There is no age limit on Love
THERE IS no age limit on love. Dolly Tiger Chinitz, a Hungarian Holocaust survivor, and Larry Frisch, an American filmmaker and writer, who can be regarded as one of the pioneers of Israel’s film industry, met at the Jerusalem sheltered housing complex known as L.A. Mayer Residence. Each had just been widowed.
Frisch had brought his wife Marilyn, to whom he had been married for 62 years, to live in the complex, which is adjacent to the Islamic Museum, because Parkinson’s disease had robbed her of independence. She died only a few days later.
Dolly Tiger Chinitz was widowed in the same week from her third husband, Jacob Chinitz, a Conservative rabbi, whom she met at her Bible class in Montreal. She had divorced her two previous husbands.
Jacob Chinitz had been living in Israel with his first wife, Ruth, for many years and had come to Montreal on a temporary basis to fill an interim position. When Ruth died in 2005, the couple had been married for 50 years.
In 2007, Dolly came to Israel for a conference of Jewish child Holocaust survivors. She called Jacob and invited him to dinner. Romance blossomed, they had many shared interests, and in July 2008 they got married. She was 78 and he was 87. The marriage lasted three-and-a-half years, until Jacob died, but they were very happy years.
Although he didn’t know her, Larry, who is a perfect gentleman, thought that he should go the prayer services while Dolly was sitting shiva, because she was, after all, a neighbor in the place in which they were each living.
They became friends, and the friendship flourished and led to romance. Larry is only a few days older than Dolly. He was born in December 1929, and she was born in January 1930. Separately and together, they have a vast array of interests, as a result of which they have built up many friendships.
When they decided to host a joint celebration of their 90th birthdays at Jerusalem’s Inbal hotel, it was a four- generation affair that included children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and friends whom they have made in the various organizations to which they belong.
Both Larry and Dolly have unquenchable curiosity, and they can often be seen waiting for a bus to take them to a lecture, a conference or an outing.
Neither of them looks their age, and the families of each have not only accepted their relationship but have developed strong affections all round.
Among the friends who came was Lily Hershkovitz, who has been Dolly’s best friend for 81 years. The two main speakers at the event were one of Dolly’s daughters, Elizabeth Fenjves, and Larry’s son Hillel, who is a professor of political science.
While Elizabeth spoke of what a blessing it was that Dolly and Larry have each other, Hillel spoke extensively of his father’s contribution to Israel’s film industry, making the point that in the early 1950s, most of Israel’s films could be categorized as propaganda, whereas those of his father were genuine documentaries, and his father also made Israel’s first comedy feature film, Tel Aviv Taxi.
Neither Dolly nor Larry look anywhere near 90. Each is straight-backed and socializes easily, though Dolly somewhat more so than Larry. She was on her feet for most of the evening, moving around the room and chatting animatedly with the guests, while he went around and joined people at their tables, chatting for a little while with each until he moved on to the next table.
The joint birthday party, attended by some 80 people, had been intended as a two-hour affair, but there were still people there after three hours. Dolly’s incredible story of having lived in different countries, including war-torn Europe, was known to many of those present. It is an amazing tale of relations between Jews and non-Jews, of hiding, of escape and of migration. Over the years, Dolly has had jobs in different professions, but wherever she’s been, she has been in touch with other Holocaust survivors and with survivor groups. Several of the invitees were Holocaust survivors.
Both Dolly and Larry come from famous families. She is a cousin to the famous Gabor sisters who conquered Hollywood, and he is the son of Daniel Frisch, a former president of the Zionist Organization of America. In fact, the street in which ZOA House in Tel Aviv is located is called Daniel Frisch Street.
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