Our Dad was a simple man.  He came to this country poor.  Poor in monetary terms but not in spirit.  With less than a high school education and a stranger in a new country who didn’t speak English, he not only supported his family but his parents as well.  Being relatively uneducated himself, he and our Mom insisted on a complete education for each of us.  He was so proud of his children and grandchildren, showing us off, sometimes to the point of embarrassment.
 
  While we were growing up, he was the disciplinarian in our family.  If we misbehaved, our Mom would threaten us that he would hit us with his “luxion strap”.  It always worked even though he never hit us.
 
We remember growing up and spending Summers in Rockaway.  He worked on our house every weekend from March to October.  He loved that house and everyone knew the Landau house.  From the red bricks in front to the geraniums in the white flower pots to the Saturday night parties.  Oh, those parties. Our Dad loved a good party and we literally danced in the street, sometimes with the police stopping by because of how loud he liked to play the music.  He always dressed up so nice and never missed one.
 
Our Dad loved gardening by taking care of his plants in Rockaway.  He was also quite a fisherman.  Later in life, he once was featured on the 6 o’clock News on a local Florida station.   
 
Our Dad was a very strong man.  After working in the Brooklyn Navy yard during WW II and afterwards he became a licensed electrician working long hours, oftentimes in the cold outdoors.  He worked well into his 60’s, climbing up and down ladders and chiseling through concrete walls to hang outside lights on buildings.
 
My father also loved to buy properties with our brother.  He never wanted to sell anything and loved to bargain. We remember our Dad in many ways.  The only thing he loved as much as family was his love for Israel and Jewish traditions.  He was a religious man, not Orthodox although you couldn’t tell him that.  He was very traditional with deep roots in Judaism.He continually bought Israel bonds and was honored for this fact by his “Shule” in Florida.  He loved to pray in that Shule where he was one of the founding members. After our Mom passed, we visited Israel with him and created many lasting memories.
 
Our Dad loved his family.  He only wanted all of us to be together.  No fights, no arguments, just be together.  When we visited him with our respective families, we would spend hours with him and our Mom.  When it came time to leave, he always asked the same question – “You’re leaving already?  You just got here”.
 
With our Mom, he loved all of the holidays, particularly Passover.  He conducted 2 traditional Seders with our extended family in the basement of our Brooklyn home and how ironic it is that he passed away the night of the 1st Seder in 1989.
 
Yes, our Dad was a simple man who came from a very poor family but when he died he left this earth with a wealth of pride in his family and the work ethic and the teachings he instilled in each of us.  May his memory be a blessing.  
 
From her loving children, Bonnie, Linda & Albie