Mendek Rubin - Quest for Eternal Sunshine: A Holocaust Survivors Journey from Darkness to Light

Mendek Rubin author photo Rubin family archives

MENDEK RUBIN was a Holocaust survivor and brilliant inventor who helped revolutionize the jewelry manufacturing industry, generating numerous patents in the 1960s and 1970s. After he retired from the jewelry business, he invented the initial equipment used to wash and package baby greens for Earthbound Farmthe first company to successfully market ready-to-eat salads for retail sale. Mendek also applied his genius to his own psyche, creating innovative ways to overcome the trauma of the Holocaust and live a truly joyous life. He is the author of two books: Why Not Now, a book of poems and prose, and I Am Small, I Am Big: The Way We Choose to Live, a book about positive thinking written for children. A self-taught artist and nature photographer, Mendek died in September 2012 in Carmel Valley, California, at the age of eighty-seven.

Myra Goodman author photo Alli Pura Photography

MYRA GOODMAN is a well-known pioneer in the world of organic food and farming and the author of three cookbooks. In 1984, she and her husband, Drew, founded Earthbound Farm, which became the largest grower of organic produce in the world. The Goodmans have been credited with helping to bring organic food to the mainstream, and Myra was one of four farmers chosen by the James Beard Foundation and US Department of State to represent the United States in a prominent conversations video at the entrance to the US pavilion at the 2015 Worlds Fair. She has appeared on national television shows, including Oprah, Regis & Kelly, and Good Morning America Health, and has been featured in hundreds of publications, including People magazine, the Costco Connection, More, Forbes, The New York Times, and AARP. Myra and Drew have two grown children and continue to live on their original farm in Carmel Valley with their three yellow labs, Oscar, Henry, and Leo.

I could fill a whole book expressing my gratitude to the dozens of people who helped make this unique project possible. Although my thanks to each of you must be brief, please know that my appreciation for your time, interest, and essential contributions is immense.

I owe my deepest gratitude to my father, Mendek Rubin. Dad, I am so grateful you had the urge to writeto chronicle your amazing life and spiritual journey. I could never have predicted that we would write this book together or that it would be one of the most transformative experiences of my life. I am in awe of you and feel immensely proud and blessed to be your daughter.

I thank my mother, Edith Rubin, for contributing her stories and memories, which are a huge part of this book. Mom, I am grateful for all the ways you supported this project, and for the love and care you showered on Dad throughout his life. He adored you and knew how lucky he was to have found you. Your love story is the most beautiful one I know.

I am immensely grateful to my sister, Ruthie Rubin-Harmer, for your memories and insights, your video and audio recordings, and all the essential content you contributed. I couldnt have created this book without you. Thanks to you and your remarkable daughter, Nina Harmer, for taking on our social media initiatives and for generously employing your many talents to share Mendeks wisdom with the world. Thanks also to my brother-in-law, Stephen Harmer, for your video interviews of Mendek decades ago and shared recollections.

Bronia Brandman, thank you for being an insightful, open-minded, honest, and supportive aunt, collaborator, and Holocaust educator. I am grateful for your memories, stories, knowledge, and perspective, as well as the countless hours you put into this project doing lengthy interviews, reviewing copy, answering questions, and connecting me with other family members. One of the greatest blessings of this book is that it has made us close friends forever.

Thanks to my cousin Etta Brandman for being an early reader and always making me feel like an appreciated family member. And to Ettas husband, Harry Klaristenfeld, thanks for your kind, generous words of appreciation, and for helping me improve the accuracy of facts relating to Judaism and Jewish culture.

An effusive posthumous thank-you to Simon Geldwerthmy fathers cousin and business partnerwho was always Uncle Simon to me. In addition to rescuing my father and aunt from desolate conditions in post-war Germany, supporting them in every way for years, and then making my dads business success possible, Simon diligently tracked down every possible keepsake originating from Jaworzno for my dad and Bronia, and also preserved every significant letter and document throughout his entire life. All of these gems provided vital content for this book. Because he had the foresight to collect and safeguard photos of our family when he fled Europe, I am able to know what my grandparents, aunts, and uncles looked like, and also what my father and Bronia looked like as children. My gratitude to Simon is boundless.

To Simons daughtersmy cousins Mizi Zoltan and Mati Sprecherthank you for your warmth and generosity. Your memories, along with the abundance of family treasures you shared, provided significant content for this book, and I appreciate all your valuable edits and honest feedback. Mizi, thanks for going above and beyond in so many ways: patiently educating me about our familys history, reading and rereading all the copy I sent your way, translating documents, and catching my many mistakes.

It gives me great pleasure that this book gave me the opportunity to get to know many cousins who also trace their roots back to Jaworzno. I appreciate your many kindnesses, memories, and photos, as well as the time you spent reviewing this book.

Judy Hager, I will never forget my exhilaration at hearing about your trips to Jaworzno where youd dug in the Jewish cemetery in search of our mutual great-grandfather Eliass tombstone the first time we spoke. Thank you for your friendship and devotion to researching our mutual past, as well as the precious photos and stories you shared.

I am deeply grateful to Mila Kornwasser for contributing many essential facts about our familys hometown and relatives there. And also to cousins Joe Kornwasser and Betty Ryzman for the lovely chats and recollections you shared.

Thank you to Beth Bass for your kindnesses and for connecting me to your brother, Robert Willner. Robert, thank you for all the time you spent reading copy and fact-finding, and especially for your help with our family tree. I could never have created it without you. It has been an honor to work with you in an effort to preserve our shared history, and I will always be grateful for your keen and generous contributions.

Myra Farrellyou were one of my most exciting discoveries: a second cousin who shares both my name and many of my interests. Thanks for your friendship, help with this book, and for connecting me with our mutual cousin, Mimi Berkowitz. Mimi, thanks so much for sharing the priceless autobiography of your grandmother, Sarah Gutfreund, who spent her girlhood summers at Eliass farm in Jaworzno.