Interview 102-year-old Mashgiach Still Active

“Sitting in the house without exercise is no good, so I don’t ever want to retire,” Rev. Morris Rosenblum told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency as he marked his 102nd birthday. Rosenblum, who still works five days a week as a mashgiach, or inspector, for the Vaad HaKashrut of Albany, believes that his positive attitude and active life have contributed to his longevity.

With humor and alacrity that belie his 102 years, Rosenblum said that he “looks for life” in all situations. “Instead of getting scared when I’m ill or something unpleasant happens, I think about living,” he said. In addition to serving as an inspector of kosher meat, Rosenblum also goes to daily morning minyan. Extremely independent, he lives alone, takes care of himself, and still does all of his own cooking.

Before he started having difficulty with his eyes several years ago, Rosenblum was also a scribe, an art that he learned in Europe. Although not an ordained rabbi, he has written Jewish legal documents, performed marriages, repaired holy scrolls, and earned the title “reverend.” Beginning at age 13, he read Torah for 78 years, and was also a shochet, or ritual slaughterer, for many years.

FLED TO AMERICA FROM RUSSIA

Rosenblum’s long life began in a Russian village near Minsk. After serving in the Russian army for four years, he knew that he was about to be conscripted from the reserves again. This prompted his decision to flee to America, with his brother, in 1904.

Like many immigrants of the era, Rosenblum settled in New York City and became a presser and cutter on the Lower East Side. He later acquired a candy store, a wife and a child, and then decided that life in the teeming city was not for him. He learned that the Jewish Agricultural Society was settling families on farmland in Nassau, New York, southeast of Albany, and the Rosenblum family decided to become farmers. On the Nassau dairy farm, three more children were born.

From this farm, the family moved to a nearby poultry farm in East Schodack in the 1920s. At that time, Rosenblum’s Jewish training and his interest in furthering Judaism came to fruition and he organized efforts to build a small synagogue for the community of ten Jewish families. He also served as a scribe for the Albany area, and learned and practiced the skill of ritual slaughtering.

Approximately 15 years ago, Rosenblum moved to Albany. He likes to tell anecdotes about the friends he has made in his travels throughout the city. “I go out every day, so people know me and I know people,” he said. Being with people and staying occupied have kept Rosenblum young for 102 years. As he readied himself to go shopping for a new jacket to wear to his birthday party, he told this reporter: “I’d like to see you in ten years–it could happen.”