Memorial for AUBREY MILSTEIN
Rabbi Sarah of B&H Progressive Synagogue reading a graveside prayer for Audrey and Yetta Milstein
Newly consecrated gravestone for Aubrey and Yetta Milstein
30th October 1921 - 25th July 2008
By Louis M. Grabsky
A memorial service was celebrated on Wednesday, 22nd July 2009 at the Hove (North) Jewish Cemetery regarding the first anniversary of his death and the consecration of the stone for him and his wife, Yetta. He was a founder member of the Brighton and Hove Interfaith Contact Group. In a eulogy paid to him a year ago at his death, Rabbi Sarah of the B&H Progressive Synagogue, paid tribute to his many activities in the Jewish and wider communities.
Aubrey was born on 30th October 1921 to Herschel Mulstein, who had come to England from Chemnitz in Poland in 1898 (as many others had done to escape the Russian progroms) Aubrey's first encounter with 'politics' was in 1936, when he and his club friends heard that Oswald Mosley was planning to march with his band of fascists through the Jewish East End. Boy-runners were going to be needed to communicate between the different anti-fascist groups. Aubrey decided to volunteer, and was posted to the barricade at Ridley Road .
Later, Aubrey became interested in Jewish activities and after seeing an advertisement for a new University - The Hebrew University in Jerusalem - he became determined to get to Israel . So began his long and ardent love affair with the Jewish Homeland, which started with his arrival in the Port of Jaffa, and went on to encompass his involvement in the 1948 war between the newly established State of Israel and its neighbours, and his work in helping to re-build the railways network. In the midst of all this, in 1939, intent on fighting Hitler, Aubrey enlisted for the British army.
After returning to England for awhile at the end of the war, Aubrey met Yetta, who had served as a nurse in the Voluntary Aid Detachment, at the Balfour Club in the West End for Jews in the Forces. Soon after this they were married and they first lived in West Hampstead . But Aubrey could not settle down in England while considering the plight of the surviving Jewish people trying to reach a place of sanctity.
So, Aubrey returned to British Mandate Palestine, at a time of great upheaval, ready for the challenge of helping to establish a new nation in the land of his ancestors. Within two years, after the State of Israel was declared by David Ben Gurion on May 15th 1948 , he found himself fighting in the War of Independence. After the war, he went to work developing the railway network, and he eventually became Chief Traffic Inspector of Israel 's railways, while he and Yetta settled in Haifa .
Aubrey loved Israel - and would have stayed there - but Yetta was not quite so happy, so in 1954, they came back to England , and went to live in Sydenham, South London . Aubrey got into the watch trade, working in Croydon, and so began a long and successful career in the watch and jewellery business. From the time Aubrey first began his business life, his sense of social justice did not diminish. Realising that those who had immigrated to Britain suffered discrimination, he not only employed black staff, but he also made sure that, despite complaints from the union official at the time, they were paid equally with the white workers.
They moved to Hove in 1976 and soon he became involved in congregational duties at BHPS the broader Jewish community as well as to the wider communities of Brighton and Hove . Aubrey was very active in the Brighton and Hove Association of Jewish Ex-Servicemen and Women. He was also deeply involved in the Brighton & Hove Representative Council, serving as Chair from March 1994, then Vice-President from August 1998, and President from August 2002-2004. Dedicated to fighting racism, Aubrey was also deeply committed to interfaith dialogue. He was a founder member, in 1997, of the Brighton & Hove Interfaith Contact Group, then Vice-Chair from 1999 to 2000, and, subsequently, Chair, until 2002. He was also instrumental with Arnold Lewis, in setting up the Three Faiths Forum in Brighton .
In May, Aubrey returned to Israel to participate in the celebrations for the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the State, and to receive an award for his contribution as a veteran of the 1948 War of Independence. It was a very special culminating moment. He treated life as a blessing and did everything in his power to make life better not only for himself and for those close to him, but also for others. His memory should be a source of inspiration for all of us.
The B&H IFCG was represented at the Stone Consecration by Lou Grabsky, Hon Treas., IFCG and his wife Irene, both of whom know him well at the Council of Christian and Jews meetings.
L m grabsky