Goldenberg * Halm Family News--Back Issues

In light of the tragedy in NY and Washington, we have been understandably preoccupied with world events. These messages reflect that. May the Jewish New Year bring to all the family, wherever we may be, and all the world, safety and peace.

There's still time--send us your family news and greetings--we'll try to post them all during this holiday season.

Dear Family,

We in San Diego send our love and prayers that each of us will be
inscribed in the book of life fof the coming year.
We are still numb and unable to fathom the hatred that drives the
devastation and annilation we have seen.
Shalom,
Anne, Ed, Ruth, Sandy &Jack

My preoccupation this past week has made me for the first time in my adult life not send out New Year Greetings...
But now, let me say... At a time like this more than ever I turn to my family, my friends and to my traditions for comfort & solace.
My family & I wish you & your loved ones a healthy, sane, peaceful year.
Shalom & love,
Harriet

I had intended to only write some Rosh Hashanah greetings for the new year!
Instead I find myself like everyone else in this country or the world for
that matter shocked and devastated at what has happened today in New York
and Washington, D.C. I only hope that some of these anti-Israel naysayers
who say that Israel has no write to defend itself against its aggressors now
know what it's like to live in a country where your very safety is
constantly at question. That is what living in Israel feels like every
day!!
With that said, Murray and I want to wish everyone a peaceful New Year!
May our family in Israel also find the peace it longs for and needs so
dearly.
L' Shanna Tovah! The Gandlers.

Dear Family,

Our prayers go out to any family and friends of family affected by the horror in NYC, DC & PA.

We flew back from Morroco through JFK last week with vivid memories of flying past the WTC

We will watch the Halm-G website for any news....

wishing you the best for a healthy and happy New Year

Peter, Pascale, India & Teo Halm--Los Angeles, CA

Dear Family,
      We are grateful that everyone in the NY branch of the family survived
the terrorist attack. I know many friends who have decided that since they
are as safe in Israel as in NY, something many of us have contended for some
time, they may as well proceed with plans to visit Israel, resolving not to
allow the terrorists to stop them.
      I feel very strongly about this and plan to be in Israel next year. I
hope it will be as part of our family reunion.
      I was recently accepted into the Hadassah Leadership Academy. The
Hadassah organization is training groups of women all over the USA, women
like myself who have never been involved with Hadassah. They want us to
become advocates and activists for Jewish causes and Jewish ideals. We will
be trained in speaking to legislators here and will be taken to Washington.
We will also be brought to Israel in 2003 to meet with leaders there. I hope
this training will allow me to fight terrorism and anti-Semitism here and in
Israel.
     Meanwhile, Mort and I will be donating our services to helping the
emergency workers cope with their psychological trauma.
      One fatality of this intifada on US soil has been the illusion that we
are safe in America. This was so cherished by my grandmother who used to tell
us that we didn't know how lucky we were to be here [we did and do] and that
we didn't know what it was like in Europe. When Mort and Gene and Sylvia and
I went to Jasina and our car was stopped 3 times by police looking for
bribes, we got a very small taste of what Boubby and others lived with in
Europe. I'm glad my grandmother didn't live to see those towers come down and
the assault on the Pentagon.
      But, now we can have no illusions about what we are up against as
Jews, Americans, Israelis. We each must do whatever we can, each in our own
way, to help our people and our countries.
Judy

P.S. Best wishes to everyone for a healthy and safe new year.
Love from Mort and Judy

Lessons:
I started taking private Hebrew lessons on my lunch hour with a wonderful
Israeli woman who tells me I am tov m'od. She's using a sort of Ulpan method
to teach me, launching right into conversation. Of course, I also have
homework in reading, writing and vocabulary. I love it. I also have a Torah
cantillation class [with tapes and CDs]. But I can only attend it if I get a
cancellation. This class is much more difficult since I read Hebrew so slowly
and have a vocal range of about 1/2 octave. Sunday, Mort and I took our
first Yiddish lesson at my shul-a class I set up as adult ed. chair. [I am
Chairing the Adult Ed. committee at my shul and sitting on the Board as a
trustee.] We enjoyed that too and are trying to access all the Yiddish we
heard as kids. I hope that when we go to Israel next year for the reunion
[think positively], I'll be able to speak Hebrew and Yiddish with my cousins.

Daughters:
      Caryn has changed jobs and is freelancing again. She is doing work in
both video production and still photography. She recently had a one-person
show, "One World Portraits", at the Arts Council of New Haven. This weekend
she is at the Boat Show for Sailing World magazine, with another article for
Cruising World. She writes, she photographs, and she can perform every aspect
of video production. I am continually amazed by her talent and creativity.
She gets better and better! [I can't help it-I'm her mother.]
      Jennifer is feeling better and getting ready to take a course this
summer and return to teaching in the fall. She has shown a lot of grit,
determination, and her usual great sense of humor in dealing with an awful
situation. Mort and I are proud of her.
      Last and absolutely not least is Debra who is starting a new job
today! Debra, who shares her sister's sense of humor, has been a wonderful
support to Jennifer during this time and we're also very proud of her.
      We count our blessings with these young women and wish them the best
that life has to offer.

Our Kitchen Renovation [at last]:
we're in our kitchen renovation mess here-amazingly, they have take a
wall down and completely gutted the kitchen with almost no dust or mess! The
hardest part, so far, is washing dishes in the bathroom, having the entire
contents of our cabinets all over the living room, and not knowing where
anything is.
Latka, who does not tolerate change well at all, has been completely
despondent over the loss of "his" domain. Yesterday, after an hour's walk, I
had to I had to feed him water from my cupped hands because he wouldn't drink
from his bowl because it's now upstairs in the bedroom and not in the kitchen.
Today, he's back to almost normal-he tends to be mildly depressive. Moxie,
the uninhibited, simply pooped on the rug in the spare bedroom. [But he'll do
that from time to time with or without a renovation.]

      Shhh:
  The Davis-Kissens and Schleifers are spiriting Mom (Trudy) away for a surprise 3 day weekend birthday celebration at an Inn in Ct. We have tickets to a
Gershwin revival Sat night, and the rest of the time, we'll eat, shop, hike,
and just enjoy being together. Mom will be "plenty-nine" in Dec. so she will
not suspect that she's being treated for a birthday in June.

     So that's a lot of news from us. We send love to all of you and your
families and our continued hopes for peace in Israel.

Love, Judy

Let us first say that the Elderhostel, "Painting in Spain", from which
we returned 4 weeks ago, must be considered as one of the finest trips
that we have ever undertaken. Besides visiting Madrid, Barcelona and the
smaller cities of Toledo, Cuenca, and Bilbao, each of which is a most
worthy destination, we enjoyed the company of 38 most interesting people,
most of whom we would be thrilled to acknowledge as friends. The beauty
of Elderhostel is that you are placed in a situation in which you are
taught (see the title of the program) by local experts (mostly young
people) who have, not only a love for their area of expertise, but are
able to transmit this intense feelings to all.

Spain, and its people were a revelation. Friendly, accommodating, going
out of their way to assist the visitor; they made a strong positive
impression on all of us.

Elderhostel "eligibility" begins at age 55, and a spouse or companion may
be age 50. A glorious way to travel, to meet contemporaries, to be
surprised at how attractive lifelong learning can actually be. Do I
recommend the program? Guess again!

Love! Gene

Congratulations to Leah Agler, whose family celebrated her graduation from Junior High and will enter High School in the fall in Bellmore, New York. Congratulations too to Leah's grandfather (mom Yelena's father) Yuri, who has become a United States citizen.

These are fresh photos from today. [Editor's note: I apologize for not being sufficiently cyber-able to upload these photos or the beautiful graphic that Yossi attached to his note below.] Like you see, the belly is not getting smaller. We are doing fine and especially the baby. It is very active and letting Nicole know, when it's thinking, that we forgot her/him. The movements are getting stronger from day to day and we can see exactly where it's pushing.

Mazal tov to Neil Gandler, who was featured in a full article length interview in the June issue of Car Audio and Electronics magazine (at your newsstands now!) It is biographical as well as technical in nature and makes for a great read!

Some of the family who were at the reunion may remember me studying at
the breakfast table. Just wanted to let you know I completed a Master's
Degree in Environmental Science (graduation was last Thursday) and am
now beginning work on a Ph.D. Think Green!
Beth

Dear All:

My season is in full swing. The work week is stretched to 8 or 9 days in a
good week. I am doing new boat training for boat owners who need only to
understand that money does not make them competent boat handlers. The calls for lessons have been steady. Sea Tow is also an employer. They are the AAA of the water. It is a very interesting job working w/ the Coast Guard and
police to help people with their boat problems. I am getting a chance to see
first hand many peoples mistakes and I am able to learn from each rescue.

If anyone is planning to do the Newport Jazz Festival, Formula Boats is
doing a rendezvous and asked me to teach a practical navigator class, so
I'll be there. Just let me know and we can find each other. One other work
trip is southern France. I will be in just west of Nice in mid-July.
Teaching sailing has it's perks.

I have also changed my address. One more time back to Massapequa. Harriet wanted help around the house and I am able to be here for her, so I'm back there now. Hope everyone is enjoying the life they are creating for themselves.
Much Love, Don

Roman Spiegel
on the Goldenberg side of the tree is the son of Leon Spiegel son of
Bernard Goldenberg, brother of Naomi (Rosie G, Hirsch and Sadie
Goldenberg Fine.

Romy address is:
Roman Spiegel
Adam Hacohen
18 A Neva Shannan
Haifa 32814 Israel

He is in close contact with his uncle Philippe (Goldenberg Spiegel and
aunt Madeline) who reside at
5, Rue Valadon
75007 Paris, France

Romy was totally unaware that he has relatives all over the world, and
especially in Israel. He would be delighted to learn more about our
family.

I think any contact with relatives especially those in Israel would be
very welcome.
I do not have his e-mail address and had lost his current address, which
I retrieved from Philippe , whom I met last year in Paris. At that time
I spoke with Romy, when he called from Israel to speak with his aunt and
uncle. He is fluent in English. He is in his sixties and is a holocaust
survivor, and really sounds very nice (of course he's one of us).

I will contact Romy and learn more about his family. I have seen his
photo and know that he has a family of his own.
I am truly sorry that it took this long to get his address. Please make
him welcome.

Ruth (Picarsky Hirsh Goldenberg) Benjamin

The "surprise" 25th anniversary party for Mindy and Rich Agler was a festive one. Click on this link to read the skit presented by Jesse, Talia and Sarah in honor of their parents simcha. Sadly(?), the video is not available on line.

Mazal tov to Mindy Agler who will be receiving her Masters Degree from Florida Atlantic University (to go with her B.A. from Barnard College) and be eligible to begin practice as a Mental Health Counselor on May 4. If anyone is in South Florida that weekend, feel free to join in the festivities which will include a "surprise" 25th wedding anniversary party (the actual anniversary isn't until June 19th but they feel pretty confident they'll make it) for Mindy and Rich on May 6, hosted by their children and parents.

San Diego Greetings for Passover and beyond in this belated greeting to
all our family everywhere.

We (Brill, Benjamin & Picarsky branch of Goldenberg on tree). Had a very
small and quiet seder san youngsters. As I (Ruth ) was the youngest at
64 . The food as always was outstanding and the joy of being able to
celebrate together is always most special. We hope all the family had wonderful seders and enjoyed the sweetness of the holiday.

Talking of sweetness. Mom (95) still insisted on baking her famous rendition of the Ethel Dubinsky ten egg, mile high nut cake for the event.
An extravaganza that is terribly temperamental and wonderfully
delicious. But be forewarned. This cake is subject to quick demise, even before it reaches your mouth. It is very temperamental, I have failed in baking it many times as: the eggs must be at room temperature to insure high peaked
whites. The yellow mixture must be blended with the white peaks in a
very gentle rotation with a wooden spoon from left to right in a
circle. (I kid you not). After slowly removing the 12 inch high cake from
the oven the spring rolled pan with cooling cake must be inverted on a
cooling rack. Then it is ever so gently removed from the pan. I sounds
simple so give it a try it really is great!!!! In all a spectacle to behold. My versions always fall. But, if anyone is interested in the recipe please write. After we all had our fill mom doled out the leftover cake so that she
could bake another. ( which she didn't due to lack of potato starch)

Of course after mom served the cake and the seder was over the remainders
were doled out to the guests, so she would have an excuse to bake
another. Alas, she was out of potato starch and couldn't repeat it for
the holiday. Perhaps next year, mom.

We truly all feel very blessed by all our bounty ,and love. In all we had a lovely evening. Our blessings for peace and love to all
Anne Picarsky, Sandy, Jack Brill, and Ed and Ruth Benjamin

For photos of the Gandler family seder click on http://photos.yahoo.com/bc/gandro?d&.flabel=fld4&.src=ph

[Better yet, learn the technology and how to post on Yahoo or similar so we can all see photos as well read news via the family web page! Ed.]

Click here to see the seder photos from the Hoffman family on moshav Mazor in Israel.

Thanks too to Yossi Hillzenrat--Ben Shlomo for the beautiful Passover card from Israel he sent to every one of us who is on his mailing list. If you are not, let him know at hillyos@netvision.net.il

It was a Passover family weekend for the Schleifer's. We spent
Saturday with Judy and Mort & family. We had a special treat in having
Caryn and Bill share it with us. The Seder was filled with delicious
food, song and even a " flip chart" presentation.
On Sunday, our family shared the evening at Beth and Ed's home with
Ronnie & Dave and friends. Lauren and Jodi prepared a Passover narration
with a cast of Beth as Moses, Eddie as Pharaoh & Eric as G-d. We had
lots of fun, many laughs and great food.
Best of all, we spent a warm and loving time with family. Happy Passover
to all!

The Gandlers and Ravits

Dear Family,
      this holiday is such a joy-I wish we had room for everyone to be
together. This year, we had a small group: Sheila, Mike, Eric and Jodi, Caryn
and Billy, Debra, Mort, Mort's sister, Arlene, and her partner, Robert, and
our friends: Bruce and Shulamit with their children Evan and Zachary. Lots of
food [Okay-too much food!], lots of fun [never too much], lots of love [never
too much of that, either] and some attempt to follow the Haggadah. We hope
next year Jennifer will be with us, Billy will make the matzoh balls, and
there will be peace in Israel. We also hope to see you all at the family
reunion in Israel.
      Grandma-check your phone messages, Caryn called to wish you a happy
holiday and send love.
      To our family in California, Florida, Australia, and Israel, a zeisen
Pesach-we hope we'll all be together next year.
Love, Judy & Mort

The Florida Aglers and Harriet Harris joined for seder with Harriet's granddaughter Jasmine, Trudy Stein, Jesse Agler's friend Jamie Brett and her family along with some other friends. A good time was had by all.

Just before the seder began, Jesse got the news that he had been elected Sports Director of WVUM 90.5FM , the radio station at the University of Miami! (Also available at www.wvum.org ) First time as far as we know that a freshman received this honor.

Stan and I and our sons and families will be joining my sisters Marilyn and Hedy and their families (that makes about thirty of us) for the traditional eat-a
-thon both nights, so let me wish you annd yours a zissn Pesach right now while I
am sober, and can still find the keyboard! Love, Ellie (Lustig, Hirsch,
Goldenberg)

Dear Family and Friends,

Sylvia and I, in this Holiday Season, wish for you all a time of peace,
warmest of memories, respect and love.

We can wish no less for you than what we wish for our own family.

Peace on Earth to all of good will!

With Love...

gene - sylvia agler

Greetings & a joyous, sweet Passover to one & all.
Harriet Harris, Andy, Annette, Jacob & Rachel,
Alan, Ilise & Sophia & Cap'n. Don

Murray and I want to wish everyone a very sweet and healthy Pesach!!
"Mr. California" (Neil) will be joining us for seder this year along with his
brother Adam, daughter-in-law Andrea and children Danielle and Matthew.
We will be celebrating with Marsha's family the first seder night in
Baldwin, New York.

We pray for peace and good health in the coming year
especially for our friends and family in Israel!

By all accounts my Mom was a remarkable woman. She witnessed more than one person should, yet lived on. From the darkness of the Holocaust to the sunshine of California, my Mom experienced the most extreme breadth that God has to offer. It was her perseverance that created such a loving family of 3 daughters, and a happy marriage of 55 years. And that she survived and that I am here and my children are here is a miracle. That God has chosen to take her now, in such difficult circumstances, can only mean that her mission here on earth has been completed. The rest is left to me and my children, and their children.

After a long hiatus we are resurfacing (with a larger family)
New addition is 22 month old Teo - a boy (very energetic)
For the record:
Peter, Pascale, India and Teo email is phalm@angelfire.com
sister Bonita in LA is retailwrap@aol.com
parents Albert/Ruth in Sydney are ruthhalm@yahoo.com
both are fine (All addresses have been added to the link at our website)
Hope Elijah finds you all happy and healthy.

best regards, Peter

The almost newest and apparently youngest member of the family is now viewable by clicking here. Thanks to Nicole and Itay Gotlib for sharing. Keep up the good work and keep those pictures coming everyone!

For a copy of Jesse Agler's March and April internet broadcast schedule of University of Miami sports games, click here and we'll e-mail it to you.

Rich Agler had a meeting with Florida Governor Jeb Bush on the topic of "Faith Based Initiatives." You can read the account of it by clicking on "The Rabbi's Study" at www.cbiboca.org

There are some new and amended e-mail addresses on the family e-address list. Check it out at by clicking here. Also, please send word of any that need correction by clicking here.

Help Wanted! Ruth Benjamin has a collection of Goldenberg-Halm family photos from the family tree project. Unfortunately, they are not in digital form and we cannot post them until they are. If there is anyone who has access to a scanner and would like to give us all a great gift, please contact Ruth directly at erbenshalom@juno.com I'll be happy to receive the scanned photos from you electronically and we can then post them here. Thank you!

We're sorry to report the sudden and untimely passing of our beloved wife,
mother and grandmother: Charlotte Lenga, (nee Katz) also of the Halm family.
She was struck by a 22 year old fleeing criminal, in a widely reported
police chase, on December 15th, 2000, as she was going to the post office, 3
minutes from our home, to mail some Hanukkah cards to her grandchildren. The
family is still in shock and disbelief about this tragedy! We wish we didn't
have to tell you this terrible news. Fondly, David Lenga and family.

Ed. note: I know that the family will be supportive of the Lengas at this time. E-mail to davidlenga@aol.com Regular mail to: 5416 Zelzah Ave. #302 Encino, CA 91316-2229.

Thanks to Ruth Benjamin and Judy Davis, who sent along these descriptions of Charlotte's place on the family "tree."

We are sad and dismayed to hear of Charlotte Lenga's passing, especially the
way it happened. Charlotte and I exchanged letters in 1997. She explained
that Josef Halm, Moses Halm's brother, was her maternal grandfather. Their
sister, Brucha, was Albert Halm's great grandmother. Charlotte's mother was
Josef's daughter, Binci who married Lerr Katz. Charlotte had 3 sisters,
including Cila Wald and Judith Ornoi [living in Israel] and a brother, Aaron
[living in Montreal, Canada]. The Katz's and their youngest daughter,
Blimele, died in Auschwitz. Blimele was 11.
      Charlotte also told me that she and her daughter Helene and her sister
Judith visited Jasina in 1993. It was a sad trip as much had changed.
      She also said she had been married to David for 51 years [that was
'97] and had 3 daughters and 7 grandchildren.
      I am sorry I never had a chance to get to know her better.

Rich,
After our family reunion I wrote a letter to Charlotte Lenga. Her name
was on our family printout, and no one I asked at the reunion seemed
to know how she fit into our family tree, so I investigated. She lived in
Encino, California and thought perhaps we might find a missing link and add some more branches to our growing family tree, and we might meet.

Her reply to me was our last communication. I will copy this letter now:

9/18/99

Dear Ruth,
Thank you for your Shana Tova card and good wishes. Yes, you're right,
I'm your cousin Charlotte, born Katz. We seem to be related through the
Halm branch of the family. Moshe Halm was my great uncle. He was my
grandfather's brother. My maternal grandfather's name was Josef Halm.
My mother's name was Berta, she was married to my father: Levi Katz.
We're 5 children. My eldest sister Cila (Wald) lives now in Netanya,
Israel. My younger sister Yudith (Urnoi) lives in Beerotayim, Israel, (a moshav, 20 miles from Netanya). My brother Martin lives in Montreal,
Canada. They all have nice families, children and grandchildren.
I also had a youngest sister: Blima who at age 11 was killed in
Auschwitz, along with my mother, then only 40.

I'm married to David Lenga, and we have 3 daughters. They gave us 7
grandchildren: 4 boys and 3 girls. Our oldest grandson Nathan Kohen is
now 25 and lives in San Diego, his brother Michael is 23 and lives in
Encino (near us.) Our middle daughter Bert Kaplowitz lives in W. Hartford, Ct. and has twin daughters; Dena and Sara, 18 and now at
university. Our eldest daughter Helen Kohen lives on a ranch in Garner
Valey, CA. just below Idyllwild. Our youngest daughter Barbara Edberg
has 2 boys; Daniel, 13 and Jeremy, 10 and a girl Amy, 8 years old.
We feel truly blessed with our wonderful and close knit family and we
always thank G-d for the blessings.

I'm truly sorry that we couldn't make it to the family re-union which Judy Davis organized, which judging from all the e-mail I've gotten was a "real hit." Everyone seemed to have such a good time. We do hope however, to be able to be there the next time around. Until then, we want to wish you a Healthy and Happy L'Shana Tova, ve gmar chatima tova, to you and your family. We hope that we can meet in person someday. Since we do come to San Diego quite often, where we have many friends.

We are enclosing here a photo of myself and my husband David taken at
our 50th wedding anniversary on July 1995. Maybe you'll be able to use
it for your visual family tree project. I hope this letter will answer
some of your questions of how we're related, etc.

Our prayers and hopes are included for our Israeli relatives and
friends. We keep in contact with our friends the Reich's who live in Ashkelon for
the latest developments. We pray for peace for all!
Our son Neil in California is very excited about marketing his car audio
product to the industry! Hope to have more news soon.
Danielle our favorite granddaughter just turned 7 years old on Sunday!
Her brother Matthew will be 2 in May. Love, Marsha & Murray

Dear Family,
      We have lots of news. Bragging time: Our best news is that Caryn's
photography is featured at a website that sells her photos: Buy Art, Browse
Art, Search Fine Art, View Art Slide-Shows@SolidExpressions.com
Connecticut Magazine published her article on "The Hay House" and also had
her take some photos for them which they also published. She has 2 more shows
coming up in Spring and summer. We are very proud of the reception her work is
receiving in the art photography world.

      Mort and I just returned from a whirlwind visit to Vancouver. It
rained continuously which was just as well since we were at a conference
["Creating Effective Organizations"]. Mort has launched a new course at
Adelphi, Consulting to Organizations, which is being well received by the
doctoral candidates in the class. I will be teaching the last 2 segments so
I'm trying to find time to prepare them.

      The Saturday after our return from Vancouver, Mort and I conducted a
"Couples Energy" workshop which turned out to be a lot of fun [and worth the
work.] We are planning another one for April. I am also giving 2 workshops
for religious school principals on using Executive Coaching techniques to
motivate staff and reduce resistance.

      After our workshop Saturday, we got to have some laughs in New Jersey
with Beth, Eddie, new bride Ronni and new groom Dave, Lauren, Jodi, Sheila,
Michael, Eric, Murray and Marsha. We met at Beth's and Eddie's for great
food, great company, and a really wonderful time. We're very lucky to have
family that we like so much as well as love.

      Sunday morning, back to school for my bat mitzvah class. Maybe when we
go to Israel, you'll celebrate my bat mitzvah with me?? For now, we are
hoping for peace so that our family in Israel will be safe and able to live
their lives as they please. We hope you are all well.
      Love, Judy & Mort

Rich Agler reports that it's been a good winter for the "Florida Aglers." Jesse continues his freshman year at the University of Miami which has been highlighted by numerous sports broadcasts on the college radio station which you can find at www.wvum.org . Click on the sports schedule, look for his name and maybe you can catch one of his broadcasts! Talia, Sarah and Mindy are doing well in school. Mindy is set to graduate with her Masters and Mental Health Counselors License in May from Florida Atlantic University. Sylvia and Gene are also enjoying this winter in Florida.

We've seen some Harris's down this winter as well. Harriet has been ensconced in nearby Highland Beach and "Captain" Don visited with us for two wonderful weeks.

Hope everyone else is well. We add our prayers to everyone's for peace, safety for our family-- and all people--in Israel.

Yossi Ben Shlomo, Moshe and Sara's son, sends word that he and his parents have decided to return to their original family name, Hillzenrat. Yossi also offered to be "available for all
help concerning the reunion in Israel." Thanks, Yossi!!

Jodi Schleifer has moved and wants everyone to know she's now at:
160 East 91st Street
Apt 5G
NY, NY 10128
212-426-8330
Enjoy the City Jodi!

Greetings from Ellie and Stan Lustig--a belated Chanukah message on the first day of 2001

Happy and Healthy New Year....hope the holidays were a blessing.
We started early by celebrating the First Night of Chanukah with Michael
and Dana and their children Matthew, 7 and Drew, 5 on Saturday, Dec 16,
because that is when we were there. We shared pot roast and latkes and
many games of dreydle, lit the candles, said the prayers, and exchanged
gifts. The little ones were a little confused when we did not light the
candles again on Sunday...but it only whet their appetites for the
holiday to come.

On Saturday, Dec 23 we met David and Dorie and their children Amanda,12
and Jon, 8 at Stan's nephew Eric's house in Flushing where we ate some
more and in general shared the holiday with Eric, Lori and their girls
Marissa,17 and Julia,15. It was the third candle of Chanukah which
coincides with my dad's (Jacob Hirsch) yahrzeit. Would you believe
that he has been gone thirty three years! On Saturday Dec 24 I hosted a
lunch and Chanukah party for David and his gang, my sister Marilyn and
her gang, Hedy and her husband and son Douglas and MY MOM who is fine
and will be ninety four on January 26. There were 15 of us and we each
got a secret pal to get a $5.00 present for, and it is amazing how
imaginative you get with a five dollar limit! We lit the candles and
sang songs and in general celebrated being together. On Monday David and
Eric and their families and Stan and I went to the Jewish
Museum....along with a zillion other people...but they were prepared for
us and it was a wonderful experience!

Marsha and Bob and their children Rebekah,13 and Jacob, 9 had to settle
for lighting and candles with us on the phone, and making their own
latkes because California is just too far.
So we lit a lot of candles, kissed a lot of family, and had a lot of
fun.

We are looking forward to a trip to Hungary and Czech and maybe
Poland...got any suggestions on a tour of sorts that will just take us
to major cities and leave us time to explore on our own?
Happy New Year, peace in Israel, and health to us all.
Love, Ellie

We wish you' all the very BEST in the year to come !!
May it be a sweet, healthy & happy one
Love, Harriet, Don A/A/J/R...Al/Ilise, J/S

Our heartiest greetings and wishes to all the extended families for a truly
Happy, Healthy and Peaceful L'shanaTova, and may you all be inscribed in the
Book of Life.
Love from, Charlotte and David Lenga.

Happy Healthy New Year to All   May this be the year of peace with
honor, and mutual respect. May we all be inscribed in the book of
Life, Love, and Contentment. Love, Ellie and Stan Lustig and family.

Dear Family,
    If you haven't seen or heard from us, we've been busy trying to work at
our "day" jobs [in our case, day and night jobs] in addition to growing our
consulting company. It's very exciting since we both enjoy creative
challenges. Mort is leading a workshop on Couples Energy in December. He
thinks it would be a good perk for companies to sponsor executives and their
partners to attend. I am designing a workshop for Jewish Family Educators and
a different one for Jewish school principals. I have also been asked to do
some coaching and team building for a company in Manhattan.
    On the family side, we had the pleasure of waving to Jodi as she
triumphantly returned from 3 days of hard bike riding [some of it in the
rain] from Boston. Jodi finished the AIDS bike-a-thon and we went to see her
and the other riders bike down 8th Ave. Jennifer and Debra joined Mort, Eric,
Sheila and Mike, and a bunch of Jodi's friends on 8th Ave. It was very
inspiring and very exciting. We're all so proud of her.
    Also on the family side, Caryn is working very hard on her various
projects ["so much talent, so little time" I say. But I'm her mother so I can
say it.] in producing, photography, and writing. Debra is putting in long
hours for an Israeli-American dot.com that creates extensive websites for
health care products.[I think this is what they do] and Jennifer is teaching
4th grade in the NYC public schools. Jen will be featured in a school
district magazine.
    Mom (Trudy) is well and continues to get lost every time she comes to Long
Island. We consider this a sign that she's fine and in character. Somehow,
she always gets here and we are always happy to see her when she does. We are
grateful that her health is good and we get to spend some time together
before she goes back to Sun City, FL.
    I will be sending a letter/email about the Summer 2002 Reunion in Israel soon. I will be asking
for feedback from you all so please send me some when you receive the letter.
    Next week, we'll all be at the Schleifer's for Rosh Hashanah. We wish you
all the sweetest, healthiest new years. L'shanah tova. love from Mort & Judy

Dear Family,
Okay everyone, it looks like the dates for our Family Reunion in Israel will be July 8 through July 23, 2002 (subject to change by a day or two in either direction but scheduled to be finalized very soon!) The price will be about $3500 per adults, less for children. Accomodations will be four and five star. Mark the calendars and start planning now!
It will be an outstanding trip with sightseeing, history, adventure and relaxation. Time to be together and time to be free and on our own as well. Rich Agler, Ari Hoffman and Rachel Lerner will work on a never to be forgotten itinerary that will be the experience of a lifetime for all who participate. Speaking of which, these are the families who have so far indicated a desire to go:

Rich and Mindy Agler, Jack and Sandy Brill, Judy Davis and Mort Kissen, Murray and Marsha Gandler, Ellie and Stan Lustig, Bob and Marsha Yaeger with children Rebekah and Jacob. The big question is, "Who's next?"

Welcome to the Family! Cousin Yuval Gottleib & husband Itai Dror, [the young Israeli
couple at the reunion] had a baby boy on Monday, July 24 in Chicago, where Yuval is doing
research on her doctorate and Itai is working. His name is Ainbar which means
amber. He weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. and is 21" long. Yuval's mother, Sarit came to
Chicago from Israel to stay and help her for a month and is quite ecstatic.
Yuval's father, Lonka, and grandparents, Chaya and Tzvi Klein, and siblings Itai,
Noam, and Talia are all thrilled. If you want to email Itai and Yuval
their address is : gottlieb@indycc1.agri.huji.ac.il

To date we seem to have a contingent of Lustigs, Harris', Davis', Aglers, Hoffmans!

Dear Family,
Stan and Ellie Lustig are the first to sign up for the Reunion in Israel!
They are coming with daughter Marsha, son-in-law Bob, and children Rebekah
and Jacob. Rebekah is becoming bat mitzvah in August. We look forward to having
them all on our trip.
Love, Judy

Dear Family,
     How about a second family reunion? This time in ISRAEL in 2002. This
will enable the Israeli families who could not attend the last reunion to
enjoy this one. It is also a tremendous opportunity to visit a magical land with dear ones.
      Rich Agler will be leading a trip there from his congregation that summer so our family tour would be the 2 weeks before or after this trip-sometime in late June or early-mid July. Our plan so far is that we can get a group rate for air fare from the USA, hotels, bus and guide. We will be able to tour the
country as a group and also have time for people to be on their own. Ari Hoffman is all set with ideas and ways he can show us the country which will be both fun and exciting. The cost
would be about $3500 per person [in today's money] including air fare.
    We need to know asap who is thinking about coming so we can begin to make
plans. If you think you might be interested, send names to Judy Davis. We'll see if we can't make this most exciting idea a reality. As it is said, "the year after next in Jerusalem!"   Love, Judy

Mazal tov to Ronnie Gandler and welcome to the family to David Most. David and Ronnie became husband and wife in NYC on June 24--with much of the family celebrating and in attendance at the wedding of course.

Also Mazal tov to Leah Agler, who celebrated becoming a Bat Mitzvah on June 17. Leah chanted her haftarah and delivered a d'var torah at Temple Beth El of North Bellmore, NY.

Our Passover "officially" began with a phone call from cousin Sarit
Gottleib in Israel. She had a lot of good news, the most important being that
everyone is in good health, including mother Chaya and father Tzvi Klein.
Daughter Yuval and husband Itai are still in Chicago where Yuval is finishing
her doctorate. Son Itay and wife Nicole are in Germany, near Nicole's family.
Son Noam is in the Army and due to be out in August. We hope he will come for
a visit. Talia is only 16; she and her mother are enjoying her adolescence.
Lonka, Sarit's husband, threw her a recent 50th birthday party that took her
completely by surprise. So that's the good news from these Israeli cousins.

As for us here on Long Island, we wonder "Maybe the angel should have
passed over the women, and freed us from preparing for Pesach?" Naaah!
Truthfully, I love it. I wish I had more room and could include more people
but we had 24 children and adults and that's all the house can handle for
now. Joel and Yelena were here with Isa and Leah, Joseph and Eve. Eve is so adorable , she spent the evening "entertaining" Moxie who never met a toddler before and
didn't know whether she was friend or foe. Joseph did a beautiful reading of
the 4 Questions in Hebrew and Leah also assisted in English and Hebrew. Both
kids looked after their baby sister in a way rarely seen nowadays. We are
still eating and enjoying Yelena's ratatouille.

Sheila and Mike were here with Jodi and Eric. They "imported" from New
Jersey a delicious Pesedicheh birthday cake for Debra's "surprise" one-week
late birthday celebration. Of course, Jen and Deb were here and joined Eric
and Jodi in overseeing the seder at the "kid's" table. We were also joined by
our cousin Rochelle and husband Barry-my father's brother Izik's oldest
daughter. Mort's sister and her companion, Robert, and our dear friends the
Hammers, their parents and children, made up the rest of the party.

Altogether a rather raucous, fun seder but keeping the spirit of
remembering the Exodus, expressing our gratitude for the gifts of freedom and
health we enjoy, and experiencing our connection with Jews throughout the
world and throughout the ages.

Mort and I hope you all had wonderful seders and we look forward to
seeing everyone soon. Anyone ready to plan another reunion-maybe in Israel in
2001 or 2002? Love, Judy

The Florida Aglers also had a nice couple of seders--"home and home" at Rich and Mindy's and then at Sylvia and Gene's. In attendance, in addition to the above were Jesse, Tali, and Sarah, David, and Jesse's girlfriend Jamie. A good time and some good discussion on the subjects of Passover food and what constitutes effective social action was held. Mindy's dad Jack Steinberg also arrived from Augusta, Georgia for a Passover visit.

Congratulations to Jesse Agler on being accepted to the University of Miami (FL) incoming freshman class in the School of Communications.

Want to ship your car up or down the US east coast? Contact Harriet Harris for a list of shippers to avoid! (But she can tell you some great stories about it anyway.)

Best wishes for a speedy recovery to Gene Agler who is on the mend from knee surgery.

Dear Family,
    Well we've finally joined the Gandlers, Aglers, & Steins and are
"working" for the New York City public schools. More correctly, Mort & I are
each doing a consulting project with a School Leadership Team, Mort in
Williamsburg and Judy in the Bronx. Our work involves helping the teams
function more effectively and develop better leadership skills. This work is
part of our new business, Performance Development Associates [Mort is the
"Associate"]. Mort is also very interested in offering couples workshops as a
corporate 'perk'.
    Judy will be speaking at Brookhaven National Laboratory on "Quick Change
Artistry: Successful Change Management for Organizations and Individuals" or
something like that and teaching an organizational development segment in
Mort's group process seminar at Adelphi.
    In February we attended the Consulting Psychologists' Winter Meeting in
Florida and attended and enjoyed every single workshop, lecture, seminar etc.
Thoroughly pooped after 3 days of 8 am to 9 pm conferencing, we repaired to
Trudy's Rest Home in Sun City for some R & R. We're happy to report that Mom
is in good health and actively socializing with all her friends. She is
looking forward to coming north for Leah's bat mitzvah and Ronni and Dave's
wedding. [So are we.]
    So, we're pretty busy, as usual. But we do take time out to have fun
-getting together with Murray &aamp; Marsha and Eddie & Beth Gandler. Debra and
Jennifer come for Shabbat dinner on Fridays [we have a traditional
meal-sushi; that's our family Shabbat tradition] or meet them for Sunday
brunch in NY after Judy's Hebrew school. We're hoping Eric & Jodi can join us
sometime too. Saturday, we'll visit Caryn and Billy in Chester, CT.
    So we hope everyone is happy and well and we'll get to see one another
soon.
Love, Judy

Sarah Agler helped welcome a very special visitor to South Florida on Feb. 29. See the photo her dad took at the West Palm Beach airport with a click here. (Hint: The picture was taken just a few feet from Air Force One.)

Congratulations to Jesse Agler, who was featured in his local newspaper, the Boca Raton News, in the "Great Kids" column. It details Jesse's experience and hopes in the field of sportscasting. Read the article by clicking here. (And be patient while your browser digests it. It was scanned in big. Sorry--Ed.)

Condolences from the family to Mindy Agler on the passing of her mother Sue Steinberg, and to Jesse, Talia and Sarah on the loss of their grandmother. May her memory be for blessing.

From caryndavis13@yahoo.com. Home sweet home is now Chester, CT. an artist community on the CT river. Travelling has reached an all time lull. Please call, write or email. 860-526-5936, Love Caryn

Dear Family,
I hope you are all well. We're ok-very busy [what's new] because [this is
new] we got a new puppy, a 3 month old Bichon who we named "Moxie", aka "the
Poop Machine". Latka, the 91 lb Golden, who used to be "the baby", is beside
himself. He doesn't seem to understand that the little 6 lb. 5 oz.white
dustmop is also a dog, like him, and not a rodent of some sort. It is very
funny to watch Latka being chased around the bed by Moxie. When Latka finally
turns around and barks back, Moxie dives under the bed, hides under the
dustruffle and emerges from a new position, which confounds and bedevils poor
Latka, a simpler and less devious fellow. Moxie loves to sleep in and chew
Latka's big plume of a tail which is actually longer than all of Moxie.
To add to Latka's woes, even his new but unhappy position as "middle
child" was disrupted when our older dog, Molly, the black Lab, died Sunday
unexpectedly. She was pretty old, we think somewhere between 12 & 14, but not
sick except that day. Latka seemed to sense something was amiss and, instead
going about his usual business, he stayed beside Molly as if to watch over
her. We are grateful that she went peacefully and without apparent pain or
discomfort.
So now he's the eldest and he's without his pal, Molly. He has been so
distressed, I have to hand feed him. Moxie, however, is doing fine; as Freud
said, "his majesty, the baby".
Love to everyone from Mort & Judy

One for the ages? The very first "Letter to the Editor" published by the New York Times with a year 2000 date was written by a member of our family. You can read it by clicking here.

Dear All,
Not only did our Australian family celebrate first, we added a new
member to the family! Aviva Mira Gandler greeted the new millennium at
10:15 AM on 1/1/00!
Love to All,
Eddie and Beth

The news from Nyack is we brought the first pieces to the new house. Fire
place tools were used for the first time. We had a test run and all went
well, so we spent New Year's in front of the fire place. The contractors
surprised us with a table and chair, rug and candles. @ mid night we saw the
fireworks and brought in the new year very peacefully. We are about a month
away from the true move-in date...Love to all, Don & Karen

I am happy to report that I have finished all my classwork toward my
master's degree in mental health counseling and am looking forward to 3
semesters of internships during which I will write no more papers and
take no more exams. Can we have a hallelujah from the congregation?
Seriously, I am looking forward to putting into practice all I have
learned--it's been a long haul but I am starting to see a light at the
end of the tunnel here.
I wish everyone a very happy and healthy 2000 and send my thoughts and
prayers to Ari, Ben, Donna, Oded, and all the family in Mazor for a
peaceful year.
Much love,
Mindy

FROM THE BRILL, BENJAMIN AND PICARSKY FAMILIES:

We wish all our family and friends a very happy and peaceful New
Year/New Millennium.

We Californians may be the last to welcome in the New Year but more
importantly we are also the last to add a new member to the family tree
in 1999. Marc and Tiffiny Benjamin (son and daughter-in-law of Ruth and
Ed Benjamin) are the proud parents of Aaron Micah, brother of Jacob
Morgan. Aaron was delivered by C-section on Dec. 30th, weighing in at 6
lbs., 6 oz. and 19 inches long. He, mommy, daddy and big brother are all
doing fine. Grandma and Grandpa are looking forward to driving up to
Clovis, CA to meet him early in the new year.

Marc is a reporter with the Fresno Bee and he and his family moved to
the Fresno area two months ago.

With deepest sadness, the family mourns the untimely loss of Saranna Hoffman, wife of Ari, mother of Ben, Dana and Oded, daughter by marriage to Goldie and Eli. She was a woman of great accomplishment--loved, honored and respected by all who knew her. Our love goes to her family. May her memory be for everlasting blessing.

Ben Hoffman has entered the Israel Defense Forces and is now undergoing basic training. He does get home for an occasional Shabbat and sends word that it is "difficult but he's making a lot of new friends and meeting a lot of new people." He also sends this message: Thank you very much. I hope you have had a great time this holiday. I'm
sorry but I don't have much time to write so I'll just wish you and your
family a very happy Chanukah. May your life be as sweet as sufganiot (Israeli jelly doughnuts--yummy!)
ben

Caryn and Billy are living in a very funky artist
community in the CT River valley. Reunited at last and
loving it. Billy is working as a chemist, helping to
decomission a nearby power plant. Caryn starts classes
for Photoshop in January and will begin putting
together a photography portfolio from her many travels
to get work as a photojournalist. She is enjoying
unemployment!.

Stanley and I returned to North America on the first night of Chanukah.
We had spent two plus weeks on an Edlerhostel in Argentina and Chile.
We saw fabulous Ballet in Buenos Aires starring Jose Bocca. WE had a
TANGO lesson (the less said the better) We saw whales and penguins and
elephant seals really one-on-one!. We ate tons of chocolate in
Bariloche...visited an estancia and watched gauchos (cowboys). We even
got to see a sheep shorn (you could miss that one). Had many lectures
on history, geography, politics, and local customs. Did you know that
farm-raised salmon are vacinted for our health?

We crossed the Andes in the Lake region....across three lakes fed by
glaciers....with buses between the lakes to get to Chile......and spent
our last few days in Santiago.

We talked our way into the beautiful, huge, SYNAGOGUE through security
that made us weep! We had left our passports in the hotel safe, as
directed by the tour leaders, so only Ellie's high school Spanish and
our drivers license got us past the entrance and to the chief of
security who escorted us. They have 2,500 for the High Holidays! An
active and large Hebrew school, and daily Minyans morning and evening!
So if you are in Santiago, take your passport and have a real treat!
You are welcome at Services!
The third candle of Chanukah we said a special player...it is Jack
Hirsch's yahrzeit...thirty two years!

Dear Family,
    We had an especially Happy Chunukah this year because Mom [Trudy] was in
for a brief visit from Florida. Grandchildren Eric and Caryn came in from NYC
and Connecticut to spend a little time with her.
    Eric is enjoying his studies in clinical psychology at the Derner
Institute where Mort teaches and doing well all around. We're all proud of
you Eric!
    Caryn is getting settled into life in Chester, CT. She will be taking a
course in PhotoShop, a computer program, writing, and developing all those
rolls of film she took during her year with Orbis.
    Debra and Jen are both enjoying their jobs and living in Manhattan. In
fact, Deb's new apartment is right downstairs from Jodi Schleifer! It's a
small world in NY.
    So that's the news for now. We hope everyone is well and has a good
holiday. Love, Mort and Judy

Gene Agler, whose 80th birthday we just celebrated, is going in for some knee surgery, in part to forestall the possibility of "developing arthritis in his later years." Sylvia is enjoying her children and grandchildren "in town." The other Florida Aglers are also doing well. Jesse has started the college application process and is hoping to land somewhere in the northeastern U.S, in a major city, either Boston, Washington, or NY. Stay tuned. Mindy is finishing up her course work for her mental health counseling degree and will begin an internship soon. Sarah and Tali are both doing nicely in school and just keep growing. They are looking froward to a visit from cousin Harriet next week. Rich has begun to get over the Mets' loss at the end of the baseball season and is looking forward to spring training, just ten weeks away! David continues to keep the City of Ft. Lauderdale on the straight and narrow.

Marsha and Murray Gandler are off to Israel from the 27 of Dec to the 13
of Jan. We are traveling with our good friends, Carol and Jerome
Schwartz and we will be staying in Ashkelon with Alex and Roberta
Reich. We plan to visit as much family as possible and have already
informed Yossi to co-ordinate. We are looking forward to this trip!
Love Marsha

We are happy to say Caryn will be coming home for good this Saturday. her
last tour of duty with the Orbis foundation has taken her to the Phillipines,
Myanmar [Burma] and Bangladesh. She will be living with Billy in Chester, CT.
The second bit of good news is that Debra will be living in N.Y.-she is
moving back from Cincinnati. She is on a special assignment for her company,
Deloitte and Touche. Jennifer continues to live here and is enjoying her
teaching job in upper Manhattan. So, we now have 3 daughters on the same
continent and even the same coast.
    Mort just returned from teaching and running workshops in Japan for
graduate students and Faculty at International Christian Universtity outside
Tokyo. As always, his work was well received and he had a wonderful time with
our Japanese friends and colleagues.
    Judy has cut back her clinical hours and is starting to build her
consulting business offerering executive coaching and organizational
development. With her new found freedom she has started tap and jazz class
and an adult crash course in Hebrew.
    Mom [Trudy] has returned to Sun City, Florida and is enjoying her active
social life there. We will visit her in February.

From Talia Agler: hello everbody!!! how are you all?? i hope you are all doing well, things are peachy keen down here in south florida. the weather is cold!!!! (well, it's 70 degrees, my cold is a little different from your cold.) judy- your report on the reunion was wonderful. i enjoyed reading it (even though it took me like an hour!!) i would like to congratulate Ben Hoffman on going into the Israeli army. thanks and a Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who celebrate it!!! love, Talia

Congratulations to Leah Agler who has qualified for the Junior Olympic Trials in Figure Skating with a first place overall performance in a recent competition. Way to go Leah!

We are thrilled to send this news to the Family Web Page. Ronnie Gandler (Halm) and
Dave Most announced their engagement this week. The wedding will be sometime
in Y2K. A number of you got to meet Dave at the Family Reunion. where we
spoke about the Halm-Goldberg tradition of embracing new members of our
growing family. I can personally vouche for the warm response
"married-ins" are given. We're proud to welcome Dave into the family.
Love,
Eddie and Beth

Don Harris arrived in Florida via boat once again and is looking forward to a week of recreation with the Aglers and others. Joining him is Karen Acker. We'll post worthwhile details soon.

The Gandler-Halm family met at Ed & Beth Gandler's home in Closter,NJ
on September 25 to greet Larry, Naomi and Ethan Gandler who are in from
Melbourne, Australia for two weeks. A great time was had by all!
We passed around tons of pictures that Ed and Murray had cleaned out of
Blanche's apartment. The food, the weather and the company made the
day!

In attendance were: Judy Davis and Mort Kissen
Sheila and Michael Schleifer
Goldie Stein
Sylvia and Gene Agler
Joel and Yelena and Leah and Joseph Agler
Adam and Andrea and Matthew and Danielle Gandler
Murray and Marsha
Eddie and Beth, daughter Lauren
Ronnie and David
Larry, Naomi and Ethan Gandler
and two cousins from the Gandler side

This is Joseph Agler speaking I just won my 1st tennis tournament level 3.
I got 30 games from 6 players.
Happy holidays to everybody see you at Florida or cousin Eddie's.
From Joseph, Leah, Eve, Iza,Yelena and finally Joel.

There is a last piece of "business" from the reunion: we never got to
talk about a family donation to the Jews in the area from which our family
originated. I have been in touch by email with Lindsey Taxman of the Union of
Councils for Soviet Jews ltaxman@ucsj.com. He/she tells me there has been
terrible flooding in the Mukachevo region, which Mort, Sylvia, Gene and I
visited on our way to Jasina. They need medicine, clothing, and to rebuild
homes lost in the flooding "including all their winter food storage and warm
clothing." The UCSJ contact person for the region is Rabbi Hoffman who we met
and who is a lovely person.
Would you like to donate directly [UCSJ' s Lviv Bureau-indicate money or
items be sent to Rabbi Hoffman- 1819 H Street, NW Suite 230 Washington, DC 20006]
or if you want to send me checks [I promise not to run to a tropical
paradise] and I will deposit into our reunion account and write one check on
behalf of our entire Halm-Goldenberg family. Please let me know if you will
be sending me checks so I will wait till I receive all before making the
donation. Thanks. Love, Judy

Everyone who was at the Reunion spent a great deal of time looking at the beautiful new family tree. Ruth Benjamin (Picarsky Hirsch Goldenberg) has done a sensational job of putting it together. Now she needs help from the rest of us in filling it up with photographs. Okay everyone, head for your scrapbooks and send in your photos if your name is on the list below!

THE FOLLOWING PEOPLE'S PHOTOS HAVE NOT BEEN RECEIVED FOR THE LARGE FAMILY TREE. PLEASE LABEL AND SEND PHOTOS BY SEPTEMBER 30, 1999 TO: RUTH BENJAMIN, 7821 TOMMY DRIVE #36, SAN DIEGO CA 92119.

Harris families:    Bertha Halm
                            Herbert Halm
                            Harriet & Jack Harris
                            Andrew & Annette Harris and family
                            Sophie Harris
                            Donald Harris & fiance

Spieler/Stein families: Gertrude and Leo Stein
                                    Julius Spieler
                                    Judy Davis & Mort Kissen
                                    Caryn Davis & Billie
                                    Howard Davis
                                    Sheila & Michael Schleifer
                                    Eric and Jodie Schleifer

Spieler/Agler families: Leah, Joseph and Eve Agler
Richard & Mindy Agler and family

Rachel Halm Branch: Ave Abraham and Wife, Moishe, Miriam, Misha and family, Goldie & Eliahu Hoffman, Stanley & Goldie Hoffman, Ari & Suraya, Ben, and children.

Brucha Halm Branch: Bince, Nechuma, Alberto & Ruth and children and grandchildren.

Blumie Weisel Branch:   Golda & Mr. Kaminer
                                        Israel & Judith (any children?)
                                        David & Zippora (any children?)
                                        Schmuel W. & Rose
                                        Florence & Doroty (and families?)
                                        Raquel & Stan Lerner and Ave and Sharon Lerner
                                        Rhoda L. & Bruce Fawcett and children

Israil Avron & Yette Halm Branch:    Ben Zion & Rifka & Channa
                                                         Sure Yente, Babche, Blemi
                                                         Herschal & Miriam and children and grandchildren

Congratulations to Jesse Agler on an exciting start to his senior year of High School. Jesse is working as an intern in the district office of Congressman Robert Wexler (whose children have been taught by cousin Rachel Lerner in Maryland!) He's also been working as the "Voice of the Sharks" broadcasting his school's football games. Way to go Jesse!

In loving memory of Blanche Halm Gandler z"l, the last of her generation, who departed this world for the next on July 24. This eulogy is from her daughter in law Marsha:

My mother-in-law, Blanche Gandler, was not like the mothers-law you read
about or hear jokes about! Ever since I met her some 36 years ago, she
has been my second mother. She welcomed me into the family not as a
daughter-in-law but as the daughter she never had.
Some of my special memories I have of her were when my sons were small.
It was "grandma Brooklyn",as she was called by Neil and Adam, who
shlepped on two buses to come to Brighton Beach to babysit for her
grandsons at the drop of a hat! Many times she would be carrying
shopping bags filled with chicken soup or toys for the kids. Once we
moved to Long Island, she would come out by the Long Island Railroad
with pop as often as possible and spend a few days at a time! As the
boys grew older she took pride in all the accomplishments and "kveld"
like a grandma should. My mother-in-law was a very caring,unselfish and
giving woman.
Many times she would offer words of wisdom and advice to me. Once in a
while she would take my side instead of her son's.
I have had the best role model to follow. Now that I am a mother-in-law
myself I hope I can live up to her standards and be haf as good a
mother-in-law as she was. Rest in peace,mama

From Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) and Mort Kissen:
The big news in our lives right now is....drumroll: [Daughter]Caryn has found her
b'shert! Yes, our most peripatetic, most eligible daughter has accepted a
marriage proposal from Bill Woolcott, whom she met in December at a holiday
party. A week later, Mort and I also met Bill, and also fell in love [with
him, we were already in love with each other]. Our fingers and toes were
crossed and we rejoiced at the news that Caryn and Bill have decided to marry
at some undecided time and place when Caryn returns from her travels on
behalf of the Orbis Foundation, probably Jan.2000. At the moment, Caryn and
Billy are spending a long weekend together in England before she leaves, once
again, for China. As you can tell, Mort and I are very, very happy.

Mindy, Talia and I are just back from two weeks in Israel and we had a chance to visit family on Moshav Mazor while we were there on a congregational trip.

The Ohanna family are all doing well. Dado and Bilhah Ohanna (Klein Berger Halm) are making summer travel plans. As far as their children are concerned, Ravit will be beginning college, taking education courses to qualify to teach seventh and eighth graders. (Her father Dado was in a combat unit in the Israeli Army so why shouldn't the daughter teach this age kids!) Daughter Rotem is in the Army now, running a captain's office in Tel Aviv. The good news is that she gets home most nights. Gali and Shachar are also doing well, as is the rest of the family, though we didn't get to see them during our too brief visit.

Down the street, the Hoffman clan has nachas too. Ari and Saranna's son Ben has finished high school and is preparing to enter the Army in the fall. He's training to be accepted into a special unit. Daughter Danna has just finished eighth grade and moves on to high school at the very top of her class! Mazal tov Danna! Son Oded is entering sixth grade and he and I had a good time watching the final Knicks-Spurs game on tape delay--with no commercials it took less than an hour and a half! (Same outcome though, unfortunately.) Ari is working hard and Saranna remains an inspiration to us all as she continues to battle her illness with great courage and strength. We all join in prayer on her behalf.

The moshav itself celebrated its 50th anniversary recently and the founding members, including our relatives Tzvi and Chaya Klein (Berger Halm)and Eli and Goldie Hoffman, (Berger Halm) were specially honored on the occasion.

Cousin Moshe Berger (Halm) is living on a kibbutz in the north and he has just published a book on philosophy. (I'll try to get the details for everyone.)

We wish Murray, Marsha, Adam and Andrea Mazel Tov on the arrival of Mathew Phillip. I sometimes imagine Grandpa Phil holding his great-grandchildren.

Naomi and I are postponing our trip to the US and are regrettedly missing the re-union. We are moving to our new house. Our move-in date has been changed to the same time as our overseas trip.

Our new address is:

14 Glenview Ave
Malvern VIC 3144
Australia.

Love Larry, Naomi and Ethan.

Marsha and Murray Gandler are proud to announce the birth of
Matthew Philip Gandler 8lbs.5oz.. and 21 inches tall was born on
May 21. Proud parents Adam and Andrea and sister, Danielle are
thrilled. Hope everyone will see him at the reunion. Marsha

Jack and Sandy Brill are looking forward to greeting lots of familiar
faces and meeting lots of newly discovered family in July. We want to
let everyone know that Jack's and Hal's (our son) new book is just
hitting the stores. It's called "Investing with Your Values: Making
Money and Making a Difference"; it was published by Bloomberg Press.
They have a web site for all of you computer literate people - it's
www.naturalInvesting.com. Take a look at it when you have a chance.
Obviously, we're very proud of the whole thing. And of course Jack will
have lots of books with him so he can sign them for whoever wants a copy
when we're at the reunion. (A little side business to help subsidize our
airfare - just kidding!) He'll discount them for everyone, but if anyone
wants a copy before that, please e-mail us at jbrill@adnc.com and he'll
send you a signed copy.
Jack will be doing some book tours and conference lecturing. We'll be in
NYC from June 11-19, San Francisco June 27-29, Orlando from July 7-11,
and Boston after the reunion. Let us know if any of you will be "in the
neighborhood".
Ruth and Ed Benjamin are in Italy for a 17 day tour of that country.
They'll be returning on May 25th, and Ruth will be joining Jack and
Sandy at the reunion.

Ben Hoffman (Berger Halm) from Israel sends us this: "Thank you very much (for the Passover greetings) Have a great holiday, you and your family, and May the Schwartz be with you !" (Sounds like Ben is all caught up on the Mel Brooks movies.)

From Jodi Schleifer (Stein Spieler Halm) Happy Passover!

Passover with Judy and Mort was great fun last night. I had the pleasure of
sitting at the kiddy table once again. Baby Eve (Agler) was busy jumping all over the
couch. She has four teeth and the cutest chubby pink cheeks you ever saw. Joel
showed me pictures of Sarah, the new bird and Tali. Wow, the girls certainly
grew up. We are all looking forward to the reunion this summer. It will be nice
to finally see everyone.

Judy is getting ready for another big mailing, cousin Ronnie Gandler is slaving
over the labels and I am giggling because cousin Ronnie said I was the brown
noser in the family. I don't think so. Last but not less important, my brother
Eric was accepted into Adelphi for psychology. We are all deliriously happy.
Judy is tickled pink because Adelphi is her alma mater and Mort is a professor
there. I guess the line of intelligent psychologists will continue.

Mort and Judy hosted a
rollicking seder Wed. night. We had 19 guests including a surprize visit from
Aunt Sylvia Agler who came to L.I to help Isa and Joel with Eve and Joseph
while Leah and Yelena were in Switzerland. Richie and Mindy hosted our Mom,
Trudy. So it was an even switch. During the seder, Mindy sent us instant
photos over the internet so we were able to share the festivities in Boca as
well as our own. Do you think the ancient Hebrews ever imagined such a thing?

Judy had a banner made up for the dining room which read "Not Your Bubby's
Seder", in case anyone might mistake ours for hers! There was lots of singing
and a celebration for Eric who was accepted into graduate school in clinical
psychology. Mort is looking forward to having Eric in his classes at the
Derner institute where Eric will study and Mort teaches. Eric will be the
3rd generation of psychologists in the family. We know grandpa Leo, wherever
his spirit rests, is very proud.

On Saturday, Mort ended months of agony, for himself and Judy, by
finally reading his very well practiced portion of the Torah in Synagogue.
Despite the fact that Mort has been teaching extremely bright students at
Derner for 25 yrs., he was a nervous wreck when it came to reading Torah. But
he did an excellent job and we were all proud of him. Afterwards, our friends
who had come to hear him and Debra who also made a special trip to be here,
came to the house for a little kiddush celebration.

This week, we celebrated Debra's 26 birthday by seeing "Rent"
[review: better than expected for the older generation; disappointing but
still enjoyable to the younger generation-Blue Man Group was more fun] and
having dinner at Dish Of Salt [review: over-priced dinner in a too-fancy
NYChinese restaurant]. So that's the news for now from Huntington.

Ethel Lerner (Wiesel Goldenberg) reports that family members Israel Kaminer (Wiesel Goldenberg) and David Kaminer (Wiesel Goldenberg) have passed away in Israel. We wish the families peace and healing.

Trudy Stein (Spieler Halm) reports that her grandson Eric Schleifer (Stein Spieler Halm) who has been accepted to the doctoral program in psychology at Adelphi University in New York. His grandfather Leo Stein z"l, who also was a psychologist, and his aunt Judy Davis and Uncle Mort Kissen are doubtless very proud. (As are we all!) Mazal tov Eric!

Thank you for including all our children in your mailings. They are really
excited about being a part of an extenuated family.

Stanley and I spent the weekend in Wayland, MA with David and his family. We
don't get together as often as we would like, but we always enjoy our time
together.

On February 20 my sisters, Hedy Tishler and Marilyn Kestin, and their families
joined us here in Rockville Centre, NY to celebrate Anne Hirsch's (she's my mom)
92nd birthday. David and his wife Dorie and children (Amanda, 10, and Jonathan,
6) came in for the weekend from their home in Wayland, Mass. That added up to
18 people (chai) and we also invited Dr Abby Greenberg and her husband, Dr
Jerry Greenberg and Judy Benalt. The two women are daughters of old and dear
friends of mom's who keep in touch. Judy and Abby brought pictures we had not
seen in years, and memories of days long gone by. We had an early dinner,
complete with Birthday cake, and just hung out. We were all sorry to see the
day end. Mom went home to her apartment in Monsey and called the next day to
reminisce some more.
A good time was had by all.
Eleanor (Hirsch Goldenberg) Lustig

From the Lustig (Hirsch Goldenberg) branch of the family, these "first time" greetings.
From Michael Lustig:
I just thought I'd let you know that I visited the site and it's great.
We are a humble family in Newport News, Virginia who keep to ourselves
and usually don't think anything we do is worth publishing. [Ed note: don't dare think that--anyone! This is the Internet, not University Press!] We do have
an E-mail address, though: mlustig@riversideonline.com and would love
to hear from anyone who enjoys corresponding.

I hear that there was a recent celebration of Ann Hirsch's 92nd birthday up in New York which we were unable to attend but that my mother (Ellie Lustig (Hirsch)) could probably provide a lot of details on. I also suggested that she give a picture to Uncle Sam Kestin, wife of Marilyn Kestin (Hirsch) because he probably has a scanner and could figure out how to send a picture from the party for you to post.

Michael and Dana Lustig
Parents of Matthew (9/17/93) and Drew (1/10/96)

I am David Lustig, son of Eleanor Sandra (Hirsch) and Stanley Lustig,
grandson of Ann (Miller) and Jacob Hirsch.

My family and I are portrayed very nicely on the family tree page,
(except that our son's name is spelled "Jonathan.")

We live in Wayland, MA, which is about 17 miles west of Boston. Amanda
is ten, having been born on 1/24/89. Jonathan is 6, born on 6/5/92. I
was born on 11/26/55. I am the Assistant VP for Information Technology
at the Berklee College of Music in Boston. Dorie Sharon (Nickelsberg),
my wife, is an outside representative for an travel agency, a Discovery
Toys sales manager, and a great Mom.

We're not quite sure if we cam make it in July, as we believe we have a
wedding on the other side of the family tree taking place in Pittsburgh!

Welcome to the Family Website Dave, Dorie and Family and Michael, Dana and Family. We hope to meet you soon!

Nice dinner in Florida:
Brought together for a nice dinner on 3/10/99 were Don Harris (Halm), his friend Karen (just back from one of those "someone's gotta do it" sailing trips in the Caribbean), Karen's parents, Rich and Mindy, Gene and Sylvia Agler (Spieler Halm), Andy Harris (Halm) and some other friends and associates. A good time had by all!

Shalom..!
It is not so bad in here, around 40, no rain or snow, and as you know
everything is heated. probably a month ago, I wouldn't be able to survive...
Ravit is happy with her new job, and she is going to register for school in
Israel for math teaching. i also think it is a good idea to study in the
U.S., however, no one knows what's on her mind...

Ittai is going to join me in mid-April, I'm now looking for a job for him,
just checking around to see possibilties until he is here. No one can go to
an interview but him! I have seen some job offers, but since he is a j2
visa holder, I don't know if he'll be wanted. We need to find someone that
will take care of his visa as well.

Welcome to the Family webpage-The Goldenberg-Hirsch-Lustig-Kestin-Yaeger-Bachtel branch of the family is now connected! Look them up on the family tree or even better, meet them at the Reunion! This branch of the family is essentially descended from Naomi "Rose" Hirsch (Goldenberg), sister of Golda Goldenberg. You can be in touch by e-mail to Ellie Lustig: Varet@aol.com

Help Wanted! How many of us knew that our family tree is also "on line" at Beth Hatefutsoth, Museum of the Diaspora, Dorot Jewish Geneology Center in Tel Aviv? Well we are and we need someone to to input all the new babies and other recently located family members into the
computer there.

Rich Agler put our family tree in there [we're Tree no. 340] and I (Judy Davis) tried to update it in 1995 but they were changing their computer system and never got back to me. I can give all the information needed to do this. The Museum is charting Jewish families worldwide and in addition to "names and dates," this program carries historic information about family members--whatever we'd like to give them! Help leave a legacy of family for future generations. For info on how to help, contact Judy Davis

Congratulations to Jesse Agler, the top student vote getter in Spanish River High School's "Mr. Spanish River" contest in Boca Raton, Fl.

We were in Phoenix at a conference on consultation to businesses which was
very interesting. Judy continues her studies of Organizational Development at
the New School in Manhattan. Mort is on sabbatical but still very busy with
Adelphi "stuff". We're both seeing a lot of patients, what else is new?

Debra visited us from Cincinnati. We met for brunch in the City with Jennifer and
Deb's friend Dave. Daddy Mort forgot to pay the check so the girls got stuck
with the tab! A first. They figured he was good for the money so put it on
Deb's credit card. They will be joining us at the reunion.

Caryn sends word that her sojourn in Cuba with Orbis was very interesting. She is now working in Dominican Republic for a few weeks. She's working very hard but really
enjoying the challenge and learning a lot. She enjoys her role in filming the
eye surgeries performed by Orbis teams so that local docs can learn new
procedures. Next stop is Jamaica and then she'll be home for awhile before
going to some kind of training in England. Mort and Judy will be visiting Mom
Trudy in Florida in March and then hosting a Sedar for the Schleifers and
Aglers and dear friends.

January 1999
Best wishes and much love to Adam Gandler (Halm) and wife, Andrea. The two were married on November 25. Welcome to the family Andrea!

Proud Grandpa Gene Agler sends along this message:
   "Leah Agler of North Bellmore, NY has been invited by members of the
Program Development Committee of the U.S. Figure Skating Association to
compete at the novice level in the Gletscher Cup, an international
competition, to be held in Grindelwald, Switzerland, March 26-28, 1999.
        Leah came to our attention with an outstanding performance at the North
Atlantic Regional Figure Skating Championships in Lake Placid in October
where she placed third in a field of 94 Juvenile Ladies.
        Very truly yours,
        Lauren W. Jackson
        USFSA Program Development Committee."

Ben Hoffman reports from Israel that Dror and Miri Sviri (Berger Halm) had a baby boy, named Yonatan early this month. Everyone is doing well. Mazal tov to all the family!
Ben also reports that he has passed his preliminary test for the Army unit he hopes to go in to after he turns eighteen later this year. Our thoughts, pride and prayers will be with you Ben.

Dear Friends and Relatives,

To all of you who have provided us with so much support and good wishes,
and such abundant humor this past year - we wish to extend to you our
gratitude, our love, and our Best Wishes to you and yours for the New
Year. Our hope is that it will bring with it a surcease of sorrow, of
good health and much happiness together with Love and Good Deeds!

We've had an active few weeks. Mort is finishing his semester and still
marking papers. He's looking forward to a sabbatical Spring semester but will
be busy planning a conference on leadership at the university. Judy finished
her class and is taking another, she really loves organizational development.

We had visits from our far flung daughters, Caryn and Debra, as well as our
close-by daughter, Jennifer. We saw some shows [Blue Man Group is a must for
kids of all ages; On the Town is great for the older folk], ate out a lot, and
had lots of fun. One of the best nights was dinner with Michael, Sheila, Eric,
and Jody. Certain members of the group were drinking a lot of Metropolitans
[Cosmopolitans ?]; others have different vices and consumed great quantities
of dessert.

Jen is loving teaching 2nd grade and you can tell she's going to
be the best teacher anyone ever saw. Debra is working hard, commuting between
Cincinnati where she lives and Michigan where her latest consulting project is
located. Caryn loves her job at Orbis. She got to see some of China and
probably more than enough eye surgery [her job is to videotape it]. However,
she's made of strong stuff.

Mom [Trudy Stein] celebrates her plenty-ninth birthday once again today. Happy Birthday and lots of love from all of us. And that's the news from Huntington. Wishing everyone a very healthy and happy year, love from Mort and Judy

From Rich Agler:
Harriet Harris (Halm) was visiting in Florida. First in Tampa to see children Andy and Annette and grandchildren Jacob and Rachel. Also in town were children Ilise and Alan with their children Jasmine and Sophia. Sounds like Grandma Harriet was in all of her glory! She also stopped by the east coast of Florida to visit the assorted Aglers in Boca Raton, Delray and Boynton Beach.

Speaking of Aglers, Leah of the North Bellmore, NY branch was invited (by the judges no less!) to compete in an international skating competition in Switzerland in March. She'll be going with mom Yelena. Good luck Leah!

Karen and I have been very active on the vacation world. We just got back
from the Baja, Sea of Cortez where we kayaked for 8 days. As luck would have
it it was down wind all the way. We also swam with sealions. The pups were
very playfull and interactive with us. Great trip. You might also know that
Karen's brother asked if I would teach him and Karen how to sail so we are off
to StMartin for a month on a 48' sloop.

December 1998 From Stan Lerner: We can add another College graduate to our family. Sharone Lerner received her B.S. from the the Univ. of Md School of Elementary Education. She is now certified to teach in Maryland Elementary Schools.
The graduation ceremonies occupied the entire day (Sunday, Dec. 20)
and we attended by her Grandparents Bill and Ethel Lerner, her aunt Rhoda Fawcett and
her entire family (husband Bruce and two sons Chad and Seth), and her very proud
parents and brother Avi.
Sharone plans on working as a substitue teacher this Spring and then wants to go back to school and earn a Masters Degree in the field of Speech Therapy.
Rachel prepared food for about 70 of our and Sharone's friends. It was a great spread of
food and no one went away hunger. We still have a lot of food left over, so I will be eating
left-overs for the next month. One of her friends, Marcel Mervis, came to help with
decorating the house with some spectacular flower arrangements. It was a happy and
joyous occasion. Thats all for now.

A quick note from Ben Hoffman (Berger Halm) on moshav Mazor which arrived of course on the first night of the Holiday: HAPPY CHANUKAH from all of us in Israel! We all wish you and all your family happy/merry/great/wonderful/really really awsome holydays Well, I gotta go. Savta (Grandma Goldie) came and brought sufganiot (donuts)! From Itay and Nicole Gottlieb (henceforth "Gotlib"--see below)
1)A lot of greetings to everyone.
2)Just to let you know, we are writing our family name "Gotlib" and not likeYuval and the rest of the family "Gottlieb". It´s only because I, Itay, made a mistake several years ago and I wrote in my first passport "Gotlib" and since then I am "Gotlib".
3)Since one month Nicole´s family is also Gotlib (before that it was Fritsche).
4)Good night, good day or good morning to everyone from us--Nicole and Itay Gotlib. (Klein Berger Halm)

Reunion update: The latest list of family members planning to attend the reunion is [in no
particular order]: Bill and Ethel Lerner [thanks for calling!], Trudy Stein, Ruth Benjamin, Sandy and Jack Brill, Sheila and Michael Schleifer-probably Jody, possibly Eric, Judy Davis and Mort Kissen, Murray and Marsha Gandler, Eddie and Beth Gandler, Mindy and Rich Agler [and all 3 kids!], Gene and Sylvia Agler. Let's hear from the rest of you out there in cyberspace. Have you got your reservations in? Let me know so I can add you to the list and have cousin Jody, who's offered her help, make some dinner reservations. Love to all, Judy

Thanksgiving (American) 1998 REUNION INFO! Dates: Friday July 23, Sat. July 24, and Sun. July 25, l999 Place: Quality Inn, Lenox Massachusetts (and beautiful Berkshire environs!) Reservations: 1-800-442-4201 Rates: Friday and Saturday $161.10 per night; Sunday through Thursday 66.50/night including "deluxe continental breakfast." Sandy Brill reports that they were able to get a "senior citizen" rate of $125.30 per night for Friday and Saturday [Sunday is still $66.50] but you have to guarantee a 3 night stay and pay for the whole thing in advance.

Details: Thanks to the unflagging efforts of the dauntless reunion committee, [Marsha
and Murray Gandler, Beth & Eddie Gandler, Gene and Sylvia Agler, Harriet Harris, and Judy Davis] at last we have a firm plan. For various reasons, several places we looked into were unable to accomodate us. Harriet and Marsha came up with some suggestions that didn't work out so Beth dug up some more and Gene and Sylvia went to look at them.

Finally, we decided on the Quality Inn, Lenox [mailing address: PO Box 755, Lenox, MA 01240; phone # 1-800-442-4201]. I turned to my husband Mort ["the pitbull"] to do the hondling. He was able to get us reduced rates [from $179/night to $161.10/night for Friday and Saturday nights and $66.50/night for Sunday through Thursday, which is a 30% reduction]. So here's the deal: Dates: Friday July 23, Sat. July 24, and Sun. July 25, l999 We have to guarantee we will stay those 3 nights. But you may make arrangements to arrive earlier or stay later. Please mail your one day deposit of $161.10 directly to the Quality Inn to reserve your room and let me know that you have done so. I would like to make a reservation for a dinner Sat. night at the Egremont Inn [or other local restaurant] so I will need to know who will be joining us for dinner. You should make your hotel reservations asap; some of the places we called were already booked for next year!

Transportation: There are some flights into Hartford, Ct. Gene Agler can provide some information about how to get to the Berkshires from there. (It's a little more than a one hour drive.) If you are flying into NY or NJ and need a place to stay over or a ride to the Inn, please let me know asap so I can try to arrange for NY/NJ family members to host you.

Festivities: Besides eating and schmoozing, I would like to record our collective family memories for future generations so I'd like to have a couple of history sharing sessions. We have some special celebrations, shhh... In addition to visiting family, there are tennis courts and a swimming pool. [watch out for Joseph Agler on those tennis courts!] Tanglewood is nearby but tickets should be gotten a couple of months in advance [Berkshire Visitors Bureau tel.# (800) 237-5747 can give you information about tickets to concerts, theatres, dance etc.] There are museums, art and antiques, hiking etc, lots of great things to do. We are really looking forward to a chance for as many of us as possible to be together. So please send in your reservations and email me or mail me [27 Old Hickory La, Huntington, NY 11743 USA] or phone (516) 421-4174, or fax (516) 425-9236 and let me know if I can count you in! Love, Judy.

From Caryn Davis (Stein Spieler Halm):
I'm off to the wild blue yonder again. I am starting work with Orbis International, a non-profit dedicated to fighting world blindness. We will travel all over the owrld on their DC-10, a flyng eye hospital, performing surgeries in remote locales. I am the media producer. first stop - China, then Cuba, Dominician Republic, Jamaica. Myanmar (Burma), Bangladesh, Ukraine, Morocco, Philipines, etc. Bon Voyage!

From Harriet Harris: (Halm)
I just received a lovely (in english) letter from
YOSSI BEN -SHLOMO (Halm) & his wife Avivit.
Irus Haargaman 54 Apt.#4
Givat Hairusim
Netanya, 42490
Israel phone 09-865-6220

He says he is "sorry" he has no e--mail adress yet, but would love to hear from members of the family!
Yossi & Avivit have 2 young children, NOA, born 1/28/98 and MOR, age 4

Please someone out there, add them to the family tree, as I don't quite know how to do that! (Ed note: Yossi is the son of Sarah and Moshe Ben-Shlomo (Halm) of Kiryat Ono, Israel. Moshe's mother is one of the Moses Halm-Golda Goldenberg daughters, Bintza.)

I saw Ellie (Jack Hirsh's daughter) the other night, she her sisters Marilyn (Baldwin, LI) and Hedy (Pearl River NY) are all well. So is their mother ANNE...(remember her!?) well she is still going strong. Anyone who wants their names and or #'s, can contact me Raehar@aol.com

Andy & Family are great. Alan was 37 yesterday, we had a big family party. Donald is out there somewhere still partying! By the way, he caught a 26 lb. striped bass, in our backyard, can you imagine! Sylvia & Gene were here to witness it & partake in the feast!

From Rich Agler (Spieler Halm) who has returned from a 10 day trip to Israel with daughter Tali: Tali had a great time visiting cousins Ben, Donna, Oded, Saranna and Ari Hoffman (Berger Halm) on the moshav. She even managed to help Donna and Oded with their English lessons! We also had a chance to see all the Ohana's: Dado, Bilhah, Ravit, Rotem, Gali and Shachar who live just two houses away. Grandparents Eli and Goldie Hoffman and Tzvi and Chaya Klein (Berger Halm) are also there and in good health. And newlyweds (okay, since summer 1997) Dror and Miri Sviri (Berger Halm) are expecting their first child at the beginning of the year! There was a little bit of nervousness due to the potential for a U.S. airstrike on Iraq but also a high degree of confidence that Israel would be safe. The family in Israel, as always, asks for and welcomes more visitors.

We had a very busy month in Oct. Judy is going to school and working and Mort is teaching school and seeing private patients also so things get hectic. Judy made Mort a surprise party for his __th birthday. It was a lot of fun, friends toasted him, one dressed up as his old rebbe from Yeshiva coming back to wish him a happy birthday--her entire speech was in Yiddish which, tickling the far recesses of our memories, much to our amazement, nearly everyone understood-not well but still.

Niece Jody, (Schleifer Stein Spieler Halm) whose birthday is the same day, gave up partying with her own friends on her birthday to join cousin Caryn and stepcousins Jen and Deb in surprising Mort. Good news about our daughters: Caryn landed a great job with the Orbis foundation, (see above) she will be traveling around the world with surgical teams who fly into 3rd world countries to perform eye surgeries and teach local doctors new techniques [first stop, China]; Jennifer has been substitute teaching and getting rave reviews from her principal who wants to hire her as soon as they have an opening; Debra is living and working in Cincinnati as a consultant for Deloitte Touche and thinking of going back to school for her doctorate.

Best news of all is the family reunion plans are finally finalized. Plan after plan fell through as places were unavailable when needed or didn't have what we wanted. Everyone worked so hard to come up with a place.I hope you all can come, especially the non-NY family that we see so rarely. Please let me know if you plan to attend and mail your deposits and reservations to the Quality Inn asap!

We've got a new e-address for Nicole and Itay Gottlieb (Klein Berger Halm). It's nicay@os-net.de
Also from her sister Yuval Gottleib (Klein Berger Halm). She and her husband, Itai Dror, will be in Chicago in Jan. and think they make the reunion. Her e-mail till then is: gottlieb@indycc1.agri.huji.ac.il
Keep in touch everyone! November 1998 New online from moshav Mazor in Israel, Gali Ohana (Klein Berger Halm) and her family are at ohanag@netvision.net.il She sends this report of her parents and sisters:
"Things here in Israel are quite the same. Father Dado is working hard and Mommy Bilha is running around making sure everything is going the way it should. Shachar is very busy between school, karate, youth movement and driving us crazy. Gali is getting very comfortable with her chair now that she started grade no. 9. Rotem is working and dancing and Ravit is working and not telling what else. So as you can see the familly is doing as good as ever. The winter is starting to show up and that is a welcome change after the hot summer we had here (the hottest one in the last 35 years!!) Mommy Bilha and Ravit are talking every once in a while about coming to the familly reunion in July...lots of love, the Ohana's."
Thanks Gali for the news. Keep in touch!

Jodi Schleifer (Stein Spieler Halm) on the occasion of her new e-mail address, jschleifer@goldenbooks.com writes, "Mom and Dad (Sheila and Michael) are happy as ever. They are heading out to California this Friday....I'm plugging away at work. Just got a raise and a promotion. I love NYC and am starting to build a nice life for myself here....I feel like quite the independent woman. So much to do here...I teach the enrichment program at my synagogue in Jersey on the weekends as well. The commute is tough but it is rewarding and I love my kids. Always, Jodi

Don Harris (Halm) tells us that he's doing good environmental awareness work on Long Island these days. Also in service to humanity, Caryn Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) has signed on to do video production for a foundation that serves eye patients in communitites where there are no resident doctors. She'll be doing some world traveling in connection with this work!

Rich Agler will be travelling to Israel in November and will report back on family doings there later in the month. Rich had another letter published in the NY Times on the White House scandal during the summer. You can find it in the and some of his other creations at http://uahc.org/congs/fl/fl002/rda/rabstudy.html (The Times letter is in the "5758" section.)

Gene and Sylvia Agler are returning to Florida for the winter after a summer in Massachusetts. The Florida branch of the Agler family is very much looking forward to having them nearby again.

After the third quarter of 1998, Jack Brill has moved into second place in the New York Times mutual fund competition, again by focusing exclusively on "socially responsible" funds. Way to go, Jack!

September 1998 Thanks to all who sent New Years Greetings! A Shana Tova--a year of goodness, health and blessing to all the family May we meet for good things and good times in the year ahead!

Murray and Marsha Gandler want to wish everyone a very healthy and
peaceful New Year. May G-d grant you and yours another year in the Book
of Life.

Gene and Sylvia Agler send these words: "Care for your loved ones!
You have the obligation to sustain a level of good health so that others
can look forward to enjoying and sharing life with you into the future."
Never cease doing good to others! Love.

Don Harris (Halm): "tell everyone that I wish all a health and happy year. I am
starting the year with the reafirmed knowledge that my family support system
is in place and it is a warm and comforting feeling. we are trully blessed
thanks to all love Capt. Don

Harriet Halm-Harris, (RAEHAR @ AOL.COM) Andy, Annette, Jacob& Rachel,
Alan & Ilise, Jasmine Halm-Harris, and baby Sophia & Cap'n. Don...Want to wish
one & all a year filled with the blessings of good health, joy, peace to the people
of Israel and to all of those whom we love. L'Shana Tova!

From West Coast family spokescousins Sandy and Jack Brill:
We wish you all a very happy and healthy New Year. Please send our
greetings for good health, happiness and peace to the entire family
tree. All is well with us all here in San Diego. Lots of Love from us all,
Anne (Hirsch)Picarsky, Sandy (Picarsky) and Jack Brill, Ruth (Picarsky)
and Ed Benjamin

Thanks to cousins Harriet Harris, Marcia Gandler, and Ed Gandler who have
volunteered to work on the family reunion. So far, we have a tentative place,
The Winter Clove Inn, in the Catskills, and a tentative time, mid-July l999.
We will notify you by email whenever possible and snail mail when necccessary.
Any suggestions re: the Reunion will be gratefully received. If anyone has
email addresses for the Israeli families [other than Ben Hoffman which we
have already], please forward. Things get quite hectic for all of us this time
of year, so before it gets really out of control [meaning I start school], I
want to wish everyone a Happy, Healthy New Year
and hope we will all be together at the Reunion. Love from Mort & Judy

Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) sends this Reunion Update:
Thanks to cousins Ed Gandler and Harriet Harris for volunteering to help with
the reunion. Mort and I have spent a couple of wonderful vacation weeks at the
Winter Clove Inn, a very informal family type place at exit 20 on the NY
Thruway. We have seen many families there and I think people use it for
reunions. Besides good, wholesome food and a very casual, relaxed atmosphere,
they offer hiking, indoor and outdoor swimming, tennis, bowling and
video/computer games on the premises, basketball court, proximity to the
Catskill Game Farm and other Catskill area stuff for kids, no phones or TVs in
rooms [I think, don't remember for sure], old fashioned board games in the
public rooms. They are about an hour away from Gene & Sylvia's Lee house so
the resident Aglers can join us each day. Richie thinks he and Mindy can come
to NY mid-July and hopefully the other Floridians, Californians, and even some
Israelis and Australian family members can get to NY then too, given enough
time to plan. So let's aim for a fun filled family fete mid-July, l999! We'll
keep everyone posted as to prices, final dates etc. as we go along.

Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) writes: "Mort and I are going to be at Mom's, then Cape Cod, then home, then Ireland. I come back to several major meetings of various groups I do stuff for and, believe it or not [I'm a masochist], I'm starting school, again, taking a certificate in organizational development. So I'll be even busier than I am now. The reason I'm telling you this is I want to get a jump on organizing the family reunion very soon."

Yes, that's right! Judy is putting together a reunion in July 1999 in the Northeast that will commemorate several noteworthy milestones and anniversaries. Further details will of course be on the way as soon as we have them but for now, make a mental reservation to be at the Family Reunion next summer!

Seventeen year old Ben Hoffman (Berger Halm) took his very first plane trip from Israel and visited with cousins Stan and Rachel Lerner in the Washington DC area for a couple of weeks during July and August. He also had a chance to see NYC for the first time, spending an afternoon in Manhattan with his cousins Jesse, Talia, Sarah, Mindy and Rich Agler (Spieler Halm). A first hand look at the NY subway, a show at the Imax theatre, lunch at the All Star Café in Times Square and more were part of Ben's "excellent adventure." His comment on the skyline, "Just like Petach Tikvah!" Sure Ben!

The Aglers also spent a day in Washington DC with Ben, seeing the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, the Library of Congress, and newly remodeled Union Station. A nice clean Metro ride (not a "real" subway like the one in NY, Ben understands) back to the Lerners in Rockville, MD completed this special trip. We all look forward to seeing him on his next visit to the States, or better yet, on our trips to Israel.

BTW, cousin Stan Lerner, who works at the Library of Congress, is glad to give any family visitor the "inside tour." The Library is a treasure, and well worth a couple of hours visit by anyone who is spending time in Washington. There are amazing sights to see there for people of all ages. If you've never been, or even if you have, take Stan up on his offer. You'll be glad you did!

Stan and Rachel are going to be in Canada this month for a short trip. Stan is taking a course there and they'll have a chance to cool off a little too. The house they have built in the new section of moshav Mazor is nearing completion and they are excited about that.

As long as we're on the Stan and Rachel Lerner family, son Avi is working at the US Gov't Patent Office in Washington and also, we hear, on his golf game. (Both apparently with excellent success!) Daughter Sharon is a senior at the University of Maryland and is scheduled to graduate in December. Meanwhile she's working nights at Dave and Busters. Sounds like fun!

Bill and Ethel Lerner are now "back home" in the D.C. area and will head for Florida when the weather turns cooler. Bill was called out of retirement this summer by his old colleagues at the U.S. Census Bureau to consult on an update of the Statistical Abstract of the United States, which he supervised some years ago.

Back to Long Island, Don Harris (Halm) sends this report:
"Capt. Don has been up to much good. I spent the 4th of July at Block Island with the
[boat owners'] son and his 3 friends. As good teens they slept all day and partied all night. (Cousin) Paul Harris was my mate. The ride out started in a fog bank and we had one of the most spiritual experiences. We were going east as the sun rose it reflected off the water, which had the smallest of wave action, and created rotating beams of light which bounced off the fog and made the most spectacular columns. Later we stopped off Montauk and caught a bunch of fluke, while the kids slept. The only incident was they sunk the jet ski and were towed in by the cops. Paul and I were able to get it restarted and the next morning we circumnavigated the island. We ran home on the 7th and the kids slept Paul and I caught more fluke and everybody had a great time. That was my work week."

Captain Don, Jesse and Rich Agler also had a sensational day sail this summer on a Hobie Cat 18 on Great South Bay. Sustained boatspeeds in the 15-20 knot range! "Only one" capsize on a truly wild ride. Mom Harriet (Harris Halm) is also well, entertaining family, looking after an extended network of family and friends and making travel plans for the winter.

Eleven year old Leah Agler (Spieler Halm) is still figure skating up a storm. Leah recently won three medals at a major interstate competition in Connecticut. Seven year old brother Joseph is also doing great athletically at his day camp and is enjoying this great season by the NY Yankees. New baby sister Eve is being lovingly tended by Mom Yelena and Dad Joel.

We continue to pray for strength, courage and healing for our dear cousin Saronna Hoffman and all the members of her family in Mazor, Israel. Saronna is undergoing a further round of chemotherapy and we can all send our best by clicking here.

Larry and Naomi Gandler (Halm) send this good news about their ten month old son Ethan who "has successfully recovered from minor surgery. Ethan had a lump on his scalp about the size of a dime. It was removed and later diagnosed as benign. It was more specifically diagnosed as a juvenile xanthogranuloma. (The spell checker loved that one! Ed.) Except for some teething pain, the boy is doing just fine! Regards to all, Larry and Naomi."

July 1998
Mort Kissen & Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) send this exciting report:
We were invited to Japan by our friend, and Mort's former student,
Hidefumi Kotane, who is Chair of the psych department at International
Christian University, just outside of Tokyo. Judy was asked to teach some
workshops on women's issues in psychotherapy but had to decline since we
already committed to 3 weeks off in August and can't take more time off. Mort
will be going for 8 days. He will be giving 3 workshops and lectures,
simultaneously translated into Japanese, to Hide's graduate students,
participants in an international conference, and postgraduate students. Next
month we're taking a course in "Organizational Diagnosis" in Cape Cod and
will spend 2 weeks hiking and sightseeing in Ireland. We have 2 other
globehoppers in the family, Caryn (Davis Stein Spieler Halm) and Debra (Kissen).
Debra and her friend Trish are going through Europe before Deb starts a new job
with Deloitte and Touche in Cincinnati in Sept. Caryn just returned from a magical
week in the rain forest of a remote area of Costa Rica where she viewed jaguar, agouti, anteaters, monkeys etc. in their natural habitat. Jennifer (Kissen) is having fun in the City
before beginning a more serious search for a teaching job. We hope everyone
has a really happy, healthy summer.

A trip to the West Coast of the U.S.A. brought Mindy and Rich Agler in touch with a number of our cousins in Southern California. Ed and Ruth Picarsky-Benjamin (Hirsch Goldenberg) and Ruth's mom, Anne Picarsky (Hirsch Goldenberg) hosted a lovely breakfast for us in San Diego. Anne is the daughter of Naomi "Rose" Hirsch (Goldenberg) and the niece of Golda Goldenberg. Anne is in her 90's and getting along very well, especially with Ed and Ruth and Jack and Sandy Brill (Ruth's sister) nearby. Jack and Sandy were travelling in Switzerland when we were there but that didn't stop them from making their home available to us overnight. I tell you there is nothing like family, especially when you're travelling. Thank you again Jack and Sandy!

Ed is a retired police officer and Ruth stays busy with her artwork (including our family tree!). They enjoy the beautiful SoCal weather everyday, as does Anne, who is sharp as can be. The Brill and Benjamin children and grandchildren are in various places around the Western US. We hope to bring them into the family webpage with news and e-mail addresses soon. I had a chance to speak, for the very first time, with my third cousin Dale Benjamin, Ruth and Ed's son, who called when we were at Anne's apartment. Dale lives with his children Joshua, 5 and Jordan, 3 in Kennewick, WA and as you see, now has an e-mail link to the family. Welcome to Dale and boys from one and all!

In L.A. we had a chance to see cousins Peter and Pascale Halm, their three year old daughter India and also Peter's sister Bonita at their lovely home off of Sunset Boulevard. Peter and Bonita are Ruth and Albert Halm's children. Peter, as I mentioned on the welcome page, is now working as a computer graphics designer and will shortly be enabling us to add photos to the family website! Pascale is currently working in the administration of the UCLA Film School. Bonita has developed a business in the fashion industry that links the latest West Coast styles to stores in her native Australia, where the seasons come six months later! Once again, when travelling, there is nothing like family to make us feel at home.

Marsha and Murray Gandler (Halm) send this note to all: We want to wish everyone a healthy happy summer! Neil is visiting parents and friends for a few days from California. It's good to have him home! Love, Marsha & Murray

June 1998 Harriet Harris (Halm) has this most exciting report: "Just returned from Washington DC, where I was the guest of some friends at a gala affair for Hillary Rodham (you know who!). Such excitment. She was given the Eleanor Roosevelt award by the National Women's Democratic Club and made a
wonderful moving speech. She said : " That just the other evening when she was speaking to Eleanor, Eleanor's advice to her was to "KEEP UP THE GOOD FIGHT FOR WOMANS RIGHTS, EDUCATION, AND AN EQUAL & JUST HEALTH CARE SYSTEM & TO KEEP WORKING TOWARDS MAKING THIS PLANET A BETTER & SAFER PLACE FOR ALL ITS PEOPLE"
Hillary claims that Eleanor is still up there choosing people to help her in her endeavors, and she (Hillary) is proud to be one of them. It was the most exciting evening ever! After the party my friends & I sat up till 3AM talking about what a wonderful evening it had been, and all the celebrities we had ACTUALLY spoken to. And than, upon retiring I couldn't sleep for the rest of the night. The thought
that kept going through my mind was that Jack Halm's "little girl" had just spent the evening at the White House. How proud he must be!

Joel Agler (Spieler Halm) sends this message: "To all who attended Leah and new sister, Eve Alexa's birthday and temple naming ceremony we here in Bellmore are thankful. As usual Yelena overdid herself with over 70 assorted family and friends in attendance. It was great seeing all and we were especially grateful to see Florida cousins Talia A. and Andrew, Annette, Jacob and Rachel come up from afar. At the temple preceding the party Eve received her Hebrew name Lieba Eliezera after her great uncle, Leo Stein z"l. It is hoped by her parents that she follow in Uncle Leo's ways of wisdom, kindness, and understanding of all peoples.

If anyone didn't receive a thank-you note yet please be patient Leah is getting them out as fast as possible with her busy schedule. Hopefully it will be before her Bat Mitzvah in the year 2000. (6/17) Hope everyone will be healthy and able to attend. Shalom from JA

PS. Joseph and I are big Chicago Bulls and are feeling good over recent events. There is no truth to the rumor that if Eve was a male, his name would have been MJ Agler. But the name is still available. Everyone have a great summer and keep the mail coming."

May 1998 Don Harris (Halm) has returned to New York from a work trip ;-) on the 52 foot sportfishing vessel Ambiance and writes (5/9/98) that

"It's great to be home. Andrew asked me to be the godfather of Rachel (now one month old!) and I am thrilled. The news in Massapequa is that if the rain does not stop soon all my seedlings will drown. Call that guy Noah and see if he can up that two by two rule--we have a lot more worth saving!!!

Paul Harris (cousin) and I just got back from Cape Fear, N.C. where the wind was blowing a near gale for the month. We got to fish two days and caught, with Aubrey (boat owner), one 40 lbs. blackfin tuna and the other day with a charter boat 5 yellow fin (small) 2 wahoo 40 lb. class and a few kings. Baldhead Island is a nice place for a vacation. I have a number of environmental lectures to give this month so things are quite busy.
Hope all is well and love to all, Don"

Caryn Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) announces that she "has just won a Telly Award for a show I produced at Arrow. Aparently this is a very prestigous award. Or so they tell me! Also, soon I will be published in Pacific Wave Magazine & New Zealand Geographic Magazine. Plus, I successfully completed my photography class with a B+. First class in 13 years! Love, Caryn"

Rich Agler (Spieler Halm) reports: I've just concluded a trip to Poland and Israel with a large (about 7000!) group of Jewish High School students from all over the world called the "March of the Living." It was an incredible experience in which we visited the nazi death camps and then flew to Israel for the observances and celebrations marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the State. It was as about as powerful as it sounds. Happily I also had a chance to call and visit with the family in Israel so here's the news:

Internet access is gradually coming to our Israel family. Ben Hoffman, (Berger Halm) (age 17) is for now "the e-address" on moshav Mazor. He'll get any e-mail message to any family member--if you ask nicely! Ben is finishing 11th grade and looking ahead to getting his drivers license and visiting the US this summer. We'll look for you Ben! Ben and his sister and brother, Donna (14) and Oded (10) are getting along like all sisters and brothers and send their love to all. Parents Ari and Saronna are doing well and Saronna (and all of us) remain grateful for the progress she is making with her illness. Ari continues with his many enterprises. The one that is taking most of his professional time and is taking him to all corners of the world is the development of new endoscopy techniques and hardware. Watch for him soon at a doctors office--or a country--near you!

The other Hoffmans are also doing well. Eli and Goldie (Berger Halm) continue to enjoy retirement on the moshav and Stanley and Rachel Lerner (Hoffman Berger Halm) of Maryland USA are building a home in Mazor's new residential section. Moshe Berger (Halm) is living on Kibbutz Merhavia in the northern Galilee near Metulla by the Lebanese border. Newlyweds Dror and Miri Sviri (Berger Halm) are looking forward to their first anniversary on July 2. It should be in their new apartment, which they will be moving to this month. Address is: Menahem Begin 27, Petah Tikvah. Phone is 03-932-2601. For those who have not yet met Dror, his family is from Iraq by way of Morocco (where there is a town named Swira--Dror's family name) and has been in Israel since the early 1950's. Welcome once again to the family Dror!

From the Ohanna's: Ravit (Klein Berger Halm) has returned from the "trip of a lifetime" to the south Pacific with cousin Don Harris (Halm) and is now working at the duty free shop in Ben Gurion airport. Make sure you visit her when you come through! Sister Rotem is finishing 12th grade and preparing to enter the army. Sister Gal is in 8th grade and is a talented synthesizer player! Brother Shahar, age 7 1/2 was sound asleep when I visited and father Dado is busy "building the Land," through his work as a contractor and developer. Mom Bilhah is doing an amazing job looking after them all.

The other branches of the Klein family tree report: Tzali and Rachel Sheni (note: family name changed from "Shemesh") (Klein Berger Halm) are living in nearby Rosh Ha-Ayin with daughters Lee (14), Raz (6), Bar (3) and Yam (2). Rachel is working in the child care facility of the Givat HaShelosha kibbutz. Her sister Sarit (Gottlieb Klein Berger Halm) is also in Rosh Ha-Ayin, teaching school. It seems like all the Gottlieb's are doing well too. Matriarch and Patriarch of this branch of the family, Chaya and Tzvi, are looking forward to celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary on January 4, G-d willing.

Avivit and Yosi Ben Shlomo (Halm) have a new member of the family too! Daughter Noa was born on February 28. Now big brother Mor has some company, which he will no doubt make the most of. Yosi and Avivit are planning to move to a new apartment in Netanya soon. Yosi says he'll be "on line" when he gets set up in the new apartment. Of course we'll pass along the e-address as soon as we have it. His parents Sarah and Moshe Ben-Shlomo (Halm) are still in Kiryat Ono and except for the predictable effects of age, are doing well.

Back in the USA, Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) writes: "We had a wonderful seder here with 26 guests including our very new and very beautiful family member, Eve Alexa Agler (Spieler Halm), who Joel and Yelena kindly named for my father, Leo, z"l. Joel, Yelena, Joseph and Leah were here and grandparents, Gene & Sylvia, a special treat since they are usually in Florida. Also present were Michael, Sheila, Eric and Jody (Schleifer Stein Spieler Halm) and from our family, Caryn (Davis Stein Spieler Halm), Debra and Jennifer (Kissen). The little kids sat at a table with the adult "kids" who gave the little kids' parents a break. Of course, they were the rowdiest table in the house, celebrating their "freedom" , from what I don't know, as befits Pesach. With special help from their older cousins, including Caryn who hid the matzoh, their search for the afikoman was successful and Mort (Kissen) had to pay up! At the seder's end, we were joined by Mort's cousin's children for dessert which included a birthday cake [strictly Pesach-dich] for Debra who was 25.

In other news, as they say on TV, Caryn has been busily writing and publishing articles in various papers and magazines. The latest is a story about women studying whales on a remote island 600 miles off Antartica, to be published in New Zealand Geographic. Jennifer graduated with her Masters in education from Hunter and has taken her National Teaching tests. She's doing some substitute teaching and will look for a permanent job after summer. Debra is still doing her fellowship at Baptist Medical Center in Miami. Mort's two interests [besides his kids and Judy] are his couples courses and webpage [coupleschmooz.com] and developing a conference on leadership. Judy is continuing to enjoy Executive Coaching and developing her infertility programs. We hope everyone is well and enjoying life."
April 1998

This just in: newest family member! Rachel Salha Harris (Halm) (named for her maternal grandmother and great-grand mother) was born yesterday (April 8) afternoon about 45 minutes after we got to the hospital. Mom was yelling for an epidural, but that baby wanted to be here now...... and she was. Rachel was a natural birth in the triage area (no time for the nice room), but it was much easier on Annette than Jacob's 10 hours. [Grandma Harriet reports that baby Rachel weighed in at 7 lbs. 10 oz.]

We slept with our daughter last night and, like Jacob, she slept well and was calm and quiet. Annette will be home Friday morning.

P.S. Jacob seems to be doing well with his change in position in the family, but as a dethroned first myself, I empathize with his loss as well as with his gain.

P.P.S. Annette and I would appreciate if gifts were given as donations to the Jewish National Fund in Tampa 800-347-8889 in Rachel's name. Love, Andy

Mazal tov to Jack Brill, (married to Sandy Picarsky Hirsch Goldenberg), who has now led the New York Times mutual fund analysts for two consecutive quarters! Making it all the better is that Jack concentrates exclusively on socially responsible funds. Way to go again, Jack!

Congratulations and Mazal Tov to Talia Agler who celebrated becoming a Bat Mitzvah on March 28 in Boca Raton, FL. A fine contingent from the Goldenberg-Halm family tree was present to share the simcha including grandparents Gene and Sylvia Agler, Aunt Trudy Stein, Sheila and Michael Schleifer, Mort Kissen and Judy Davis along with Deborah and Jennifer Kissen, Rachel and Stan Lerner, Ethel and Bill Lerner, Eddie and Beth Gandler, Harriet Harris and Jasmine Heitzner-Harris, Leah Agler and Joseph Agler. Tali thanks all who were able to be with her on this life milestone and sends her love to all who wished her well from afar. It is at moments like this that extended families prove their importance. As life buffets us and takes us from place to place, it is family that endures. Without it, our joys would be so much less full and our sorrows all but unbearable. Again, thanks and love to all who helped make the day so special.

This post-Bat Mitzvah message from Harriet Harris (Halm): "For those of you who were there, it was sooooo good to see uou all, and wasn't it was a wonderful & heartwarming weekend! Tali, Rich & Mindy you really done GOOD! For those of you who were not there...You sure missed a good one! Thanks again Tali ! Love, Harriet

No major family news was uncovered at the Bat Mitzvah gathering. It seems we've been keeping up pretty well through this and other mediums! Keep it all coming folks.

Here are some new e-mail addresses for us to all keep on file (or connect to through our own e-directory) Avi Lerner (Hoffman Berger Halm--and also Goldenberg!) is Avraham.Lerner@EXCHANGE.USPTO.GOV Sharon Lerner (Hoffman Berger Halm and also also Goldenberg!) is sbcl@wam.umd.edu Ben Hoffman (Berger Halm) in Mazor, Israel is
ben_hoffman@hotmail.com (That's an underbar "_" between "ben" and "hoffman" in that address!)

Ravit Ohanna (Klein Berger Halm) and Don Harris (Halm) have returned from their "halfway round the world" expedition safe and sound. Ravit now returns to Israel and needless to say, she will be missed by all of us in the States. We'll all just have to get to Israel to visit her there!

Drs. Mort Kissen and Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm), have some exciting new ventures going. Mort has opened up a new website at http://www.coupleschmooz.com Like the name suggests, it's a place for couples to strengthen their communication skills, the bedrock of any relationship and of course, of any family. Check out Mort's site soon! Judy is now offering seminars and support groups in Infertility Counseling, together with three associates on Long Island. If you know of anyone in that area who could benefit, send them Judy's way!

New month, new news and new members of the family! Mazal tov to Yelena, Joel, Leah and Joseph Agler on the arrival Thursday morning March 5 of baby girl Eve. 7 lbs, 15 oz. Mother, daughter, father, sister and brother are all doing well! Not to mention grandparents Gene and Sylvia, now with four granddaughters and two grandsons. The proud new sister sends this news:

Dear Family, How are you all? We are all fine! Eve is the cutest little thing in our house. Joseph and I adore her. Sometimes she squeals but it sounds so cute! We always want to hold her because she is beautiful! She has brown hair and dark dark blue eyes. She eats twice a night and poops a lot!!!!! Her diaper is very smelly!!! Changing her diaper, she hates. Maybe because her legs get cold. She is so soft!!!!!!!!!!!! Eve Alexa Agler 7 pounds 15 ounces 19 inches long. Love, Leah, Joseph, Yelena, Joel & EVE!

Also, this report--and picture!--from Naomi and Larry Gandler (Halm) in Australia.
"Here is some news: Larry, Naomi and Ethan wish everybody a happy Pesach. We just bought a house in Melbourne. We take possession just before Pesach. I hope we get to see each other soon. We are quite a distance away. We will stay in touch via the Halm home page. Regards, Gandler family down under"
Larry and Naomi also sent a beautiful "cyber digital" picture of six month old Ethan which I can't post because it's in "bmp" format which doesn't work on the web. However I can e-mail it to anyone who would like to see the little guy. Just ask!

Your editor Rich Agler had a letter published in the New York Times on February 28. It relates to the current White House sex scandal. If you missed it you can view it--and the pre-edited version (the Times seems to use the "Norman Bates" school of copy editing) at http://uahc.org/congs/fl/fl002/rda/980228.html

Harriet Harris (Halm) sends this message: Saw the entire family while in Boca/Delray, Florida early in Feb. Everyone seems well & happy. All keyed up for Talia Agler's upcoming Bat Mitzva.

Spoke to Bihla & Sarit in Israel last night. People are pretty apprehensive about the Iraq situation. Yuval is back studying in the U.S. this time at the U. of Chicago..phone c/o Tim 773 363 1768 or Lab # 773 834 0264. She asks anyone heading out west to contact her! She will be there thru the end of March, than joins her husband Itay in Spain for a month long bike trip! SOUNDS LIKE FUN!

No more updates on the Australia travelers! Will be in touch, Harriet January 1998 Happy 1998 to all the Goldenberg-Halm family!

Don Harris (Halm) and Ravit Ohanna (Klein Berger Halm) send this travel e-log from "down under."
Dear All,
We are in the capital city of Australia, Canberra. We found the cyber cafe we were looking for. It's a great spot to catch you up on all the news. After all, the pictures on the post cards say a thousand words, but we can just write a few.
Our month in N.Z. was very beautiful. We spent our first ten days on the north island mostly touring with the bus and camping. Our first big stop was at the Bay of Islands, where we spent a full day at sea, covering much of the same water that Captain Cook had sailed. It was to early, by a few weeks, for the striped marlin, so Don didn't charter a boat.
The second stop was at Lake Taupo (617 sq. km. of fresh water). Across the lake were snow capped peaks. Don went trout fishing there and caught two trout 4 lbs. each. After the North Island we took a ferry to the south island across the Cook Straights. We kayaked for 3 days along the beautiful beaches of Able Tasmine National Pk. And then to see it on a different angle we dove out of an airplane from 12000 Ft.
We continued traveling along the wet breathtaking west coast down to Queenstown where we spent Hannukah and did a four day hike in the Fiordland National Pk. The next stop after that was Mt. Cook, which is the highest mountain in N.Z. We spent New Years eve there, listening to the thunder of avalanches. The next day we watched many tumbling from the glaciers. Our last stop in N.Z. was Christchurch, where we spent three days with Servas hosts.
On the fourth of January we flew to Sydney and had a huge surprise in the airport. Albert and Ruth Halm were there and took us home. We spent a few days in Sydney, left for the blue mountains where we saw our first sulfur crested cockatoo. We got back to Sydney to see the opera house and the zoo. We left south the next morning to a small fishing town, called Ulladulla. We spent a few days there and now as we mentioned before we are in Canberra.
We wish everybody a HAPPY NEW YEAR Love, Don & Ravit

Bonita Halm sends these: "greetings from london town, =
i have been having wonderful time..... Staying in Kensington close to the Palace, prior to my stay in london i visited amsterdam. which was really beautiful. unfortunately my stay has come to an end and i leave tomorrow back to sunny LA to reconnect with peter, pascale and india.I will send some more news on my return."

Mazal tov to Jack Brill, (married to Sandy Picarsky Hirsch Goldenberg) whose model portfolio of socially responsible mutual funds was number one in the New York Times for the fourth quarter of 1997. Way to do good and do well at the same time Jack!

Peter Halm writes: peter,pascale & india went down to baja california for 10 days over xmas/new year. 12 hours 4 wheel drive miles from nowhere to a little beach - no phone, no electricity.

Sounds like quite an adventure! Peter also writes that his sister Bonita Halm is in London for a few weeks. He also sends a new e-address phalm@ucla.edu with the note that "this goes to our home. other one went to pascale's work." (We've updated the family e-address page accordingly.)

Peter passes along the following: info on Cousin Charlotte and David Lenga 5416 Zelzah Ave, Encino CA 91316 ph. 818 776 9054 (See Albert Halm's message in October entry for the family connection!) Peter also notes: you will see her sister Cila (or Cili) Wald on the family tree who moved to Israel from Canarsie, NY when her husband died about 2 years ago. You will also see, i think, her son Levy and wife Temra on the tree. They too have recently moved to los angeles with their two kids and live near charlotte. there are about 30 members of Charlotte's close family including 3 children and about 9 grandchildren and inlaws! It just grows and grows. Eventually we'll find out we're all related to the pope. all the best, p

Annette Marcadis and Andy Harris (Halm) write: Sorry it has taken us so long to respond...We have been off e-mail recently as we are in the midst of converting our upstairs office to a you-know-what. (A nursery for the planned arrival in March!--ed.) But we are now back up, as of today.

By the way, we saw..folks and...family over the holiday week as we were in Massappequa unexpectedly during the holidays. It was great seeing them and they look like they are doing well. Jacob had a lot of fun playing with Leah and Joseph.

Don Harris (Halm) and Ravit Ohanna (Klein Berger Halm) send news from their expedition "down under" in New Zealand that they're enjoying a tremendous time and have had extraordinary adventures kayaking and skydiving! (They also send specific instructions not to share that last item with certain "worrying type" cousins. We know who they are and are confident the secret will be safe on the www!) They're due back in the US by the end of March. Stay safe and enjoy Don and Ravit!

Talia Agler is now on line and you can e-mail her at talia4985@juno.com. Don't send her too much though as she's busy studying for her Bat Mitzvah! December 1997 Chanukah Greetings "from some to all!"

The Gandler family would like to wish everyone a Happy Chanukah! Marsha is getting a new computer and will finally be able to downgrade the family tree. Neil is happy at his job as Hardware Design Engineer at Applied Signal Technology in Sunnydale, California. Adam contiues his job at Amica Insurance Company as a claims adjuster in Springfield, Mass. We are bi-coastal family. Love, Marsha and Murray. P.S. Would like to hear from anyone on line!

Gene and Sylvia Agler (Spieler Halm) will be celebrating the "first anniversary of their fiftieth wedding anniversary" with all of their children and grandchildren for a week in the Bahamas this month. It should be wonderful for all concerned. Talia Agler is busy studying for her Bat Mitzvah upcoming on March 28 and of course all family members are invited to Boca Raton, FL to celebrate the simcha. Her brother Jesse is in the process of learning to drive which is generating lots of excitement for everyone!

From Nicole and Itay Gottlieb (Klein Berger Halm): We, Nicole and Itay sending the best greetings, that any one can think about and wish for himself. Also happy christmas time and a very good new year. We wish to all of you, that all the next years will be better then the years before.

David Agler (Spieler Halm) reports: I am enjoying my new job with the Ft. Lauderdale Police Department. I have been there about three months now and the job looks to be both challenging and rewarding. I have been hired to head up their Court Liaison Unit which essentially keeps track of all officers court appearances, depositions, conferences etc. The commute along the Autobahn, also known locally in South Florida as I-95, is something I'm getting used to and can also be considered challenging although not necessarily rewarding. Hope everyone is healthy and has a Happy Chanukah and a great New Year. Love, David.

Mort Kissen and Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) send two messages! (I'm not certain which one came from who--let's hear it for two e-mail accounts in the household!) the first e.e.cummings style, the second is attached right behind it:
judy continues to work hard on her executive coaching. we had a great thanksgiving at michael and sheila's. debbie tested us all on our leadership styles and we had a great day with jodi and eric present. jennifer had to work bartending that day and is doing great finishing her student teaching and last class for her masters at hunter college. caryn is working hard at arrow electronics and we miss her but will see her soon. love judy and mort
Thanksgiving has come and gone and we spent part of it with michael and sheila and Jody and Eric. Jody is enjoying her new job with cousin Ronnie Gandler (Halm) at Golden Books, though they don't let on that they are cousins. She's planning to get an apartment in NYC with a friend. Eric is well, also in search of an apartment and contemplating other changes as well in his philosophical way. debra was in from florida where she is doing her health fellowship.she tested us all for leadership style and we had fun comparing our styles. caryn couldn't be there but she is coming over tonight to take a picture of mort for his new coupleshmooz web-site!{grand opening 1\1\98}. (We'll post the URL as soon as we receive it of course.) She is settling in to her job as a producer for Arrow Electronics. Judy is working in different companies doing executive development coaching for Lurie Executive Development. you will be getting letters from her about this soon. Jennifer is finishing her student teaching and the last papers for her masters degree from Hunter College! She's excited about finding a real teaching job. She's great with kids so we know she'll do very well. Mort and Judy are going to visit Mom in December to celebrate her birthday. Mom has been "Plenty-nine" for as long as we can remember and we wish her many more years of good health. So that's it for now. Love from Mort and Judy

Joel Agler (Spieler Halm) writes: Dear cousins and cyberfamily, It's great that we are now connected to one another through this medium, but let's not forget other ways to communicate including sending of pictures, holiday cards and most of all visits where we can share life's joys. Hoping all relatives are healthy, content and looking forward with optimism. We Aglers at NY.com wish everyone the best. Joel, Yelena, Leah, Joseph, Iza and ........ (waiting till March) Keep us posted on everyone's exploits, our whole family enjoys reading of things near and far. Shalom

Don Harris (Halm) and Ravit Ohanna (Klein Berger Halm) leave for a three month trip to New Zealand and Australia in early December. They plan a month in NZ and two months in Australia, of course visiting family along the way! They'll check in on Albert and Ruth Halm and Larry and Naomi Gandler (Halm) while they're down under. Have a great time guys! Don and Ravit will try to check their e-mail from time to time so you might leave them some at CaptDon1066@aol.com

We know there are more of us out there! Send news anytime and we'll keep in touch all the better. Once again, a joyous Chanukah to all!

Albert Halm writes from Sydney: "The few short days at the Gandlers (this summer) followed by the surprise family gathering on the Saturday afternoon were memorable events indeed. It was a brilliant idea to arrange this party which gave me a wonderful opportunity to meet the family. Everyone was so kind and eager to find out where I fitted in and more importantly, what happened to the Halm family during the Holocaust. The bond between us was quite palpable and left an indelible impression on me. My only regret is that Ruth wasn't there; she would have also enjoyed meeting the family.

After the lavish Gandler sojourn I met up with my little family in Los Angeles and spent another few happy days there before returning home. We have a Halm cousin in Los Angeles too that should be embraced into the bosom of the family. Her name is Charlotte and she lived next door to Chaya's and Goldie's mother, Rachel (Goldenberg Halm) Charlotte's mother and Rachel were first cousins. [Editors' note: can anyone fill in the gaps here? Surname? Address? Missing names? Thank you!]

It was one of my dearest ambitions to meet with the extended family in the environs of New York. Now my second wish is that the generations hereafter maintain this closeness. If the Halm family had a cherished ambition I would like to think that it would have been for the remnant of the post-Holocaust family to keep the tenuous thread together...The Family Tree, maintaining the Halm name among the descendants and the informative exchange being carried on the Internet...allow the rest of us to draw nachas from seeing the expansion of the family in the USA, Israel and now Australia...

As you probably know our adult children live in Los Angeles and we miss them in Sydney. Our daughter Bonita will be over here within two or three weeks to attend her best friend's wedding. She also made some arrangements to go to London on business, but I am not sure whether it will happen on this trip. Peter's wife Pascale and their daughter India just returned from visiting mother/grandmother in Morocco. So, as you can see, we have members of the family gallivanting around the world all the time...

..My short stay at Harriet's (Harris Halm) place was a lasting treat and the position on the edge of the water was just indescribably beautiful. The home grown vegetables are the pride of her life–second to the family of course.

..I have written enough for now. From us all, we wish you again a wonderful and enriching New Year. Most sincerely, Ruth and Albert

Leah Agler writes: Dear family, Soon I will be leaving for a big qualifying competition. I am very excited about this! Next Sunday I will be flying to Niagara Falls for the big week! I am working very hard. My brother Joseph is now in 1st grade. He just came home with a perfect math test.And a nice spelling test. Joseph is working very hard on his reading and writing.
I just got into a creative arts program at school. Out of my whole class I was the only one who got into it.

Yossi, Avivit and Mor Ben-Shlomo (Halm) send best regards from Netanya, Israel and wish all of us a Shana Tova!

Harriet Harris (Halm) writes: Well, here we are, another year. May you and all those you love and care about be graanted a year of good health, happiness and peace. I hope this letter finds you well, and that you have some wonderful plans for the holiday. Know that I will be thinking of you.

Here in Massapequa, summer is drawing to a wonderful and languid close. The garden continues to send forth like magic: figs, raspberries, tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, lettuce and even eggplants. I swear, wherever he is, Jack is keeping a close eye on the garden and even manages to steer me in the direction of watering, weeding and cultivating.

My family continues to do well, in that they are all (mostly) happy and succeeding at whatever it is they are doing.

Andrew and Annette are pregnant again...due in April. Baby Jacob is adorable, bright and just a delightful little guy. Ilise and Alan are also pregnant...due in February. Jasmine is now in the first grade. She is a happy delightful little girl and I try to spend 2-3 days a month with her doing fun things in the city, and occasionally in Massapequa.

Don is still captaining the fishing boat. As a matter of fact, as I write this letter he just phoned that he was coming home (after three days at sea) and that he had caught six yellowfin tuna which he will be selling on the overseas market. He is planning a trip to Australia, New Zealand and the Far East with our cousin Ravit (Ohanna Klein Berger Halm). She is our houseguest from Israel who has been here since May.

Again, I wish you a HAPPY HEALTHY NEW YEAR and may all that you wish come true. Affectionately, Harriet

From Marsha and Murray Gandler: This was the longest family news! I thoroughly enjoyed all the good things that were on it. I was fascinated about Peter's wife's background.I hope we get to meet her soon. We would like to take the opportunity to wish everyone the world over a very happy new year. L'Shana Tovah, Love Marsha and Murray

A phone call from Saronna Hoffman in Mazor sends best wishes for goodness and health to all at the New Year from the family in Israel. Saronna's own health is good! She's been back to work (though at somewhat reduced hours) for some months now and is looking forward to continued health in the year ahead.

Judy Davis sends this Rosh Hashana news: The Kissen-Davis's, Schleifers, and their Mom, Goldie Stein, the Joel Aglers, Jen, Deb, Caryn, Jody, Eric, Mort's cousin Abby, and our dear friends, the Hammers, had a lovely Rosh Hashanah together. It was made even more special by the fact that it was Catered!! A new tradition.! We are looking forward to a new little Agler at next year's party! We had a fun time and wish everyone Shana Tova. A highlight of the evening was having the latest copy of this family page for all to enjoy. We especially love to hear news of the family in Israel and to meet our "new" cousins, Peter, Pascale, and India. Pascale's family sounds fascinating. [see 9/24/97 entry--ed.] So love to everyone from Judy and Mort

Also, Jodi Schleifer (Stein Spieler Halm) joins cousin Ronnie Gandler (Halm) at Goldenbooks in Manhattan beginning this week. They'll set that company straight, for sure! September 30, 1997

This latest bris report from Ronnie Gandler, who is now online at rgandler@goldenbooks.com :
I returned from Australia and am proud to say what a handsome nephew I have!! What a punim!! Ethan Raphael Gandler was born on September 3rd and his Bris was September 10th. Dad (Eddie) was given the honor of holding Ethan during his circumcision. Dad was a bit nervous, but did a great job. Ethan was wonderful, he barely cried. Cousin Albert flew down from Sydney for the event, and it was nice to see him again. Father's day in Australia was September 6th (unlike our June version), giving Larry an opportunity to celebrate his first Father's day. Larry and Naomi are doing well, and send their love.
I hope the new year brings you much happiness, Ronnie.

Peter Halm sends a note from L.A.: All is well over here. My father (Albert) went to meet the Gandlers in Melbourne for the Bris of Ethan Raphael Gandler! (Named after his paternal grandfather Phil Gandler, z"l--ed.) I'll have to find out all the news from that event. Business has been slow here over summer in fashion though I also do graphic design and have been doing some freelance work for UCLA and Capitol records. Our daughter India just turned 2 years and mum (Pascale) and India went to Morocco for 3 weeks to be with family there...Best regards, Peter.

Not knowing much about Pascale's family in Morocco, I asked Peter for some background. Here is the account: "Pascale's family is in Casablanca, Morocco and in Paris. Her father, who died in the late '60's was of Spanish origin from the city of Tangiers in the north of Morocco. Her mother is a Jewish Berber from the region around Marrakesh and the Atlas mountains.

Records show that Jews were living there 2000 years, crossing North Africa after the temple destruction. Many converted to Islam when the big invasion took place around the 7th century. Up until the '50's and '60's there were a few hundred thousand Jews in the region, now about 3,000 who say they are (and who are literate). Most have immigrated to France, Israel, Canada & the USA. From what I have learnt after spending a lot of time in the country over the last 10 years, there has never been a real threat to Jewish life. However the promise of a better life in Israel (and the need to boost Israel's population) resulted in big airlifts of the poor (accompanied by a lot of scare tactics). A lot of people there are still very upset over what they see as the planned destruction of the biggest Jewish community in Muslim lands. Yes it is a fascinating place."

Thank you Peter for the account! For everyone's "book," the Peter, Pascale and India Halm home address, which we were looking for earlier, is:
8984 Shoreham Drive, Los Angeles CA 90069. tel: 310 859 8185

From Israel: Miri Berger (Halm) writes (on paper!) that her wedding on July 2nd to Dror Sviri was a joy for all. Celebrating in Israel were the Hoffman, Berger and Ben Shlomo branches of the family, along with the Lerners from the US. The newlyweds are presently living in an apartment on the moshav in Mazor and are planning to move to larger quarters in the spring. Mazal tov to Miri and Dror from us all!

A blessed New Year--L'shana Tovah, to one and all! September 12, 1997

From Joel Agler: Dear all family members, We send our congrats to Larry, Naomi, Eddie, Ronnie and Beth on their new addition. Mazel Tov and let him emulate his parents and grandparents. All is well on the Agler front up here in NY. We have started school Leah now in 5th grade and Joseph in 1st. Along with school the extracurricular activities continue to climb, among them skating, tennis, dancing, gymnastics and this fall soccer for Joseph. Along with Hebrew school we are pushing the envelope for available day hours. But all are well and ENJOYING it. This September Leah is skating in the Mid-Atlantics at Chelsea Piers and in October in the North Atlantics in Niagra Falls. We wish her well and if anyone is interested in the video please contact. Maybe the one who puts this page together can see if we can scan video clips into the website so we all can enjoy. Last but the best Yelena is expecting her third in March and we are all blessed that she has the energy to do all of the aforementioned. As for me the writer, I'm doing fine and love to hear of everyone's exploits and keep all of us posted. Happy Holidays to all, Stay in good health and happiness always. Joel, Yelena, Leah, Joseph and Iza: September 4, 1997 Marsha Gandler sends us this big news: Mazal tov! Through the magic of cyberspace we are proud to announce the birth of a bouncing baby boy down under. Naomi and Larry Gandler have become the proud parents of a boy. Grandpa Eddie is leaving on Sat. the 6th to attend his bris. His name to be announced. Love Marsha

September 1, 1997

Well, I had a great report of family news about 3/4 finished when my laptop died earlier this summer. Seems that retrieving the data is going to be more costly than I realized so...we'll just have to recreate it as best as possible. Here goes:

A wonderful time was had by all at the home of Beth and Eddie Gandler (Halm) in Closter, NJ in July. Guest of honor was cousin Albert Halm of Sydney, Australia, and most of us were meeting him for the first time. Albert regaled us with tales of our "ancestral home,"old Yasina, which he had visited some years ago. Albert's personal history is a fascinating one and his survival through the war and its aftermath are a testament to his sharp mind and instincts.

Albert is actually more closely related to the Goldenberg side of the family than the Halm side. That too is story in itself. He has devoted his years in retirement to chronicling the family history and hopefully we'll all be able to see it someday soon. (If he can get it on disk you can be sure it will come to a website near you!)

Albert's children Bonita and Peter Halm, with Peter's wife Pascale and daughter India are now living in Los Angeles where they are entrepreneurs in the dress and costume business. They travel occasionally to NY so other family members should look out for them! Their address, to add to your book, is....[drat! It's on the "dead machine" Can someone send it in please? Thank you!]

Other news from the summer: Lots of big things on the way in 1998! Expecting newborns are Ilyse and Alan Harris (Halm) in February, Annette Marcadis and Andrew Harris (Halm) in March and Yelena and Joel Agler (Spieler Halm) also in March. Also, mark your calendars for the Bat Mitzvah of Talia Agler (Spieler Halm) on March 28, 1998 in Boca Raton, Florida. G-d willing all the planned simchas will come to be.

Michael and Sheila Schleifer (Stein Spieler Halm) report that son Eric is living in Manhattan and working for McClanahan Publishing there. He's moving to "the Village" this fall. Way to go Eric! Daughter Jodi is also working in the city, in public relations, and commuting from NJ.

While we're in Manhattan, let's say hello to Ronnie Gandler who is also living and working in the Big Apple, also in the book business! Ronnie is with Golden Books, the famous children's publishers.

Mort Kissen and Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) are good and busy practicing psychology. Judy is working in the organizational field, as a senior consultant with Lurie Executive Development. Mort is in the process of setting up an interactive website for couples therapy. [Send along the URL so we can all visit!]

Judy Davis writes: that Ravit Ohanna (Klein Berger Halm), following her service in the IDF, is staying with Harriet Harris (Halm) and enjoying the "Harris Hilton", fishing and boating, and will also visit Annette Marcadis and Andrew Harris (Halm) in Florida. [Right now (9/1/97) she should be hiking in Seattle.] We Americans love having her around. ...Caryn finished work on a 5 part documentary on gun fighters of the Old West for the Learning Channel and then completed a documentary on islands of the South Pacific. She begins a new job at Arrow Electronics Sept. 2.

Ravit and Yuval Gottlieb (Klein Berger Halm) accompanied Mort, Judy, and Caryn to join Sheila, Michael, Eric and Jodi Schleifer (Stein Spieler Halm) for dinner in Manhattan, July 4 weekend. We spent the next day swimming and hanging out at the Kissen/Davis pool. It was great to spend time with 3 bright, interesting young women-Caryn, Ravit, and Yuval (this is Judy talking).

Debra Kissen was in Israel this summer and visited Sarit and Lonka who helped her retrieve her clothing which was locked in the building she had stayed in while attending a special program. A long and funny story involving climbing in windows, heaving suitcases out of windows [which Sarit caught in her dress], and a mad dash to catch the plane for the US. Mort and Judy and Debra are very grateful for such resourceful relatives. Deb is now doing a fellowship in South Beach, Miami and looking, with Richie's help, for a congregation that feels like "home." Big sister Jennifer starts student teaching and will have her Masters 1/98 if all goes well.

The trip to Jasina was wonderful, especially spending time with our aunt and uncle, Sylvia and Gene, but that's a long story and will await more time. Love to everyone, Judy

Thanks for the report, Judy! Now, here's the News from Israel, via Ravit:

Miri Berger (Halm) was married in July. (Details to follow.). Lonca and Sarit Gottlieb (Klein Berger Halm) are doing well on the moshav. We remain extremely proud of Lonca's extraordinary and personal citation from Ezer Weizman, the President of Israel for his organizational efforts on behalf of the soldiers of the Israeli Army. Lonca and Sarit's son Noam is entering the Army this month. We wish him safety, health and blessing.

Lonca and Sarit's daughter Yuval is continuing her work in research molecular biology. We congratulate her on her marriage one year ago to Itai Dror, who is studying civil engineering at the University of Haifa. Ravit's sisters Rotem, Gali and Shachar are all in school in Israel as is Talia Gottlieb. Gali and Talia are scheduled to celebrate B'not Mitzvah during the upcoming year. Anybody who's reading this and is around is invited!

Tzali and Rachel Shemesh (Klein Berger Halm) have four daughters now. Lee, Raz, Bar and Yam. Mom and Dad Chaya and Tzvi Klein on the moshav are enjoying the blessing of so many grandchildren just a short walk away!

Stan and Racquel Lerner (Hoffman Berger Halm) of Rockville, MD. are building a second home in Mazor. The general contractor is none other than Ravit's father, Dado Ohanna, husband of Bilhah (Klein Berger Halm). Way to keep it all in the family!

Of course we all continue to pray for health and strength for Saranna Hoffman. Husband Ari (Berger Halm) and children Ben, Donna and Oded receive our prayers as well.

Firstly, we are expecting any day now. Naomi is fine and the resident Joel family (Naomi's side) is very anxious. Dad (Ed) is coming to Melbourne with Ronnie after the baby is born. Mom (Charnie) arrives September 3. The baby is expected Sept 2.

Secondly, we would like to apologise to Caryn Davis. We did receive her letter down under but did not know how to help as we did not know anybody in her industry. After procrastinating for a while (lazy), we then moved to another apartment. The letter was hidden away with other paper work for quite some time until recently re-discovered. By that time Caryn found a job in NZ. Caryn we are sorry. If you (Caryn) or anybody else plan to come to Australia, please call 613 9521 1726 or email lngand@ozemail.com.au .

Thirdly, we heard from my Dad that Marta Gandler (Phil Gandler's niece) who we visited in Argentina has moved to Israel to be with her son.

Thanks to everyone who helped with this months' report. This was our longest issue yet. Hopefully, we'll keep the updates more frequent and more manageable in size in the future. Keep sending news!

That will do it for now. A blessed New Year to one and all! Anyone who wants to post an e-Rosh Hashana greeting to the family, just click here and send it along! We'll post it for all to see. And, if you have a chance, send along a happy big 4-0 th birthday wish to Mindy Agler, who begins her fifth decade on September 7th. Happy Birthday Mindy! While you're at it, if you have notice of any other special birthdays, anniversaries, milestones, etc. send them in to the family webpage. We'll post them here so all can kvell and/or remember. Good things to all!

Marsha and Murray Gandler (Halm) write: Neil Gandler accepted a job in the San Jose area of Calif. He wil be working for Applied Signals. He starts work on June 9. Now Murray and Marsha will have another reason to visit Calif.! May 1997

Judy Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) writes: "The best news for us is Caryn is back from New Zealand and working in New York. She loves the work but not NY and may be heading back to NZ or who knows where but meantime, Mort and Mom love having her here. We had a super Pesach with cousins Joel, Yelena Leah and Joseph as well as Debbie and Jennifer ,Mort's cousin and his 4 children, and our dearest friend, Hadassah.Leah read the Four Questions beautifully, of course. Joseph was adorable as usual, of course. We commiserate about never having enough time together but at least on holidays, we can be together. This year Sheila and Michael and Eric and Jody were in Florida so Judy had to 'wing it and prepare Sedar without her sister. Sheila got all the cooking genes in the family but Judy got the call -the -caterer genes so,restraining Yelena who has powerful cooking genes herself and offered to cook most of the meal and bring it to Judy's house, Judy had the Sedar catered and hired a server so we could relax and enjoy. We are grateful to be able to continue our mothers' (Goldie and Sylvia) tradition of shared family holidays.

Another bit of news from us is Judy has a job working for a friend's organizational consulting firm doing executive coaching and development. So, this may be the last time she has time to put anything on this page (but she'll try).

We are also trying to arrange our trip to Yasina with Gene and Sylvia Agler and have called our tour guide twice. Each time, he says he's preparing a letter and itinerary and will notify us soon. When Mort is finished with school, he'll take over the task of keeping on this guy so we can get this resolved. The other big event in May, besides Mort getting out of school, is Mom (Trudy/Goldie) returns from Florida so we get to spend some time together once again.

Finally, Judy has written more family history thanks to cousin Raquel and is awaiting amendations/additions from cousin Sarit before sending it out to everyone along with some things written about Gene and Sylvia's 50th Wedding Anniversary Celebration. So, hope everyone out there is well and good wishes to you all from our family."

Ravit Ochana (Klein Halm) of Mazor, Israel is coming for a 90 day visit to America. She'll be arriving the first week in May and staying with Harriet Harris (Halm) in Massapequa, NY.

Gene and Sylvia Agler (Spieler Halm) are packing up from Florida and preparing to head north to Lee, Mass. for the summer and early fall. Also on the "snowbird" front, Trudy Stein (Spieler Halm) is about to head back to the Catskills.

Don Harris (Halm) has just returned from a dive trip to Borneo and Micronesia. The report: it's beautiful but too many tourists! Welcome back Don!

That's all for right now. We're short on news this month so send some! We'll look for it in the e-mail box--or even on the phone. Best to all and keep in touch!

Marsha and Murray Gandler (Halm) write: that son Neil is formally presenting his project for his Master's degree this month in electric engineering. We wish him luck! Adam Gandler is working hard for Amica insurance company is Springfield Mass. He loves his job. He is a claims adjuster and travels around the state a lot.

Murray and Marsha are both working hard and have mixed feelings about getting ready for Passover. It's so much work! But we love to look around the table and see everyone gathered together. A very happy, healthy Passover to everyone!

News from Mazor, Israel: Miri Berger (Hoffman Halm) is engaged to be married in August! Mazal tov to Miri, brothers Moshe and Michael, and all the Hoffmans on the simcha!

Also on the moshav, Dado and Bilhah Ochana (Klein Halm) and their children Ravit, Rotem, Gali and Shachar are househunting in central Israel. Dado's building and contracting business allows him the flexibility to relocate and all the family is looking forward to a new house.

While we're overseas, Caryn Davis (Stein Spieler Halm) has found work in television production in New Zealand! Congratulations Caryn and we'll be on the lookout for one of your programs.

Back Stateside, Trudy Stein (Spieler Halm) is enjoying a wonderful winter in Sun City Center, FL. Trudy is well established in the community with friends and activities by the score keeping her busy and enjoying good health.

Jack Brill, husband of Sandy (Picarsky Hirsch Goldenberg), continues to be featured quarterly in the Sunday New York Times (last on 4/6/97) for his portfolio selections of socially responsible mutual funds. We're proud not only of Jack's prominence in the field but also for the values he is promoting.

Yelena Agler writes on behalf of herself and husband Joel (Spieler Halm): "It's mid March and all are busy as you would expect. Dad is busy working, Mom is busy encouraging and the kids are busy doing. WHAT you might ask ? Let me recite the ways. Leah: Mornings before school to skate, days for learning at Saw Mill Road, afternoons at Hebrew school, evenings at dance and yes, sleep at her home. Joseph: mornings at kindergarten, afternoons with his Mom, late afternoons at tennis and yes kung-fu. and evenings at home with Bart & Homer. We all look forward to hearing, reading and enjoying all the familys' exploits and accomplishments on the Website. Our families E-mail box is JAGLER523@juno.com for more selective responses. We all hope that everyone will take the time out of our busy (for what I do not know) lives and stay in touch with one & all."

Kudos to Ruth Picarsky-Benjamin (Hirsch Goldenberg) for researching and drawing the beautiful Goldenberg-Halm Family Tree which is now here on the net and available for us all to enjoy, learn from, contemplate, download, print out, whatever. (Note: your browser may require some scrolling, resizing, etc. to fully appreciate this .gif file) It also appears in miniature at the top of the front page.

On the subject of the family tree, did you know that a good part of ours is on file on computer at the Jewish Genealogy Center of the Museum of the Diaspora in Tel Aviv? Well, it is! We are Tree # 340. While the "tree" is in need of some updating and completing, it is in place. Contact Judy Davis Kissen (Stein Spieler Halm) if you'd like to help out on this. She'd really appreciate the assistance. And be sure to check it out on your next trip to Tel Aviv!

Congratulations to Alan Harris (Halm) who has accepted a new position as counsel for Chubb Insurance in Manhattan.

Mazal tov to Jacob Marcadis Harris (Halm) who celebrated his first birthday in Tampa on Feb 15th.

Harriet Harris (Halm) recently visited Charlotte Langa (Halm) and husband David from the Australian branch of the family. They are living in L.A. (Encino) and have established a clothing design and manufacturing business. David and Charlotte are planning to be in NY soon on business and that will be a great opportunity for many of us to meet them for the first time! Stay tuned for further details.

Caryn Davis (Stein-Spieler-Halm) is off to Australia and New Zealand pursuing opportunity in the video production field. Good luck Caryn!

Speaking of Australia, Larry and Naomi Gandler (Halm) are expecting their first child Down Under. Mazel tov to all!

Don Harris (Halm) is captaining "Ambiance" in S. Florida and the Bahamas this winter. Heading back to Long Island March 15.

We all continue to pray for Saronna Hoffman (Halm) in Mazor, Israel, who is fighting hard to return to full health. Saronna, you have love from all of us.

Gene and Sylvia Agler (Spieler Halm) Jack and Sandy Brill, Ruth Benjamin, (Picarsky Hirsch Goldenberg) Judy Davis Kissen (Stein Spieler Halm) and Mort Kissen are planning a trip to Yasina and Delatyn, Ukraine this July. These are the sites of the Halm Goldenberg family origins. Now that the Soviet Union is no more, it is much easier for Westerners to visit these sites. It should be a fascinating expedition and we all look forward to hearing and reading about it. We'll try and get them to put it on disk so we can post the account right here!

Leah Agler (Spieler Halm), age 10, continues to win figure skating medals on Long Island. Way to go, Leah!