Finding Inspiration from my Ancestors

British/Yiddish

I am the Jewish granddaughter of immigrants from Eastern Europe, and only recently discovered (after taking a DNA test) that my father was the adopted, illegitimate son of a Boston Brahmin, and a descendant of one of the most famous passengers on the Mayflower. Since making this discovery, I refer to the two branches of my family tree as the British and Yiddish sides.

At first glance, my male ancestors seem quite different from one another, and yet they have some striking things in common, characteristics so particular that the similarity between them occurred to me almost immediately upon discovering the new information about my origins. It is these characteristics which I find so inspiring. They both left home to begin a new life in a faraway land wholly unknown to them. They both were able to do so because of strong faith, courage, a spirit of adventure and other internal resources. They were also both pressed into service as spiritual leaders after having chosen other occupations.

My mother’s father came to America in 1920 from Poland. If he had stayed home, he was expected to become a rabbi. Sadly, it was not safe to remain in his birthplace; the region was engulfed by genocidal violence. So, as quite a young man, my Papa Sam left home, along with his mother and brothers and together, they fled Europe, crossed the Atlantic, and arrived at Castle Gardens, in New York City, where Sam obtained a secular education. He went on to become a chemist and an inventor of useful coatings for aluminum cans and tubes, used to contain beer, soft drinks and toothpaste. Samuel Brochstein founded his own business and against all odds, achieved tremendous success.

My own father, Arnold, (Hebrew name, Avram) was a surgeon who died just before his eightieth birthday, without knowing he had been adopted, without learning the identity of the people whose DNA he inherited. The most famous of these was Elder WIlliam Brewster. Exactly three centuries before my Papa Sam arrived in New York, my 11th great grandfather led a group of Separatist Pilgrims to settle in a place called Plimouth (sic) Plantation, which would soon be called Plymouth, Massachusetts.

Spiritual Leadership

Both these ancestors of mine became spiritual leaders of their communities, after training for and working in other occupations. In midlife, my Papa Sam discovered a resort in Mexico, where every winter, he and my grandmother enjoyed six weeks of golf, sunshine and socializing. Many of the other guests were also Jewish and wanted to attend a prayer service on Friday nights; my grandfather stepped up and led them as an amateur rabbi. As the French word suggests (from the Latin word for “lover” amator), Samuel loved serving his vacation community in this capacity.

Before Elder Brewster left Europe in his mid-fifties, he had worked as a personal secretary, a postmaster, an English teacher and a printer-publisher. He fled Europe for distant shores upon learning that King James had issued a warrant for his arrest. As the only university-educated passenger of the Mayflower and a scholar of Hebrew and Biblical texts, he was designated as the Pilgrims’ spiritual leader in the New World, and continued serving in that role even after a professional preacher joined the colony. We can surmise that like Sam, William also discovered a great love for serving in this capacity.

Biblical Roots

In a Torah portion (or Parsha) known as “Lech lecha” (Genesis 12:1-17:27), G-d says to Abram: “Go forth from your native land to the land that I will show you. “

G-d doesn’t say to go to a place you can see in a brochure, a place you know from Instagram, a place you heard about from a travel agent, a place where people have settled and prospered. No, G-d tells Abram to leave his father’s home and go… to an unknown place that will be revealed in due course. G-d promises “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.”

This happened for Abram, who became the patriarch of the Israelites, aka the Jews. It also happened again, thousands of years later, to my devout Christian ancestor, William Brewster. When he was in his fifties, about the same age I am now, while hiding out in Holland from a manhunt ordered by the King, Brewster arranged passage for himself, his wife and two of his children and they crossed the Atlantic; he let G-d guide him to a barren piece of land recently ravaged by plague, where he somehow manifested safety and prosperity. His family and community prospered and became known as New England, and eventually, America, land of the free and the home of the brave. Brewster had less than twenty-four years of his life left when he came to these shores, but still, he managed to build something enduring.

A similar thing happened, again, three hundred years later. In 1920, my maternal grandfather was practically penniless when he arrived in New York from Poland, but somehow, Sam Brochstein built a beautiful life for himself, helped a great many people and never lost his faith and optimism. His wife survived breast cancer, they brought up two daughters, and one of them blessed him with two grandchildren, of which I am one. I have now brought up three sons; my sister has raised a son and a daughter. It remains to be seen what legacy we will leave, what we will manage to manifest and develop in our remaining years, be they many or few. Our ancestors show us that anything is possible.