. For the duration of the war, my parents remained in Baton Rabbi Hauer’s arrival and upon the merg- was from. At that point, he asked me if I Rouge. My great-grandfather would send er of Bnai Jacob and Shaarei Zion. A high- was related to Mr. Gundersheimer from them meats on the train, as nothing light for our family was attending the last Baltimore. This man turned out to be Rav kosher was available in Louisiana. My siyum Daf Yomi at Madison Square Paperman, and he related to me how my father would also set up training flights to Garden with my father, my brother Philip, great-grandfather had sponsored the three Baltimore to visit family. and my brother-in-law, Barry Starr. young men to learn in the great ◆◆◆ ◆◆◆ Europe. After my parents moved farther away Several poignant stories reflect qualities More recently, my first cousin, Rabbi from the shul on Glen Avenue, they contin- of zechus avos (ancestral merit), and Yonason Hirtz, attended the sheva brachos ued to walk to the shul until the nusach demonstrate the previous generations’ of his oldest son and spoke about zechus changed from minhag Ashkenaz. As the dedication to the Kehila and to maintain- avos as related through this story. Rav walk was getting more difficult, they joined ing Orthodox Jewish life. This dedication Nosson Scherman, the editor of ArtScroll, Shaarei Zion, and my father developed a allowed these generations to literally “hang was in attendance. He related that in 1976 close relationship with Rabbi Joshua on” until Torah learning became much he ended up learning for a two-year period Shapiro and with Rabbi Moshe Hauer. stronger in Baltimore and at Shearith in Telshe Stone, and had the opportunity (The reason for the demise of the minhag Israel. throughout this period to be a chavrusa Ashkenaz at Shearith Israel was that, as I have been told by several sources that with Rav Gifter. He clearly recollected one the children of the members of my genera- my great-grandfather, P. W. Gundersheimer, day sitting together with Rav Gifter and Rav tion attended the day schools and yeshivas, sponsored Rav Mordechai Gifter, Rav Paperman as they were shmoozing about particularly the Ner Israel Yeshiva, the Avigdor Miller, and Rav Paperman, three the past, and were talking about Mr. importance and centrality of the previous- Baltimore boys, to go study at the Mir and Gundersheimer’s sending them to Europe. ly revered minhagim began to wane.) at Telshe, in the mid-1930s. In 1976, my As Rav Scherman tells it, he remembered Soon after the arrival of Rabbi Zvi Weiss wife and I were in Kiryat Telshe Stone vis- the story, because Gundersheimer was a at Shaarei Zion, my father began learning iting my wife’s cousin, Shmuel Blumert. somewhat unusual name. Daf Yomi for the first time, at the beginning While davening Mincha, a gentleman in A second story about P. W. of the cycle. This learning continued with the shul asked me my name and where I Gundersheimer is even more serendipi- tous. About 30 years ago, I saw an elderly the store on the Sabbath. She told me that in Beitar Illit in Israel, one is in part-time woman in my office for a psychiatric evalu- my great-grandfather completely divested kollel in Jerusalem, one is the Rabbi of the ation. When she walked in, she asked me any interest in the store after it was opened Young Israel in Atlanta, and one is mash- if I was related to the Mr. Lehman from the on the Sabbath. The store went bankrupt giach at a girls seminary in Jerusalem. The Oriole Department Store. When I con- and closed several years later. My great- mushrooming growth of the grandchild firmed that this was my grandfather, she grandfather must have had a remarkable generation in Torah will hopefully be car- told this story: After high school gradua- influence on this woman, as she felt that ried on in the next generation among my tion, she went to work as a clerk at the the reason the store went bankrupt was parents’ many great-grandchildren. Oriole Department Store. At that time, it because Michael Gundersheimer didn’t I have tried to relate this story of the was owned by my great-grandfather, P.W. respect the ways of his father and opened transmission of the mesorah as it is inter- Gundersheimer. His son-in-law, my grand- the store on the Sabbath. woven in the history of two families that father, J. Morton Lehman, was an attorney ◆◆◆ arrived on the east coast of the United for the store and also ran the furniture I reflected earlier about the high risk of States before the 1850s. This history is department. This woman talked about abandoning a Torah way of life and the now something to reflect on, as my par- how the department store was closed on very high rate of attrition in those families ents, Mr. and Mrs. Merrill B. Lehman, the Sabbath. She said that all of the other that have been in this country for 150 or recently celebrated the 95th birthday of my Jewish-owned department stores, such as more years. In my parents’ family, the thin father on, March 10, 2011, the 90th birth- Hutzler’s and Hochschild Kohn (some of strands of the mesorah (tradition) have day of my mother, on April 27, 2011, and the Kohns were Shearith Israel members) blossomed. My father often says, “We didn’t their 70th anniversary celebration, on May were open on the Sabbath. This woman come from rabbis, but rabbis come from 29, 2011. described herself as a Reform, nonobser- us.” In fact, every one of my parents’ grand- May Hashem bless Merrill and Nanette vant woman. As my great-grandfather got children and great-grandchildren have not Lehman with continued good health and older, she said, he turned over the day-to- only remained frum but have shown strength to be able to witness the contin- day operation of the store to his son, tremendous growth in their Torah and ued growth of their family, and may they Michael Gundersheimer. Several years middos. Among my parents’ grandsons, continue to grow in Torah and middos, later, Michael deemed it necessary to open three have smicha, one is learning full time until 120.◆