L’dor Va Dor-From Generation to Generation

They came from Europe. From Poland and Russia and Lithuania. And other places as well. They landed at Ellis Island and most stayed in New York. My family.

My family tree is intricate and fascinating and it would take years of blog posts to tell the story of the Rosenoff clan. So I will share the memories of my childhood family gatherings. Go get something to eat. You’re gonna be hungry. The Rosenoffs knew how to entertain with food. Oh boy.

Several times a year we would gather at someone’s home for the cousin’s club, or as we called it- the RR Club or family circle. It started out in the Bronx and eventually migrated to the Island. Er…Long Island for those of you who are not native New Yorkers. It was exciting to see our cousins, aunts and uncles and our great aunts and uncles. And our grandparents. The grandparents were the matriarchs and patriarchs. They were the brothers and sisters who came from Europe when they were small children. They were our heritage.

The meetings were called to order. There was a president, treasurer and secretary who kept handwritten minutes (copies of the original minutes are floating around the East coast somewhere). There may have been a vp at one time but I don’t remember. The treasurer collected dues from all the families and those dues were put into a bank account which was later used for trips to Atlantic City and the Catskills. The minutes from the last meeting were read, there was a finance report and good and welfare. The kids loved that part. Who was born, who was having a Bar Mitzvah, who was getting married, who got a new job. Good and welfare was the most interesting by far!

But wait…before the meeting it was time to eat. Buffet style. There were deli platters piled high with corned beef, pastrami, salami, tongue and roast beef. All kinds breads and hard rolls. Sometimes we had sweet and sour meatballs. Potato salad, cole slaw, sauerkraut. Pickles-sour and half sour, olives and celery sticks in special serving trays. And chopped liver. We always had chopped liver. It was a tradition. Served with cocktail breads- little slices of rye and pumpernickel. There were bowls of mixed nuts, mixed nuts and raisins, pretzels and potato chips. After the meeting there was dessert. For dessert there was fruit salad. That was another tradition. We HAD to have fruit salad. I remember one occasion when someone forgot the fruit salad and one of my cousins hollered “where’s the fruit salad” while everyone shook their heads in disbelief. There were home made cakes and Entenmann’s of course. Seltzer water and ginger ale. I don’t remember coke being part of the drinks option. Of course there was always a bar. Whiskey, rye, scotch and all the stuff we kids thought was vile.

Everyone smoked back then. Except my father and my grandmother. And the men smoked cigars. It’s funny. As much as I despise cigarette smoke, I love the smell of a cigar. I think it brings back family circle memories.

These days, our family is spread out all over the place. Many are no longer with us. We’ve talked about reviving the RR Club but it never seemed to materialize. The grandchildren are married with families of their own. And so the generations continue.

In loving memory of my grandparents, Julius and Clara Rosenoff.