Ida Leshan Hochstein

Ancestors of Miles Hochstein (Grandmother)

Ida (Leshan) Hochstein
of the Bronx
(b. 1891, Timkovichi (Belarus), d. 1978, Long Island)

"You got your health, you got your education, the world is yours!"
Ida's favorite saying, according to her son Bob.

"The words don't matter... it's what's in the heart."
(Ida to Miles while lighting Shabbos candles
and forgetting the words of the blessing, 1975)

"The 'gossip' wasn't at all 'hot' in today 's terms, rather mundane. About shopping, about the 'super', the grades the kids were getting. Mom [Ida] might let off some steam about Sam and his books, but even that was muted I think because at some level she liked the idea that he was not ordinary. [...] In a way, it was Rockwell-like, only sort of lower middle class, urban."
(Bob Hochstein, her son, recalling Bronx life in the 1930s and 1940s)

Occupations: Fittings Buyer (for a dress house) and Homemaker

Daughter of Eliezer Leshanski and Sarah (Harakh) Leshanski.

Sister of Julius Leshan, Joe Leshan, Lilly Leshan, Sammie Leshan, Abe Leshan and Dotty Leshan.

Wife of Sam Hochstein (b. 1888, d 1964).

Mother of Elenore Lester, Paul Hochstein, Robert (aka Bob) Hochstein. Another child died at birth and she always mourned that child.

Her son Bob Hochstein recalled that his mother Ida "had stories about Timkovich which would always bring tears to her eyes, particularly the one about her grandfather, whom she much preferred to her father. When she left, he took her in his arms and said, "My darling daughter, I'll never see you again." With that, she'd burst into uncontrollable crying."

Ida told me a story about this same grandfather too. You can read it on the Avram Yitzchak Leshansky page.

My father thinks she probably began working young, possibly at age 14 or 15. She was a member of the garment workers union, and knew girls who died in the Triangle fire, or at least was very affected by this event.

Before she married she worked as a buyer of buttons and accessories for a large clothing store or manufacturer. She apparently enjoyed some freedom and independence. In later years she would tell her children that no dress could be designed (or manufactured?) unless she gave the go ahead. Whether her importance was exaggerated, or not, it was certainly felt. She tasted the independence that came with a job and some level of responsibility, and spoke of this experience years later, emphasizing her important role.

In 1976 I sat with Ida on the porch of her Long Island senior residence in the late afternoon sun. She held my hand. I was a little anxious. I didn't know what to make of this old lady whom I hardly knew or remembered at all, since we lived in California.

She began to tell me a story of when she was a young woman in New York, and how a man she knew made a pass at her and "threw her on a bed", and she how had said "what kind of girl do think I am!" and refused him. In my memory, she is laughing as she tells me this, recalling the excitement of her younger days.

As a young man of 16, I didn't know what to make of this picture of the turn-of-the-century love life of my 70 plus year old grandmother. Perhaps she was trying to tell me something simple and profound, trying to say"I was young once, an attractive woman, desired by men, alive. I was not always the wrinkled old lady you see now." Or maybe she was just trying to tell me not to get my girlfriend pregnant? I also recall that she was very pleased that my girlfriend at the time was Jewish.

While working, her future husband Sam Hochstein took notice of her, (possibly was introduced to her by a cousin according to Bob Hochstein), and began to write her lengthy love letters. My father saw some of these love letters and said they were very beautiful and touching. Sadly they were lost when my aunt Elenore Lester, Ida's daughter, the keeper of family mementos, died

I asked Bob Hochstein, Ida's son, a few questions by email.

Miles- How did Ida and Sam Meet?

Bob - I know there was that courtly letter to Mom's older bother asking him if it was okay to "call" on Mom at some future date after meeting her for the first time.

I don't know what happened to the letter. I just have a feeling it was love at first sight on the part of Dad.

I heard Mom later say she didn't like his shyness but did think he was so very handsome. My guess, though, the chemistry was there from the beginning.

Don't know anything about how they first [met] or [how] the relationship developed over time. From old pictures, you do get the impression of two attractive people.

Her Son Bob Hochstein Remembered the 1930s and early 1940s in the Bronx

Bob - The time I best remember Mom [Ida] was during the war years. She got along extremely well with the neighbors with whom she spent afternoons outside when the weather permitted. They would for the most part talk in Yiddish. I think a lot of the talk was about their children, the younger ones in school, the older ones in war. On the latter, a big question was always, "Did you get any mail?"

All the women, typically in a group of three to five, would sit on little folding chairs in a semicircle. That picture of them is very clear in my mind. They would discuss seemingly mundane things but stuff important to their lives--what's on sale, whether rents will be raised, and their various connected families in other neighborhoods and in Jersey and on Long Island.

My sense was that the "gossip" wasn't at all "hot" in today 's terms, rather mundane. About shopping, about the "super" [building superintendent], the grades the kids were getting. I guess Mom might let off some steam about Sam and his books, but even that was muted I think because at some level she like the idea that he was not ordinary.

I think, too, they discussed the "news" which of course meant the war. The war was very big, just like the depression had been. For them, for me, for everybody. There was bonding around that topic. They didn't worry about the kids much, they played in the streets afternoons and did their homework after supper.

In a way, it was a Rockwell-like, only sort lower middle class, urban. Never heard about juicy gossip, except I recall there was one younger, attractive woman who always dressed to nines and there was wonderment about how she could afford the clothes.

The memory of all that grows dim and their conversations couldn't have interested me less.

Bob Hochstein, August 2001

Above: Middle Age -Ida Hochstein in the apartment her husband Sam Hochstein filled with books. Picture likely from late 1940s to early 1950s

Above: In the picture above, dated "10-59" (Ida would be 68 years old) left to right, my aunt Elenore Lester, my grandmother Ida Hochstein, my mother Gianna Hochstein, and myself, as a newborn.

Above: Ida holding my brother Evon, while I hold his wrist, 1962, age 73.

I (Miles) have a few memories of my grandmother Ida, from her senior residence home on Long Island in 1975, during the one visit I ever made to see her there.

The first involves her lighting the Shabbat candles. It was Friday evening. The residents of the home all lit candles in a sandbox prepared for the purpose. I had probably never seen this ritual in my life. She lit her candles with shaking hands, waved her hands over the candles, and covered her eyes, as is the custom. She started the blessing and then stopped...not quite able to remember the words... and then she said to me, or to no one in particular...."the words don't matter, it's what's in the heart..." I think that could safely sum up her attitude toward religion.

And indeed, even as wrinkled old lady, she retained a strong personality. In that same retirement home where I visited her there were few, if any, eligible single men, other than the famous star of the Yiddish theater, one Mr. Lapinsky. Her husband Sam was already 10 years dead by this time. She was assiduously and passionately courted by Mr. Lapinsky.

He sang songs to her and read poems to her every night. He implored her to marry him. For whatever reason, she refused to do so, saying she was concerned about "his heart."

But they became a couple, and spent their time together. The fact that she was able in her late 70s to be loved, and to love a second time, strikes me as both extraordinary good fortune, and confirmation of the warmth of her personality that I sensed in my few visits with her.

The other bit of evidence I have of her sociable, or strong, personality was a story I was told about how the residents of the retirement home were given a microphone and a loudspeaker with which to speak to the other residents. Ida apparently had a great deal to say and enjoyed this immensely. I had the impression that she rather dominated the microphone and the discussion at the retirement home.

Above: Ida Leshan and "Mr. Lapinksy", circa 1973. Mr. Lapinsky had three daughters.

Above: Youth: Ida ca 1910, at age 17 to 19, with her mother in the foreground.

Above: Middle Age: Ida in July 1936 (dated on back of photo), around the age of 45, Bronx, New York.

... she did work in a dress house for quite a period. How important that job was I don't know. But she talked about it in a serious way, [about] having an important role.

She talked about the famous Triangle fire when dozens if not hundred of girls died in garment factory fire. Most were Jewish and Italian, new immigrants and Mom would say she knew some of them. The Triangle fire led almost directly to the establishment of the Ladies International Garment Union, which was a huge political force in NY politics from 30's on into the post-war era.

Bob Hochstein, Summer 2001

Above: Ida Hochstein with husband Sam Hochstein, circa 1937-1938 (estimated by PH)

Above: Middle Age: Ida's working life as a housewife in the Bronx. Picture likely from late 1940s to mid-1950s.

Above: Sam and Ida Hochstein at the wedding of their son, Paul Hochstein, 1956. Ida was 65 years old.

Vignettes

One of Mom's endless cries was, "Sam, how are we going to pay the rent." Years after Dad died, she always maintained that she never had an argument with Dad. Alas, we do in curious way invent ourselves. Don't think I'm doing that yet but who knows, maybe I will as time goes on. More stuff.

Ida's favorite saying, intoned with a Yiddish accent, was, "you got your health, you got your education, the world is yours." But neither she nor Dad were pushy parents in any conventional sense. Though Dad, consciously or unconsciously, led by example. I certainly read more books than any of my friends in high school, most of whom got better marks than me but simply didn't read books.

Mom was not literate, no formal education beyond early grade school, but I can't recall her saying dumb things. [...] Mom, incidentally, always said there was something wrong with her eyes that wasn't fixable and that's why she couldn't read. Sounds odd but who knows. Perhaps she was simply embarrassed by [her] inability to read. Don't know.

Roosevelt's death hit her, like many others, terribly hard. I remember coming home from play and she was bawling like a baby and pointing to the radio, "he's dead, he's dead, how are we going to win?" But lots of people were crying on that day. After seeing her calm down, I went downstairs and shot basketball through fire escape hoops. I knew we'd win.

More than you need and want I guess. But you force me to think about stuff that had receded in memory. Peace. Bob.

Bob Hochstein, June 2001

Above: Ida Leshan Hochstein, with her husband Sam Hochstein in the 1950s.

Ida's siblings were:

1) Julius Leshan, married Rose Adelson, had three children, Shirley, Larry and Edward, and numerous grandchildren. Shirley married Noah Kassman. Larry married Edith and may have one daughter, Wendy. Edward married Paulette Dreyfus and they had five children, Laurie, Eric, Nina, Noel, and Bruce. Laurie married Jorge Gomez and has at least one child, Lorenzo. Eric died in 2001. Nina and David Buck have four children, Sierra, Kaibrina, Anisa, and Nathaniel. Noel and Tom Hicks have two children.. Tracy and Bruce Polster have two children.

2) Lily Leshan, married Will, had two children, Mona and Violet. Mona married Alfred and had Anita, Barbara and Ronald. Violet married Edward Lippman and had two children, Robert Lippman and Richard Lipman. Robert Lippman married Marlene and had Evelyn, Julia and Laura. Richard Lippman married Celi and had Phillip.

3) Joe Leshan (died before married)

4) Samuel Leshan, married Leona, had two children, Jay and Ellen. Jay married Adie. Ellen married a Corson, and had two children, one named Jeff, other not known by me. Jeff married (Pauline?), and has at least one child Jessie.

5) Abe Leshan, married Ann, and had two children, David and Emily. Emily Leshan married Peter Sampton and has three sons, Zachary, Noah and Daniel, and Daniel has at least one child. David Leshan married Polly Evans and has three children, Erica, Timothy and Alison, and several grandchildren.

6) Dotty Leshan, no children. My great aunt Dorothy Leshan is the sole surviving sibling. She was born in 1905, and is still sharp. You do the math.

Above and left: Ida Hochstein (about age 84) and star of the Yiddish theater, Mr. Lapinsky, at their Long Island senior residence home. (circa 1975)

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2004 March revision