1930 - 2018
Harold Kraushar passed away from natural causes on May 23, 2018.
Born in East New York, Brooklyn, in January 1930, Harold was one of three sons of Yehuda and Lillian Kraushar. He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School and attended Brooklyn College.
Harold was a proud and passionate Zionist. In June 1948, he sailed on the ship Altalena, which carried soldiers and weapons for the Zionist cause to what was then Palestine. He served as a machine gunner with the Irgun Zvi Leumi, the military organization that fought for the creation of the Jewish state of Israel. After the War of Independence, he joined the American Veterans of Israel and later served as its President. In April of this year, he was one of five surviving veterans of the war to attend memorial services at West Point for Colonel David "Mickey" Marcus, the American officer who lost his life during the siege of Jerusalem.
During his career, Harold was an agent for a number of artists and literary figures, including Alan Ginsberg, and later headed the paperback division of Bookazine, a book wholesaler. Throughout his life, he was an avid reader of poetry and non-fiction.
Over the years, he rooted for the Detroit Tigers, Brooklyn Dodgers, and Milwaukee Brewers, because of their star Jewish players: Hank Greenberg, Sandy Koufax, and Ryan Braun, respectively. An observant Jew, he faithfully walked from his home in Woodside, Queens, [6010 47th Ave] to his synagogue, the Greenpoint Shul, in Brooklyn, for which he served as gabbai.
Harold was married to his childhood sweetheart, Rita (nee Gordon), from 1951 until her passing in 1976. He was married to Mary Minzer Kraushar from 1979 until his passing.
Harold is survived by twin brother Sam, and his beloved sons Joshua and Kenneth, and their wives, Terri-Chan Kraushar and Ellen (Varnay) Kraushar, respectively. He will be missed by his beloved grandchildren Jeremy, Zack, Raquel, and Ilana, and his many nieces and nephews.
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From David Krakow:
In Memoriam. Zvi Kraushar
Zvi
Kraushar, a survivor of the Altalena and the failed attempt by Etzel and Lechi
to retake the Old City of Jersualem in 1948, died last week at the age of 87.
In the last two
weeks of his life, Zvi discovered a long-sought photograph of Pavel Frankel and
the data concerning the 200,000 Jews who served in the Polish Army in 1939.
His
funeral was attended by many of his friends, including former Betarim, among
them, his brother Shmuel, Ray Kaplan, Bernie Ellman, Mosie Stambler, Harry
Bieber, Miriam and Dave Krakow.
Harold Kraushar (Machal), Si Spiegelman (Machal), Fred Rawicz (Machal),
Ben Sklar (IDF- Lone Soldier).
April 29, 2018
Lynn Sharon adds:
Rita Gordon Kraushar was one of my best friends. We met when we were about 9 years old, and when I made aliyah, Rita and Tzvi (Harold) visited us and we spent a wonderful day together. Shortly after that visit my dear Rita died suddenly. She was in her early 40's. After he remarried I do recall visiting him with his new wife.
Aside from our friendship, we were all Betarim. So sad to hear that Tzvi has passed away. I have fond memories of Tzvi. May his memory forever be a blessing.
From Joshua Joe Adler (Yerushalayim)
I wish to share the following with you:
During our
younger days Harold (or Zvi) and I were very close friends not only
because we were both members of Betar but also because I used him as my
book buyer during the years I was a student at JTS (1952-58). One of my
proudest possession during those years at rabbinical school was a large framed
picture of Jabotinsky which Zvi acquired for me and which I kept on the wall of
my dorm room during my six years of study. Unfortunately, the picture
disappeared after my ordination and I never found out what happened to it
since I had to report to Army Chaplain School soon after graduation. Over the years, Zvi and I kept in contact even when I was no
longer in New York and had a congregation in Harrisburg. In 1972, I came on
aliyah and we got together in one or two of his visits to Israel. To me Zvi was one of the rare people who was the embodiment of the
Zionist-Jewish ideal - who lived his faith with acts and not with
words. I believe that Zvi's life-story should be taught to our youth and
even adults as a prime example of a genuine Betari who in his lifetime fully
embodied and carried out the ideals and teachings of the
Betar Movement founded by Zev Jabotinsky.
^
2 comments:
This post has been included in my latest blog roundup. Thanks for blogging.
My parents Philip and Sara Bock were friends with Rita and Zvi, and they met with them frequently. They called it the cousins club, even though no one was related. We, their kids (Me - Batsheva), Yehuda and Steven loved and knew all their friends and visited them frequently. My father Philip passed away in 1996, and Sara passed away in 2016.
I recall my mother being heartbroken when Rita passed away, so young. It affected me tremendously.
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