In 1969 I began a Doctoral Program in Language and Behavior at the Ferkauf Graduate School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Yeshiva University in New York City.
Dr. Joshua Aaron Fishman and his wife Gella helped Judy and me establish an enduring family fabric. In their home and at their table we observed Friday night candle lightings and religious and yiddish tutoring woven into their family life. We experienced the dynamic synergy of husband & wife, mother & father raising their sons. We participated in lively Hanukkah and Passover celebrations and in their Synagogue, Purim where groggers and stamping feet drowned out every mention of Haman.
Gella introduced me to Yiddish education and encouraged me to enter an intensive summer study of Yiddish and Eastern European Jewry, a joint effort of the YIVO Institute, Columbia University and Yeshiva University.
All that we saw and felt in our interactions with Gella and Dr. Fishman provided an essential contribution to the spiritual and cultural architecture for our beginning family.
Judy and I have 9 children, who are all married, and this year we’ll have 40 grandchildren. The Fishman influence has been enormous and continuing as our children have established families of their own and carried our family culture forward.
We named two sons Aaron and Joshua. And now after the deeper insight of 47 years of marriage and watching our daughters working with their husbands in bringing their own children to adulthood, Judy and I regret not having named a daughter Gella.
Dr. Fishman died March 1, 2015. Obituary at The Jewish Daily Forward.
Dr. Joshua Aaron Fishman and his wife Gella helped Judy and me establish an enduring family fabric. In their home and at their table we observed Friday night candle lightings and religious and yiddish tutoring woven into their family life. We experienced the dynamic synergy of husband & wife, mother & father raising their sons. We participated in lively Hanukkah and Passover celebrations and in their Synagogue, Purim where groggers and stamping feet drowned out every mention of Haman.
Gella introduced me to Yiddish education and encouraged me to enter an intensive summer study of Yiddish and Eastern European Jewry, a joint effort of the YIVO Institute, Columbia University and Yeshiva University.
All that we saw and felt in our interactions with Gella and Dr. Fishman provided an essential contribution to the spiritual and cultural architecture for our beginning family.
Judy and I have 9 children, who are all married, and this year we’ll have 40 grandchildren. The Fishman influence has been enormous and continuing as our children have established families of their own and carried our family culture forward.
We named two sons Aaron and Joshua. And now after the deeper insight of 47 years of marriage and watching our daughters working with their husbands in bringing their own children to adulthood, Judy and I regret not having named a daughter Gella.
Dr. Fishman died March 1, 2015. Obituary at The Jewish Daily Forward.
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