In the years when I lived in Forest Hills, my first synagogue was Congregation Machane Chodosh, and the two pillars holding up its German Jewish traditions were Rabbi Manfred Gans zt”l and President Herbert Jaffe. A year ago, Herbert Jaffe departed from life, being one of the last voices from the German-born generation that founded this shul.
“We gave him the honorary title of chaver, a high honor for somebody who is not a rabbi, dedicated to Torah, a talmid chacham, a perpetual student,” said Rabbi Yossi Mendelson, the rav of Machane Chodosh. “He was always seeking more knowledge, painfully aware of the unanswered questions of life. He voraciously consumed knowledge. When he asked why, it was really authentic.”
Jaffe was born in 1924 in Aachen to a family with proud German roots. His father’s Iron Cross was the result of battlefield wounds that he received in World War I. He returned home to marry and build a textile business. “Herbert spoke about his parents discussing emigrating. His father thought that Hitler was a madman, and the Nazis wouldn’t last. But his mother said that this may be true but we may be finished before him.”
With public schools and colleges in Germany prohibited to Jews, Jaffe attended a trade school in Belgium, where he picked up French. The Kristallnacht pogrom in November 1938 dispelled any thoughts that things would be better for Jews in Germany, and his family began to look for a refuge. At the time, the United States had strict quotas on immigrants, so the Jaffes looked to any country that would welcome them.
Upon learning that a Peruvian consul in Paris was giving out visas, they received the life-saving passes and sailed for South America. Next to the dock in Hamburg where his ship departed was the MS St. Louis, the ill-fated passenger ship that carried 937 refugees to Cuba, only to be turned away and sent back to Europe; 254 of them would not survive the Holocaust. When the Jaffes arrived in Peru, they were also denied entry. Fortunately, his cousin Alfredo, who was only 15 years old and spoke fluent Spanish, bribed the authorities so that they could disembark. Herbert quickly mastered the new language, and he worked in the mines in the Andes Mountains.
When the war ended, his parents gave him $20, a suitcase, and, with his sister Inga, they sailed for New York. He learned English and graduated from CCNY with a degree in mechanical engineering. Herbert and Henny married in 1948 and from that moment, their names always appeared together as they supported local Jewish causes and pro-Israel organizations. His house hosted many neighbors and members of Machane Chodosh.
Jaffe founded a small company in his garage that made automatic industrial sewing machines. His clients included major American companies in a wide range of industries. “His last day at the shop was September last year, at age 98,” said his daughter Judy Jaffe.
In 2021, Jaffe was profiled in the Swiss Jewish magazine Tachles as an “innovator and pioneer,” noting patents that he filed, impact on CAM computer-aided manufacturing, and his fluency in Spanish as he trained workers at his Sunnyside office.
His grandsons Elihu and Moshe spoke of their closeness to Herbert with personal examples of his dedication to their well-being and spiritual growth. In his final weeks, he was confined to a bed and his speech was getting weaker. He used his strength to bless his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren almost to his last day.
“One of the best people that I’ve met. We used to walk home together,” said Mark Plaine, who succeeded Jaffe as the shul president. “He spoke about his life in Germany and South America. I pretended that I was not aware so that I could hear these stories again.”
Among those who walked the Jaffes home from shul, Carmela Chessen admired his devotion for his wife, particularly in the last years of her life, when her health and memory were declining. “It was a life well-lived. As Henny was able to come to shul, you could see how loving he was with her. He treated her the same, at every point,” she said.
After her passing in 2015, Jaffe continued to work daily in his company’s office in Sunnyside, and attend shul functions, sharing his experiences in Nazi Germany and South America.
“He still went to his business, and then started making friends with younger people in the shul. He was creative about his time, and they appreciated him,” Chessen said. “They looked forward to their time with him. It was not easy for him to do. There was creativity throughout his life. He always wanted to be in the mix. He was a model on how to live your life. He did not stop working; he engaged with people.”
Over the years, we’ve written stories mentioning Mr. Jaffe and his leadership at Machane Chodosh. Here are three examples, which you can read on our website:
“Kristallnacht Commemoration Features Forest Hills Resident Who Lived Through It” (November 17, 2021)
“Forest Hills’ Machane Chodosh Marks 80 Years At Gala Dinner” (November 27, 2019)
“Israel Innovations On Tour At Machane Chodosh” (July 10, 2019)
