Remarks on R.J. Hoffman

Naming Ceremony, Ryan (Raphael) Jaffrey Seidman—March 28, 2004

Ruth Kertzer Seidman

My grandfather, Ralph Jacob Hoffman—his Hebrew name was Raphael Ya-akov—was born in 1883 in Yagestov, Poland. At the age of 15 he emigrated on his own to England where he worked for four years before leaving for Toronto, where he was a tailor and women’s clothing designer for the department store, Eaton’s. He married Eva Andrews in 1906; in 1907 they moved to St. Catharines and opened a ladies’ ready-to-wear store. He built up that business to several departments and ran the store successfully for more than 50 years. After a full and productive life, he died in 1959 at the age of 76.

My grandparents raised five children: Manuel, my mother Julia, Sidney, Felice, and Mirial. All were fortunate enough to have long and happy marriages. There were 13 grandchildren, of whom I was the first.

RJ, as he was known to friends and business associates, was admired for his honesty and integrity. He was multi-talented and a self-educated lover of books and learning. RJ was over six feet tall, with a proud bearing. He liked order in his life; he had many friends. He was always involved in the community, particularly the Jewish community. When a working teen-ager in London, he attended all sessions of the Fourth World Zionist Congress presided over by Theodore Herzl. In Toronto in his early 20’s, RJ was one of the founders of the B’nai Zion Society. When he moved to St. Catharines, there were seven Jewish families there, and he immediately began efforts to establish a synagogue. Over the years, he was a delegate to nearly every national and provincial convention of the Canadian Jewish Congress and the Zionist Organization of Canada. In the larger community, he was a member of the Oddfellows Lodge.

Feeling a strong responsibility to his extended family as well as his large immediate family, RJ somehow managed by the early 1920’s to put together the funds to bring his parents, his brother Max, his sister Julia, and his half-brother Chaim-Maier from Europe to North America. Only one sibling, Zelig, chose to remain in Poland, and he was later to perish in Auschwitz. Zelig’s widow and two adult children ultimately made it to Palestine after the War, and RJ helped them financially to get established there.

RJ’s life truly reflected the concept of Tsedakah—that is, charity based on justice. During the Depression, when business was poor, RJ was determined NOT to reduce his regular charitable contributions; he told his children that since he was looked to as a leader in the community, if he reduced his contributions, others would, too.

I am fortunate to have many memories of Zaide Hoffman (Zaide is the Yiddish word for grandfather.) During World War II my father was a US Army chaplain stationed overseas; my mother and I moved to Canada and lived with my grandparents in St. Catharines, where I attended kindergarten and first grade. My parents and I had also spent all of my earliest summers in St. Catharines.

I remember Zaide in the morning striding purposefully to his store, about four or five blocks from the house, and walking home for his mid-day meal, and then back to the store. I remember his study, which I loved to go into, even when Zaide was not there. He had a big reclining chair, a library table with a shawl, many books on topics from engineering to medicine to literature, and a mantelpiece with busts of Shakespeare and Herzl. The study also had a roll-top desk and a huge floor-model radio with a phonograph under the cover on top. Zaide loved to listen to music, especially opera. By the time I came along, I think he was somewhat hard of hearing, so the music was played very loudly and could be heard all over the house!

Zaide had been quite strict and perhaps distant with his own children, but he softened up considerably with his grandchildren. Apparently as a baby I liked pickles, which in those days you didn’t feed children, but Zaide made sure I had them. He liked to do all the alterations in the store, based on his skills from his days as a tailor. One day while we were living with my grandparents, my mother was amazed when Zaide brought home a perfectly-tailored navy-blue wool coat he had made for my little doll. It had a silk lining and all the details, pockets, and so forth that you would find on a woman’s coat.

RJ was dexterous and artistic. Besides managing a large store and its sales staff, Zaide did much of the work himself: the accounting; the electrical, carpentry, and plumbing work; and he even designed the newspaper advertisements for the store. After his retirement, Zaide used all the fabric scraps he had saved over the years to make quilts for his children and grandchildren. I have a large quilt with a Star of David in the center and the name “Ruthie” embroidered in the middle of the star.

Zaide was fascinated with technology. He observed with great interest the construction of the Welland Canal. When the family had visitors, instead of taking them to nearby Niagara Falls, which might have been expected, Zaide would take them to see the Welland Canal, where he would explain every aspect of its workings.

In his later years, RJ became an intrepid and enthusiastic traveler. He went to Israel (I can imagine how thrilled he was to see the realization of Herzl’s vision) and to Europe, and he visited my family who by then lived in New York and my Aunt Felice and her family who lived in Texas, and from there he went to Mexico. At our place in Manhattan, he would set off alone in the morning and return late in the afternoon. When asked where he had been, he would say something like “Brooklyn” or “the Bronx”, and it turned out that he had walked to all these places. On one of his trips abroad, he traveled on a passenger-carrying freighter; the seas were rough, and Zaide wondered why sometimes he was the only one eating in the dining room!

RJ Hoffman was a highly ethical person, devoted to his family and community. He was truly a self-made man, providing service to others while achieving a full and enjoyable life through energy, hard-work, and self-education. I am delighted and honored that Ryan will be carrying on my Zaide’s name.