Jerry Seinfeld arrives at Ellis Island	Gloria Estefan and husband Emilio on the boat
Candice Bergen arrives at Ellis Island	Dr. Eric Kandel, Nobel winning neuroscientist
Joe Namath accepts his award	Jerry Seinfeld gets the award from Stephen A. Briganti
Emilio and Gloria Estefan receive awards from Robert Forbes	Jerry Seinfeld and Dr. Eric Kandel
Joe Namath favors fans with autographs	Jerry Seinfeld, Dr. Eric Kandel, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, and Joe Namath

ELLIS ISLAND HERITAGE AWARDS
Coming To America And
Reaping Achievement Awards

Text and Photos by Tim Boxer

J

ERRY SEINFELD’S maternal grandparents emigrated from Syria, and Nobel laureate Eric Kandel came from Vienna. They were among five notables honored at the 8^th annual Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards.

Waiting in the historic Great Hall of the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, Jerry cracked, "We got the immigrants’ experience just by sitting on these wooden benches."

The awards are presented by the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation to outstanding immigrants or their descendants.

Jerry’s maternal grandmother, Salha Hasseni, came from Aleppo, Syria. His paternal grandfather, Simon Seinfeld, came from Stanislau, then in Austria, as a 15-year-old tailor.

Jerry was born in Borough Park, Brooklyn, grew up in Massapequa, and lives in Manhattan with his wife and three children.

Candice Bergen, who hosted the program, said that Jerry described Massapequa as "a Native Indian word for ‘close to the mall.’"

Dr. Kandel was born in Vienna where his father owned a toy store. On November 9, 1938, two days after his ninth birthday, Kristallnacht scorched Jewish life.

"I am a Jew," Kandel said. "A kid from my school told me, ‘My father said not to talk to you again.’ No one from my class ever talked to me again."

The next year Kandel was sent to New York ahead of his parents and enrolled as a scholarship student at the Yeshiva of Flatbush. He went on to Erasmus High School and then got a scholarship to Harvard to major in history and literature.

"I was interested in history because I wanted to understand how a highly civilized nation could one day turn to kill Jews."

Kandel wanted to switch to psychoanalysis but his wife, Denise Burstyn, convinced him to pursue brain research.

"You don’t have money, I don’t have money," he protested.

"Money is of no significance," his wife said.

"She never uttered those words again," Kandel noted, smiling broadly.

At New York University Medical School, Kandel immersed himself in the biology of the mind. His research in the molecular basis of memory storage earned him a share of the 2000 Nobel Prize in medicine. Currently he’s a professor at Columbia University.

Kandel told me how he grew up in a "modified" Orthodox home where his parents kept kosher. Today he belongs to the Conservative Synagogue of Riverdale. His daughter Minouche, a graduate of Yale and Harvard Law School, is a public interest lawyer in San Francisco, working with abused women.

"Minouche and her husband Rick are committed to Judaism," Kandel said. "They keep a kosher home and send their two kids to Brandeis parochial school."

Media superstar Joe Namath, who led the underdog New York Jets to a legendary upset in Super Bowl III, was also honored. His father, Janos Nemet emigrated from Hungary in 1920.

After the rise of Fidel Castro, two-year-old Gloria Fajardo and her family escaped to Miami. Emilio Esfahan, 13, left Cuba for Madrid and then Miami. At age 18 Gloria, now a singer, started to work for Emilio, fronting his Miami Sound Machine. They married after she graduated from the University of Miami.

Emilio rocketed Gloria Esfahan to superstardom in the music world, with 24 albums and seven Grammy Awards to her credit. Emilio has written and produced for such other stars as Jennifer Lopez, Shakira and Ricky Martin.

"No matter where our forefathers came from," Gloria said, "they were running away from something. We came to the only country where we can realize our dreams."

Robert Forbes, vice president of Forbes and president of ForbesLife magazine, presented the couple with the B.C. Forbes Peopling in America Award, given to immigrants who came after the Ellis Island era or through other ports.

After the ceremony Kandel turned to Esfahan. "Gloria does all the talking but you take care of all the checks."

"No," Esfahan shot back. "She does the checks too."