Library Gift from the Late Alfred Levitt

About a 1 1/2 years ago I was contacted by my second cousin,on my Poley side, Janet Slovin. Janet and her husband Gilbert are the trustees of the of the estate of the late Alfred Levitt Z"L who passed away in a tragic car accident on March 5 2008 on his way to work. from her post:

He was crossing the street in front of his office building and was hit by a car. He was 86, still going to work every day, leading an active life. It was a cruel irony of life that a man as gentle be struck down in such a violent way. He was mourned by his loving family, a host of friends, and hundreds of colleagues he had worked with over the years. He left some money to be donated to a good cause, and I ( My husband and I are trustees) would like to support (in a very modest way) a project in your town. I think it would be meaningful for Alfred to be associated with the Monosson family. Let me know if you have any ideas.

Memorial Card Cover

Memorial Card 

I suggested, after asking for advise, that the library be a possible candidate.. This was welcomed and after confirming the status of the library as a non-profit organization the library received a very generous gift of the sum of $2,500. A more than "modest gift".

Now to decide how to use this gift ...at first they wanted the local administrator for Neve Monosson to match the gift and to enable the library to renovate a storage area to add to the library... but of course as is well known squeezing funds from the city, we are part of greater Yahud area, is almost an impossible feat! So it was decided to add new shelving to the area for Travel books and guides to be named after Alfred Levitt. Finally after getting contract bids the shelves were ordered and recently set up. Not only the special travel corner but a huge shelve area for childrens' books at the entrance to the library.

Here are a few images of the new shelves. The clock will be replaced by a plaque dedicated to Alfred Levitt.  

Travel Guide Corner

New English Books

Large new shelves for children's section

With the remaining money books will be bought for both the English and Travel Guide sections...

A beautiful and wonderful gift  in the memory of Alfred Levitt and again emphasizing the strong bonds between the Poley and Monosson families.

Family Connections

Alfred was the son of Rose [Poley] and Max Levitt. Rose was the third daughter of Jacob and Mary Poley.  Image of the Poley Family in 1906 when the whole family reunited.

Two of the Poley sisters married two of the Monosson brothers. The two families resided in the same area of Boston and probably met at the many social events in the area, oral history from my late father Adolphe Monosson.  I have a photograph of  such a social gathering showing three of the Poley  sisters and David Monosson, not shown together in the image, David Monosson married Esther Poley and Fred Monosson married Minnie Poley. . Here is an image of all the Poley sisters with their sister-in-law Jean Poley who married their brother Abraham, Chick, Poley.

The Poley and Monosson connection was very strong. Max Levitt was a witness on both David and Fred's naturalizing documents along with another Poley brother-in-law Ruben Popkin husband of Sadie Poley.

My Grandparents Didn't Swim the Atlantic

For years I have been trying to locate my maternal grandparents,ARONSON,on the Ellis Island database with no success. My grandfather,Hyman Aronson, stated specifically that he arrived on July 23rd on the Rotterdam, but I had never found him on that or any other Rotterdam sailing for 1900. So I always joked that they swam over.

Here is the Immigration story on the new web site for my Aronson-Price families

Since I wrote that story I looked over my mother's birth certificate...which is also a story in itself and there I saw the letter "S" for my grandmother's middle name. So the mystery of who was Sore is solved... but why weren't they sailing as a a married couple.

Finding this certificate was very hard because my mother was named Bella and they changed it to Beatrice... not legally but by use, and note that the spelling of ARONSON was with an "E".
I believe that on my Aunt Lillian's birth certificate she was named Lena.

Leo Monosson Any Connection?

While veiwing the new English Monosson Trailer on YouTube



I noticed on the side bar several videos for a Leo Monosson,a singer and actor. Leo, born Leon in 1897, is the son of Isai Monosson and Malvina Szereszewki. For comparison my grandfather David was born in 1887,his brother Fred in 1892. A collection of the videos can be found on YouTube

Since I haven't been active in my genealogy research I corresponded with Michael to find out more information and he sent a descendant chart. Seems that I met his second wife Stephanie in Florida,another story, and his daughter Vera Monosson Steinfeld here in Tel Aviv and corresponded with her about the possible connection. So far we haven't been able to find the "link" both Michael and I both think that Leo's grandfather Leon,born beteeen 1835-1845 and our Gr-grandfather Abraham/Adolphe, born around 1847 were either siblings or cousins. Isai was a in the diamond business and sold stones to the famous Faberge. The families had close ties and Monosson is his private telephone directory. This fact we found out from a bit of professional research we did.

Michael sent me some images of Leo that he bought on Ebay a few years ago. Here is the sideshow.



Click on the triangle for slide show. Click on image to bring up larger images in my Picassa album.

Break Fast with Grandma Barbara

Just received this great group of pictures from my cousin Barbara... these were taken last October at the Break Fast (Yom Kippor)

Barbara is my first cousin, her mother Lillian and my mother Beatrice were sisters. We lived close by in Newton center. All the family was present Paul,Barbara's eldest son, and Karen with their son's Ben and Max. I remember Ben's Bar Mitzvah on Mount Masada. Jane,Barbara's daughter and husband Jerry and their daughters Rachel and Erica. Steven,Barbara's youngest son with Susan,Sam,Joe and little Sophie!!!

Sophie is the newest addition to the Pofcher family. Born to Steven and Susan on August 5 2007.

From carol -connecting

,

Here is a slide show of the event. Click on image to see images on Picassa web album.Click on the little icon on the left for captions!



Enjoy and Happy Mother's day Barbara and all the mother's,grandmothers everywhere!!