My paternal great-great grandfather Yisroel Zev Lobel was born in 1890 in Jerusalem. At age 15, he married my great great grandmother, Rivka and had two children.

When Zev was 20 years old, he was sent by his Rabbi to Hungary to raise additional money for a relief fund for Hungarian Jews living in Israel. However, while on his back to Hungary, World War One broke out. When he arrived in Hungary, he was assumed to be a soldier and was enlisted as a physician's assistant. Unable to speak a word of Hungarian, Zev had no choice but to play the part. He did not see his family for nearly 3 years.

In 1918, Zev’s wife Rivka managed to secure a spot for herself and her two children on an illegal ship to America. After a long search, the family was reunited at last, in a house where Orthodox Jews often went  for kosher food.

Zev and Rivka settled in Sátoraljaújhely, where they had 5 more children. Unfourtunately, both Zev and Rivka perished in Auschwitz.