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Honor To Whom Honor is Due
Honor your father and your mother that it may be well with you.....

 

My Father:

Resilience and Humility in the Face of Adversity

 

My father, Siegmund (Shlomo) Aumann, of blessed memory, was a successful, well-to-do businessman in Frankfurt , Germany , in the 1920s and 1930s. He was part-owner of a large wholesale textile firm, Aumann & Rapp, that was well-known throughout the region, and our lifestyle reflected my father's economic position. Aside from that, he was also an observant Jew and played a leading and active role in community affairs.

 

When, in the summer of 1938, with the Nazi threat to Jewish life in Germany assuming an increasingly sinister character, my parents decided to emigrate to the USA, my father was forced to "sell" his business for a pittance – and then lost that sum of money as well, when it was imprudently invested (against my father's explicit instructions) on the New York Stock Exchange.

 

Left thus virtually penniless, my parents had to start all over again when we arrived in New York . Not only did both of them have to find work in order to make ends meet, but my 54-year-old father, being severely limited in his knowledge of English, accepted a job as a shipping clerk in a department store.

Later he "upgraded" to door-to-door life insurance salesman, working the Washington Heights "beat" in upper Manhattan , where most of his prospective clients spoke German.

 

It was sad to see my father having to humiliate himself this way and, at his age, having to work so hard for a living – after the station in life he had attained in his home country before the war. But, under the circumstances, he and my mother were grateful to have been spared the horrors of what was to transpire during the war years in Europe, and given a new lease on life in America .

 

To me – in my early teens at the time – it was a lesson in resilience and humility in the face of adversity, a lesson I shall always remember.

 

My Mother's Triple Legacy

 

My mother, Miriam (Landau) Aumann, of blessed memory, left us (my brother Robert John and me) a three-way legacy: (1) When you take on a task in life, large or small, give it all you've got, in the spirit of Kohelet's admonition: "Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might!" (2) Be grateful, and express your gratitude, for graces large and small. (3) Show appreciation.

 

I'd like to dwell in particular on the last pointer.

 

When you feel joy or admiration or appreciation, our mother would tell us, with regard to something you have seen, heard or experienced – and the source of that "something" is accessible – give vocal expression to your feeling; let that person know how you feel. I'll never forget the time my mother and I were walking down the street in New York one day and we passed a beautifully tended little garden in front of a modest three-family house, and, as it happened, someone was working in that garden as we came by. My mother stopped for a moment and, after silently admiring the garden for a moment, said to the man: "What a lovely garden you have here!" The man beamed and thanked my mother for her observation. Without doubt, she had "made his day." Later, my mother said to me, "If you really feel that way about a person's handiwork – why not let that person know? It costs you nothing, and it may bring joy to his heart."

 

Right then and there – and I was only a child at the time – I took that word of advice to heart, and I have sought, ever since, to apply it whenever I can, in my own dealings with others.

An Unfettered Spirit

 

My book, "Conflict & Connection: The Jewish-Christian-Israel Triangle," is dedicated to "the blessed memory of my parents, Siegmund Aumann z"l and Miriam Aumann z"l, whose open hand, genuine piety and unfettered spirit provided preparation and inspiration not to be acquired in any other way."

 

A remarkable example of that unfettered spirit was my parents' hiring of a Christian nun named Schwester Ida to serve as nanny to my brother Robert John and me. Schwester Ida was an extraordinary woman and a very warm and lovable person. She was with us, all told, for over ten years – from the time I was an infant till we left Germany for the USA in 1938.

 

As my brother and I grew older, Schwester Ida's visits to the house became less frequent, a fact that only intensified our love for her, and it was always with eager anticipation that we awaited her arrival, usually for the purpose of taking us for long walks in different parts of our hometown, Frankfurt . During these walks, Schwester Ida would tell us about life and the world and answer our countless questions and puzzlements about the things we saw and heard along the way.

 

My parents must have known Schwester Ida very well when they hired her and entrusted my brother and me to her care for so many hours of our lives. Notwithstanding the fact that they were devoted, practicing Jews and members of Frankfurt 's Orthodox community, my parents appeared to be completely unconcerned about the possibility that this Christian Sister might utilize her time with us children to plant Christian seeds in our minds. The fact is that my parents indeed had no cause for concern in this regard: Schwester Ida never spoke with us about matters connected with the Christian faith. If she planted any seeds in my mind, these were the seeds of human brotherhood, of open-mindedness and of respect for our fellow human beings.

 

It was only many years later that my work with the Christian community in Israel and overseas, in my capacity as an Israeli diplomat, recalled to mind those early years of my life. And it was my parents' generous spirit, rooted in their own deep faith, that allowed me to receive, at the hands of this warm, lovable Christian lady, the necessary preparation and inspiration for a task that would be handed to me a half century later!

Tribute to his parents from

Moshe Aumann,

Foreign Ministry of Israel (ret)

 

Praise God for my Mother and Dad!

Dad passed away in March of 2001 and Mother turned 90 on 2/24/08. My parents worked through a lot of difficulties during their nearly 60 years together. June 3, 2001, would have been their 60th wedding anniversary. My Dad was probably the hardest-working man I've ever known. He was that because of his wife and his children (I'm oldest of 4). He had a very deep commitment to family - they were always first for him. He was a master carpenter (his trade) and a master mechanic (his hobby, but also out of necessity). My Dad embodied the concept that necessity is the mother of invention. He was always figuring ways to fix something or make something better. He was always busy. He got away as often as work and weather allowed to hunt or to fish. He was so good at so many things - a true "fix-it" man, "Jack-of-all-trades" kind of guy. Only on Sunday did I see my Dad "idle". Family was so important that wherever they would travel, Dad would find out who might live close-by and arrange to visit them. Dad insisted on going to every wedding, anniversary, school event or funeral, or at least try to.  And my Dad was simply crazy about children! And children sensed that in him and would always end up on his lap!!

 

My Mother could stretch a dollar from Milwaukee to Chicago ! She was - and is - amazing. There were many hard financial times and my Mother, growing up in the depression, learned to do many things that saved money. She was always busy, too, as you can imagine, running a household with 4 children. She pushed herself to meet as many of our varied needs as she could. And she was not in the best of health during those years. But she kept on keeping on, because there was no option.

As tight as money was, my parents saw to it that we all went to parochial schools (I was raised Catholic, although I am no longer Catholic), had music lessons, my brothers were involved in sports (this was before sports for girls was a big thing), the clothes we needed (most times hand-me-downs or homemade). My Mother is a very kind woman and she is gentle. She gets maximum enjoyment out of the simplest things. She is a cancer survivor, glory to God (as am I, praise to God!) and her positive attitude during that episode helped carry her through and was quite a surprise to me and my siblings, as my Mother was the epitome of the automatic "no" or finding the negative rather than the positive in anything. She and my Dad have been extremely generous to my siblings and me. All the good stewardship of their finances resulted in a very nice cushion for them that also enabled them to share that with us. She continues to live in her own home in Milwaukee and to drive and do her own house cleaning. She's very "with it" mentally and physically!

 

My Mother and Dad kept marriage and family together and showed all of us that it could be done. And we are all grateful for that example. My siblings and I have been so blessed by family during our growing-up years. There are almost not enough words to adequately describe what that means, especially in this day and age. Since none of us are without fault, my parents are/were no exception. But they showed what true love is and what forgiveness is and what teamwork is. My Mother was definitely a team player in many ways, but especially as my Dad's teammate in his building business.

 

Praise God for these wonderful people! My saddest thing is that my Dad didn't get to live long enough to know either set of his twin great-grandsons!! Yes, two sets of twin great-grandsons. My nephew's twin sons and my son's twin boys.

from

Diane Cocanougher

 

First of all, I have the greatest Mother in the whole world. She is still living, age 86.  When I was quite young, my Father binge-drank a lot and was like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde! He was a wonderful, hard-working man when he wasn't drinking, but would go a little crazy when he was drinking. My dear Mother shielded us 3 kids from him at those times. My Dad quit drinking when I was about 12 and was a good Father from then on. I have many happy memories of both my parents. One thing for sure, I know they loved me. We were small time farmers in Pennsylvania and worked very hard – all of us. At one time my Father was working 3 jobs as well as farming, just to keep food on the table for us. He was a Catholic and quit going to church in his later years – became disillusioned with churches, but watched a religious program on TV on Sundays, mostly liked the singing! He was a quiet sweet-spirited man in his latter years and we grew very close before he died almost 3 yrs. ago.

 

My Grandmother was a quiet little lady with a calm and gentle spirit, and I spent a lot of time with her. She always seemed so full of faith and read her Bible daily – and prayed daily also. She made most of our clothes from feedbags (we used to get chicken feed in cotton printed bags), but they seemed very nice to us and we were grateful for them. She was a wonderful faith-filled woman.

My Mother became a Christian about the same time I did – I was 18 yrs. old at the time.

She served her Methodist Church with vigor! And I and my husband and children lived in Florida at the time and went to church every week. My Mother doesn't go to church now as she finds that watching 'The Hour of Power' on TV each week is all she needs to maintain herself spiritually – she reads her Bible and prays daily. Whenever I have a 'prayer need' I know I can count on Mom to pray for it.

I'm grateful for the family Hashem Placed me in, and I'm grateful for the Place He's Brought me to today – as a Noahide, Torah observant believer in the One True G-d!

from Evelyn Carpenter

Anchorage, Alaska

 

It is with gratitude for the opportunity to honor the lives and memory of my parents, Mr. & Mrs. Tucker and Dorothy Jennings.  Both embraced old fashioned values where mom was a traditional homemaker and dad worked hard as a mechanic and was greatly blessed by God to support a family with two daughters.  It's hard to believe that his top salary was $17,000.  Yet, we had a nice two bedroom house that I have now inherited to live in.  We always had clean clothes, plenty of toys, lots of good food because of mom's delectable culinary skills and a family car.  I remember times when my folks purchased groceries for family members or prepared meals for neighbors that needed help.  Looking back now – how did they manage all of that on such modest finances?  They walked out before us a life that trusted in God to provide the health, strength and grace to live and give.

 

What made my mom and dad so special to me is that without them I might have never even known what it is like to have a family that nurtured, cared and loved you.  Even though they had a natural daughter, they opened their hearts and home to make room for a little orphan girl, whose 19 year-old, unmarried mother in 1956, was far too young and inexperienced to handle the responsibility and stigma of a child.  Everyday we sat down as a family to eat and share at dinner time.  On occasion, we would laugh when my dad would say, “honey, you were just a little bole weevil looking for a home and here you are?”  At the tender age of 4, I had been so use to moving in and out of foster homes, my mom (Dorothy) asked me, “Why are you carrying around a lot of your things with you?”  The little 4 year-old girl solemnly explained to her that when it was time for me to go, I wanted to be ready.  Mom just shook her head and said, “Deborah, you aren't going any where.  You belong to us now.”  But I just shook my head at her because such a thing had never happened before and I wasn't even sure what “belonging” meant yet.

 

Well, I was four then and I will be 52 years old and they kept me all that time until their time was up on this side of eternity.  I still maintain a place of honor for my birth parents that I never got to know because they gave me life.  Most of all, the greater place of honor goes to Tucker & Dorothy Jennings, the mom and dad that gave their lives for me.

 Rev. Deborah Stephens

Washington, DC

 

I would like to honor my parents, Milton and Murrel Samuel by saying how they trained us, my brothers and sister, by example.  They took us to Sunday School and Church every Sunday.  One thing that has been a blessing to me is  how my father taught us all to tithe.  On the sunday we were to tithe, he would have the tithe on the table, divided into six parts, then as we passed by he would give each a share to place in the offering at church. This method of teaching worked.  I am now 77 and haved tithed from the time I started earning my own money.  I am blessed.  

You may use my full name. 

Clifford Samuel.     

 
 
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