A Dedication - Rosh Ha Shonah – 2007

When I look back on the last year, sometimes I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry… It’s been a tough year of enormous changes and lessons. What friendship means… How to give up some dreams and create others… The value of health, friendship and family. Sometimes as we get older it seems as though the losses become more frequent; we know more people hence we lose more people. This year, very quietly, someone I truly loved and respected died. And again I was reminded that we all have only a limited amount of time in which to say what we want and need to say.

Last week a woman came into our store. A few years older than me, she came to purchase and ship 3 special loaves of bread to her children in New York & Ohio. “Shipping bread to New York?”, I asked her thinking of all the fantastic bakeries I knew in New York. “It’s a tradition,” she explained, “My father was a survivor of the camps. He often said that during the war he dreamed of having a round loaf of bread big enough to always be able to feed his family and friends. “When I was a child” she went on to explain, “every year for his birthday we came to Kaufman’s to buy a big, round loaf of rye bread as the core of our meal on his birthday – never anyplace else.” Every year they came to rejoice in his survival and build a tradition. Today she buys those breads and sends them to each of her children on her father’s birthday to commemorate, celebrate and remember his life.

And my thoughts turned to Maury Kaufman, the man who built Kaufman’s Bagel & Delicatessen. He too, was a survivor. And I wondered – was that why he opened Kaufman’s, so he’d never be hungry again and would always be able to feed his family? I never asked him – it never dawned on me until my conversation with this woman - maybe that’s why Kaufman’s exists. I never asked him a lot of things although I heard stories about what he had gone through. I only know I adored him; he was like an extra grandpa I was blessed with later in life; he supported and championed my accomplishments and had no problems pointing out my errors. I didn’t know him as well as I would have liked; we knew each other just for a couple of years and I had to prove myself first. Maury died this year in Jerusalem, quietly and with little fanfare after a long battle. I think of him often – especially when I have difficult decisions to make. That woman’s story is but one of many I’ve heard here at Kaufman’s. Maury built traditions for thousands of Jews with his little store. I feel honored to be able to carry on both his traditions and his name.

Be sure to tell your loved ones how you honor and love them and how they touch your life. The Jews believe your soul lives on while there are still people who speak of you; make that a part of your tradition. Maury, thank you for the traditions, the history and the legacy – it will always be treated with respect. We shall miss you.

With Best Wishes for a healthy, happy & sweet New Year

The Dworkin Family and

The Staff of Kaufman Bagel & Delicatessen