The influence of family - Part One

I have a long post brewing in me, but I have some school work to do first. It's about family, something that's been on my mind. Last weekend I organized a big Zoom call with all my cousins, we ended up with about 14 people at one point.

They are all connected through my mom, but on different sides of her family, so they don't all know each other, funny introductions, and generally just cool to hang out. There is a special bond with cousins. 

First cousins are usually your first friends. My mom was lucky enough to grow up next door to her cousin, Shirley, and they were lifelong friends, until Shirley's passing in 2019. 

Shirley's family and mine were always close, her father, Julius, is who I am named after as I was the first child born after his death. Shirley's daughter, Janet, is also named after him with the "J" in his honor.

While I spent plenty of time with Shirley (her husband Dan, who also passed in 2019 -- they DID everything together from the day the met!),I really loved her two brothers, Sandy and Marvin. They lived in New York and were amazing, kind, generous and funny men.

Sandy and his wife, Hazel were total favorites of mine, I think I had a huge crush on Sandy, he was tall and handsome and sooooo funny.

He would later open a bookstore that became a focal point of their neighborhood in Brooklyn. Here is a story that shows what he meant to the community. Sandy Tishcoff it is that generosity that has always been at the core of my life.

He and Hazel lived in a HUGE house, in the same neighborhood where "Sophie's Choice" was filmed. Aside from their two children, Joel and Leah, there have always been miscellaneous "strays". Every Friday night, the Sabbath table is full, family, friends and sometimes "strays".

Today, Hazel maintains this tradition. I was lucky enough to be in NY on a weekend and joined a Sabbath dinner. I think there were 14 or so people at the table and it was a joy. Eating, talking, laughing, kids running around - in a word, family.

This "my house is your house" is common in the Tishcoff branch of the family. In 2001, my brother, myself and his two bandmates, drove to NYC to attend a music conference and Joel, who was living with his then girlfriend,now wife, Faye, let us stay in his apartment in Harlem, so we didn't have to pay for a hotel.

(this is all sort of stream of consciousness, so sorry if it rambles a bit)

Next entry: from Brooklyn to Queens