eva - News - The Coastal Star2024-03-29T07:27:19Zhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/feed/tag/evaHealth & Harmony: Ocean swimmers relish the challenge, solitude — and camaraderiehttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/health-harmony-ocean-swimmers-relish-the-challenge-solitude-and-c2019-07-02T19:13:29.000Z2019-07-02T19:13:29.000ZThe Coastal Starhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/TheCoastalStar<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960878096,original{{/staticFileLink}}" target="_blank"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960878096,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-full" alt="7960878096?profile=original" /></a><em>Tatyana Fishman gives Eva Takacs a hug during her 90th-birthday party at Oceanfront Park.</em> <br /><em>Fishman and Takacs, both of Boynton Beach, do daily swims there. <strong>Jerry Lower/The Coastal Star</strong></em></p>
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<p>People walk the beach at Oceanfront Park scanning the shore for wave-smoothed shards of sea glass or unblemished sand dollars. Almost four years ago, ocean swimmers Eva Takacs and Tatyana Fishman found the most precious treasure of all — each other. <br /> “One day I was swimming, and I always have trouble getting out of the water,” says Takacs, 90, of Boynton Beach. “My balance isn’t great. So, I was looking around for somebody to help me. Here’s this poor, pathetic, old lady trying to get out of the water. Tatyana came along and took me out like I weigh nothing.”<br />Fishman, 57, also of Boynton Beach, smiles. “Since that day, I am responsible for getting her in and out of the water. It’s funny to see but we have developed a friendship. She is an inspiration. I actually don’t know anyone else who is 90 that goes into the ocean. Do you?”<br /> “Tatyana has extended my life,” Takacs says. “The ocean has extended my life.”<br />Fishman, Takacs and Ocean Ridge resident Jay Magee, 66, form a trio of daily and lifelong swimmers who combine the healthful benefits of friendship and a vigorous ocean workout. They swim for an hour at their own pace, as long as there’s no red flag flying from the lifeguard stand. When all’s clear, the swimmers suit up in their own mix of neoprene, sun-shielding clothing and topical skin protection, and head into the surf.<br />Fishman, who’s a good foot taller than Takacs, leads her friend into the ocean and finds her a sargassum-free patch of water not too far from shore. Then she heads off on her own, usually swimming about a mile. Throughout, she keeps a close eye on Takacs’ bathing cap-cloaked head. Of course, the lifeguards always have this beloved beach icon in their sights. <br />Magee, a former swim coach, logs about two miles every day. “I feel like a Coast Guard rescue swimmer some days when it’s really big out there,” he says. “I like swimming through the waves. You’re more buoyant because of the salt, and it’s just easier to swim. I’ve seen incredible things. I see tarpon all the time. I’ve seen lobster doing a lobster crawl, where they’re all head-to-tail in a line — hundreds of them. I’ve seen manatees out there. There’s a nurse shark that lives down on the rocks off the Ocean Club. It’s just amazing what you see.”<br />That sense of wonder is another gift from the sea. Being outdoors adds a natural dose of Vitamin D, good for bone health. And swimming can help lower blood pressure, boost mood, ease arthritis pain and tone the body.<br />Though just a sample size of three, Takacs, Fishman and Magee could provide researchers with anecdotal evidence gathered over their lifetimes of swimming in the sea. Takacs has been swimming at Oceanfront Park for 60 years, from the time her parents made Boynton their home. <br />“The funny thing is, it gives you relaxation but at the same time it gives you energy,” Fishman says. “Whatever happened yesterday, whatever happened in the morning … after swimming an hour, you forget about it. I spoke to a therapist once who told me that swimming is dynamic meditation, because it’s all about breathing in and out. You can basically do it with walking, too. That’s why his wife walks the beach.” <br />Nadine Magee walks daily from Oceanfront Park to Gulfstream Park and back. “That’s how you met her,” Jay Magee says to Fishman. “She was walking back.”<br />Such are the serendipitous friendships that blossom at this beach. Lured by the sun, sea and salt air, an informal group of beach-lovers congregates regularly.<br /> “They’ll come early in the morning. Some will stay a short time; some will stay all morning. Everybody knows everybody. And, you know, it’s ‘Hi, how are you’ and ‘Beautiful day on the beach.’ We just love this,” Magee says, gesturing toward the ocean. “The beach, and the water.”<br />When Takacs turned 90 in April, Fishman organized a beachside surprise party for her cherished friend.<br /> “Everybody was so happy to congratulate her on her birthday,” Fishman says. “She’s amazing. She’s sharp, and we are really friends. I tell her things … that I wouldn’t trust to anyone else.”<br /> “And I care,” Takacs says, “I really care. I don’t have many friends. They’re all in a nursing home or someplace else. Except at the beach.” <br />The ocean, her friends, the swimming— they’re “everything,” Takacs says. <br />“It’s made me feel different. If I’m tired, instead of lying down or looking at television I want to go swimming. And it makes me feel great. And it’s never too crowded, even if it’s crowded. We just go on out. And we’re in the water, and it’s all ours.”</p>
<p><em>Joyce Reingold writes about health and healthy living. Send column ideas to joyce.reingold@yahoo.com.</em></p></div>Meet Your Neighbor: Eva Hirschenstein Appelbaumhttps://thecoastalstar.com/profiles/blogs/meet-your-neighbor-eva-hirschenstein-appelbaum2012-02-01T17:30:00.000Z2012-02-01T17:30:00.000ZDeborah Hartz-Seeleyhttps://thecoastalstar.com/members/DeborahHartzSeeley<div><p style="text-align:center;"><a href="{{#staticFileLink}}7960365696,original{{/staticFileLink}}"><img src="{{#staticFileLink}}7960365696,original{{/staticFileLink}}" class="align-center" width="255" alt="7960365696?profile=original" /></a><em>Eva Hirschenstein Appelbaum survived the Holocaust</em> <br /> <em>in Yugoslavia, moved to the United States and has written</em><br /> <em>a book on how Italian soldiers helped save Jews during</em> <br /> <em>World War II. She will read from her book at 5 p.m.</em> <br /> <em>March 8 at the Highland Beach Library. <b>Photo by Tim Stepien</b></em></p>
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<p>In 1941, a little Yugoslavian girl watched from her window as German tanks rolled down the street in Zagreb, where her family lived. Eva Hirschenstein was 7 and had no idea about the haunting events to follow.</p>
<p>It wasn’t long before her family was on the run from Nazis, managing to escape death camps through strokes of luck and with help from many kind souls along the way — particularly, she said, the Italian army.</p>
<p>Before her mother packed their two suitcases, she pulled apart the seams of her daughter’s teddy bear, hid money inside, and sewed it back together. As the family moved from place to place, the money was never discovered. </p>
<p>She and her parents made it through WWII, despite several close calls, but her grandmother, uncle and stepfather died in an extermination camp close to Zagreb. Many family friends also perished.</p>
<p>Dr. Eva Hirschenstein Appelbaum chronicles those events in her book, <i>Free Confinement: Survival in Europe 1942-1945</i> (available at Amazon.com).</p>
<p>“It’s about how my parents and I, a Jewish family, escaped from Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia and were protected by [members of] the Italian army by whatever means necessary,” the Highland Beach woman said. She wants to let people know how Italian soldiers risked their lives to save Jews.</p>
<p>“My memoir took many years to complete,” she said. “It is a very emotional subject for me. I write several days a week, usually in the evening, for an hour or two. I am now writing the sequel about growing up in Rome as a refugee.”</p>
<p>A third book will cover her move from Rome, where she went to medical school and met her husband, Dr. Jerry Appelbaum (an oncologist) to New York, where she worked as neurologist and teacher until a few years ago. </p>
<p>She began making notes for the booking the early 1970s, when Holocaust recollections surfaced.</p>
<p>The story was worth telling, she wrote in the book’s introduction, “first, because my parents and I managed to escape death …; second, to relate how a young child experienced these harrowing events, often finding more adventure than fear; and third, to preserve these memories for my children and grandchildren.”</p>
<p>When she went to medical school there were few women studying to become doctors, but Appelbaum graduated with honors. </p>
<p>She and her husband, who is also retired, spend winters in Highland Beach, where she enjoys leisurely strolls on the beach, sculpting and writing. She speaks five languages.</p>
<p>Appelbaum, 77, still has the teddy bear that stored her family’s cash during those difficult times seven decades ago. “I call him by the Serbo-Croatian equivalent of teddy bear, which is <i>medek</i>,” she said. “He sits high on a small bookcase in my Manhattan apartment.” </p>
<p><i> — Mary Thurwachter</i></p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> Where did you grow up and go to school?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> After my parents and I escaped from German-occupied Yugoslavia, I grew up in Rome, Italy, where I went to school and graduated from medical school. </p>
<p> <span><b>Q.</b></span> What are some highlights of your life?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> The birth of my three children and my two little granddaughters.</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> How did you choose to make your home in Highland Beach?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> My husband and I came to visit relatives and, driving along A1A, I fell in love with the beachfront. Delray reminded me of summer resorts in Italy.</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> What is your favorite part about living in Highland Beach?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> Warm weather, friendly people, walking on the beach, collecting seashells and pretty stones. Also, barbecuing and looking at the beautiful sunsets.</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> If someone made a movie of your life, who would you like to play you and why?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> Helen Mirren; I watched her in <i>Prime Suspect</i> and [portraying] Queen Elizabeth and find her very versatile.</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> What music do you listen to when you need inspiration? When you want to relax? </p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> Mostly classical music, Mozart, Beethoven.</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> Do you have a favorite quote that inspires your decisions?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> “To thyself be true.”</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> Have you had mentors in your life? Individuals who have inspired your life decisions?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> My art teacher in high school, my parents, a professor in medical school and Bruno, someone I talk about in my memoir.</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> What’s the last book you read and would you recommend it?</p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> <i>The Tiger’s Wife</i>, by Tea Obreht. It is by a very young American writer from Serbia who illustrates the 1992 war in Yugoslavia with magic realism and stories within stories. I recommended it to all my friends.</p>
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<p><span><b>Q.</b></span> Who or what makes you laugh? </p>
<p><span><b>A.</b></span> My favorite movie — <i>Arsenic and Old Lace</i> — and <i>Saturday Night Live</i>.</p></div>