Miriam Leiseroff was born after the war in Berlin, Germany. She went to school in Germany and would walk to school. Her father was "half" Jewish and she had no Jewish education before she converted. She loves passover, potatoes, fruit, and bagels. Her favorite colors are blue and pink.

Abe Seiden was born in a displaced persons camp in Germany, but shortly moved to Brooklyn, New York, when he was 1 year old. He enjoyed collecting stamps and playing football. Abe often played football with his brother, who was 10 years older than him. His brother always kicked the ball. Another game in his time was stickball, which is similar to baseball. Abe liked school and was in a special program in junior high called SP, and learned 3 years in 2. Abe didn’t think the accelerated class was hard, but it isolated the kids from the rest of the school. This junior high school in California was very crowded, and eventually the principal committed suicide.

In recent years, he won the ICFA (International Committee for Future Acceleration) for a physics detector. This LGAD was able to measure time of arrival. Despite that this won’t have much impact on everyday life, the LGAD is a very important breakthrough in physics. Separately, Abe recalls a drastic difference from his orthodox shul in Brooklyn. He recalls that at the beginning there were disputes on how observant it should be. Abe’s favorite holiday is Hanukkah because of the latkes which he eats with sour cream and/or sugar. Abe’s advice for us is to enjoy life and youth.

Bob was born in Everett, Massachusetts in 1945. He went to Temple Emanuel, which was a conservative shul and was bar mitvahed there. He had two siblings, a sister and a brother who were both b’nei mitvahed at congregation Sinai in San Jose. All of his siblings including himself got married there. Along with him and his wife, he had two boys, Ethan who was the youngest, and Dan who was the oldest. His kids grew up going to congregation Sinai, along with going to hebrew school and attending services. Fun fact, when BoB was a kid, there were no elevators along with no electronics except for a tv. Instead of being on a screen, he would go outside and ride bikes with his friends.

Bob's grandparents were in a program in Europe. The whole program saved up a lot of money so that only one person could travel to America. Bob's grandpa was the person that went to America and once he got there, he would carry ice to people on his back up many flights of stairs. While his grandpa was in America, he paid someone to get the rest of his family back. After three people, he was finally able to get back his family. Once his family was there, they started a rag company that would take old clothes and break them up and then send them to Italy that made them nice, and then they would send them to third world contries. His grandpa passed his business down to Bob who then passed it down to his youngest son, Ethan, who moved it to Kansas and now runs it himself.

Sam was born in Iran. He has 8 siblings, mostly girls. There was not a big Jewish community so he had to go to a synagogue out of town. As a kid he went to a public school. He has a lot of family in Israel, and when his brother was 12, he went to Israel. In 1976, he moved to Michigan, and went to college there. He got a PHD there, and had his 1st job working for I.B.M. in 1982. He has 3 kids, and a granddaughter who is just two months old.

His piece of advice is: "Study, learn, go to college." He likes to go hiking and recently saw a bald eagle there. Since he was little, global warming has gotten worse. Politics have significantly changed, and people are still attached to Judaism. He likes watching basketball and listening to Michael Jackson.

Soraya is a very interesting person. She grew up in Tehran, Iran, to very orthodox parents. When she was young, there were many Jewish people where she was, but as she grew older, the number started to go down gradually as more Muslim people came, and violence rose. When the civil war came, even less Jews were left. During this time, it was very hard to make friends because of the worry of violence. One time when she was walking alone to the store, a police officer took her and brought her home, because it was very dangerous. She went to college and worked as a pharmacist, but during this time, it was getting more and more violent. It got to the point where she would be treated as “other,” and she wouldn’t be allowed to have a husband. In June 1989, she decided to leave Iran with the help of the Sochnut, an Israeli agency. She walked to the border of Iran, went to Afghanistan, Pakistan, and back, but eventually flew to Israel. She said that Judaism is a big part of who she is, and makes her who she is. She met her husband in Israel, and has kids.

Steven Levin was born on Oct. 21, 1948, and grew up in Reno Nevada. He went to Temple Emanuel, and went to Hebrew school 2 times a week. His favorite holiday is Passover because it reminds him about being free. He likes to spent time with his 3 kids and 4 grandkids. Steven grew up in a small Jewish community that was very pro zionist.

Steven likes math. His high school had a computer, which was unusual at the time. He went to Berkely and majored in math and computer science. After graduate school, he got a job in the computer field, and worked for 6 companies.

Steven thinks that academic requirements are not as strict. Some advice he has is to be proud of being Jewish and to study hard and to be involved with your community because it is important in society now.

Kira an extremely sweet, caring, and kind person. She was born in New York on a small farm. Her neighbors had horses that they owned and took care of. However they were too old to ride the horses. So Kira got to go ride the horses, and she loved it. She has a half brother that is 11 years older than her. After school her & her friends would play baseball & pick fruit. She didn't have any Jewish education until she was 13-14. She didn't have a bat mitzvah because it was uncommon for a girl to. When she moved she went to church with her dad and temple with her mom. She didn't connect at all with the church. However when she went to the temple with her mom she connected and it felt right. Now that she belongs to Sinai, her favorite part is the community. She loves the people here and how sweet and kind everyone is. She loves to help people and animals. Her dad was an orphan as a child and a self-taught person. As he grew up, he became a merchant marine. He helped her become the person she is today. He inspired her to always help people and work hard even when challenged. Kira helps out with the grocery shopping for the synagogue’s lunches and dinners. One thing she noticed when she was shopping was that there is not a lot of kosher brands. Not only that, but Safeway only had traditional holiday foods after the holiday. After thinking that through, I wonder if they trulu didn't know or if they were just too lazy to check. One wish Kira has for the world is for people to listen to each other.

Today I interviewed an extremely kind man named Hal. Hal was born and raised in New York. He went to a school where he learned Yiddish and Jewish History. Hal had his Bar Mitzvah in a small shul with a few others to celebrate with him. Later, he went out for dinner with his friends and family. Although he did have a Bar Mitzvah, Hal said that he learned most of his Jewish education in his adult years. When he was a kid, there was no television and no computers, so he would listen to the radio and make games with his friends. When I asked him how Judaism influenced his life, I realized that we both have a similar view on the importance of Judaism; that it's not only about the prayers and readings, but also about the work on yourself to help others. One thing about Hal that I thought was very impressive was that he earned two degrees, one in medicine, and after becoming a doctor, he earned his degree in history. He told me a story of when he told his parents that he didn't know what path to choose when he grew up. His father sternly said, "You'll be a doctor, a Jewish doctor."

Then, when I asked Hal one thing in his life that he is proud of, I got an answer I didn't expect. He said, "My wife, my marriage." He then explained that Love is the feeling of being safe, and feeling like there isn't anything that can hurt you. After talking to Hal, I learned that you should always enjoy life, and try to live a good one. I'm very glad I got to talk to him, today.

Evan Ohriner is a 74-year-old member of Sinai. Some of his hobbies include Jewish book club with the rabbi on Thursday, cosmology club, Zumba at the JCC, and working out at the gym. He grew up in Tennessee with his mother and father. His favorite Jewish holiday is Sukkot. He went to MIT for college and did science stuff, such as nuclear power supplies for astronauts and space rover fusion reactors.

"Be strong and keep moving forward." These positive and uplifting words came from the mouth of Elizabeth Seiden. Elizabeth moved to the US from Transylvania, Romania, where she was born. Her parents were Holocaust survivors who met at a concentration camp.

Elizabeth moved to the US when she was 14 years old. She came through Viena, Austria. She was supposed to go to Israel, but her uncle who lived there told her father they should go live in America. Her other uncle was then able to sponsor them.

Elizabeth was once able to speak 6 languages - Hungarian, Romanian, Russian, French, German, and English. She has lived in Romania, Switzerland, and America.

Before leaving Romania, Elizabeth became blood sisters with her best friend. They did this by cutting their fingers, and exchanging blood.

When asked for advice when faced with difficult times, Elizabeth said to "try to be positive". She is most proud of her family, and enjoys listening to music whenever she can. Overall, Elizabeth is an amazing and kind person. Full of stories to be shared.

Loraine Hoff was born in 1941 in Brooklyn. She grew up in a mostly Jewish society but met her soon to be husband, Sy, in 1967 at a hotel in San Francisco, where she worked in the office. Sy was working as a waiter. After meeting, they moved to California in 1968. Sy was born in 1941 in Poland but moved to Uzbekistan after one month. Four years later, he moved to Germany and lived in a DP camp, but soon after moved to Brooklyn. After getting married in 1968, Loraine became a teacher, and Sy became an engineer.