Henry Bratt

Dad was born on 21 July 1927 and just four months ago celebrated his ninety fifth birthday. His was a full life well lived and always surrounded by the love of his family who were the most important people to him, as he was to us.

Dad was born and grew up in Mile End, later in Leytonstone, in the East End of London. He was the youngest of three children, his sisters having predeceased him by several decades, each in their seventies. In that sense he was not only the last of his siblings but the last of his generation. His mother had died when he was just twelve years old at the beginning of the Second World War. His sisters had already left home, Hilda was twenty three and married, and Pearl was seventeen and enlisted in the British Forces. It cannot have been easy on Dad and his father to get used to losing their wife and mother so young, especially in those unemancipated days, and as the privations of six years of wartime followed.

Dad himself joined the Royal Air Force at just the right time – after the war had ended! He was stationed in Ceylon, now Sri Lanka, where by all accounts he had a fun time.

the ladies’ fashion business was the focus for the remainder of his working life

He returned to join his father as a tailor and that trade stood him in good stead as the ladies’ fashion business was the focus for the remainder of his working life, initially as a travelling salesman, and then as a retailer with shops in Chingford and Woodford.

He married our mother, Hazel, in 1953, rather appropriately at Raleigh Close shul, and I was born in 1957. When my little brother, Simon was born in 1960, our family moved, from Stoke Newington to Chingford where we spent our formative years, growing up in the close knit community of Highams Park and Chingford synagogue in its heyday of the Sixties and Seventies. The shul was much of the focus of our parents’ social life, and is where Simon and I were both barmitzvah, Simon got married and where he is Vice Chairman of the shul.

Sadness struck in 1977 when our mother died of cancer at the age of just forty five, coincidentally forty five years ago just next month. It was just short of Mum and Dad’s silver wedding anniversary, a devastating event in all our lives. Dad undoubtedly thought that he could never find happiness again but a couple of years later, mutual friends of theirs introduced Dad to Barbara and love blossomed for a second time.

an achievement that many people do not enjoy in their first marriage let alone their second

Our families had joined forces to become four children, Martin, Debbie, Simon and myself and involved a move from Chingford to Stanmore. Over time the numbers have only grown, now to ten grandchildren and eight great grandchildren, with two more on the way in 2023.

Just last year Barbara and Dad celebrated their fortieth wedding anniversary, an achievement that many people do not enjoy in their first marriage let alone their second. Barbara has been an absolute rock over the years, not least as Dad’s health deteriorated in late 2020, and ultimately his mobility and health issues meant that he became a resident of Jewish Care’s Lady Sarah Cohen home (now Stella and Harry Freedman House) in March 2021. The staff there were exemplary, and loved him. Their care and dedication meant that we as a family knew we could sleep easy at night aware that he was in good hands and in the best place for his needs.

continuity of the generations that preceded him and the generations that will follow him

Dad was not an orthodox man but his Judaism was central to him and to our upbringing, with its values and in particular the centrality of family life. He loved nothing more than to be surrounded by his family. In last week’s parsha of Toldot, which means ‘generations’ we read about the offspring of Isaac. The parsha opens Vealeh toldot Yitzchak – these are the generations of Isaac, exactly the same construct as the opening words of the parsha of Noach. Yet Parashat Toldot is not named after Yitzchak, in the same way that Parashat Noach is. Instead, it refers to Isaac’s generations. From this we learn that Isaac was a bridge between his father, Abraham, and his son Jacob. His achievement was not a personal one but one of continuity of generations. Much the same can be said of Dad. He was a modest man and wanted nothing more than to be measured by the achievements that were not personal but for the sake of family. For the sake of the continuity of the generations that preceded him and the generations that will follow him.

The last couple of years have not been easy, least of all for Barbara. Dad was a very smart and proud man, and would remind the staff at the home if his hair needed a trim, or his nails needed cutting. He realised his life was ebbing to a close only within the last few days and it came to us, and perhaps to him, as a relief. Not because any of us wanted it to happen. But because we measure our lives not by the number of years, but by the quality of those years. By what we have been able to build and achieve. Dad can be justly proud of his achievements and what he built.

And we his family will take comfort from the fact that for ninety three out of his ninety five years, he lived a proud life, a dignified life, a Jewish life and most importantly a happy life – a complete life filled with the contentment that comes from the love of family, who were in return a loving family to him.

Yehi zichron baruch. May his memory be for an eternal blessing.