From the Mailbag - February 2016

On Feb 3, 2016, at 10:00 AM, David Wendroff wrote:

Art, I ran across the Trenton Jewish Historical Society on Safari yesterday, a font of information.

I didn’t know that Dave Weisberg was an outstanding coach in the 1930s, or that the Olinksy brothers were members of the THS basketball squad. Was surprised that Bash’s and Weinberg’s department stores were not listed among the entrepreneurs.....unless I missed them on my first reading.  Lots of Finkles, though, in different capacities.

david  

Always good to hear from you.

(It should be noted that Scotty Mosovich was also Football Coach from 1939-41.)

I recall the pneumatic tubes at Dunhams ( if that was the store on Front Street just down form National Shoes) and the men’s shops on South Broad, as well as Havesons, Croydon,and Donnelly’s, not F..W., in midtown. Bash’s sponsored our West End Little League team, and Sy Bash was a gentleman of the old school. Sam Smith, the fishman, was our exceptional coach. And, Sunday morning visits to delis and bakeries on Market Street.

Our family moved from Princeton to Trenton in 1944, and my father co-owned Harry Ballot Clothiers in Princeton from 1928 to 1987; he died on his way to work in July of that year. My mother, nee Marian Goldenberg, worked at Hamilton Jewelers and at Stacy Sport Shop. Neither of my parents was a native Trentonian.

I was surprised to see Percy Smith, our son’s pediatrician in 1965, listed among the Jewish doctors, if only because of his name. But I should have guessed at that possibility.  Smiths, Greens, etc.

My mother’s mother Rebecca Gottlieb, a native of Iassy, Romania, was a direct descendant of Levi Yitzhak of Berdichaev, and was buried with one half of the talleth of the rabbi. The other half  is with cousins of ours in Israel.

Born in Reval, now Talinn,  in 1900, my father Abraham realized he had a talent for language. As a teenager he advertised in ethnic papers to teach English in exchange for the native languages of other immigrants in New York. In addition  to Yiddish, German, and Russian spoken at home, he added Spanish and some Chinese. His Chinese student was the son of the Chinese counsel general in New York, while the Spanish student was an Ecuadorian. He had few opportunities to speak his native Estonian after coming to the Bronx in 1908. The explanation for various languages spoken at home is that his mother was Latvian born, brother and three sisters, Estonian. In addition, my father and one sister lived in St. Petersburg, briefly, and his brother and one sister lived in Paris. German was considered the language of culture, and commerce, in the Baltic States at the time. My father spoke Baltic German to Einstein who spoke Swiss German in turn.lived in Paris. German was considered the language of culture, and commerce, in the Baltic States at the time. My father spoke Baltic German to Einstein who spoke Swiss German in turn. (I note that la Jew's living outside the Pale was most unusual. He must have been special)