Welcome to the 1st edition of the Bender Family Newsletter! This letter is for descendants of Chaim and Rachael Bender, who immigrated to Seattle from Eastern Europe. |
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Reunion Update Thank you very much to those who attended the Family Reunion on the weekend of July 16-17 in Seattle! Over 150 descendants of Chaim and Rachael Bender celebrated together, exactly 100 years after the last of the original Bender siblings reunited with their family in Seattle. Please see a recap video of the event below. A huge thank you to Alex Ellison (Great-Grandson of Morris Bender) for taking all of the video of the speeches. |
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Chaim Bender Death Certificate Found The Death Certificate of Chaim Feiva Bender, the oldest Bender to immigrate to the US, was recently located. Chaim came to Seattle from Riga in 1922 with his wife, Rachael Friedman Bender, and children Ada, Anna, Max, Jennie and Nathan to join their older children already there. At the time of his death, Chaim was a shoe maker who lived at 528 19th Avenue in Seattle. Up until now, we didn’t know the exact date of Chaim’s birth, where he was born, or the name of his mother. According to the Death Certificate, Chaim was born in Pumpyan, Russia (now in the northeastern part of Lithuania) on March 22, 1858. His father was a rabbi, Yankle (Jacob) Bender. Chaim’s mother’s name was Rebecca. Rebecca was the second wife of Yankle. To the best of our knowledge, Chaim was the only child of Yankle and Rebecca. -Jay Schupack, Grandson of Morris Bender |
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How are you and your family related to Chaim? Click below to view and find your name in the Bender family tree... |
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Individual Family Trees Now Updated Online Speaking of family trees - thanks to the tireless work of Kathy Lewis, all Bender Family Trees are now updated online at BenderReunion.com with birth years, and more. Please let us know if you see any errors (or new additions!) and we will correct as soon as we can. Thank you Kathy! |
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Bender Family History in Libraries The Bender reunion book, A Cobbler and A Seamstress, describes the Bender family's life in Russia, their immigration, and the family’s transformation to proud Americans. Efforts are being made to place the book in libraries that document family history. To date, it is formally in The Family History Library in Salt Lake City, UT, The Jacob Rader Center of the American Jewish Archives, Cincinnati, OH, the Seattle Public Library Special Collections Section, the Museum of History and Industry (MOHAI) in Seattle and the Temple De Hirsch Sinai Library. Additional libraries and organizations are considering including it in their collections. Announcements will be made in the future as libraries accept the book. -Jay Schupack, Grandson of Morris Bender |
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Benders and Friedmans Prominent in Tacoma Looking for family history? Check out Tacoma’s Shul, by Deborah K. Freedman and Harold G. Friedman, 2022. It documents the history of Tacoma’s synagogues, and includes 212 biographical sketc hes of people significant in Tacoma’s Jewish history. More than 100 members of the Bender-Friedman family are profiled and/or pictured. The book uses stories pulled from Tacoma’s newspapers along with research by its authors to write the narrative of a close-knit Jewish community… that began as a minyan in the early 1890’s. Tacoma’s Shul is available from Amazon. -Jay Schupack, Grandson of Morris Bender | | |
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Bender Family Announcements |
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Mazel Tov to Jerry and Nancy Fink on celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary in August 2022 in Chicago. Nancy is the daughter of David and Sylvia Goldenberg and granddaughter of Morris and Ada (Bender) Schain. Mazel Tov to Hannah Louise Ellison and Anirudh Shivkumar on their upcoming wedding at The Fairmont Olympic Hotel in Seattle on January 15, 2023. The family traveled to Chennai, India in August to celebrate and participate in a Tamil wedding ceremony. Hannah is the daughter of Gary and Robin Ellison, granddaughter of Jack and Harriet Meyers, and great-granddaughter of Morris and Clara Bender. Mazel Tov to Aria Bender on her Bat Mitzvah in June 2022 at Congregation Beth Israel in Vancouver, Canada. Aria is the daughter of Josh and Talia Bender, granddaughter of Arnold and Sarah Bender, and great-granddaughter of Nate and Sonia Bender. Mazel Tov to Oliver Jay Shutt on his upcoming Bar Mitzvah in March 2023 at Temple de Hirsch Sinai in Seattle. Oliver is the son of Lynne Kremen, grandson of Marilyn and Brian Kremen, great-grandson of Carolyn and Ben Masin and great-great-grandson of Eman and Vera (Bender) Masin.
Have an announcement for the next newsletter? Send us an email with the details. |
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The oldest living grandchildren of Chaim and Rachael are Sylvia Schain Goldenberg (daughter of Ada Bender), 96 years old, and Allen "Buddy" Kosin (son of Anna Bender), 94 years old. Sylvia sent video greetings for the reunion, and Buddy recited the Hamotzi over the Challah at the reunion brunch. See both videos below. |
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Were you forwarded this email by another member of the Bender family? Connect with the family by visiting BenderReunion.com and clicking on the top right "Bender Family Log In". By logging in, you will be able to connect directly with other members of the Bender family. All requests are subject to moderator approval, and are limited to descendants of the Bender family, either directly or through marriage. |
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Alternatively, just send me an email with your information and I will get you set up. -Josh Bender, Grandson of Nate Bender |
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