Harry Goldman
Harry Goldman was born in Russia around 1895, in a town he described as Kiev or thereabouts, during a time of pogroms and revolution. His father came from Odessa and worked as a baker. As a small child, Harry and his three siblings survived a terrifying raid when they were hidden under a huge sugar barrel while soldiers searched the house. Refusing to accept the persecution of Jews, his father, quoting that he wanted neither their honey nor their sting, left first for America. He found work as a Jewish baker in St. Louis within a day of arriving, and in eleven months saved enough to bring his family over.
In St. Louis Harry attended Carr School, then Glasgow School and Central High, and studied typing, shorthand, and bookkeeping at Brown's Business College. His father, deeply observant, engaged a private Hebrew tutor rather than sending him to a Talmud Torah, and Harry gained much of his Jewish learning from Shabbos study groups at shul. At sixteen he took a job with a wholesale dry goods company, later learning to cut leather jackets at a California sportswear firm. In 1933 the company sent him to open its Dallas branch, and he spent 34 years traveling Mississippi, Texas, and Oklahoma while always keeping Shabbos on the road.
Soon after arriving in Dallas, Harry met Sarah Summer through his landlady, and the two married after arranging to support his parents together. They raised a daughter, Hannah, and a son, Joe, and built an FHA home in South Dallas with lumber generously priced by a Marshall, Texas timber man. During the war Harry became a skilled precision grinder, making airplane bearings, and later worked on rocket parts before retiring in the early 1970s. He was one of five founders of Akiva Academy and a lifetime board member, attended Tiferet Israel twice daily, volunteered making surgical dressings, and took up oil painting at the Jewish community center. Admired as a humble and devoted man, he was honored by his synagogue with the gift of a Sefer Torah.
His descendants carry on his devotion to Yiddishkeit.
Full Transcript
I'm sitting here with my friend Harry Goldman. Good morning, Harry. How are you? I'm doing just fine. Good. Speak up loud and clear. Harry, I have been sitting with a lot of my friends and we have been recording their lives. And the only way you can record someone's life is to say, knew let's start at the beginning where were you born Harry I was born in for a ditch if Kiva your band and they had a pro grom at that time a revolution there whenever they had a depression they blamed it on the Jews and started killing Jews that's been our problem throughout the ages so we and we move our that is my mom that's where I was born my father came from Odessa Russia and they had a program there too how many years ago were you that was a 19 six the 1906 program.
I was born in 95. I was just about a year old when we migrated to this country. You migrated to America because your family wanted to get away from the programs? My father, Oliver Shon, said, Ich will nicht der Gift, und ich will nicht der Anig. I don't want their honey, and I don't want their sting. And that's when he left. How many children were in the family, Harry? There's four of us in the family. Incidentally, we, it was a critical period, I believe it was in Odessa, that we were hidden in the basement, in the cellar, and under a huge sugar barrel. They used to have these huge barrels that had Achilles sugar in there.
And the four of us were hidden under, tumbled over. And the Russians came soldiers came rushing in and they say Noziedis here There are no Jews here You were hidden in the sugar barrel Upside you know upside down It a miraculous All of us who are alive today are the remnants of those people who were miraculously saved from all those programs. What did your father do in Russia before he left? He was a baker. He was a baker. Yeah. Okay. So when you were one year old, were you the youngest of the four then? I was the youngest. My sister was just about a year older.
Okay. So you came to America. Did you come all together or did your father come first? No. That's just it. My father came here first. That's why I get my dates. It could be that we left 1907. because he immediately got a job and saved money, and in 11 months he saved enough money to get us to this kid. All right, where did he go when he went to America? He went to St. Louis. He had a niece in St. Louis, and she prevailed on her husband to buy a ticket, a transportation from Odessa, Russia, to the United States, and that's when he came here.
Was he a baker as soon as he arrived? He was a baker. He got a job practically the next day without language or anything because he was a Jewish baker. He spoke the Jewish language. And that was the advantage that he had. He was fortunate. He didn't have to learn the language. He had the trade. He was a Jewish baker and he worked the Jewish people. Wonderful. So what do you remember? Do you remember anything of your trip over or were you too little? trip I don't remember. I do remember an incident. He was very good at his profession, at his skill, his trade. After he left one, they worked nights.
So one time when he left, he stopped by another baker shop and thought he'd drop in just to say hello, see what's going on. And as he watched them lift that dough, they had these machines, you know, lift from one to another, he noticed the dough was too loose. So he told them that you put in a double dose of salt in that and you will have nothing to it will be useless So he says my suggestion is to you to take half of it cut it off and throw it away and take a new batch and add the equal amount of flour and water and don add any salt And therefore you will equalize it.
And he had bread for his customers that day. That's how good he was in his field. That's why he got a job, you know, I'm just mentioning it in passing. Harry, let's go to your childhood then. Your early childhood in America in St. Louis. What do you remember about your very young years in St. Louis? I only remember that car school. The first school I went to was C-A-R-R, car school. It was at that time quite a modern school. We had shower baths there, and, you know, public was a public school, and that's the school I, my first school I attended. You didn't go to a Talmud Torah?
At that time, oh, yeah, no, not a Talmud Torah. My father didn't believe in mass education for the Talmud Torahs as they had at that time. He wanted a private malamit, and that's when I had a private malamit. You had a private tutor. Yeah. Were your parents... Private Hebrew school. So you never went to a Hebrew school? I have never went to a Hebrew school as such, no, just by. All right. Was your father and mother observant? Very observant, yeah. They observed. In fact, my father observed Shabbos. When he had to work Friday night, he paid a premium to have somebody else work in his stead so he wouldn't have to work Friday night.
And in 1904, they organized the Union, the American Federation of Labor. that was the first union in St. Louis, Baker's Union. All right. So you went to a public school. I went to a public school. And you had a private Jewish tutor. How many, did you live in a Jewish area? We lived in a Jewish area. There was a street called Biddle, B-I-D-D-L-E. I think at one time it was named after Governor Biddle in St. Louis. and that was the Jewish neighborhood at that time. See, first the Christians would move out, and the Jews would move in, and after that the Italians would move in and after that the Polish would move in and after that the Kurds would move in and that was the end of the area Now they got that street there they named Franklin Avenue Luther King Right, they want their colored.
Yeah, but it's a slum. After the colored. Well, all right, let's go back to your childhood, Harry. and you went to this Carr Elementary School. How much schooling did you have? How far did you go in school? Well, then from there, when we moved over further north there, I went to the Glasgow School. So that was when I graduated the Glasgow Public School. And from there, I went to Central High School. And then I went to Brown's Business College and took up typing and shorthand bookkeeping and so forth. And I went into, I was about 16 years old then, and I got a job with a wholesale dry goods company in St.
Louis called Rice Sticks Dry Goods Company. And I stayed there for five years. Okay, now as you were growing up in junior high school and high school, What do you remember about socializing? Did you go with groups of kids, groups of boys, groups of girls? Did you belong to Jewish organizations? Do you recall any of those years or doing any of those activities? No, I do not recall those years. I had Jewish boyfriends, we would go together, but I don't think we had any social idea. We'd walk to the library on Saturday, we had a beautiful public library, main library, marble, imported marble from Italy, huge and enormous, one of the famous libraries.
Did you belong to any youth Zionist organizations in those days? No, I didn't. I don't know whether they even had that. Yeah, they may not have had. I don't remember any. All right. From the Jewish standpoint, I don't remember. Very much. Very much. Now, we attend services every Shabbos, and then in the afternoon they had study groups. Now, those study groups, That's really where I got my education in Judaism. In our private teacher, Hebrew teacher, Malamud I call him, we would learn to read Hebrew, and he would translate the cedrus every week in Jewish so we'd know the sequence of it from Baratheus all the way to the very end.
And every week we'd do it. We got the story of it from him. That we did. But the discussion groups at Shul on a Saturday afternoon? The discussion group at Shul was like a maggot. We'd go and hear our speaker like a maggot. We'd come from one time to another. And we'd hear him speak. and we'd have study groups in Jewish and where they'd explain in detail various things. Then I could follow through in Rasha. I could read the... When they read it, I could know what they were talking about and then they would enlarge commentary. Rasha was commentary on the approach. And that was the extent of my Hebrew education.
Okay, so now you're a businessman at age 16. You said you went to work for this wholesale drugs group. Yes, I got into the, from one stage, I got promoted there. I was then the salesman on the floor, house salesman. When a customer would come in, I'd wait on him, or when they had a market, I'd wait on him. And I also took care of the purchasing records in that department. and I was in the leather coat department and work clothes and raincoats and whatnot in that department and two Jewish men who operated a factory across the street would come in to sell us leather jackets.
One was named Schoenberg, the one was named Weiser. And then they moved their plant to Los Angeles, California, and they started a California sportswear company. That when Hollywood was famous and all and movies and all and California prospered And instead of selling wholesale they started selling to the stores And there was the reason I bring them in because they definitely factors in my biography Because we went through some awful depressions in 19... I guess 28, 29, 30. Well, it was a difficult thing of getting a job. You had to create a job. You couldn't get a job. So I created a job. And you worked for these gentlemen?
And after, that was not in California. That was, I was still in the South. I went, I realized that, well, we left St. Louis, the family left St. Louis, they wanted to go to a warmer climate. So they left and went to St., they went to San Antonio. And in San Antonio is when the Depression hit, it was very, very difficult, and I decided that that's not the place. Were you still a single boy at this time? I was still a single boy. So I moved, we moved, the family moved to Los Angeles, and I told them that I went to this factory at California Sportler, I told them I wanted to learn a skill.
I wanted to learn to build cutter of leather jackets. The reason I wanted that is because these sales jobs were only commissioned. Vacuum cleaner salesman commissioned and whatnot, all that, which was useless. So I went in there and I told them I wanted to learn to do a cutter. They said, that's fine. They remembered my background and all, and they gave me a job. $15 a week. And I learned to be a cutter. So I was with them several weeks. We were working on piecework when I earned my $15 on a piecework basis. See, up until then, they paid me the $15. Right. And after I learned that, I was real proud that I won.
And the designer Mr Capuccio part owner of three partners came up to me and he says Harry I very proud of you You now arrived at the point where you earning your key Now, I was just working there for about a month. When they called me and they say, Harry, we're opening up a branch office in Dallas, Texas. and our salesman in that area will be working out of Dallas. He'll be the assistant. He's the manager. He'll be the assistant manager for the Dallas branch. And the fact that I could type and make out invoices and write letters to the customers, fill orders, was a factor.
See? Even though I didn't have a degree in business administration and all that, I had other attributes that could help me. Well, experience. Experience. So they said, Harry, you were sending down a stock of leather coats, which is very expensive. It runs up into thousands of dollars. We know you're honest, but our insurance company insists that you sign upon it. So I said, okay. They sent me a bond, and I sent my bond. I sent, I filled out the application. I had my cousin who was an actuary for an insurance company, and he signed my bond, and they accepted it. I'd been with them for several years, and then they gave me, allotted me a territory to travel.
I traveled in Mississippi, the whole state of Mississippi, and in West Texas and in South Texas. And then I added Oklahoma. I had been with them for 34 years. And that's the field I was in from there until I retired. I retired in I retired in 60 took an early retirement I retired I retired So you been retired for like 15 20 years No I retired I think it was about in 68 is when I retired but I didn I retired from traveling I didn want to travel Right, okay. But I went to another field entirely, is where I went to. during the war we didn't travel going back a little bit we didn't travel because we were allotted 50% was allotted to the customers the other 50% we made leather jackets with these Wutong collars a knit bottom for the bombers and that we had government contracts so the other 6 months I went in, I was always interested in machine shop practice.
In the years when I was assistant bench manager, I went to night school, at the Bryan High Night School, and took up machine shop practice for a hobby because I was interested in that mechanical. So during the war, I was too young, I was too old to be drafted, and too young. Anyhow, you weren't able to get in the war is what you're trying to say. So I'm trying to say. So then I went to a school specializing in machine shop practice. There was 50 of us in the class. And out of 50, they selected two of us to go further, to go into precision grinding.
Precision grinding is a specialized field where we made airplane propeller bearings. And when an airplane was grounded because of bearing burnout, we made these bearings. Very, very critical, a very close tolerance on it. We had two one-thousands clearance. Who did you work for? Two-tenths of a one-thousand clearance. I worked for, I don't know, Volcombearing. So you had two jobs is what you're saying. Volcombearing Company who had a contract to make these bearings. As soon as we made these bearings, we wrapped them in wax paper and put them on an airplane I'm going to throw them to the theater of operation. That's how critical it was.
The factory was here in South Dallas on Sign Road. It was in a vacated schoolhouse. I'm going to make it short. And there was guards around and all. It was camouflaged and all. It was very critical. This was during the war. During the war. I said that during the war. Yes. Well, I'm trying to get it. So after I was skilled in that field, so after I retired, I went in from 68 to 70. I went in also a defense plant. I made rocket parts or whatnot. Also in this precision and tooled rotting. That's what I did until 70 when I retired. So you're a very talented man.
You have many talents. All right. Harry, you have left out a very integral and important part of your life. I want to know where and at what point in your life did you meet your wife and where and how? Were you a shy boy? Were you a shtiffer? Was it a blind date? Come on now. I got to... Well, it reverts back to Yiddishkeit. When I was transferred to Dallas, I was looking for a kosher place to live. And where do you ask it? the shul. They told me to go to a place, a lady named Mrs. Roshnowski, who had a two-story house, and she had vacant rooms, and she cooked and all, and I got a room there, and that's where I stay.
My folks were still in California at that time, and I, when I was transferred to Dallas, I was given a raise. I was paid $25 a week, and that's in 1933. In 1933, $25 bought a lot. And I sent my folks home money to live on, and only expense I kept for myself and my own board. And the lady there, her daughter, introduced me to my intended wife And her name at that time was Sarah Summer They had a grocer store close by a two building they lived downstairs And I was courting her for about six months. I was very fond of when she was fond of me, but I couldn't get the courage to ask Pop the question because of my responsibility.
So she said one minute, No. We've been going around six months and you haven't said boo. So I told her, my problem is that I only earned $25. I have to send my folks money for their own. And I can't consider marriage. How do you get married if you don't have war with them all? So she says, well, we'll figure out a way. We'll punish them on themselves. We figured out a way. We brought my folks here to Dallas. We rented a little duplex, one-sided duplex, and I still maintain them here. and we got married and we moved we were given one of the rooms upstairs for our private personal use.
We lived with her with her folks. We had a new bedroom seat. It's beautiful. We still have it there. That was the extent, you know, they, their fault, her mother ran. And we were very, we, it was a very happy period. First it was a year, my daughter came in a year, and then we moved to a new place, and that's South Dallas on Wendelkin Street. It so happens one year I had a thousand dollar bonus over and above my expenses after I was traveling. So we bought a vacant lot. The reason and to build a house the reason we couldn buy a house that was needing repairs because we would spend all our money to repair it So we bought this lot and it so happens that the man who sold us this lot had a lumber yard in Marshall Texas he bought timber and they sliced it for raw lumber two by fours and so forth so one day when I went by there and bought that lot from him and I was on my way to Mississippi as you go to Mississippi to Vicksburg across Marshall, Texas highway and I stopped in there and I bought that lot and he was so enthused to see young people try to get ahead he says Harry you get your builder to give me an itemized list of what lumber rough lumber you need to build your house a three-bedroom house and I'll fill it at my wholesale cost from the timber see he wasn't the lumber yard he was a timber lumber manufacturer.
So you got the wood for your house. Believe it or not, the rough lumber, two by four, two by six, two for, cost us $900 for a three-bedroom house. Isn't that amazing? I'm going into a detail. Maybe I shouldn't mind. I want to show you how people, the Hoboines on them. Right. If he's on here, he's with you. Right. You know what you can do? And that's what happened. It was at the height, at the depth of the Depression, and we built an FHA house, I think, for about $4,500, a brick, three-bedroom house, brick there, on a 30-year payoff at 5% interest. In these days, that's an unbelievable thing.
It's an unbelievable thing. So how many children do you have, Harry? I have two children. I have a married daughter and a married son. They both have two children. Did Sarah ever work or she was a mother? No, she was working in the grocery store. Oh, with your parents. That what I wanted to tell you That why we were able to do with her because she was actually working Incidentally she was very brilliant in school She graduated high school as valedictorian And she was very good in physics and chemistry and science and math. If she had been given the proper advice to go on to university, she would be very good in research.
she would have been a professional woman. But she was a good wife and she was a good mother. She was a good wife and all that in a very low, and she became very fluent in French. Her mother, incidentally, came from Romania. In Romania, they were at a high standard, incidentally. Her father, my wife's grandfather, was in the timber business, incidentally, in Romania. He'd buy fields of standing trees and clear off the lumber. You know, he'd buy the lumber, not the land. Tell me something, Harry. That's it. In the years that your children were growing up, you traveled a lot for business. Did you then ever take vacations and tour the country with your children, or was traveling, you were too tired of traveling?
Well, occasionally I'd take my wife along on a trip. We made a trip to South Texas. We made a trip. We went to Laredo. We went across to Mexico. We went to Brownsville. We went across to Mexico, to Brownsville. We visited in San Antonio, to Alamo, and various others. We visited that way. But we didn't take vacations. Tell me something. I'm interested. Were you as observant and dedicated a Jew in your married years as you are now in your senior years? Yes, I was. Incidentally, the fact that I was on the road was traveling. I was a freelance out there. I was my own boss, so to speak, as long as I sent in the orders, you know.
They didn't care. And I wouldn't work on Shabbos. And Friday evening, I'd stop wherever I'd be. sometimes I have to stop even in a small town. But on, I try to make it a point on Shabbos to spend in a large city. Like in Tulsa, Oklahoma, I'd have to open up downtown at the Mayo Hotel, Big Shabbos. You know, you have to call and work with your buyer's department store. But, when I came in Friday, I didn't check in the hotel. I checked in the Colonial Hotel near the Shule at Tulsa, block or so. It's upstairs from, you know, a little small hotel. A lot of people come there for the high holidays.
And on Friday evening, I'd go to services, and Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon, Shalashidis, and I was within walking distance there, and they had a great fine rabbi, and they discussed Torah on Saturday afternoon, and said, I got some of the training, you know, I understand Yiddish guy. Right, right. And then, Saturday night, I checked in to the Leia Hotel. So I'd be ready for Sunday morning business. So that's what I'm trying to get at. My merchants did never know that I was in town on Saturday because they'd invite me to help them on selling their merchandise on Shabbos. Excuse me. So I couldn't, so therefore, Sunday morning, I would have made appointments.
And I observed Shabbos. I observed Kachas. There's some of the things, food. I had canned foods with me. I had salami and had various things like that, except when I come into Tulsa or other places, there were places where I could eat kosher food. In Oklahoma City, there was a Mrs. Rose, and in Tulsa, there was Mrs. Stackel. And every town you had your little lady who made you kosher meals. Well, that is really nice. In Mississippi, I forget the name of the city, in Mississippi. There was a Mrs. Golden where she rest in peace, and I had it. I had places where I could eat kosher on Shabbos.
I made it a point to stop there. When I wasn't at home, see, I wouldn't travel in a far-distance place. I'd travel three weeks, which is two weekends. Otherwise, I'd come home for a shop. Okay, Harry, see, you have... I'm getting off on a tangent. No, you're not. You're doing very well. Now I think we like to pick up Can you ask me questions relevant to what would be of importance to you Well that what I getting at now is the Harry Goldman of now You have been retired since the early 1970s. What things, I know that you've been active in the synagogue, what things do you do, what things do you enjoy doing, how did you get involved with the center?
These are the things I'd like to do. What about the harry of the last little while? Well, I've been attending services at our shore morning and evening for years. On Shabbos, I'd walk to shore. When I lived in South Dallas, we had to go to Saffron Shore, and I attended to go to Saffron Shore. The family did. And then when they moved to North Dallas, we tried to get a shul started in North Dallas. And it was a long time, many years, eight, nine, ten years. We tried it. So is Teferit an offspring of the Guduzachim? Teferit Israel is not. It was a shul in itself, but they moved here, moved north first, and our shul lagged behind.
Okay. So we moved, we tried to, we bought a place there near the tow road on North Haven. There was a young man named Rabbi Lopkovsky. He moved some buildings together and built a shul there, hoping to make a shul, and trying to get them, and we couldn't. So he organized Akiva Academy in here, and then we moved to this new Akiva Academy. So the assets of the Agudah Sahem Shul, since we couldn't... Are in the Akiva. ...are in Akiva. There were five of us, or charter members of the Akiva, who transferred about $200,000 of the assets to the Akiva. One is Mr Rowan one is Dave Lenowitz one is Mr Kay one is Mr Saul Pringlin and Harry Goldman and myself The five of us are the founders of the Akiva We don take personal credit for these things, but it so happens that that money could only be used for either a shul or a Talmud Torah or the third thing is if there's some poor girls who can't afford to get married you're supposed to marry them off a dowry a dowry honey I guess an aden an aden incident that's according to the Torah I'm not you know so the money went to the Akiva and that was the beginning And Mr.
Marcus Rosenberg was the one who was the pillar of the Akiva. He financed it in addition to what we started. Are you still active in the Akiva? I'm on the board of directors. I'm a lifetime member of the board, being one of the founders with the other five. One, Mr. Kaila, was shown past the world. We have in the transfer of assets stipulated that that should only be used. As a school must be according to the Torah and the Sora. Otherwise, those original assets would have to go to the Torah and the Sora movement elsewhere. But that's what it can be. So you are on the board of Akiva.
You go twice a day to Tefer at Israel. What hobbies do you have? I know that you're very devoted to your Judaism and to the Torah and to study. Do you have any hobbies? I mean, a man who was so good with his hands and... Well, I do things around the house. I do things like fixed plumbing or some other things around the house. Incidentally, I painted my garage door yesterday, finally. Good for you! Talking about painting, And that's how I got interested in this art paint class here at Center. They asked me, have you had any experience painting? I says, yeah. I painted our garage door.
That was three years ago. And that how I started oil painting at the Center And that was one of my hobbies is some of the oil painting Okay How long have you been involved with the seniors at the Center About three years about three years What things do you enjoy doing here the painting Well, as you know, I enjoy Miriam Creamer's classes. All right, that's up your at, okay. In the Yiddish class, incidentally, I always give you a plug, these new people that are staying with me in my house. I was telling them about the center, very well. What does the center mean to you, Harry?
Incidentally, the center is... I always try to get people interested to come to the center. There are some people who are Mr. and Mrs. Lynn who are isolated people, shy people, reluctant to come. and it took me quite a long time to get them to come, and they finally do come, and they appreciate it. And various others that I interested in coming. I told them what we had to offer here. And at one time, I came on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and you know that surgical dressing volunteer program from... Parkland, do you still do that? I still do that. I did that yesterday. Monday. Monday.
Okay. And then after that, at one time I attended that exercise class, and then there was some other activity at that time, I was sitting there at any rate. Then on Wednesday, you know, the activities on Wednesday, which I enjoy very much. On Thursday, I try to get as early as I can sometimes, but don't get here. What does the center mean to you in your life? I think it's a wonderful organization. I think that the people who contributed to this plant, and it's an enormous plant of $5 million. But the senior program, the senior program. The senior program keeps people from deteriorating mentally and physically.
And that's a great plus. Now, in this oil painting class, anyone who can handle a pencil can handle a brush. And I was reluctant to start too. I didn't think I could. And I finally found out that I couldn't. And I had some wonderful instructors that were tolerant. Well, I'm sure that you have this talent. Okay. Harry, before we end the tape this morning, I've always... Do you have something you want to add? I wanted to add this thing. When we are here on Thursday, we have services. And we have like a banquet every Thursday. A luncheon, right. somebody has to make a mozah in addition to the mozah they have and somebody has to bench if one person makes that blessing it's all inclusive to everyone and in that blessing we make a blessing to the host and the hostess and all those that contributed to this plant are blessed in this grace after meal blessing in that so I want you to know that I feel that all those people who have a stake in this Jewish community center are remembered for their good deeds for good deeds for good deeds you see me sitting with my cat there's a reason for it if others were sitting with yarmulkes I would sit with yarmulkes I don't want to be isolated, but the camp is acceptable to somebody, or it's one of these sportsman's camps.
Okay, that's what I'm talking about. All right, Harry, before we end the tape, I want you to know that your grandchildren and your great-grandchildren someday will come in here, and this tape will be available to them in the library to listen to, and they can sit down and listen to the life of their Zeta and how he traveled and the things he did. if you had to give them advice on life it may be this generation or the next generation that's listening to them say hey that was my great-grandfather listen to him what would you tell them about life anything you've learned in your experience or what would you want them to do what message would you leave them harry i'll say this they are already doing the things i would suggest to them to do in life by copying my lifetime and my wife active lifetime And my wife was very instrumental in bringing in Yiddish guy She was both the father and the mother while I was on the road And she had great talent in using it to teach them Yiddishkeit So you're saying your children have fulfilled your dreams in that they are living the lives and that their children are emulating them.
See, Hannah is active, incidentally, both her husband, Raymond Lambert, are active in the Federation. active in the Akiba and active at a shul anytime they need any architectural advice he helps them and Hannah is active in family services you know she was the president and she's active in the other Federation activities and at the Akiba she was first a volunteer and then they put her on the staff as a preschool administrator to get children started in the keyboard at an early age they'll follow through. My advice to them is to continue to doing the things that they're doing to emulate their parents. Well, they say it's the golden arcade, Harry, of Yiddishkeit and des eppel afalt nischweif and the Bay Miller.
Thank you. And you are a beautiful human being, and you are an inspiration to all those of us whose lives pass your life. And I think the greatest thing I could say is that when the Rosslers lived with you, Fred, who was really almost like a non-believer and who was such an arguer, said that he loved He loves and respects you so highly and that his whole attitude towards Judaism changed by watching you and the way you live. In their eyes, Harry, you are a tzaddik. And in many people's eyes, you are a tzaddik. And I want to say how wonderful it has been to listen to your life.
I'd like to inject one thing. Go ahead. that in the Ethics of the Fathers it says he who looks for honors is ignored but he who don look for honors is given honors shuola honored me making the man of the year and they got those people who felt that I was deserving of this honor to contribute to buy a Sefer Torah with their funds and presented that Sefer Torah in our honor, my wife and I, to our shul. And then later we made a celebration of completing the Sefer Torah. And each letter the family contributed and selected somebody in their family to write a word.
And they raised quite a number of, quite a large sum for the benefit of the shul. and in my speech to them I told them I have a captive audience so I want to say some things first place I want to say it's nice to be alive and hear your own eulogy okay so I mentioned among other things who else should be honored those people who contributed were more deserving or just as deserving But in your quiet way, Harry, you have done a lot of wonderful things, and I think it is wonderful that the synagogue chose you not because you're a big wealthy man, not because you're a big influential man, but because you are who you are, a humble, kind, devoted person who lives his life and his Judaism from morning till night and I think you're a beautiful human being Harry thank you for the time we spent thank you very much I appreciate Harry I think that we ended a little too quickly I believe you have two children and we spoke so much and got involved you have a son as well I have a son What's his name?
Joe Goldman and my daughter-in-law Beverly Goldman. They have a lovely home. They have two children Ronnie and Michael And they try they they belong to the temple and they are Harry we were speaking about your son what else would you like to say observe their Yiddishkeit in their own way. Everybody is entitled to their own ways of observing their religion. Now, they sent their children to the Ikivan, and Joe is very active. He's on the board of directors, and he's very active in Ikivan. Beverly was very active with the Parent-teachers associate... Association. Yeah, associate. And very... Tell me, what does your son... And helped in many, many ways to that...
What does your son do? He's an electrical engineer. Ah, so he inherited that talent from his father, the finger... Yeah, dexterity of the fingers and the brain and all. The finger dexterity and the brain and... So is Beverly very, very active, as a matter of fact. And she has a... Is she a businesswoman? She has her own business of her own. She has... What kind of business is she in? Needlepoint. She has a needlepoint, where she designs and paints those things. Oh, isn't that interesting? She's got a lot of talent. And she sells them to stores who we sell. She built up a nice little business herself.
In addition to that, she's very active otherwise. In other organizations. Well, listen, I think that from your entire family, you shep a great, great deal of nachos. And someone once said to me, as she looked down on her children and her grandchildren, dus is meine prezentalach. These are your prezentalach in life, and you should continue, Harry, to enjoy these prezentalach, and they should give you much nachos. Thanks again, Harry.