This memorial website was created to honor and remember Paul Borenstein-- loving husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle and friend. He was 86 years young at the time of his passing. Paul was born on October 25, 1927 and passed away on January 26, 2014. This memorial website is a work in progress. We hope you'll return to read more about Paul's life and read the rememberances from those who loved him. We will remember him forever.
Tributes
Leave a tributeWith love always, Alice
May Paul and all those Holocaust survivors rest in peace.
With love always, Alice
Not a day goes by that I don’t think of my favorite Uncle Paul. Now he’s dancing with Aunt Dottie & Mommy & Daddy.
I pray for them every night before I go to sleep . I cannot believe so much time has gone by . Miss you so much ❤️
May they all Rest In Peace.
I miss you each and every day and cherish the memories we shared. Your sweet smile, devotion and humor remain with me always. And despite the trauma you suffered, you maintained a childlike innocence that enabled you to find joy in every day.
I love you always,
Alice
May they all rest in peace.
i cherish a picture of you on my nightstand next to my parents, Leon and Rose Rechnic.I keep you in my daily prayers loving you and missing you always.
Your loving niece,
Alice
Love, Ida and Serge
You are in my thoughts and prayers every single day. I will always love you. I will always miss you.
Alice
You live on in me Dad. Happy Father’s Day 2014.
Our father, Leon, survived the Holocaust. After the Liberation, our father met and married our mother,coincidentally also named Rozia, One day, after the liberation, Uncle Paul, searching for surviving relatives, viewed a posted survivor list in the displaced persons camp in Germany. He saw the name Rozia Rechnic and immediately assumed that his sister had survived. He went to our parents location, knocked on the door and asked for Rozia Rechnic. Our mother said, "I am Rozia Rechnic".Obviously, our mother was NOT Uncle Paul's sister, but our father's new wife, also named Rozia (Rose). We cannot imagine the disappointment in Uncle Paul's heart. But that's where our story begins
because our mother immediately welcomed Uncle Paul into her and our father's home and lives.
From that day forward, Uncle Paul was a part of our family, Our parents, after emigrating from Germany to the US, sponsored Uncle Paul for immigration to the US. When Uncle Paul arrived in 1949, he lived with our family until he married Aunt Dottie . Our parents proudly "gave him away" at his wedding to Aunt Dottie and, as our mother recounted, "rescued him from sharing a room with his nieces, Elaine and Alice. Uncle Paul and Aunt Dottie grew their own family when Mark, Eric and Faith were born, and so our family grew. There was no question that the Borenstein family was OUR family.
When Uncle Paul lived with us, he was our Uncle, playmate and babysitter. He diapered us and cared for us, laughed with us and brought joy to our lives.We have vivid memories and pictures (I will locate them) of him playing horsey with us carrying us on his back .
As you all know, Uncle Paul possessed and maintained an engaging boyish charm and sense of humor that remained with him throughout his life. Pictures and memories of Uncle Paul are depicted in our mother's (Rose Ickowicz Rechnic) memoir, "Try to Survive and Tell the World".
Elaine and I had written a eulogy to our Uncle Paul which we had hoped to deliver at his funeral. This is what we wrote:
Tragedy brought us together. But LOVE kept us together. They say that, "blood is thicker than water". But that is not always true. Although Uncle Paul is not related to us by blood, we could not have loved him more nor have been closer to him than we were. When he married Aunt Dottie and gave us our wonderful Aunt and cousins Mark, Eric and Faith, their spouses and children, our family grew and grew. We were so blessed, as most of our own blood relatives had perished in the Holocaust.
After our parents immigrated to the US, they brought Uncle Paul here. He lived with us and helped care for our needs as babies and toddlers. He was our Uncle. His love, warmth, humor and boyish charm filled our loving home and lives with joy and laughter. That continued throughout the years,
There are no words to express the loss we feel. After our father died, Uncle Paul was the Patriarch of our family. We will miss him forever, but he will be alive in our memories forever,
Love to all Murray
Jan.26th 2014
Dear Dottie & Family
It has been a very sad day.A day I won't forget for a very long time.Being alone all day---waiting for news about our Paul.Then the phone--Murray's voice sayng "he did not make it"
I just had to write to express my feelings,"my way",concerning Paul's passing.Today was the loss of a very dear friend,not only to Murray but to me personally. I did not know Paul as long as Murray did,but he accepted me the very first time we met,when Murray invited me to his house for dinner 12 years ago.Whenever I was with Paul,his smile was there for me,the hugs were with such warmth for me,the jokes & stories he told with such humor,such a fun person & I loved being with him.Paul was the brother to Murray & I felt the same.He was a very special and generous person and I am proud to have spent these past years in his company.Dottie,my heart and sympathy go out to you and your wonderful family.My life is much richer,knowing you all & sincerely hope the future years will only be filled with good health and no more sadness.Be happy to know,Paul will surely be missed by many. With Much Love Florence
Although Paul is no longer here, I’m sure his family takes comfort in sharing all the wonderful memories that made his life such a memorable one.
When I think of where this man started, with all the pain and suffering he endured and ended up bringing so much joy and happiness to his family and friends it is beyond amazing. When ever I have a problem or feel down about something, I think about Paul and ask myself what would Paul do and I do feel much better. I will miss uncle Paul for the rest of my life, and I thank God we all had him in ours.
I’m so sorry to hear of your father’s passing.
I remember meeting him. He was such a nice man with such a positive energy about him.
I also remember you telling me of his life … the horrors he endured, yet he remained a kind man.
I’ve never forgotten that and use it as a pole star in my life to right myself when I get to feeling sorry for myself … or I see others holding a “pity party” for themselves.
I also remember you telling me of the journey you and Mark and your dad took back to Europe to see where he grew up and some of the horrible places the Nazis erected.
The image of him trembling when you approached a border and saw armed soldiers checking passports is burned into my mind.
Mercifully, you father is out of his misery now and his soul is free.
The rest of us must continue on our journey.
You are a lucky man to have had this man for your father.
His kindness and intelligence lives on in you … and has been passed on to Corey … and will be passed on to her children, no doubt.
What better legacy could a person offer than kindness and compassion.
My heart goes out to you and your family, my dear friend.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.
Please give everyone my love and condolences.
I’m here if you ever want to talk.
I look forward to hopefully seeing you soon.
I wish you peace.
Love you, my brother,
Jim
Similarly, his accomplishments both in his personal life and his business life just astound me. Here was an immigrant to this country who couldn't speak a word of English and from what I know did not have much education, who was able to achieve much success and raise a family to be proud of. After all is said and done, it seems that Uncle Paul should have been giving seminars in how to live a successful life.
Out of all my aunts and uncles and other relatives, Uncle Paul was the only one who still called me "Stevie"...the funny thing was that coming from him it seemed perfectly natural regardless of the fact that I am 71 years old.
I will miss Uncle Paul dearly... and I feel blessed to have had the privilege to know him..........unfortunately, I fear we will not see his like again because people such as Uncle Paul are very few and very far between.
I loved Uncle Paul with all of my heart and every visit with him was precious to me. He will be missed dearly, but never forgotten he has a special place in my heart.
Yasi
I also remember when living in new York . We lived very close and grew up in each others houses. Theirs in Plainview and ours in Hicksville. We were all of the same generation. And it was a glorious generation.
It was a real mitzvah having Uncle Paul fly in with Aunt Dottie to attend Alice's 90th birthday. He was able to see many members of the family and they got to see him. If nothing more, Uncle Paul was a family man.
He was a kind and gentle man who had something nice to say about everyone.
He was an extraordinary human being. One last thing. At Alice's party, he grabbed me by my hands in his and sat me down next to him still holding my hands. The hands that were holding mine, still bore the
strength of someone half his age.
I will miss him dearly. But the enormity of his loss is tempered by all of the people whose lives he has touched. To his family and extended family and friends, our hearts go out to you. He may not pass this way again, but perhaps you may pass his.
Jewish National Fund-Tree Donations
78 Randall Avenue
Rockville Center, NY 11570
The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors
122 West 30th Street--Suite 205
New York, 10001
Thank you.
Leave a Tribute
With love always, Alice
We may be related....
My Mother,
Miriam Tracht was a first cousin with Leon Rechnic. Miriam Passed away at the
age of 91 on Sept 22 this year before Yontif. I found the book that Rose Rechnic wrote regarding the Holocaust and know that they were cousins.
Please let me know if we are somehow related..
Thanks
Vanessa Cohen
My remarks at Dad's funeral service
Dad would be so pleased that we’re all here together today. “Togetherness!” he would say. Togetherness.
Let me add my thanks to all of you on behalf of our family for being here with us and for the incredible love and affection you’ve shown for Dad. It’s hard to believe how many lives he touched and how many of us loved him.
There’s still a piece of me that truly believes Dad would live forever. And why not? He seemed to take every curveball that life threw at him, first on his own and then with mom at his side, powering through and making lemonade every time. Sorry for the mixed metaphor. You can’t actually make lemonade from curveballs but Dad wouldn’t have minded. For him it was never about how you talked about something but what you actually did about it. How you faced each challenge.
One of those curveballs was actually of his own doing. A crazy son that always seemed to be taking another road less travelled. I used to imagine Mom and Dad going into parental executive session and Dad asking her to remind him “exactly what planet is he from again?”
Once Dad and I had lunch at Rattnor’s world-famous kosher deli on the lower east side. Dad ordered Borscht which he loved with a dollop of sour cream. When I ordered a roast beef sandwich on white bread! With mayo!!! Well a lesser man might have been embarrassed or even mortified. But not Dad. He just chuckled and shook his head. It was always the same. He may not have always understood me but that didn’t matter because he sure loved me.
When I showed a serious interest in playing the guitar Dad came home one day and handed me a couple of catalogs. Beautiful shiny new guitars. He started talking to me about this model versus that model. He had actually done research! I am reminded of that John Adams quote (I paraphrase here) … I shall wage war so my son can study music. We picked out a red guitar that I still have today.
I will never forget the time Dad came home from work and found me in the backyard at Nautilus Avenue my childhood home. I had injured my hand and was unable to play a gig that I’d spent months preparing for. Emergency room visit number 8 I believe. Right Mom? Anyway he approached me and I saw that tears were welling up in his eyes.
He loved us so much. An unconditional love the transcended everything. It didn’t matter that he didn’t know much about music or the law, like my brother, or teaching or social work, like my sister. If we loved those things then he loved them too.
There’s an old home movie, B&W, no sound of course. Dad is hamming it up for the camera. A real cut-up. Full of light, full of life. That clip, maybe 10 seconds long, really speaks to me because it was filmed around 1950 just a handful of years after surviving an unimaginable horror.
No one would have blamed Dad if he became an angry bitter man after the war. You don’t survive what he survived without it changing you forever. But Dad chose a different path. He chose to use every new day given to him by the almighty and treat it like a brand new beginning. What a remarkable man. And that may be his greatest gift to me. Eric my son (he might say) take whatever life throws at you and turn it into a cool glass of refreshing lemonade. And if you're fortunate enough to actually have a family... well keep them close, hug them often and love them, love them, love them.
From Faith
January 29, 2014
Did you know……………
**he had a brother, 3 sisters, a brother-in-law and a niece
**he was only 13 when he was separated from his family
**he was not bar mitzvahed
**he went back to Poland in 1994 with Mom, Mark, Eric and Peter (I was pregnant with Melanie); they found his father’s gravesite and Dad was able to say Kaddish
**he lived with Aunt Rose, Uncle Leon, Elaine and Alice when he first arrived in the US
**my parents dated only 6 months before becoming engaged
**this March they would have celebrated 64 years together
**he earned his GED
**Robyn Elizabeth is named for 2 of his sisters and Peter is named for Dad
**he was an honorary Thespian for the work he and Mom did on Plainview Kennedy HS plays
**he went to ice cream college at Penn State with Mark and Dad was elected president of his class of 105 professionals
**he would wash my hair when I was in middle school
**he loved Sephardic food and snick-snacks
Mom………
Thank you for giving us 3 ½ years that wouldn’t have happened without your love and caring.
We shared……
**Peter attending law school
**the birth of Calder
**Aunt Alice’s 90th birthday party
**Ben’s engagement
** Barry and I buying a house in Virginia
**many, many visits