ALUMNI ASSOCIATION HNOH/HARTMAN HOMECREST
CHEROKEE STATION
P. O. BOX 20124
NEW YORK, NY 10021-0062

**********

For Membership Dues: Please make checks payable to:
"JCCA/HHH Alumni"

For RK Scholarship Fund: Please make checks payable to:
"JCCA/Reuben Koftoff Scholar-ship Fund"

Both may be mailed to:

Lou Amber
Cherokee Station
P.O. Box 20124
New York, NY, 10021-0062

CONTENTS

WHY A KOFTOFF MEMORIAL FUND?

"OUR LAST HURRAH"
by Tom Bondy, Committee Chairman

Reuben Koftoff was a father figure to all of us at HNOH/HARTMAN/HOMECREST who earned our respect by just being who he was---a man's man, never screaming or cursing. his look told you how wrong you were when misbehaving. He made men out of boys, had them stand on their own two feet, and did it without fanfare or bragging.

This is our last hurrah, this man should have been acknowledged and honored 1000 times, not just by a lovely testimonial dinner by his "boys to men" in 1977.

I've often asked myself "What is the alumni association truly about?" Do we give to some charities? Do we take care of our own? Do we meet every few years, with diminishing ranks? How do we see the future of our alumni organization?

We have an opportunity here to honor Mr. K with something he would be truly proud of. He was a man that believed in higher education and this fund will perpetuate his name and memory.

We, his boys, respected Mr. K to the point that all he had to do was look at us and with his smile we knew that all would be okay.

So, now it is up to us to make this fund in his name successful and something we can all be proud of. It will add a function and purpose to our alumni association that can only enhance it and provide incentive for its continuance. It is up to all of us to give this man his due and at the same time provide additional substance to our cherished organization. Thank you.

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THOUGHTS ABOUT THE REUBEN KOFTOFF MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND

By Sam George Arcus

Preface

I'm quite certain, and proud, that I was the first alumnus to benefit from Reuben Koftoff's devotion to higher education---even before he was able to fully put into place the program that later benefited other alumni such as Bill Weinstein, Rick Safran, Lou Amber, Charlie Gelman and 40 or more other alumni.

In 1940, when I left the HNOH, Mr. K obtained a scholarship for me at the Universal School of Handicrafts and simultaneously appointed me the Arts & Crafts Instructor for the HNOH. I continued in this capacity (coming regularly on Sundays) for several years with Mr. Koftoff urging me to begin my higher education at CCNY even if it meant going to night school. In 1947 I graduated from CCNY with my BSS (social science) degree, was awarded the Ward Medal for sociology and had been accepted by the Columbia University School of Social Work.

But I had only enough money for my first year of graduate study of a two-year program and shared my concerns with Mr. K. He urged me to make the two-year commitment, assuring me that somehow he would come up with the remaining monies---at the time $600! And he did---going from Sam Field (President) to dozens of other men and women. By the time I was finishing my first year, he sent me a check for $600 so that I could pay my second year's tuition!

I received my MSW degree in 1949, nine years after having left the Home! At Mr. K's suggestion, I sent a letter to Mr. Bernard Goldenberg, Chairman of the Joseph Cohen Memorial Scholarship fund of the HNOH. In it, I thanked the Home for making it possible for one of its "graduates" to enter the field of professional social work and thus help other families and their children. That "Letter From One of Our Boys" was published in the Souvenir Journal-Year Book accompanying the Bar Mitzvah Banquet held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Sunday, April 10, 1949. It is now part of the archives of the HNOH/Homecrest/Hartman an affiliate of the Jewish Child Care Association of New York.

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BIRTH AND DEVELOPMENT

By Richard (Rick) Safran

1) How It Began

Just under five years ago a group of men, "alumni" of The Hebrew National Orphan Home (HNOH), ranging in age from 65 to 79 met at various times and talked. They were able to speak to one another with the honesty and candor of those who have known each other for years and with whom trust is as taken for granted as the air they breathed, men bonded together in their youth by unique experiences "civilians" could not understand. They could speak to one another about their failures and losses as well as their strengths, experiences and hopes. All had shared a sojourn in an orphanage; all had careers in which they achieved a degree of economic stability (including seeing their children complete college); all felt a need to "give back" to the type of community that had given them the opportunity not simply to survive, but also to grow and flourish.

Consistently linked to their conversations were their various experiences with the Executive Director of their orphanage, Reuben Koftoff, a man who began his career in childcare as a prison guard, a man who who realized that his time might be better applied by providing experiences and opportunities for boys before they became men spending many years of their life as incarcerated felons. The former orphans agreed that the older they became, the more they marveled at the impact this single man had on their lives. He not only changed the orphanage by renovating and restructuring the physical environment (finding the dollars to change hundred-bed dormitories into smaller rooms with five beds with individual closets and study tables), he also encouraged and enabled them to redefine themselves and raise their goals. He encouraged them to attend college (often raising scholarship moneys for them to pursue a wider vision of living). His caring attention to both details and general issues where "his" boys were concerned is legendary.

Today, to a large measure because of "RK's" endeavors, several generations of children raised in residential institutions have taken their place in communities across the country as ordinary citizens (and sometimes as extraordinary citizens contributing in outstanding ways to their communities) , accepting their risks in the marketplace, in the community hall, and in all the social and political arenas. They (we) are more like other citizens who have engaged in the struggle to survive, to grow and to flourish. Because of the presence of Reuben Koftoff in their lives, the group was able to move beyond the limitations of their earlier orphan status. Despite whatever scars they may carry, most of the Koftoff Era boys have grown-up and joined the community they once envied and looked at longingly. Reuben Koftoff would have understood and appreciated what it took to get there. These men have learned to appreciate the importance of and understand the opportunity offered to "kids like us" and are determined to keep alive the spirit exemplified by Reuben Koftoff as a living legacy.

2) The Quest for a Concept

The conversations of the men who were once described in the New York Social Workers Handbook as "orphans, half-orphans, neglected and destitute children" kept focusing on a recurring theme, how best to develop a fitting memorial to Reuben Koftoff. There was general agreement that a fund of some sort offering education and training for "kids like us" would be appropriate, but the idea of finding and screening those young people in addition to fund-raising was problematic. Then, too, the issue of whether or not the fund should be restricted to Jewish children arose and was discussed. Opinions covered all sides. Agreement became unanimous when the discussion focused on the role of the Jewish Child Care Association today, the organization that had, in years past, administrative jurisdiction over a number of Jewish institutions in New York City. The fledgling RK Fund awards would go to children without regard to religion, race, gender, or gender preference.The JCCA now not only worked with Jewish children, but in dealing with the New York of today, provided services to families of all races and religions found in New York. The JCCA also had a scholarship program with screening procedures supervised by a Scholarship Coordinator Social Worker. Agreement was quickly reached that if the JCCA would accept the "RK Fund Program" (still the informal designation of the program to be) and permit the establishment of an endowment fund whose interest could be used to generate an annual award, and that the orphanage alumni group could choose the recipient of its award from a number vetted by the JCCA, the RK Fund would become part of the JCCA's scholarship award unit. The group agreed to contact the members of the HNOH Alumni Association and ask them to contribute to this new endeavor. Rick Safran, HNOH '53, who had been the editor of the alumni newsletter before Sam Arcus, HNOH '40 took over in 2002 (both men organizing members of the scholarship proposal), had earlier proposed to the Alumni just such a liaison with the JCCA urging that "before we sputter out, we organize a worthy endeavor beyond ourselves, one last burst of incandescent organizational energy handing the torch of opportunity to another generation of "kids like us."

3) First Steps--The Formal Beginning

Thomas J. Bondy, HNOH '53, the individual who organized the current RK Fund group was elected Chairman of our casual group and set about creating an action plan. After negotiations with the JCCA took place with Rick Safran, and E. Louis Amber, President of the HNOH Alumni Association (both living in New York City), meeting with JCCA representatives (Paul Gitelson, Executive Director; Jane Barowitz, Communications/Development Director; Jeff Dube, V.P. Finance, a bank account in the name of JCCA/Reuben Koftoff Memorial Scholarship Fund was opened for all RK Fund contributions, to be administered by the JCCA.

Tom sent out a letter to all HNOH Alumni (using the HNOH Alumni Association mailing list, but using only donations from the committee members for postage, printing and expenses) advocating a memorial to Reuben Koftoff in the form of a scholarship fund. The original target was $5000. The idea became a reality as responses were positive: $13,000 was collected: The Reuben Koftoff Memorial Scholarship Fund was a reality.

Cooperation by the JCCA continued. Their own Scholarship Coordinator, Helen Solomon, a professional social worker and faculty member at the Fordham University School of Social Work would provide six candidates screened by JCCA and their general backgrounds and goals. The RK Committee members would select one or more for scholarship awards. . .A brief profile of kids who were awarded first funding (without names) and where they are today: one working in her field of x-ray technology; one about to graduate Columbia University, and one about to graduate with a graduate degree from Fordham University in Social Work.

Please note that checks should be made payable to:

JCCA/Rueben Koftoff Memorial Scholarship Fund.

[CONTENTS]

WHO WE ARE:

Every graduate of the Hebrew National Orphan Home and of its successor institutions automatically is a member of the Alumni Association.

The Alumni basically is a fraternal and social organization........

The ALUMNUS, is the official publication of the Association.

CREDO
"...it shall be the purpose and aim of the Alumni Association to maintain, advance and perpetuate the bonds of friendship and brotherliness acquired and developed by its members in past years at the Hebrew National Orphan Home and its successor institutions and agencies."
---from the Alumni Association Constitution

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HISTORY:

The following is an excerpt as remembered by Irwin Abrams (Former HNOH Alumni President,currently President,Florida HNOH Alumni), from an issue of The Alumnus, dated October 1997.

"In September 1925, having reached the age of 16, the Home decided I was ready for the outside world and found a job for me..........A number of boys left the Home at about the same time as I did. We banded together and called ourselves the ALYONS (meaning the Alumni from Yonkers). We met regularly at the Central Jewish Institute, joining the basketball league there..........Later we formed an Alumni Association consisting of boys who left the Home before and after us. At is peak, it numbered about 1000, I think. We kept in touch. Even to this day, we keep in touch, the Florida group, in close contact with the NYC group..........Not too many of us left now. But we still remember---happily for the most part---the days and years at the HNOH."

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GIRLS? IN THE ALUMNI?

reation of Hartman-Homecrest through merger has evoked among HNOH-Homecrest alumni a greater curiosity about the history of the Hartman Home. It also has created a most interesting and, to some, probably intriguing development for the Alumni Association. First, let's get briefly to the history.

The origins, growth, development of program and social philosophies of the Hartman Home parallels closely those of HNOH-Homecrest. The Hartman institution came into being in 1917 as The Israel Orphan Asylum. It was located on New York's Lower East Side. The I.O.A. was to be conducted in accordance with the orthodox tenets of the Jewish faith.

The I.O.A. differed from the then existent H.N.O.H. in two primary respects. It cared for orphaned tots, ages one to five. It accepted girls as well as boys. The H.N.O.H. admitted children ages 6 to 12. It accepted boys only. Like the H.N.O.H. move from the tenement-filled lower East Side to Yonkers, the I.O.A. in 1944 transferred its charges to the healthier atmosphere of Far Rockaway. At about the same time that the H.N.O.H. changed its name to Homecrest, the I.O.A. in 1953 changed its name to The Gustave Hartman Home For Children. Note that both institutions dropped the word "orphan" apparently in recognition of the changing social conditions of the time, and the changing character of the youngsters in their care. A few year before the change in name, the I.O.A. was accepting children ages 7 to 14 in departure from its original policy of caring only for tots under six. The policy of caring for girls as well as boys remained.

The new name was in tribute to the founder of the I.O.A. It was Judge Gustave Hartman who in 1921 initiated the now famous Annual All-Star Benefit Show and Fashion Revue at Madison Square Garden. The show was held under the name of Hartman-Homecrest in 1957 and 1958.

The merger of the two institutions presents an unusual development for the Alumni Association. The Alumni constitution clearly states that all graduates of the H.N.O.H. "and its successor institutions and agencies" are eligible and automatically are member of the Alumni Association. Somewhere there must be a goodly number of females ready to assert their eligibility for membership in our Alumni Association. Might crop up at any meeting.

Best we could find in the files of the I.O.A. is the photo above. Wonder what they look like now......

(From the 1958 HNOH Alumni Journal)

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OFFICERS:

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NEWSLETTER:

"The Alumnus" - The Voice Of The Alumni Association Of The Hebrew National Orphan Home And Hartman-Homecrest

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EDITORIALS:

The following editorial is from the May 1995 issue of The Alumnus by Richard G. Safran-HNOH '53 , based on an article from the 1962 HNOH Alumni Journal.

RETROSPECTIVE: ORPHANS NO LONGER

We had no choice in the matter. We were orphans. Our parents had somehow disposed of themselves leaving us to get on as best we could. It was not a simple matter to be thrust at an early age into the bleak indifference of orphanage routine. Still, we survived. We not only survived, we flourished. We became tough and self-sufficient. We didn't cry when we were hurt and we could, when necessary, be callous and brutal..Ours was a world punctuated by brawls, struggles in the scramble for adolescent prestige, and some fierce hatreds which were just as sustaining as love.

Love itself was a luxury we could not afford. It had little survival value. Tenderness was something we rarely experienced and certainly never understood. What replaced love was a fierce devotion to one another, to our many championship athletic teams, and to our hazy dreams of capturing a measure of success. We were not at all sure of what success might mean, but it was a phantom we pursued with grim determination. Some boys dreamed of large amounts of money. Others longed for prestige and social standing (even to denying their orphan background), and still others had fantasies of bedding down large numbers of beautiful, bosomy, leggy women. Marriage and family were almost never talked about. We were, I think very fearful of marriage and having children. There was a terrifying thought that if we had children, they might somehow end-up in an orphanage as we did. This was a horror which could not be mentioned, and so there was discussion of epic sexual conquest, but none of love.

Today, although we may carry scars, they are healed wounds, badges of Life's combat experience. We are able to work and to love. While we live very much in the present, we can talk for hours about the old days. In some ways they were exceptionally fine days. It is unnecessary to focus on particular occasions. We do that well enough with one another when we meet over coffee or whiskey.

Now we are adults - mere grown-ups without parents, which we know, is not quite the same as being an orphan. Our memories of the more distressing times in an institution are dulled and blurred by the passage of years. Although we have not forgotten the ache of loneliness which we could not understand, but could feel only too well, what remains in our brain cases are the better moments, the common heritage of no heritage which we shared, the sense of rapport and brotherhood, and the feeling that we were somehow different from everyone else.

Time and age have endowed us with varying shares of title, property, and position. In direct contrast to our origins, our characters in the affluent present are in danger of being corrupted by ease and comparative security. Our dreams, perhaps, are no longer compounded of the heady stuff they used to be. So we think back to our earlier, younger selves, to that time when we dreamed, schemed, fought, cursed, planned and groped our way through adolescence and young manhood. That boy-world of the orphan home takes on an aura of intense living and feeling. The world's indifference, the periods of inarticulate despair are drawn from the vortex of our memory once more to be keenly savored, for it is in the struggle that we are most ourselves and increase our appetite for life. Our recollections of that struggle can be sweet indeed!

[CONTENTS]

ARCHIVES:

The HNOH Archives have been accepted at the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS), currently located on the Campus of Brandeis University in Waltham, MA. In a letter dated May 8, 1996 to Richard Safran, Editor of The Alumnus, The AJHS wrote the following:

"The Society has a large collection of records pertaining to the Jewish Child Care Association of NY and its constituent institutions...Both HNOH and Hartman-Homecrest are currently under-represented in the JCCA collection. We believe the records of your Alumni Association would help to fill in this unfortunate gap in the records. The Society would accept for its collections not only copies of The Alumnus , your association newsletter, but also photographs, oral history, tapes, newspapers and clippings, correspondence, memorabilia and other similar materials which document the experience of your members in the HNOH, Hartman-Homecrest and the Alumni Association, itself."

In another letter dated May 13, 1997 from AJHS, the following was written:

"On behalf of the American Jewish Historical Society, I would like to gratefully accept your offer to gather and donate the records of the HNOH Alumni Association and its members to our archives. The Society's Library & Archives Committee unanimously approved such a collection for accession at its last meeting and along with our archival staff, is confident that it will be used and appreciated by many of our researchers during the coming years."

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Richard Safran, JCCA Alumnus, Honored

Safran wins Distinguished Alumni Award

From: (JCCA 2007 September E-News)

Richard G. Safran received the JCCA 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award in a ceremony at the annual reunion of JCCA alumni on September 9th held on the Westchester Campus of the Cottage Schools.

Rick spent much of his childhood in JCCA's predecessor programs, first at the Israel Orphan Asylum at age 7 and then at the Hebrew National Orphan Home (HNOH) where he left at age 18 to go to Brooklyn college. Subsequently, Rick had a distinguished career as an educator and administrator in the NYC Public Schools system, from which he retired in 1990.

Rick was presented the award, not only for his many years of generosity to JCCA, but also to recognize his leadership in the agency's alumni affairs. Rick led the campaign to raise more than $116,000 (above and beyond the goal) for the Reuben Koftoff Scholarship Fund, a resource that provides much-needed scholarships to deserving youth in JCCA programs. He serves on the Editorial Board of Growing Up, JCCA's quarterly magazine, and the Board of Trustees' Scholarship Committee. In addition, he is a volunteer fundraiser in the JCCA development department, working at the Wall Street office every week.

In accepting the JCCA 2007 Distinguished Alumni Award, Rick cited his wonderful upbringing by the agency. He pointed out how important it is for those who were helped by JCCA to give back to the children who need it most, now that they have the means to do so.

The inscription on the award plaque reads, "For your tenacity, passion and profound sense of purpose in helping provide opportunities for young people in need."

Congratulations, Rick!

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VIDEO TAPE:

"Our Childhood....Remembered"

A beautiful and sentimental video produced by HNOH Brother Ed Lippman depicting the history of the Hebrew National Orphan Home lovingly put together from photographs and home movies with comments and memories by Brothers who lived it!............. You'll laugh, you'll cry!

*****FIVE STARS

$25.OO Check or Money Order

For Information in obtaining this video, please email HNOHalumni@aol.com

ALL PROCEEDS DONATED TO THE HNOH ALUMNI FUND

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INFORMATION:

Anyone wishing more information about the HNOH Alumni and information on subscribing to their newsletter,"THE ALUMNUS", may send email to the address at the bottom of this page.

All Alumni and their descendants are cordially invited to submit any of their Memories, Memorial Photographs or any "Group" Photographs (Bar Mitzvah, Graduation, Sports, etc.) to this Web Site. Please send all email to the address below for further information.

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EMAIL: HNOHAlumni@aol.com

FOR INFORMATION, CORRECTIONS AND/OR SUGGESTIONS!