Biographies

BELLE CAMHI  --  OUR LOVING MOM

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By Roberta Camhi Mohr

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​Thank you all for coming to share in the memories of our mom, the matriarch of 4 generations. Belle was the mother of 3 daughters, Meryl, Roberta and Caryn. Mother- in-law to Bob and Charles, Nona to 5 grandchildren: Barbara and her husband Rob, Jennifer and her husband Tom, Brett and his wife Carmen, Jonathan and his wife Amanda, and Bryan. She was called Nona Bella by her great grandchildren Matthew, Connor, Julianna, Kayla and James.

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The title “Mom” is not unique, but to us, our Mom was the most special person in the world. She was our confidant, our moral compass, our role model, and our inspiration to living a full and good life.

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Let me tell you a little bit about Belle --

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Belle was born on July 20, 1925 to Rose and Sam Mevorah. She was the middle sister to older brother, Meyer and younger brother, Sol and loved them dearly. She grew up in the East New York section of Brooklyn, called New Lots. Her parents were immigrants who came to the United States from Greece and Turkey in the early 1900s. New Lots was a close-knit community with many Sephardic families, everyone living within a few blocks from each other and attending the same synagogue.

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Growing up, our mother had a group of wonderful friends from the neighborhood. They formed a club as teenagers called the Amity Girls. They remained lifelong friends for over 80 yrs. Since everyone knew each other from the neighborhood, it was inevitable that our Mom & Dad would meet. After WW11, our dad’s family rented an apartment in the building that our mom’s dad owed. Their paths crossed many times and since they had mutual friends, it was inevitable that they would start dating. Our grandmother was very instrumental in making this happen. She adored our dad and wanted him as a son-in-law. She invited him to come to the bungalow colony in the Catskills every weekend. Well, it worked! Ten months later they were engaged and 3 kids later they moved to Long Island to a brand-new development in Bellmore.

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One by one their dear friends from New Lots followed and they formed their very special group called the Friendly Circle. They socialized every weekend and had monthly meetings where they planned their weekend getaways, played games and laughed the night away. Their New Year’s Eve parties were famous for their themes and costumes. All the men in their group were in the garment business and their creativity was limitless.

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One of our fondest memories as children was the annual Memorial Day picnic at Eisenhower Park with their Friendly Circle group, their children and their children’s friends.  Our family would be the first to arrive and while our Dad was brewing coffee on the grill our Mom would get the picnic tables ready for a delicious breakfast. I can still smell the aroma of fresh onion rolls and the bacon grilling.  It was so much fun and the highlight of our year. It also showed us the importance of friendship and loyalty, which we carry with us to this day.

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Our Mom was super organized and knew exactly where everything in her house was located.  Since Dad was in the garment business--there was always lots of fabric, buttons, and spools of thread in the sewing room.  If we asked for something as specific as a “green button” she would say it was in the sewing machine cabinet, third drawer down, halfway on the right side, and there it would be. Her business papers were always in binders with tabs. Her recipes were typed on index cards. A place for everything and everything in its place!

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She carried these organizational skills with her when she started her new career at the age of 54 as the secretary to the Director of the Nassau County Department of Senior Citizen Affairs.  At that time, she was probably the only person in the Unites States who still could use her shorthand skills while pushing herself to learn the computer.

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Our dad had recently passed away and mom did what our mom does, she got busy and moved forward.  She used these skills until her retirement thirty years later. She may have retired from the office work but she did not retire from living and learning new things.  She attended concerts, lectures, book discussions and dedicated herself to making a new life and making new friends. Once again, she wanted to learn a new skill. Now, she is no longer 54 but 84 and what does she take up? Bridge! Anyone who plays bridge know this ain’t easy but determined she was! The Bellmore Temple had a group called Hazak where seniors played bridge, as well as, canasta and mah jongg. She bravely walked into a room full of strangers at the Temple, they embraced her warmly, and thus started yet another new chapter in her life making new friends and playing bridge.

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Mom started going to Florida for the winters after her retirement. Her favorite expression was, “If you rest, you rust!”.  She was the perfect example of that expression.  One day while she was in Florida, I called to see how she was doing and asked what she did today.  She said, “I took a walk, participated in my water aerobics class, went to the gym, baked biscochos, had my nails done, and also got a haircut.” 

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She had done all that and it wasn’t even lunch time! Mom was not going to rest nor was she going to rust. She made 90 look easy!

She was an outstanding baker of Sephardic food.  The delicious aromas of burekas, spinach pie, and filas filled the air during the Jewish holidays.  Many years ago, we documented her talents in a video named Baking With Belle surrounded by her children and her 5 young grandchildren. She lovingly taught us her recipes step by step. Our Sephardic traditions were very important to us. She gave me many ‘hands on lessons’ how to bake her world famous burekas.  What higher compliment could you receive then when your own child says, “these are just like Nona’s” but in my heart I knew that I could never emulate the delicious taste of our Mom’s burekas.  

Every Thanksgiving she shared the joy of baking with her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. One by one, they placed all the marshmallows on the sweet potato pie under her guidance. It became a family tradition and a big family favorite.

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She had wonderful relationships with her two sons-in-law, Bob and Charles, who loved her and her cooking as much as she loved them. They never failed to make her laugh and vice versa. She was like a second mother to both of them.

When we were growing up, Fridays were especially important to Mom preparing the house for our weekly Shabbat dinner. She was always singing as she was cooking and cleaning.   We remember walking home from the bus stop with our friends and when they wanted to know what that music was as we approached our house.  We said that was just our Mom singing in her most magnificent voice. Unfortunately, she did not pass on her singing voice to her daughters as whenever we try to sing, our family promptly asks us to please stop!

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We have great memories of celebrating our mom’s birthdays. In 1997, Meryl was lucky to travel with her to Turkey in search of our grandmother’s childhood home in Ankora. We loved the idea of traveling together and decided to do something special for her 75th . We planned a girls’ trip to Spain to explore our Spanish roots. We could barely keep up with her as we traveled through Madrid and Barcelona. We continued to celebrate her birthday with a yearly girls’ day special outing seeing many Broadway shows, touring Radio City, shopping on Canal Street and going to the Hamptons for lunch. We were so lucky to be our little foursome and have these wonderful experiences and now cherished memories.

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As I bring this eulogy to a close, I want to read a poem called THE DASH It is read every year at the Sephardic Temple during Yizkor service on Yom Kippur. It’s funny that only a few years ago I found out it was it was my mom’s favorite poem and it had always been ours, too.

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“I read of a man who stood to speak at the funeral of his friend.                             

He referred to the dates on her tombstone from the beginning to the end.

He noted that first came the date of her birth and spoke of the second with tears.

But he said that what mattered most of all was the dash between those years.

For that dash represents all the time that she spent alive on earth. And now only those who loved her know what that little line is worth.

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For it matters not, how much we own—the cars, the house, the cash. What matters is how we live and love and how we spend our dash.

So, think about this long and hard—are there things you’d like to change? For you never know how much times is left, you could be at “Dash mid range”.

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If we could just slow down enough to consider what’s true and what’s real. And always try to understand the way other people feel.

And be less quick to anger.  And show appreciation more.                                     

And love the people in our lives like we’ve never loved before. 

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If we treat each other with respect and more often wear a smile. Remembering that this special dash might only last a little while. 

So when your eulogy is being read with YOUR life’s actions to rehash, would you be pleased with the things they have to say about how you spent your dash?

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We are so very proud to have been known as Belle’s daughters and how our Mom lived her dash. Her uncompromising integrity and loyalty have been life lessons for us.

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We’d like to leave you some of Belle’s pearls of wisdom that she instilled in us from a very early age:

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      Always take the high road.

      Don’t hold a grudge

      No sad sack faces allowed at the kitchen table

      Keep in touch with your aunts, uncles, and cousins.

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         And……don’t ever leave the house without your lipstick!

Mom, we will love you and miss you for ever and ever!

Thank you all for coming whether in person or via zoom to share in the memories of our Mom.

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Remembering Aunt Belle Camhi

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By Albert Fried-Cassorla

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The following are a few thoughts about my wonderful Aunt Belle. She was born on July 20th, 1925, and she died on December 17, 2024 at the age of 99 1/2.

She was a wonderful and wise woman. This will be a totally inadequate account of her life, which is in reality a eulogy given at her funeral, one of many. It is by no means the most moving or detailed, but it is at this point the only one I have available.

I am Albert Fried-Cassorla, the third nephew of Belle Camhi, after Albert Angel and Roberta Angel.  My mother, Betty Cassorla, was born Rebecca Camhi.  She and her brother Jack Camhi were very close and even inseparable.

The Camhi’s were always like a second set of parents to us Cassorla’s. They lived near us in New Lots and then they lived near us again on Marine Place in Bellmore, Long Island.   

Belle Camhi was to say the least of a bright soul, a very intelligent and considerate and loving woman. The Camhi house was on Marine Place, maybe 7 houses down from us at the other end of the block. We could always visit and be welcomed.

Our families were always in tandem. When my mom had me, Aunt Belle soon afterwards had Meryl. Then when Kenny was born to the Cassorla’s, Roberta was born to the Camhi’s. Finally, Marshall was born to us and then Caryn to the Camhi’s again.

Also, it should not be forgotten that my dad and Jack Camhi’s worked together for many years in the needle trade in a shop called JayEl sportswear in Brooklyn. They rode in the same car for umpteen years they returned from Brooklyn so many times together.

I don't have too many illuminating anecdotes. Those were supplied at her funeral beautifully by the Camhi daughters so well.

But I do have a thought that may not occur to many of you here. And that is that there is a through line of love and affection that runs through our families. From aunt Bella it runs from rose who was a very warm and excitable and exciting person, a true tumula as they say. and through to Bella and her family.

They were Ankaralis as they're called meaning from Ankara Turkey, and my parents on my mother's side are called Kastorali’s meaning from Kastoria, Greece.

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My maternal grandmother Mazelto was a dynamo -  a dancer, a singer and more. She was filled with love and affection and was a very powerful woman.

These two wellsprings of affection, love and energy were what powered our two families ultimately through their offspring and on to Bella, and in my case, to Betty Cassorla.

Aunt Bella had high expectations for us. Because I am a playwright and have sometimes had plays produced, she would sometimes complain affectionately: “Albert, when are you going to be on Broadway I'm tired of waiting!”

Now the following are some anecdotes that I remember the Camhi daughters telling you at the funeral.

Aunt Belle used to say “Always do your best. And don't make excuses for yourself.”

She also said: “Remember to bring lipstick whenever you leave the house.”

Another quote was: “No sad faces allowed at the dinner table!

We will all miss the font of wisdom and the great example of purposeful energy embodied by Bella Camhi. May the memory of her life continue to inspire us all.