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Reunite Continued from Page 1
met as children in the displaced
persons camp of Hallein, Austria,
after WWII. Their families
shared living quarters and soon
realized they both hailed from
the town of Ciechanów, Poland.

Brandspiegel’s family fled to
Ukraine when the Germans
took over in 1939. Both families
were transported to labor camps
in Siberia during the war, but
did not cross paths while they
were there.

Brandspiegel, who was then
known by her Polish and maiden
names, Regina Puter, went back
to Poland briefly with her parents,
where they learned of the horrific
fate of the Jews who had not been
able to escape from Europe. They
were forced to flee anti-Semitic
violence after only a few months
and ended up in Austria in 1946.

The families met when
Brandspiegel was 12 and Eisenberg
was eight. Brandspiegel’s father
took the boy and his little brother,
Motek Eisenberg, under his wing
after their father died in a car
accident. “When my father died, her
father, who was a very religious
Jewish man, he was the one who
took me to the little synagogue
that the refugees in Hallein
established. And he would take
me there to say Kaddish, which
is a prayer for the orphan,”
Israel Eisenberg said.

Their families would often
have Shabbat dinner together
and reminisce about their old
home in Poland. Brandspiegel
and the Eisenberg brothers
also attended school together.

“They formed a school where
we were learning whatever we
could. Some people spoke Hebrew,
and this is where I learned to speak
Hebrew. Some people taught us
geography, some people taught us
math,” she said. “It didn’t matter
how old you were.”
The Eisenbergs eventu-
ally left the camp to move to
Israel in 1949. Brandspiegel
remained with her parents
until 1952, when they moved
to Philadelphia to be with her
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM Ruth Brandspiegel as a child
Courtesy of Ruth Brandspiegel
mother’s family.

Eisenberg left Israel in 1964
to go to college in New York.

He met and married his wife
Marsha Eisenberg in 1967 and
settled in Monroe Township,
New Jersey.

He had no idea that his old
friend was living about an hour
away in Philadelphia. He and
his wife joined East Brunswick
Jewish Center in the 1990s, and
Larry Brandspiegel joined the
staff in 2018.

The chain of events that led
to the friends’ reunion began
on Yom Kippur. Due to the
pandemic, the Jewish center
decided to make the virtual
services free and asked attendees
for donations. If congregants
donated, they would receive a
dedication, or shout-out, during
an ark opening or Torah portion.

Marsha Eisenberg decided to
make a donation even though she
and her husband did not attend
services very frequently. Instead
of writing her husband’s given
first name, Israel Eisenberg, she
submitted his Russian nickname,
Sasha, which is how he is known
to friends and family, and how
Brandspiegel knew him all those
years ago.

Larry Brandspiegel helped
Ruth Brandspiegel use Zoom to
attend the virtual services. As she
watched her son daven from her
home, she was stunned to hear
Rabbi Jeff Pivo call a name she
hadn’t heard for many decades.

“All of a sudden, he called
‘Sasha Eisenberg,’” she said. “And
this got into my mind, because
how many Sasha Eisenbergs
Israel “Sasha” Eisenberg as a child
Courtesy of Israel Eisenberg
are there? There are a lot of
Eisenbergs, but not Sashas!”
After the service, she asked
her son to find out if Eisenberg
was a member of his synagogue,
and if so to get his phone number
and give him a call.

Larry Brandspiegel got
Eisenberg on the phone.

“He said, ‘Did you know a
man, Puter, from the displaced
persons camp? And he said,
‘Oh, my God, of course I know.’
And then my son said, ‘Well, I
am Puter’s daughter’s son.’
“Sasha called me and both
of us were crying on the phone.

Seventy-one years since, I
haven’t seen him or talked to
him,” she continued.

Larry Brandspiegel hosted his
mother and sisters for lunch on
Oct. 3 and invited the Eisenbergs
over to join them for a masked
meeting in a sukkah. When
they arrived, the old friends
couldn’t recognize each other, but
Eisenberg joked that Brandspiegel
looked exactly the same.

“We were so excited, both of
us. I was crying. And if I would
have seen him on the street,
I would never recognize him,
of course not. He’s an older
man now. And I remember him
being so cute,” she said. “I mean,
it’s so unreal. My son is more
excited than anything that it
happened in his synagogue.”
They shared stories about their
lives and photos of themselves
and their families. Eisenberg told
Brandspiegel the story of her
father taking him to say kaddish
in the little camp synagogue.

“She didn’t remember that
event. And when I told her that
we both had tears in our eyes, it
was so emotional,” he said.

They were overjoyed to see
each other, but fear of corona-
virus prevented them from
embracing. Larry Brandspiegel
said they look forward to the
day they could give each other
a hug, and that he hopes to host
a special service in their honor
after the pandemic.

“It’s a testament to the survi-
vors. That’s what it really comes
down to. No matter how long
it’s been, no matter what you
go through, with perseverance,
love, all these things, miracles
can happen,” he said. l
spanzer@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0729
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JEWISH EXPONENT
OCTOBER 15, 2020
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