A map depicting the different places Irene (Itke) Sacolick lived

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Irene Sacolick (Taub) 1914 - 1974 - About Her Life

In this post I will describe my mother's life - her childhood in Poland, her family, her coming to America, meeting my father and her life in New York.

ברשומה הזאת אני אתאר את החיים של אמא שלי, איריין - הילדות שלה בפולין, המשפחה שלה, איך היא הגיעה לאמריקה, פגשה את אבא שלי ועל החיים שלה בניו-יורק.

My mother was born in 1914. I am not sure of the exact date, even though the date written on her immigration papers was September 10th, I think that date was given to people who were not sure of their exact birthday. She was born in Demblin, Poland to a Rabbinical family. Her father was Itzchak Zvi Taub, a Modzitzer Rebbe, who was the son on Israel Taub, the Admor MeModzitz. Modzitz is a Rabbinical dynasty, well known for their Chasidic melodies. Her mother was Miriam Rotenberg, also from a well known Rabbinical family, dating back to the Maharam Merotenberg.

At some point in her childhood, her family moved to Warsaw. I don't know too much about her life there. She had an 2 older sisters. One was called Malca, but she died in Warsaw, run over by a trolly or a horse. On the right you can see the only picture we have of Malca. Another sister was Hene. She also had 3 brothers, Shmuel (Sam), Yechezkel (Herman), and Avraham (Abie). Before World War II Sam had a wife and a daughter. They were murdered by the Nazis. Sam came to America and started a new family, my Aunt Thea and cousin Lenny. The Rest of the family came to America before the war. The only thing I remember my mother telling me about their trip on the boat was that they didn't feel well. On her immigration papers (see right), it's written that she arrived on the ship SS Palaski, on December 5th 1931 from Gdynia, Poland when she was 17 years old. When she arrived in America, my mother started working as a dressmaker. She sewed wedding gowns. They lived in the Bronx, where my grandfather was the Rabbi of a shul (synagogue). She was 22 years old when she applied for citizenship in the United States.

She met my father Leon Sacolick at her uncles house, the Tzanzer Rebbe, who lived in Benzenhurst, Brooklyn. They married in June 1946. There was an article in the Yiddish newsaper anouncing their wedding.

About a year later, On July 16, 1947 they had their first child, Israel Avraham (Izzy), whom they named after the 2 grandparents, Rabbi Israel Taub of Modzitz and Abraham Sacolick (Abraham was also a great grandfather - Avraham Chaim). When Izzy was a baby they moved from the Bronx to Brooklyn, and rented an apartment on 1425 51st . Yaakov Yekutiel (Jackie) was born ion November 28th1948 and Ben-Zion (named after my father's father) was born on January 1953.

After 3 boys, they had their first girl, me. I was born on May 24th 1957. I still remember the apartment house on 51st Street even though I was only a year old when we moved to our own house because my parents had friends there and we went to visit them. Among their friends were The Lasks, Francis and Jack, and their children Mindy, Gail and Julia. We were also friends with the super of the building. His name was Marty. His wife Edna decorated my crib when I was born. Me and Gail were good friends growing up. We went to school together from kindergarten up till we graduated from high school. We recently met after not seeing each other for many years. It was great. We caught up on what happened to us in our lives and she told me that the super and his wife's name were Marty and Edna Pravato.

When I was about 1 years old we moved to 1369 53rd Street in Boro Park, Brooklyn - a 3 family house.

We lived on the ground floor, the Gazelle's lived on the second floor. and the Green [?] family on the 3rd floor. I think Mindy Gazelle spent more time in our house then in her own. Ours was a house full of children, friends and family. My Parents were best friend with the Gellers. They lived on the corner of 13th Avenue and 53rd Street. Their son Martin (Marty) was my brother, Bengy's good friend and their daughter Ellen was my friend.

When I was almost 5 years old, on March 29th 1962 my sister Miriam was born. She was named after my mother's mother Miriam Rotenberg.

We had a happy household. There were always children and relatives at the house. There was always a big pot of something good cooking on the stove.

My grandfather Itzchak Zvi remarried and he and his wife lived with us. I remember, my brother,bringing him the Yiddish newspaper everyday.
On Shabbat, my grandfather would wear a black coat (kopote) with a black silk belt (gartel) and a fur hat (shtramel). He would sing melodies at the shabbat table (nigunim).

In the Winter months he would go with his wife to Florida.

I remember the family circle meetings that were always held in our home. My aunts, uncles and cousins would come to our house on a Sunday. Of course there was good food. My father was the president, my mother's first cousin's husband Mel Trokenheim was the secretary. There were dues collected and minutes taken of the meeting, at which was discussed family business, and to which charity the money would be donated.

Many of the families celebrations took place in the house. My brothers, Izzy and Jackie's bar mitzvas were at home.,

One traumatic experience that I remember, from our house in Boro Park is this: One Friday night when we were sitting at the table to start our Shabbat meal, someone was knocking very loudly at our door and screaming Fire! Fire! Our garage was a flaming mass of fire. We banged on our neighbors door, and everyone left the house. I went across the street to a neighbors house, and I saw my father run back in the house. I was petrified. Firemen came and put out the fire. To this day I am terrified of fire. After the fire our house was not the same. The whole back of the house was burnt. My parents decided to sell the house and started looking for a new house.

We moved to 1082 East 12th Street in Flatbush when I was 13 years old, in 7th grade (1970). Miriam, my sister was 7 years old. I didn't want to move and leave my old neighborhood, and getting used to the new house wasn't easy. Me and my sister Miriam had to take the city bus home from our school "Shulamith School for Girls" in Boro Park and my sister remembers that one time I forgot to take her home and she had to come home by herself.
About a year after we moved to Flatbush my mother became sick.

Sacolick, Irene (Taub) 1914 - 1974

Irene (Itke) was born in Warsaw, Poland in 1914 to Isaac Tzvi Taub The Rabbi of Modzitz and Miriam Rotenberg. She married Leon Sacolick and had 5 children. This post describes the process of finding my mother's roots up till the Maharam meRotenberg in the 13th century.

אירין (איטקה) נולדה בורשה, פולין בשנה 1914 ליצחק צבי טאוב הרבי ממודזיץ ו מרים רוטנברג. היא התחתנה עם ליאון (יהודה דב) סוקוליק ונולדו להם 5 ילדים. המאמר הזה מתאר התהליך שעברתי במציאת השורשים של אמא שלי שמגיעים עד למהר"ם מרוטנבורג באלף שלוש מאות

I am Chanie Zilbertzan (Sacolick). My mother, Irene, passed away when I was young (17). I have always wanted to search for my roots and to know exactly how the family my mother and father used to mention were related. I tried a few times without much success. My opportunity came when I was offered by the head of the library where I work, to participate in a geneology course. Of course I jumped at the chance. The course gave me the tools I needed and the knowledge to search for my family's roots. I had very little information about my mother except a newspaper article (obituary) in Yiddish about the death of my grandmother Miriam Rotenberg's sister Hene Rochel in 1957. The article mentions her husband Menahem Ben-Zion Halberstam (the Tzanzer Rebbe). It also mentions her father Avraham Chaim Rotenberg, her children and her sister Itke (Irene) who married the Modzitzer Rebbe. It also says that Avraham Chaim Rotenberg was the nephew of Chiddush Harim and a descendent of the Maharam MeRotenberg. I looked up "Chiddush Harim" in google and discovered that his name was Yitzchak Meir Alter. His father was Israel Rotenberg and Yizchak Meir changed his name to escape the authorities in Poland. I concluded that Yizchak Meir had a brother or sister who was the father of Avraham Chaim Rotenberg (my mother's grandfather). but I didn't know who that was. I googled "Israel Rotenberg" and one of the results was a geneology site with the names of people who were also searching for their ancesters. I contacted someone who researched the Rotenberg family, and received a reply. He said he knew who the brothers of Yizchak Meir were. There names were Yaakov Yossef, Moshe Chayim, Aharon Eliyahu, and Moshe Yerucham. He, himself, is a descendent of Yaakov Yosef. He also told me that I am also a descendent of the same Yaakov Yosef, and that he knows this from the cover of a book that Avraham Chaim wrote and Menahem Ben-Zion Halberstam published. To my surprise and delight he also said that he knows my family history up till the Maharam MeRotenberg's father (the 13th century). He merged my family tree with his and I was able to see my family tree till the year 1215! I was amazed. . I also found another tree through Jewish Gen. I contacted the person managing this family tree and he turned out that his grandfather and my grandmother were brother and sister. We are both aquainted with the same relatives, but we didn't know of each others existance till now. I had a really nice conversation with him. He gave me information that I was looking for about cousins that I had lost touch with and now I can contact them also. I hope I can meet the cousins I lost contact with and the cousins I just discovered.