Aviva (Rosen) Benanav

Aviva Benanav, July 17, 1924 - July 1, 2012. Born Isadora Rosen in Ivesti, Romania, Aviva survived forced marches and a brutal Transnistrian ghetto during the Holocaust. She met her late husband, Joshua, in December, 1944, on the deck of a refugee boat sailing across the Black Sea, and married him three days later on a train in Turkey, bound for Palestine. Her incredible story of survival is told in Joshua and Isadora (Lyons Press, 2008), a book written by her grandson, Michael Benanav. After nine years in Israel Joshua and Aviva moved to the U.S., where she enjoyed a 25-year career as one of the top saleswomen at Lord & Taylor in Scarsdale, NY (which is no surprise given her charm and her love of people). She lived a life of deep emotion - joy, grief, and love - and brightened the world with her vibrance, her sense of humor, and her mondel bread. Her greatest pleasure was her family. Aviva is preceded in death by her father, Carol Rosen; mother, Anna Rosen, née Iacobescu; husband, Joshua; daughter, Tamar; son, Jonathan; and brother Israel. She is survived by her sons, Gary, Jay, and Dan; daughters-in-law Ruth, Lucy, and Mary Ellen; grandchildren Michael, Tamara, Steven, Jesse, Aaron, David, Ethan, and Sam; and great-grandchildren David, Sara, and Lucas. Funeral services will be held on Thursday, July 5, 2012 at 10 am in the Chapel of the Weinstein Mortuary, 640 Farmington Ave., Hartford, CT. Interment will follow in the Beth El Temple Cemetery, Avon. The family will be sitting shiva at 11 Governors Row, West Hartford on Thursday and Friday, 2-7 pm. Memorial donations may be made to the American Society for Yad Vashem - electronically at www.yadvashemusa.org or by mail at 500 Fifth Avenue, 42nd Floor, New York, NY 10110. For further information, directions, or to sign the guest book for Aviva, please visit online at www.weinsteinmortuary.com/funerals.cfm