Member Profile
Bertha Kurz
"It is my deep and honest feeling," Bertha Kurz told interviewer, Bess Hyman, at one of our Temple's socials, "that if your are Jewish and deaf and partake of any or all of the offerings and opportunities of a Jewish deaf organization, be it a Temple or a fraternal club, it is your duty and obligation to join that Temple or club as a regular dues paying member." So strongly did Bertha Kurz feel about this that she joined Temple Beth Solomon of the Deaf early in 1993, within weeks after making her home in Encino, in southern California at the age of 96, with her son Murray and daughter-in-law, Joan.
Left to right: Anna Verburg; Bess Hyman; Bertha Kurz; Jean
Greenberg
Bertha Haft Kurz was born in the last decade of the 19th century, 1897, in New York City. Her parents were Russian immigrants. "We were poor," she told me and added, "but my parents were very hard working and always saw to it that there was plenty of good, healthy food for us. It was discovered in my infancy that I was deaf and they understood the need for me to have special schooling." Bertha's parents chose the Lexington School for the Deaf, then located on the eastside of midtown Manhattan. "I loved the school. It really became my home away from home. And the friends I made became my lifetime friends.
I had a wonderful group of classmates and a special group of girls within them. We formed our own social clan which we called Semper Fidelis." Bertha added in a way of explanation, "That's after the Marine Corps hymn and we were as close or even closer than a Marine Corps squad." At Lexington Bertha was chosen to head a table of resident students at mealtime. "I loved the responsibility," she told me explaining that it was her duty to see that the food was passed correctly and that the table obtained whatever was necessary or lacking for the students. Among her charges was a growing teenager, who like most of his peers never seemed to have enough milk. "Bertha, please get us some more milk." The young man's plea was heard at every meal. Bertha tagged the nickname 'pest' on young Harry Kurz, little realizing at the time that they later would become good friends and lifetime mates.
Bertha's class graduated in the spring of 1913. They were so young, averaging between fourteen and sixteen years of age, that the school administrators kept them for another year before releasing them to the various trades for which they had been prepared. At the end of the year, one of the school's wealthy benefactors chose Bertha, with two others, to be trained as diamond cutters in his thriving business. Bertha stayed with this very specialized occupation until the onset of World War I, when the stones imported from Africa were no longer arriving in America and the business was forced to close.
After graduation, the young deaf people from New York City's three schools for the deaf, P.S. 23, Fanwood and Lexington, drifted to the local deaf clubs and organizations for their social lives. The Jewish students turned to H.A.D. (Hebrew Association of the Deaf). There they found good companionship, made good, long-lasting friendships and enjoyed their common Jewish backgrounds. H.A.D. offered religious services, not only on the High Holy Days but also throughout the year. Nathan Schwartz, Harry Kurz, Rebecca Champagne and Bertha were all active in the politics and activities of their group and it didn't take long for Nathan to propose to Rebecca and for Harry to propose to Bertha and it didn't take long for the four of them to become very close friends. Interestingly enough, many years later, Bertha and Harry's son, Murray, married Rebecca and Nathan's daughter, Joan.
Bertha and Harry married in 1920 and had three children: two boys, Bob and Murray and a daughter Lily. Despite the hardships of the Great Depression, Harry worked in the garment industry and the family had fun.
"Movies were wonderful, and the only cost a quarter," Bertha recalled. "We belonged to a club and met once a week to play cards and talk. We had a good time. We had nothing really, but we felt we had everything. We had lots of friends and kept those friends for years." Sadly, Harry died in 1979, but the three siblings that came from Bertha's and Harry's marriage have produced nine grandchildren and those nine grandchildren have produced thirteen great-grandchildren and one great, great grandchild-and everyone signs!!!
At Bertha's 100th birthday party, in 1997, dressed in a pale yellow dress that took her weeks to find, among family members and longtime friends who came from as far away as New Jersey and Florida, she was the last to sit down after mingling, kissing and hugging the 125 guests. She told a reporter from the Daily News, there to cover the big event, that she had never driven a car, but she didn't feel she had missed out on anything in life and never felt discriminated against because she is deaf. "I don't feel handicapped at all," she said. "I live day by day and with the love of my family."
On Bertha's 101st birthday, she was interviewed again by the Daily News. When asked if she had a secret for living a long life, she replied, "No," but she did have one for living a happy life: "I don't worry about things, and I keep my mouth shut and I mind my own business."
In 1993 Bertha was honored by the Lexington School's Alumni Association as their oldest living alumna. In 1998 she was awarded the Hersh Woman of the Year by Temple Beth Solomon. Her citation read: "This gentle woman has been active all of her life in observing Jewish rituals and traditions; serving the Jewish Deaf community from the east coast to the west coast with 100 years of wisdom..."
You can find Bertha Kurz at all of our senior citizen socials, at all of our sisterhood affairs and at services on Friday nights and anywhere else that an invitation is extended. She does two crossword puzzles and reads two newspapers a day, loves Danielle Steele novels and Wheel of Fortune. But most of all she loves people and her infectious smile is proof of that and how much she treasures each moment of life. The wisdom that comes from her sharp mind not only tells you of her 103 years worth of living experiences, but also advises you how to bid and play 7 no trump without the joker.More Profiles...