Alumni of The Year
Frimet (‘82) and Bryan (‘76) Herstic
When people ask Bryan where he was born, he replies “Lebanon…,” as in Bronx Lebanon Hospital on the beautiful Grand Concourse. His father Isaac A”H, a Holocaust survivor from Romania, and mother Trudy A”H from Newark New Jersey, moved from the Bronx to Washington Heights, where he and his older brother Mitch attended Yeshiva Rabbi Moses Soloveichik. One of his favorite teachers, Rabbi Elbaz, later became the first Hebrew principal of the newly created Hebrew Academy High School in Yonkers. In 1972 the Herstic family moved to Yonkers and Bryan began his high school career at Westchester, located in the Lincoln Park Jewish Center on Central Park Avenue.
Just a block away from the Herstic’s new home was the thriving, Midchester Jewish Center, headed by its spiritual leader Rabbi Harry Bolensky A”H. It was in that shul that Bryan met his eventual “bashert,” Frimet, who just happened to be the Rabbi’s daughter. In 1973, the high school, in its new locale on the corner of McLean and Central Avenues in Yonkers, welcomed a young, slim, energetic, clever and clean-shaven headmaster, Rabbi Boruch Majerowicz, who soon came to be known affectionately as the “The Major.” Highlights of Bryan’s high school career include incessant playing of “Smoke on the Water” on his electric guitar and climbing the walls of the school (literally). As the first official captain of the first Hebrew High Hockey team, Bryan often practiced stick handling and his lethal slap shot in the hallway. One morning a shot “got away” and accidently hit a little red box on the wall. Needless to say, within minutes, two fire engines arrived, sirens blaring. The firemen entered the building, wielding axes and picks, and evacuated the building until they determined the root cause of the false alarm - an errant hockey puck! A legend was born.
Bryan graduated WHHS In the bicentennial year of 1976, the same year that Frimet completed 6th grade at Westchester Day School.
After a stint at NYU, Bryan began his retail career at Mitchel’s Sportswear, his parents’ successful business located on the Lower East Side. Bryan remembers that during the holiday season, his father would give out free coffee to customers waiting on line in the freezing cold. Half the kids in the high school owned leather jackets from Mitchel’s, including Frimet and her sister, Sarah.
In the spring of 1983, Bryan “re-met” Frimet at the wedding of a Westchester schoolmate, Linda Levy, and the rest is history. They were married in June of 1985, a month after Frimet graduated from Purchase University. In September 1986, Seth was born, followed by Brooke in 1989, Naama in 1993, and Kayla in 1996.
Frimet went on to become a counselor in the NYC school system, and has been working at P.S. 8 in the Bronx for over 20 years. Bryan began a new career in residential mortgages in 1994 which lasted 14 years. He is currently working in the energy industry, employed by E.P.A. Memo-Cogen in Mamaroneck, a multi-faceted company that specializes in lighting efficiency upgrades, oil to gas conversion, and solar power projects.
Frimet and Bryan moved to New Rochelle in 1996 in search of a community that would enrich the families’ spiritual growth and Jewish identity. That meant finding the right shul , the right rabbi ,and the right school. That shul is Congregation Anshe Sholom. The rabbi is Ely Rosenzveig. “The attention and the love that the rabbi and his family have shown us will never be forgotten.” The Rosenzveigs are fulfilling a lifelong dream of making Aliyah next summer. “We are so happy for them, but we will miss them dearly. I guess we’re going to be making a lot of trips to Israel.”
And the school, of course, is Westchester Hebrew High School. “Frimet and I really have such fond memories of high school that sending our kids there was a natural choice.” They are grateful for the personal attention that WHHS provides each student, the life lessons learned and longstanding friendships developed. Also, how many people can boast that their kids have the same teachers that they had? Mr. Kotkin and Senor Rimer have taught two generations of Bolenskys and Herstics. In fact Frimet’s mom, Carole, has been involved with the high school since 1976, when her daughter Sarah was a freshman, followed by Frimet, Lilly and Shira. Her grandson Harry is a member of the Class of 2012, to be followed by Hanna and Sam currently attending WDS.
“As far as I know, Frimet and I are the only couple to have both graduated from WHHS, and have all their kids graduate from WHHS.”
Seth (’04) is currently continuing his Torah studies in Israel at Machon Herzog. Brooke (’07) is attending F.I.T. and is engaged to be married to Josh Katz of Cedarhurst. Naama (’11) is a seminary student at Midreshet Moriah, in Jerusalem; and Kayla is a member of the Class of 2014.
“With G-d’s help, the next generation is coming up fast. Senor Rimer, hang in there. They’ll need you!”