Jacob Hornstein, 95; realtor started scholarship funds

JACOB HORNSTEIN

One year before completing the exam needed to enter university in Poland, Jacob Tsvi Hornstein was asked to make a choice: divulge the names of his fellow youth Zionist group members to an anti-Semitic teacher or face suspension from school.

It was 1926. Thirteen-year-old Jacob, a leader in his beloved troupe, refused and was never able to complete his formal education.

Mr. Hornstein, who later became a Boston-area real estate agent and philanthropist, died Nov. 7 at his Brookline home of a bronchial obstruction, after a 14-year battle with lung cancer. He was 95.

Mr. Hornstein was born on a farm on the banks of the Dniester River in what is now Ukraine. After his father's death, when Mr. Hornstein was 6 years old, the family became homeless, but later found housing in the Polish town of Rohatyn, now in western Ukraine.

At age 13, Mr. Hornstein joined a group called The Zionist Youth, eventually becoming a leader of about a dozen peers learning about Zionism and Hebrew culture.

After his suspension from school, he worked for two months with his brother, Nate, to construct electrical stations in Rohatyn and nearby Halicz. He then worked at the lumber mill of a Polish kibbutz, or collective community, in Bielsko-Biela. The kibbutz's purpose was to prepare people for immigration to what was then Palestine.

With just $50 in hand, Mr. Hornstein immigrated in 1932 on a ship called the Polania. He later wrote that on arrival in Haifa, he kissed the soil on the beach.

In Palestine, he lived on a kibbutz in Petach Tikva and worked in construction and on citrus plantations.

He also was a founding member of Kibbutz Bet Yosef near the Sea of Galilee.

During that time, Mr. Hornstein participated in labor strikes to pressure Jewish orange grove owners to hire more Jewish laborers.

In 1936, he returned to Europe and persuaded his mother, a sister, and a sister-in-law to accompany him to what would become Israel 12 years later. Mr. Hornstein married the sister-in-law to include her on his passport, divorcing her once she was safely in the country.

A brother and sister were left in Poland. The brother survived. His sister, Bronia, perished in the Holocaust, a tragedy that haunted Mr. Hornstein, said his daughter Harriet Jerusha Korim of Wellfleet.

Mr. Hornstein married Judith (Korim) in Jerusalem in 1938 and moved to Chelsea, Mass., a year later.

During the war, he learned welding at New England Trawler Company and worked as a welder at Lawley's Shipyard and Bethlehem Steel in Quincy. He and his wife briefly managed a dry goods and army supply store during World War II.

In 1946, after the birth of their youngest daughter, the couple moved to Brookline. Judith died in 1996, and Mr. Hornstein developed a real estate business and retired in 2000.

He continued to be active in community affairs, establishing the Bronia Horn Memorial Scholarship Fund at the West End House for Boys and Girls in Boston, the Horn-Berger Cultural Fund at Boston University's Center for Judaic Studies, and the Judith Korim Hornstein memorial fund at Harvard Extension School.

Dr. Joan Bedinghaus, a close family friend, said Mr. Hornstein sold her a condominium for a low price and financed it while she was in Harvard Medical School.

"He was very kind to me," she said from her home in Wisconsin. "They were both warm, humorous, hospitable, friendly, supportive people."

Mr. Hornstein was active in the United Jewish Appeal, participating in a mission to Israel in 1988 to celebrate the country's 40th birthday.

In 1998, he visited his hometown with a delegation of Holocaust survivors to lay memorial plaques for the 10,000 Jews who were murdered in the Rohatyn ghetto, including his sister and her family, as well as an aunt who helped raise him. He contributed to the local orphanage and helped restore the desecrated Jewish cemetery.

He "was somebody who didn't just talk and listen sympathetically," his daughter said. " 'What can I do for you?' was his way of connecting with people. This is a person whose spirit will inspire people to change themselves and transform."

Mr. Hornstein also helped his grandson, B.Z. Goldberg, to create the Promises Film Project, a documentary about Arabic and Israeli children, which was nominated in 2002 for an Academy Award for best documentary.

Ted Schneider, the family's spiritual leader at Temple B'nai Moshe in Brighton, met Mr. Hornstein 50 years ago and described him as a modest "tzadik," the Hebrew word for a righteous person.

"He was the singularly most interesting person," he said. "He had the aura of a prophet about him, meaning he was a person who did good things and never expected anything. He was a real inspiration to everyone."

Mr. Hornstein spoke eight languages, including Arabic, Polish, and German. His daughter said his last words were the Hebrew for "I am ready to go out."

In addition to his daughter Harriet, Mr. Hornstein leaves another daughter, Rachael Goldberg of Neve Ilan, Israel; a son, Alvin Raja of Kentfield, Calif.; four grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.

A service has been held.