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Stories told by Selma Okun
Schefman, granddaughter of Harry Levine, to Jane Levine Lewit on February 14,
2013
Oral History = a family member's recollections of
what happened in the past. Lore.
Tales.
HENRY LEVINE and THE UNION
Selma’s mother, Ida Levine Okun, was a high school
graduate. Her first job was with
Levine and Kalikow, a business run by her uncle, Henry Levine and some in his
extended family. This business making/selling pants was located on the Lower East Side.
Around March 1916, in the era before or during World War I,
union organizers came to unionize the workers. Henry Levine never let them in.
So, the organizers called on some thugs who suddenly appeared and "beat the hell out of
Henry." Badly beaten, Ida rode with Henry as he was taken to a nearby hospital.
Henry declared, “I’ll fix them.” He closed the store and went out of business. Later he moved
to Borough Park and went into another business with the Kalikows.
REAL ESTATE TALE FROM RICK LEVINE, HENRY'S GRANDSON
"an addendum to the story about Henry and the unions. The business that Henry and the Kalikows went into was real estate. They developed a number of properties in the Bronx in the Fordham Rd area and beyond and were very successful. Some time in the mid 40s, Joe Kalikow went to Henry
and said that he had found some promising property in Queens and they
should sell all their stuff in the Bronx and buy in Queens. Henry told
Joe that he was nuts and bought him out. Joe invested in Queens in a
swamp called Forrest Hills and wound up owning 1/2 of the borough. One thing about Henry was he had the reputation of being stubborn."
HOW THE LEVINE FAMILY GENEALOGY SEARCH AND RECONNECTIONS BEGAN based on stories from Selma Schefman, Doris Levinson, Helaine Feldman
It all began with a family gathering of Harry Levine
descendants. In 2003 in NYC, Selma Schefman was in town for the 50th birthday of her son, Andrew Schefman, a great-grandson
of Harry Levine.
As Helaine Feldman recounted “We reconnected through (Selma’s) son Andy, with whom
I worked for many years when he was in NY. We didn't even know we
were related at the beginning. But that's what brought me back into the
family after almost 30 years. My father died in 1965 and that was the
last time I saw any Levines.” Their
business connection was through AFTRA – the American Federation of Television
and Radio Artists.
Who were some of the guests at this
first big gathering of the Harry Levine descendants, which took place, as Doris Levinson recalls, at Ruth Chris's Steakhouse.
Selma Schefman,
Helaine and Chet Feldman, Howard Landis, Herbert Okun
(note how many
descendants had names starting with H in
memory of their grandfather, Harry
Levine). By chance, Helaine had
bumped into her cousin, Dave Levinson, at a local restaurant and invited Dave
and Doris to the dinner.
The lore goes that
Doris Levinson, inspired by this interesting and wonderful set of Levines,
later decided to undertake some Levine family history research. And that’s how
it all began.
Unbeknownst to
Doris, beginning in about 2006, Michael Levine, JM’s grandson, was exploring
the Levine family through ancestry.com. Later, this Michael Levine called Henry
Levine’s grandson, Michael, to gather more family data firsthand. At that
moment, a link was made, because Michael knew that two family members were working on
the same project and he put them in touch with each other. As a result, Michael, JM's grandson, and Doris Levinson each could gain
from the research of the other.
Now several
things are going forward for the Levines
1.
Reunions,
the next one scheduled for April 6th in Slingersland, NY
3. A Levine family photo and geneaology album currently being
compiled by Carol Levine Bluestein
4. Family trees – derived from the work of
Michael and Doris.
Newest known member of the Levine family -- Shaun Bennett Hochberg, born 1/23/2013.
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