Who Do You Think You Are?

Ruby Lazarus, waiting to testify during the Grand Jury gambling investigation.


Photo by Frank Scherschel, Time Life Pictures: Getty Images

I always knew that Ruby Lazarus was my father's first cousin. My grandmother was the sister of Ruby's father.

Ruby Lazarus

more about Ruby Lazarus

paternal great-grandmother, goldie

This is my great-grandmother Goldie, from Minsk, who raised my (grandfather) Max who married Bessie.

paternal great-grandfather, abraham

He was a silversmith from Minsk.

this side from minsk

circa 1916?

maternal grandfather

This is my grandfather Morris, taken in about 1936... in Lakewood, NJ.

maternal grandmother

This is my grandmother Lena, from Vilna, who made the best potato latkes in the world.

this side from vilna

circa 1890?

On an old maroon table in my grandmother’s house sat an incandescent pink seashell. I would hold it to my ear and hear the far-away sounds of the ocean. In the foyer, the steady whir and flutter of the slats on off-white Venetian blinds made me sleepy... as chill winds passed through the most haunted and haunting of places: Brooklyn.