Make your deli reservations — National Grandparents Day is Sept. 7.
While these “Hallmark holidays” may feel cheesy to some, this one holds a deeper meaning, if you let it.
Getting to know your grandparents and great-grandparents doesn’t just honor their lives, it helps to better understand your own, from the traits you carry to the traditions you keep. In honor of this special day, we recently spoke with seniors at the Toby & Leon Cooperman Sinai Residences in Boca Raton and some of their grandkids (and one great-grandkid!) about the importance of family ties, memories and legacy.
What the ‘grands’ had to say
“I will always remember my grandmother for the Judaism that she brought into our lives,” said Talya Heller, who was in town for grandmother Bilha Ron’s 95th birthday. “She has stayed true to ‘L’dor v’dor’ and kept Jewish tradition in our family.”
Ron celebrated the occasion with a party at Sinai Residences last month in the company of, among others, her four grandchildren and one great-grandchild, all visiting from Chicago.
Heller’s daughter, Brooklyn, 10, said her great-grandmother “always tells stories about her life and childhood and loves to be with her family …
“We bake challah and do Passover together,” she added.
Another couple at Sinai Residences, Rabbi Jerome Epstein and wife Jane, also had a grandchild visiting: Gabriel Epstein, 15, of New York City, who said he travels to South Florida a few times a year.
“I always remember going to Chuck E. Cheese, Sugar Sand Park and the beach,” he said.
The Epsteins have five other grandchildren who live in Boca Raton.
“We want to transmit our values to them, which include a connection to Jewish living, a connection to Israel, kindness, and doing good for others,” Jerome Epstein said. “Hopefully, we can inspire them to have those values even as they have their own lives.”
Other residents had the following to say:
On the importance of grandchildren
“I want [my grandchildren] to remember my hugs, kisses, pride and unconditional love. I want them to always feel safe, secure, confident, and know how much they mean to me. That I feel their love, respect and concern in return. May our times together and our memories always make [them] feel full of joy.” — Bonnie Hirsch, grandmother of seven and great-grandmother of two
“One of the best things that ever happened is the advent of the grandchild. It used to be that the nice thing was to see them and then you could leave. Now you want to see them all the time and you don’t want them to leave.” —Norman Bitman, grandfather of four
On their contributions
“I have tried to make a positive difference within my own family and the world as an educator, helping people to recognize the best in themselves and thus achieve their highest aspirations.” — Ruth Maron, grandmother of 20 and great-grandmother of 11 (soon-to-be 12)
“I have strived in both my personal and professional life to make a positive difference both within my family and the world at large.” — Arthur Maron, husband of Ruth Maron, grandfather and great-grandfather
Preserving the past
One way to leave a legacy is to write your own story.
One Sinai resident, Judith Levy, has created books for just this purpose: to put the past to paper and pass it down to the younger generations.
She was inspired even before becoming a grandparent of five, back in 1982, when she joined a course at Florida Atlantic University on how to write your personal family history. When Levy, who was 48 at the time, walked in, she saw a room filled with grandparents.
“They had come to put their memories on paper for their grandchildren,” she recalled. “I could see they were having difficulty, they were carers and sharers, but they weren’t writers.”
This sparked the idea to make a “baby book backwards” from a grandmother to a grandchild, to help them start writing by providing prompts.
Eventually, that book, which she titled “Grandmother Remembers: A Written Heirloom for My Grandchild,” reached No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list and sold over 3 million copies, with versions printed in Hebrew, Dutch, German and Portuguese.
It would lead to subsequent versions, including “Grandfather Remembers: Memories for My Grandchild” and her newest release, “Great Grandmother Remembers: An Heirloom Treasury of Memories” (G Editions; $20), which came out on Mother’s Day 2025.
“If you think of your story as a journey, it will be easy to write about your life,” said Levy. “Start with grandparents, parents, and then when you were born and go from there.”
While all of Levy’s books are secular, she feels it is especially important for Jews to keep their history alive.
“We are wonderful people and we should teach our grandchildren to be proud Jews,” she said. “Go forward if you get a chance to help somebody. Jewish people are known for that — we are good people and we have offered so much to the world. Our grandchildren should know that and always be proud of it.”
In the end, Levy believes that the strongest connections are built by doing things together.
“My grandmother taught me how to make chicken soup,” she said. “Every time I make that soup, which I do for Passover, I feel my grandmother standing right next to me.”
Judith Levy is doing a book signing for “Great Grandmother Remembers: An Heirloom Treasury of Memories” from 1-3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 7, at Barnes & Noble, 1400 Glades Road, Boca Raton. Visit barnesandnoble.com.
