FAMILY March 2017

FAMILY

from

Lithuania & latvia
to Israel

(via South Africa)

1878 - 2016

COMPILED & EDITED

CYRIL KAUFMAN
‫חיים בן משה לייב קאופמן‬

INDEX.

Chapter 1 …………………..The “Tanach Book” - INTRODUCTION………………………..
Chapter 2 ……………………Avraham Zalman Kaufman (Kropman)………………………
Chapter3 ……………………Tillie Ray Owsianick……………………………………………………
Chapter 4 ……………………Klerksdorp: Mom and Dad ……………………………………….
Chapter 6 ……………………Cape Town: 1967 – 1968 ……………….……………………..
Chapter 7 ……………………Yankel David Fleishman……………………………..………...............……………….. Page
Chapter 8 ……………………December 1967 – August 1974…………………………………………….……………... Page
Chapter 9 ……………………1974 to December 2016: Where is everyone ?........................….…………….Page
Chapter 10 ……………………Geneology……………………………………………………………………………………………...Page

This project is for my wife

Norma

Who is the best thing that ever happened to me

“THE TANACH BOOK” - INTRODUCTION

A few months ago, my brother Basil asked me if I had been updating
Zeida’s “Tanach” Book.

My immediate reply was “no not really”.

That same evening when I returned home, I took the “Tanach Book” off
the shelf and opened it so I could see what was written inside and what I
needed to do in order to begin the updating.

Basil and I received this family “heirloom” from Mom after Dad passed
away in 2004 and we decided that that the book should stay with me for
safekeeping.

Mom told us that it was Dad’s book and that it had originally belonged
to Zeida and the pictures alongside show what the book looks like today
and this is exactly how it looked when we received it.

Many were the times that I saw this book on the bookshelf in Dad’s
study in the apartment at 19 David Hamelech Street, Netanya.
It always looked like an old tattered version of some religious book of
which there were so many on that shelf and so I never really bothered to
ask any questions and simply assumed that Dad used it for reference.

So now, what follows, is what I found when I first opened this book and
how this has inspired me to use the details and to put to print the
memories and history of our Parents, our Grandparents and our
respective families from 1878 to the present.

This photograph was taken in the lounge of Mom and Dad’s apartment in Klerksdorp in July

1972 when Norma and I and Aaron and Sara visited Mom and Dad and Aaron was 2 years

and 5 months old.

When preparing this project I noticed for the first time that there is a bookshelf on the
bottom right corner behind the arm chair and on the bottom shelf, right side, is the “Tanach
Book”. (I have circled it in blue)

This book of the ‫ תנ"ך‬was printed in Berlin, Germany in 1910 and sometime after
that it became the property of my paternal grandfather (Zeida)
‫ –אברהם זלמן ב"ר יהושוע פישל‬AVRAHAM ZALMAN KROPMAN
Zeida was born to the family KROPMAN - ‫קראפמאנן‬
In Laizuva, Lithuania on 6th February 1878 – ‫ג׳ ַּב ֲא ָדר א׳ תרל״ח‬
This family name is written in Zeida’s own handwriting

at age 15 in the year ‫( תרנ"ג‬1893) in his “TAGES=BUCH” (Diary)
‫ זכרונות נעורי‬-- “Memories of my Youth”

Avraham Zalman married
ZVIAH GITTEL JOFFE (Bobba) – ‫צביה גיטל בת יצחק יופה‬
ca 1900- 1901 and their first born, Isaac, was born in Lithuania on 20/11/1901.
The second son, Charles, was also born in Lithuania on 30/5/1903.
After the birth of the first two boys, Zeida made his way to Cape Town, and he
arrived there in 1903 and sometime around 1906/7 Bobba, Isaac and Charles

made their way from Lithuania to South Africa.
The third child, my father, Morris Louis was born on 26 January 1908.

It is somewhat of a mystery but sometime between when Zeida wrote this diary in
1893 until the birth of Morris Louis (Dad) in 1908, the surname KROPMAN
changed to KAUFMAN and this can be seen as it is registered on Dad’s birth
certificate.

From then Zeida wrote his name in Hebrew ‫ קופמן‬which is how it is engraved on
his tombstone in the Zichron Meir Cemetery in Bnei Brak, Israel.
‫בית החיים "שומרי שבת" זכרון מאיר‬

After Dad was born there were five more children,
Jane, the twins Tobias (Toby) & Meyer (Mike), Raie and Ben,

all born in MAITLAND, Cape Town.

Bobba died on 8 July 1946 – ‫ט' בתמוז תש"ו‬
Zeida died on 16 January 1964 - ‫י״ג ִּב ְׁש ָבט תשכ״ד‬

The book then became the property
of my beloved Father

MORRIS LOUIS KAUFMAN – ‫משה לייב בן אברהם זלמן‬
and he continued to update most of the family events until he passed away

on 6th January 2004 –‫י״ב ְׁב ֵט ֵבת תשס״ד‬

When I opened the book for the first time I saw that the last event recorded
in the book was that of Dad’s Yarzheit

which is recorded in the handwriting of by my beloved mother
SYLVIA ROSALIN KAUFMAN - ‫שרה רבקה בת יצחק אלחנן‬

who passed away on 13 April 2011 – ‫ט׳ ְׁב ִנּי ָסן תשע״א‬

Mom and Dad are buried in the New Cemetery - Raanana



Zeida writes the top section of this page on the left:

Isaac’s Birthday, Wednesday November 20th 1901 ---‫ט׳ ְּב ִכ ְּס ֵלו תרס״ב‬
Charles Birthday, Saturday May 30th 1903 - ------- ‫ד׳ ְּב ִסיוָן תרס״ג‬
Morris Leib, January 26th 1908 ---------------------------- ‫כ״ג ִב ְּש ָבט תרס״ח‬

Meyer & Tobias, November 20th 1913--------------------‫כ׳ ְּב ֶח ְּשוָן תרע״ד‬

Benn, August 24th 1917-------------------------------------- -‫ו׳ ֶב ֱאלּול תרע״ז‬

Rachel, 6 Nov. 1911 (Nat ‫)א' אדר"ב‬

Jane, 3rdJune 1909 –

Birthday – died 19th November 1946---‫כ״ה ְּב ֶח ְּשוָן תש״ז‬
Phillip Joffe – 17 May 1922-------------------------------------‫י״ט ְּב ִאיָר תרפ״ב‬
Isaac “ - 18 December 1924---------------------------‫כ״א ְּב ִכ ְּס ֵלו תרפ״ה‬

Dad writes the bottom half as well as additions to the top half:

Isaac - 80½ died 1/6/82 ‫י׳ ְּב ִסיוָן תשמ״ב‬
Charles – died May 15 1990 -------------------------------------- ‫כ׳ ְּב ִאיָר תש״נ‬
Meyer died 31/8/78------------------------------------------- - ‫כ״ח ְּבָאב תשל״ח‬
Tobias died 17th February 1967--------------------------- - ‫ז׳ ַּב ֲא ָדר א׳ תשכ״ז‬
Benn - died 30/8/98 ---------------------------------------- ‫ח׳ ֶב ֱאלּול תשנ״ח‬
Rachel – died 9th May 1985 -----------------------------------‫י״ח ְּב ִאיָר תשמ״ה‬

BIRTHDAYS (written by Dad)

‫כ״ו ְּב ִסיוָן תרצ״ד‬ Harold Kaufman 9th June 1934
‫י״ז ַּב ֲא ָדר א׳ תרצ״ח‬
‫ז ׳ ְּב ִת ְּש ֵרי ת״ש‬ Isaac Karpas 18th February 1938
‫כ״ז ְּב ִאיָר תש״ב‬
‫כ״ו ְּב ַּתּמּוז תש״ה‬ Phillip Kaufman 21 September 1939

Cyril Kaufman 14 May 1942

Basil Kaufman 7 July 1945

Simeon Kaufman 17/6/1948

P.T.O



Cyril married Norma Fleishman – 22nd December 1968.

‫ח' חנוכה תשר"ח‬

Aharon ‫אהרן דוב‬ born 3rd March 1970
Adrian Dov ‫כ'ה ֲא ָדר א׳ תש״ל‬

Phillip Kaufman married Margalit 2nd March 1970
‫כ״ד ב ֲא ָדר א׳ תש״ל‬

Basil married Sharon Rapoport. 30th March 1970
‫כ״ב ב ֲא ָדר ב׳ תש״ל‬

Yael Chaya ‫יעל חיה‬ born 7th January 1971

‫עשרה ְּב ֵט ֵבת תשל״א‬

Alon ‫אברהם זלמן‬ born 15th January 1972

Sara ‫כ״ח ְּב ֵט ֵבת תשל״ב‬

11th August 1974 born 1st March 1972 ‫ל צביה גיט‬
‫ אב‬23rd Av
‫ט״ו ב ֲא ָדר תשל״ב שושן פורים‬

Cyril Norma Adrian
& Sara left for

England on their way to Israel

Leora Jehudit born 16 September 1975
David ‫י״ב ְּב ִת ְּש ֵרי תשל״ה‬

Born 28/3/77 ‫ט׳ ְּבנִי ָסן תשל״ז‬
In Israel



Yarzheits 9th Tamuz ‫צביעה גיטל בת יצחק‬

1946 Mom aged ± 66

1964 Pap aged 85 1pm 13th Shevat ‫אברהם זלמן ב"ר יהוש פישל‬

1967 Tobe aged 54 8th Adar 1 ‫טוביה בן אברהם זלמן‬

1946 11 am Dad I.E.O. aged 56 2ndShavuot ‫יצחק אלחנן ב"ר יהושע דוב‬

15/11/79 Fanny Fleishman ‫פני ב"ר אבא כ״ה ְּב ֶח ְּשוָן‬

12-10 am

27/3/81 Tillie Rae Owsianick aged 84 ‫כ״א ַּב ֲא ָדר ב׳ תשמ״א‬

8 am ‫טובה רחל בת חיים חייקל‬ ‫ונשמא‬

Mike aged 64 ‫מאיר ב"ר אברהם זלמן כ"ח אב תשל"ח‬

Isaac aged 80 ‫יצחק ב"ר אברהם זלמן י סיון תשמ"ב‬

‫ דוד ב"ר אהרון דוב‬David Fleishman – ‫דוד ב"ר אהרון דוב י"ב אלול‬

Cyril, Norma, Aharon & Sara came on Aliyah
August 1974

We came on Aliyah 22/11/1977
‫י "ב כסלו תשל"ח‬

Basil, Sharon, Yael Alon & Leora came on
Aliyah on 1st June 1978 ‫כ"ה אייר תשל"ח‬

Cyril, Norma & 3 children spent a year in San Francisco in
study
at University of California Dental Hospital (1980-1981 July)
9th August 1988 Aharon went into the army ‫כ״ו ְּבָאב תשמ״ח‬

January 1990 Yael went into the army



Cyril bought his home in Kiryat Ganim 1987

Basil Built his house in Tivon 1985

Aharon went into the army 9/8/1988 ‫כ'ו אב תשמ"ח‬

Nat Yarzheit " ‫א' ראש חודש אדר ב‬

OLD TESTAMENT

Alon went into the Army 11/2/1990

Air Force ‫ט'ז שבת תש"ן‬

For ? 7 years

HEBREW AND ENGLISH

Yael went into the army 1989

Sara went into the army 1990

Cyril moved his surgery to Beit Hillel Sept.1991

Lior went into the army 25/1/1994

David went into the army 3/8/1995

‫כ'ח ניסן תש"ן‬

Ilan – died in air crash 22/4/90 ‫אילן‬

BERLIN aged 27

PRINTED FOR THE BRITISH & FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY

Annie Kaufman 1910 died 26/4/1995

‫כ'ח ניסן תשנ"ה‬



Sarah married Kobi Bezalel on 25/09/1997

‫ספר‬

Nov. 1997 Basil taking his ‫שבתון‬

and is doing a BMA Course 15 months

‫תורת נביאים וכתובים‬

BENNIE died 30/8/98 ‫ח׳ ֶּב ֱאלּול תשנ״ח‬

‫מדיוק היטיב על פי המסורה‬

MORRIS PASSED AWAY 6TH JANUARY 2004 ‫י״ב ְּב ֵט ֵבת תשס״ד‬
AGE 95 yrs. 11 months

‫הוגה בעיון נמרץ‬
‫על ידי‬

'‫הכחם המובהק מהו‬

‫מאיר הלוי לעטערים‬

BERLIN

PRINTED FOR THE BRITISH & FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.
1910

This page was loose inside the book.
It shows a calculation that Dad was making regarding the year

that Zeida was born - 1878
He has written 1964 - which is the year that Zeida died - and subtracted 85-

which was Zeida's age when he died and the result
is 1878 which is the year that Zeida was born.

Below that there are two dates - 9/7/46 and the
Hebrew date 9th Tamuz 5706

This is the date that Bobba died.

The date below that - 19/11/46 is the date
that his sister Jane Karpas died.

Jane was Isaac Karpas's mother. and she was the older of the two sisters - the
younger sister was Raie and she and her husband Nat

Goodman raised Isaac after Jane's death.

This was a loose page and shows Dad's calculations
of Zeida 's age, Bobba 's Yarzheit , Jane's Yarzheit and
Ben 's Yarzheit . I thought it appropriate to add Joy ,
Mom and Arthur's Yarzheits on this page and I pasted
the page into the book



THIS IS THE OPPOSITE SIDE
OF THE LAST PAGE

The address that appears on this
page is the address of Dad's
surgery in Klerksdorp.

This page has now been pasted into
the book and will be used for

further entries in the future.



‫ספר‬

‫תורת נביאים וכתובים‬

Ben Bezalel born to Sara & Kobi-12 July 2000 -‫ט׳ ְּב ַתּמּוז תש״ס‬

‫מדיוק היטיב על פי המסורה‬

‫הוגה בעיון נמרץ‬

Aharon married Meital Hasson 0n 31/5/2001 - ‫ט׳ ְּב ִסיוָן תשס״א‬

‫על ידי‬

Yael married Yuval Cohen on 4/9/2001- ‫ט״ז ֶּב ֱאלּול תשס״א‬

'‫הכחם המובהק מהו‬

Roy Kaufman born to Aharon & Meital 5/7/2002 - ‫כ״ה ְּב ַתּמּוז תשס״ב‬

‫מאיר הלוי לעטערים‬

Alon married Ayelet Rosner 19/9/2003- ‫כ״ב ֶּב ֱאלּול תשס״ג‬
Daniella & Matan born to Yael & Yuval 13/2/2005 - ‫ד׳ ַב ֲא ָדר א׳ תשס״ה‬

Tamar born to Alon & Ayelet 10/3/2005- ‫כ״ט ַּב ֲא ָדר א׳ תשס״ה‬

Sivan born to Aharon & Meital 10/6/2006-‫י״ב ְּב ִא ָיר תשס״ו‬

David marries Carmit Ben Zion 20/6/2007 - ‫ה׳ ְּב ַּתּמּוז תשס״ז‬

Yoav born to Alon & Ayelet 18/3/2008 - ‫י״א ַּב ֲא ָדר ב׳ תשס״ח‬

Shachar born to David & Carmit 7/3/2009 - ‫י״א ַּב ֲא ָדר תשס״ט‬

Adi born to Aharon & Meital 3/9/2009 - ‫י״ד ֶּב ֱאלּול תשס״ט‬

Omer born to Alon & Ayelet 22/7/2011 - ‫כ׳ ְּב ַּתּמּוז תשע״א‬

Omri born to David & Carmit 31/3/2012 - ‫ח׳ ְּב ִני ָסן תשע״ב‬

Eyal born to Lior 7/4/2014 - ‫ז׳ ְּב ִני ָסן תשע״ד‬

BERLIN

PRINTED FOR THE BRITISH & FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY.
1910

FROM LITHUANIA & LATVIA TO ISRAEL (via SOUTH AFRICA)

This project began when I took Zeida’s “Tanach Book” off the shelf so that I
could do some homework and try to update family births marriages and Yarzheits.

The original task of updating the TANACH Book has now been completed
and I thought that this would be the end but it would seem
that this is only the beginning and it has become a story.

It is a story about Jewish families whose travels took them from Lithuania
and Latvia to South Africa and then later on to make Aliyah to Israel.

The story is revealed by information gathered from;
 Zeida’s Tanach Book, and from his handwritten diary (“Tages Buch”)
 A translation of a “scroll” written by Zeida in 1954 and which describes the

history of the Maitland Hebrew Congregation.
 Mom’s birthday and wedding anniversary book.
 Photographs, letters and documents that date back from the later years of the

19th Century and the early years of the 20th Century and to the present.
 Documets and photographs of Norma’s parents, David and Fanny Fleishman.
 It is the story of my paternal grandparents Avraham Zalman and Zvia Gittel
Kaufman that begins in Laizuva, Lithuania in 1878.
 It is the story maternal grandparents Isidore Elkin and Tillie Ray Owsianick that
begins in Vishtinez, Russian Poland in 1892 and Chelm, Lithuania in 1896.
 It is the story of Norma’s parents David and Fanny (Javen) Fleishman that begins
in Dvinsk, Latvia in 1896.
 It is the story of how the Kaufman and Owsianick families were united in
Klerksdorp, in 1941, by the marriage of Morris Kaufman and Sylvia Rosalin
Owsianick and that they and their children and their respective families ALL made
Aliyah between the years 1974-1978. Norma and I, together with Aaron and Sara
made aliyah in 1974 and we were followed by my parents in 1977 and then Basil,
Sharon, Yael, Alon and Lior in 1978.

I will also record that although some of the descendants of the Kaufman and Owsianick
families are still in South Africa, most emigrated and are scattered in all four corners of
the globe, in Israel, Australia, United Kingdom and United States and I shall compile an
exact list which will become an integral part of this project.

The story begins in Laizuva, Lithuania in 1878

AVRAHAM ZALMAN KAUFMAN (KROPMAN)
ZEIDA

)‫אברהם זלמן קופמן (קראופמאנן‬
THE JOURNEY FROM LITHUANIA TO CAPE TOWN 1903
THE JOURNEY FROM CAPE TOWN TO RAMAT GAN 1961

Zeida was born in Laizuva Lithuania
on 6th February 1878 – ‫ג' באדר א תרל"ח‬
According to his diary (Tages Buch) handwritten at age 15 in 1892/3, he had the most
miserable upbringing and he knew only poverty, hunger and cold.
When his mother died 1n 1893 he decided to leave home and to enter and study in a yeshiva
and in his own words he writes that his life changed for the better.
In 1900/01 (exact date unknown) Zeida married Zvia Gittel Joffe (Bobba) and on 20th
November 1901 their first child, a boy, was born and they named him Isaac. The second child,
Charles was born on 30th May 1903 and soon after Zeida travelled to Cape Town, South
Africa and arrived in 1903 where a job as a “shochet” had been arranged for him by his
brothers-in- law Max and Hyman Joffe.
From that year on he was very active in the formation of the Maitland Hebrew Congregation
and Talmud Torah and he became Head Shochet for the Cape Peninsula Board of Shechita, a
position that he held for 45 years until his retirement in 1952.
When finances allowed he sent for Bobba and the two boys and they arrived in 1907.
Their third child, Morris Louis, was born on 26th January 1908 and thereafter came five more
children.
Jane, Tobias (Toby) and Meyer (Mike) – a twin, Raie and Ben.
Bobba passed away in 1946 and Zeida lived with Raie, Nat and their daughter Zilla- Jane until
they all made Aliyah in 1961.
Also in that household was Isaac Karpas who came to live in Cape Town after his mother Jane
had passed away in November 1946.
Jane was the eldest daughter, she had married Louis Karpas, and they lived in Koffiefontein.
Isaac was 9 years old when his mother died and Raie and Nat Goodman raised him.

The picture below is of the diary of Avraham Zalman Kropman.

This diary, TAGES=BUCH, which he calls ‫ זכרונות נעורי‬- MEMORIES OF MY YOUTH, was written in his
own hand in classical Hebrew in the Hebrew year ‫ תרנ"ג‬which corresponds to the Gregorian year
1892 and when he was just 14 years old.
The writing is spectacular in its neatness and correctness and for most, it is very difficult to read and
understand especially as at the time that Zeida wrote this diary, Hebrew was not yet a modern
language, and it was only during the late 1890’s that Eliezer Ben Yehudah (the father of modern
Hebrew) began to modernize the language.
My niece, Lior, took it upon herself to try to simplify the contents by typing it word for word and
letter for letter so that it would be easier to read and understand.
This in itself was a huge undertaking but even so, what is written is more or less in the form of
poetry and only the author or some expert in ‫( עברית של שבת‬Biblical Hebrew) would be able to
explain the thoughts and feelings behind each word and each sentence.
When one reads this diary one can only but attempt to imagine the difficult childhood and youth our
Zeida experienced in the latter decades of the 19th century.
There were hardly any times of happiness and all he ever refers to are the feelings of poverty and
hunger (never enough money to buy food), freezing cold, never sure where he would sleep at night,
a fire that wiped out almost all the houses and buildings in the village and the list goes on and on.
On one of the pages he describes his feelings after the death of his mother, he was absolutely
heartbroken and his description of the ‫( שבעה‬seven days of mourning) is so vivid and really
describes his inner feelings.

Below is my attempt at translation of some of the small sections of this fascinating document that
describe Zeida’s feelings after the death of his mother.

‫ היום כלה שבעת ימי אבלינו היום יצאתי‬.‫יום א' טו' בכסלו‬

The first day of the month of Kislev and at the end of the seven days of our mourning I went out
‫לשאוף רוח חדש אחר שבתינו שבעת ימים כלואים בביתינו‬

To breathe in some fresh air after we had been “imprisoned” in our home
‫ יגון ואפילה כאפילת מצריים‬.‫אבל אך שביבי אך חושך וצלמוות‬

Surrounded by darkness and the shadow of death and grief as the darkness of Egypt
‫כי איך אני עם חופש אחרי אשר נאסרתי בכבלי היגון‬

But how can I feel free after I have been imprisoned with grief
‫ועצבתי כי ניתש ביתינו כי היינו כקן נעזב כציפור‬

I was sad as you left our home as a mother bird leaves it’s nest
______ ‫נודד כצאן פזורות אשר מאסף אין להם‬

To roam as sheep who have no shepherd

On page he writes: this is the year 1893 – ‫תרנ"ג‬

‫יום ג' ה' שבט – היום אסע מפה לשוב אל‬
Today is the 3rd day of Shvat – today I travel from here to return to

‫ביתי השמם היינו אל אבי ואל עיר מושבי ועל הוצאת‬

the deserted home of my father in my village and the travel expenses
______ ‫הדרך נתן גיסי לי ______ אחד ועד‬

For the journey were given to me by my brother-in-law
.‫ בחצות הלילה נוסעים אנחנו‬.‫ פרוטות‬75 ‫להגעלון‬

The sum of 75 prutot. We will travel at midnight
‫יום ד' ח שבט – היום בשעה העשירית הגענו‬

4th day of Shvat. Today in the tenth hour we arrived
‫למאויק ובעבור כי אחרתי את המכונה הנוסעת‬

To “Moyak” because I missed the “travel machine”(train)
‫ אם‬.‫לוועקשנה מוכרח אנכי לישב פה כל היום‬

To Wekschnau so I had to wait here the whole day and
.‫די הכסף להוצאה אזל מכיסי‬

Without money as I had no more money in my pocket
‫יום ה' ט' שבט – אתמול בערב באתי הלום‬

5th to 9th Shvat . Yesterday evening I arrived
‫ומצאתי את אבי גר אצל שמעון החייט ללאוניר‬

To find that my father was living with Shimon the Tailor Llonid
‫אך עלי היתה רעה המעשה עד מאוד כי אך‬

And to me this was not a good sign so
‫עתה ראיתי את ההרוס והחלתי ללמוד בישיבה‬

I now I saw (and understood) the ruin so I decided to begin study in a Yeshiva
.‫כמקדם אך נהפכתי לאחר‬

And I felt that I had transformed to another (person)

It is no wonder that he dreamt of another world
where he would have a better life.



Maitland
4th August 1940

Our beloved child Moshe Leib…..may you live in good health
First of all I want to share with you that we all find ourselves thank God in good health and we hope
that this letter will find you in the best of health
And now dear child you can understand that your surprise would have been even greater but Rachel
did not want to spoil the surprise so it is twofold.
But in this case you should know that she wanted us to receive the news directly from you.
Our dear child – I cannot describe to you our happiness I wish I could but I cannot.
This can only be described as the happiness of parents and our happiness is a double one.
First, we were happy that we heard about this from you and second of all, we understood from your
letter that you have found the partner whom we hope will be your partner in your life which is the
greatest joy for a human being to find his partner and when you find it – God alone has said
- ‫ לא טוב לאדם לבדו‬- It is not good for man to be alone – that means that even when man is in
paradise he must be with his partner.
And we thank you very much for granting us the respect of a mother and a father that you did not go
and talk with Mr and Mrs Owsianick before you had our consent.
It would not have disturbed me even if you would have done it the other way but if you already did
it like this then it is very fine and gentle from your side.
And now my dear child I can give you our blessing and our congratulations and our only request it
that you should both have a long and happy life.
We hope that she will be a good child and as devoted as our own children because we know that
because you selected her she must be a good child and that she will be good to you – this is our only
wish and we hope that you will both be very happy and lucky.
That is all our beloved child that I write to you today and please convey to Mr and Mrs Owsianick
from us and I hope they will also be as content and happy as we are but I believe they know you
already a bit and that is enough for them.
And when you will speak with them and everything will be decided please convey to them in our
name our mazal tov, congratulations and also to the one you have chosen.
Live happily and we wish you all good days
A Kaufman











ZEIDA IN RAMAT GAN 1963

Zeida always wanted to live the last years of his life in Israel.
In 1961 he made Aliyah together with Raie, Nat and their daughter Zilla- Jane and
they settled in an apartment at 35 Herzl Street, Ramat Gan.
The apartment was very nearby to two small synagogues and the main Synagogue
of Ramat Gan was just a short distance to walk from the apartment.
Every morning and evening he would attend prayers and he soon made many
friends from the local community.
One of the pictures above shows Zeida happy and smiling on Simchat Torah in
Ramat Gan in 1963.
He was respected by all and lived in a very happy environment.
Soon after they had made Aliyah they were joined in 1962 by Harold and Edie and
by Phillip in 1965.
In 1963 Harold and Edie celebrated the birth of their son Ilan Israel (a Sabra) who
was born in 1963.
Ilan was Zeida’s first Great Grandchild and in fact I have a letter that Zeida wrote
to Mom & Dad to tell them how happy he is about the upcoming arrival of a
“Shabre” from Harold and Edie.

Ilan was an exceptional young man who excelled in everything that he did.
Unfortunately however, he was tragically killed in a helicopter crash while serving
on active reserve duty in the Israeli Air Force.
Ilan was 29 years old and is buried in the Military Section of the Savyon Cemetery.
There are photos above, one of Edie with Zeida and another of Harold, Ilan and
Zeida soon after Ilan was born.

The event of Ilan’s death is recorded by Dad on one of the pages of Zeida’s Tanach
Book.
In July of 1963, Mom and Dad sent Basil and I to Israel to visit Zeida. Dad felt that
as Zeida was 84 years old that there would not be many other opportunities for us
to visit him while he was still alive.
We flew EL AL the “long” way around, from Johannesburg to Tel Aviv via
Niarobi and Teheran (Iran)
I remember it as a very rich experience and we were fortunate to have been able to
spend quality time with such an honourable and interesting man.
I also remember that Harold at the time had a prospect of work in Ashdod and so
on the day of the interview he took Basil and myself along for the drive.
I remember Ashdod as a few buildings and a port which of course today is Israel’s
main port city.



CONTRACT THAT ZEIDA SIGNED
WITH Mr. HALPERIN FOR PURCHASE OF

BURIAL PLOT
ZICHRON MEIR CEMETERY – BNEI BRAK

JERUSALEM POST – 28 JANUARY 1964 – Death Notice for Reverend Abraham Zalman Kaufman

KAUFMAN FAMILY ± 1923/24

Back Row left to right: Charles. Jane. Isaac. Rachel. Morris Louis.
Front Row left to right: Tobias (Toby). Bobba. Ben. Zeida. Meyer (Mike)

KAUFMAN FAMILY 1939

Back Row left to right: Ben. Isaac & Jane Karpas. Toby. Raie. Isaac.
Front row: Charlie. Bobba. Harold. Zeida. Annie & Phillip. Morris.

Inset: Mike. Louis Karpas

KAUFMAN FAMILY 1958

Back row: Sheila.Cyril. Morris. Charlie. Raie.Nat. Phillip. Ben.Basil.Simmy.

Front row: Saville & Mike. Sylvia. Isaac. Zeida. Annie.Sonny. Toby.

Sitting: Zilla- Jane. Gita Inset: Harold. Louis Karpas. Isaac Karpas.

Isaac & Annie Louis & Jane Morris & Sylvia Toby & Diana Raie & Nat Mike & Sonny

HAROLD ISAAC CYRIL SHEILA ZILLA-JANE GITA
PHILLIP BASIL SAVILLE
SIMMY

 Isaac married Annie (Potash) and they had three sons – Harold, Phillip and Simeon (Simmy). Isaac died in

1982 and Annie died in 1995.

 Charles never married. Charles died in 1990.

 Jane married Louis Karpas and they had one son-Isaac. Jane died in 1946 and Isaac was raised by Raie and

Nat Goodman in Maitland, Cape . Louis died in 1962.

 Morris Louis married Sylvia Rosalin (Owsianick) and they had two sons – Cyril and Basil. Morris passed away

in 2004 and Sylvia in 2011.

 Tobias (Tobe) married Diana (Kiel) and they had one daughter – Sheila. Diana 9 months after Sheila was born

and Tobias died in 1967.

 Meyer (Mike) married Sonny (Joffe) and they had a daughter Gita and a son, Saville. Mike died in 1978 and

Sonny died in …………

 Rachel (Raie) married Nat Goodman and they had one daughter Zilla-Jane. Nat died in 1984 and Ray died in

1985.

 Ben married Elizabeth – Bess (Lochner). They did not have any children. Ben died in 1998 and Bess in 2016

Birthdays: Yarzheits:
Harold Kaufman– 9th June 1934
Isaac Karpas – 18th February 1938 Zeida: 16 Jan 1964 - ‫ב׳ ִּב ְׁש ָבט תשכ״ד‬
Phillip Kaufman – 21st September 1939 Bobba: 8 July 1946 - ‫ט׳ ְׁב ַתּמּוז תש״ו‬
Cyril Kaufman – 14th May 1942 Isaac: 1 June 1982 - ‫י׳ ְׁב ִּסי ָון תשמ״ב‬
Basil Kaufman – 7th July 1945 Charles: 15 May 1990 - ‫כ׳ ְׁב ִּא ָיר תש״נ‬
Simeon Kaufman - 17th June 1948 Morris Louis: 6 Jan 2004 - ‫י״ב ְׁב ֵט ֵבת תשס״ד‬
Sheila Gilinsky – 24th October 1950 Jane: 19 Nov 1946 - ‫כ״ה ְׁב ֶח ְׁש ָון תש״ז‬
Zilla- Jane Goodman – 10th June Tobias: 18 Feb 1967 - ‫ח׳ ַב ֲא ָדר א׳ תשכ״ז‬
Meyer: 31 August 1978 -‫כ״ח ְׁבָאב תשל״ח‬
Gita Stern – 15th March Rachel: 9 May 1985 - ‫י״ח ְׁב ִּא ָיר תשמ״ה‬
Saville Kaufman – 7th June Ben: 30 August 1998 - ‫ח׳ ֶב ֱאלּול תשנ״ח‬
Annie: 26 April 1995 - ‫כ״ו ְׁב ִּני ָסן תשנ״ה‬
Louis Karpas: 6th Sept. 1962- ‫ז׳ ֶב ֱאלּו תשכ״ב‬
Sylvia: 13 April 2011 - ‫ט׳ ְׁב ִּני ָסן תשע״א‬

Diana: ????????

Sonny: ??????????
Nat Goodman: 5 Mar 1984-‫א׳ ַב ֲא ָדר ב׳ תשמ״ד‬
Bess Lochner: 17 April 2016- ‫ט׳ ְׁב ִּני ָסן תשע״ו‬

TILLIE RAY OWSIANICK
GRANNY

THE JOURNEY FROM LITHUANIA TO CAPE TOWN ± 1903/4
THE JOURNEY FROM CAPE TOWN TO KLERKSDORP via OUDTSHOORN and KIMBERLEY

Tillie Ray – ‫ טויבא רחל‬- (Granny) was born in Chelm, Lithuania on 19th March 1896
to Chaim Chaikel Boner and Sarah Rivkah Miller. She was the youngest of six
children.
Some years after Tillie was born, Chaim Chaikel travelled to South Africa to seek
his fortune.
The story that I heard from Mom is as follows:
Chaim Chaikel Boner arrived in Cape Town and heard that there was a thriving
trade in the Ostrich feather business in Oudtshoorn.
In those day there was no form of public transport so he walked – about 400
kilometers –but when he arrived he found that business was not what he had heard
and so he decided to move on to the Diamond mines of Kimberley.
Again, he walked all the way to Kimberley – more than 650 kilometers - but after
futile attempts at finding diamonds he set off for the goldfields of Johannesburg.
This was another journey of about 500 kilometers and on the way Chaim stopped
in Klerksdorp as he had had enough of being on the road.
He had crossed over a small river (Schoonspruit) and was very taken with this
pretty area and decided to stay.

He opened a small produce business in 1902 – Heimann & Bonner - and when he
was more settled he brought out the family from Lithuania.

Chaim built his home in an area of Klerksdorp called Pienaarsdorp and many
times Granny would take me to show me the house where she had spent her youth.

Tillie’s mother, my Great grandmother, Sarah Rivkah (after whom my mother
Sylvia was named) died in Klerksdorp in 1905

and she is buried in the Klerksdorp Jewish Cemetery.

Chaim Chaikel Boner died in Klerksdorp in 1940
and he is buried in the Klerksdorp Jewish Cemetery.

Tillie married Isidore Elkin Owsianick (Oupa) in Klerksdorp on Wednesday 25th
November 1917 and together they had four children, Sylvia Rosalin (Mom),
Norman (died at age 2 in 1922), Ethel (Aunty Effie) and Joyce Beryl (Aunty Joy

At first they settled in a small village about 15 miles from Klerksdorp called
Hartebeesfontien and that is where their son Norman died, apparently after
having been bitten by a scorpion.

Granny decided that she wanted to be in Klerksdorp because she felt that the
medical treatment would be better there and so they moved and built their home
in Observatory Road.

GRANNY:
Thirty-five years have passed since Granny died in 1981.
She died on the 27th March only eight days after her 84th birthday.
I called her Granny and she called me “Cyrilkie” - She was known to all as Mrs. O
or Aunty Tillie.
She was nine years old in 1905 when her mother – Sara Rivkah – died during
childbirth – the family were living in a section of Klerksdorp called Pienaarsdorp.
As a young girl, not even ten years old, she took on the responsibility of helping her
father to run the household and to take care of her brothers.
I have heard from Auntie Effie that Granny told her she had seen the Halley’s
Comet in 1910 – she was travelling on the back of a cart at night when she looked
up and suddenly saw a swathe of light across the night sky.
I remember her as a larger than life personality, the most loving, kind and devoted
person who was always there to offer help, support and advice, an eternal optimist
whose only ambition in life was to do good for everyone with whom she came into
contact and that no task, big or small was too much for her.
The last time that I saw her was in July 1975 when Norma and I, Aaron and Sara
travelled to South Africa to visit Mom and Dad, one year after we had made
Aliyah to Israel. After that time and until she died I corresponded with her – we
used to write letters to each other for birthdays and other family events and I have
a letter that she wrote on 21 March 1981, only five days before she died, written to
Norma, myself, Aharon, Sara and David (we were in San Francisco) to thank us
for birthday wishes for her 84th birthday.
When Mom and Dad made Aliyah in 1977, Granny moved to Port Eliabeth to live
with Aunty Effie and Uncle Hyman and she stayed with them until she died on 27th
March 1981.

On the morning that she died Aunty Eff brought in her morning tea and left the
room for a few minutes and when she returned Granny had peacefully passed
away in this most loving environment and without any suffering.

Both the letter and the photo are shown in the following pages and I remember
that we received this letter in San Francisco a few days after Mom and Dad had
phoned us in San Francisco to tell us that Granny had passed away.

Granny is buried in the Klerksdorp Jewish Cemetery.
Johnny Rosin read the eulogy.