Elinor and William Ziv

Dear Aunt Ellie,
Would like to wish you a wonderful birthday, full of happiness נחת, health and everything you wish for yourself. May you continue to be a power Tower. It is said בן 80 לגבורות, the word in Hebrew can be translated in a few ways, of them are being a hero and being one who overcomes obstacles. To me you are both - a hero and a woman that powers her way through obstacles. I wish we will see each other soon.
love you,
Ilana Stevie & kids

Beautiful Queen Esther on Purim, Esther Enya, is how I first remember my dear older sister. Her magical golden hair that Mom was so proud of, her stomp of the foot that I was told about when she tattled that our older brother had created a puddle that she was standing in and all the laughter surrounding the story as told year after year, her competitive nature that was highlighted in talking in her sleep after playing a game of chess- King check she announced in her sleep. Memories of South Haven and riding the waves on innertubes, summer through the South on the way to Florida reading Burma Shave signs forwards and backwards, St Augustine when the petite one could pay child's fare and the tall skinny one was to pay adult fees. I remember Passover at her home on Fair Oaks Lane where she and Bill generously put up our family of five- all of the cousins playing together in the warmth of her home. NOW it has magically become an 80th birthday and I am not sure how the time passed Elinor does not look or act 80 She is always on the go -in her car, her rapid gait, her quick mind beating the Jeopardy contestants. May you, my dearest sister, continue to be strong in mind and body until 120. Much love, Your baby sister Louise Elka Leah

Dear Aunt Elly

It is hard for me to believe that you have already reached Gevurot!

יְמֵי שְנֹותֵינּו בָהֶם שִׁבְעִׁים שָנָה וְאִׁם בִׁגְבּורֹת שְמֹונִׁים שָנָה" : 10 .v 90. chp Tehillim (man's life is 70 years and for the strong 80) גבורות!

Wasn't it just yesterday you came all the way to Israel for some of your nephew / niece and also some of the "great" nephew / niece weddings? If that isn't true love than what is?

Wasn't it just yesterday when I brought my new wife and son to the USA for the first time in my life, after making Aliya' and had such a warm greeting by you? You immediately fell in love with my wife and praised her how sweet she is (while all the while you forgot that I was your nephew not my wife! But I Can't really blame you, Sefi is special and overshadows me with her inner and outer beauty).

Wasn't it just yesterday how you really went out of your way and helped me out when I made those trips to the states to help Fundraise for the Halacha Brura Institute I worked for. That is true love too!

Wasn't it just yesterday that you were here for one of the most enjoyable & meaningful Pesach's we spent a together, with your entire family and ours - the ZIV / COHEN seder! Where all us first cousins (and second cousins too)' got to meet each other after so many years?! That showed me how much Family means to you! It was important for you that we should know each other, so you rented a bus for your whole family so we could spend more time together and tour the land at the same time. It was true Quality time we spent together all of us on that unforgettable magical bonding trip to Israel.

Wasn't it just yesterday that you were here and I took You & Uncle Bill along with Aunt louise & Uncle Allan (and Abby & Shifra) on the trip up to almost the whole northern part of Israel?!

Wasn't it just yesterday that we used to play Backgammon over the internet?

Wasn't it just yesterday that you hosted my two sons who came for a visit to get to know their American realitives better? They came back with a true feeling that they are part of a close family despite the time & distance factor, that to others, may have had a different effect.

Wasn't it just a little over half a year ago that we had a private lesson (an hour long about tu be'av)?
Oh yea it was! That I remember.

On the other hand, it has been a long time when I think all the way back of my childhood in the USA exerting my grey cells, to conjure up all those sweet memories. Like getting together on thanksgiving at Grandma & Booboo's house in their basement. The grownups sitting around after the meal while Eli & I used to tease Eddy z"l so he would chase after us all through the house. (Afterwards I always had guilty conscience, that you got angry at him for miss behavior). Going on a boat ride in Uncle Bills boat (even though I remember someone threw up afterwards, but still it was lots of fun). Or going to the Cincinnati Zoo and enjoying a VIP visit with the monkeys (if I remember correctly, they were donated by Grandpa Fred or Nany Ray and Named after Robert Nelson and Edward z"l). Or coming over every year on Chanukah and while all the grownups were busy, we would play with all the latest cool new games that would come out at Christmas time (hahaha).

So if I sum it up, for me it was always fun meeting up with Aunt Elly wherever, whenever, however, the circumstances! I always felt how much you cared for me and for that sake, for all of your nephews and nieces too!

My Dear Aunt Elly, I'm sure that reaching Gevurot you can now look back at what you & Uncle Bill have built together, and be proud. A wonderful family who radiates the same family values they learned from you love and loyalty to family, always caring for others. That goes for the larger mishpacha of Klal Yisrael too! I know of many of your Tzedakah & chesed deeds (but not all, only because of your modesty and that there have been so many things you have done over the years for others I can't even begin to write them down and you yourself probably forgot some of them because there were, and are, so many good deeds over so many years you have volunteered for, organized and donated both in time and money, but even more so things that cannot be measured even by those two standards . I am very proud to be one of your nephews, you are a role model for me as what love and affection should be as an uncle, but alas I cannot live up to your standards.

My blessing to my still beautiful both inner an outward Aunt, is that may hashem bless you that the next 40 years be as successful as these past 80 years. May they be even more enjoyable and happy than they were, and may they be healthier years for you and Uncle Bill by your side, surrounded by your loved ones.

Bubby and Zaidy,
To come up with a, single, memory would be a disservice to and minimize the greatness of your legacy--your amazing, wonderful, fun, kind, caring, loving, and very special family. As someone who was zoche, who had the privilege, to marry into the family, I have always marveled at and been impressed by the family you've built. From day one, you welcomed me as your grandson, not your granddaughter's husband, but YOUR grandson. And for a while, I was both your oldest and newest grandson, a fun brain teaser for others to try to unravel. My first Pesach as part of the family, you generously gifted me a Pesach machzor, the same one you had gifted all your grandchildren the year prior. This extremely generous act, was merely a drop in the ocean of acts embodying your love, kindness, and desire to include me (and others) equally as part of the family. The countless Shabbatot we spent together, the middle-of-the-night Scrabble and Bananagrams games, and the countless other occasions and events (you'll have to ask Zaidy...he remembers the rest) are all examples of your boundless love for and desire to build, strengthen, and enable your family. There are 86,400 seconds in a day and it's up to us to decide what to do with them. We are all eternally fortunate that you have devoted your time each day to your family, and we're better as a result-- and that's your legacy.

ב"ה
HAPPY EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY
To my sweet and lovely sister Ester Enya

Well, who would have believed eighty years ago that we would be here at this time and with so much to be thankful for. I won’t enumerate them, you know them well. I’m sure that with all your family sharing in your simcha, you can count your blessings. I just feel so bad that Corona has interrupted our ability to join with you at such an historic time in your life.
It doesn’t stop me though from remembering some of the fun things we did growing up together. For example do you remember in St Louis, (you were 6 & I was 12), walking on Friday nights, to a nearby closed liquor store and watching the wrestling matches on the screen of the TV set they left on in their store window till we froze from cold? And what about the games we invented to play while Mom and Dad weren’t home, like airplane! You were the stewardess and I was the pilot. I set up Mom’s lovely, expensive, dining room chairs in a row as an airplane and stuck into the backs of the chairs tinker toys that became the planes joystick/steering wheel & control panel! But when Mom came home and saw what I had done to her lovely chair backs, the fun ended for me to say the least and no more!!
Anyway, I will just say we did have fun and I hope we will have many more opportunities to share great times together. The more personal things I will save till we are together, so just let me say, as is the Psalmist says in T’hillim (Psalm # 90), “The days of our years are 70 but with strength they are 80”.
May you have that and many many more, all filled with Health, Happiness and many Friends & Family!
With Love, your brother, Al, Elchanan

To my dear sister Elly,

With health and happiness may you live a long life
And as they say, with lots of freilachen, “nachas” and mazel
We hope that every single day, something nice will come your way.

May you have many, many more birthdays with family and friends
And now enjoy this special one with love and thanks to the holy one above.

How do you put a lifetime of memories into a text box? One of my favorites is of no particular significance on it's own, but it always makes me smile. One time when we drove from New York to Cincinnati to visit I remember us getting in very late at night (whatever that means in 8 year old terms). We were tired and grumpy until we got inside and there were sloppy joe's waiting for us in the bright yellow kitchen with the white table and the bench we all wanted to sit in. That memory is one of many wonderful memories I have with you both in that house, but the memories are certainly not limited by location. I remember you bringing a Lambie to Eli in the hospital, continuing a favorite tradition. I remember magic shows and plays and and corn on the side of the road when I got to spend time with you in the summer. I remember snuggling in your bed watching movies, popcorn on shabbos, Teddy Behrman, singing in Grammy's apartment, and scrabble and Friday night dinner's in the apartment building. I can't pick a memory when there are so so many and I could go on forever. I love you!

I remember spending time with Aunt Elly and Uncle Bill and my cousins at their beautiful home when I was little, and have felt always felt a special connection to them. Aunt Elly always had a giant puzzle in process, and I'm sure that's where I got my own love for puzzles! It has been special to celebrate family simchas with them like my daughters' bat mitzvahs (we missed them at my son's bar mitzvah... but, COVID) and loved it when they came to visit us in NYC when David and I were honored at our shul several years ago. And once my daughter was diagnosed with T1D, Uncle Bill was a great resource for "talking diabetes." Sending much love to Aunt Elly on her 80th birthday!

Mazel Tov on your 80th Birthday Aunt Elli!

May the day be filled with happiness and hoping all your birthday wishes come true!

Love, Liz and J Willie (Wolf)