Question of the Week: One of TV's most popular game
shows, first hosted by Richard Dawson, was "Family Feud,"
where families tried to guess how a group of individuals, sur-
veyed by the program's staff, would respond to select ques-
tions. Once, Dawson asked contestants to "Name a Jewish
holiday, with four top answers. What were they?

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The Engineer,
The Pianist And The
Missing Girl

Elizabeth and Phillip Applebaum

1918, Yugoslavia), and it is presumed that
about a year later, Albert and Mileva
0: What's the origin of the common
agreed to give up Lieserl for adoption. In
Jewish wish, "Until 120," that we
any case, she is lost to history.
often make on someone's birthday?
Albert wanted to marry Mileva, but his par-
A: It comes from the Torah, Parshat Bereshit
ents were strongly opposed. It was only in
(Genesis 6:3): "And the Lord said, 'My spirit
October 1902, on his deathbed, that
shall not contend evermore concerning man,
Albert's father, Hermann, gave his consent.
since he is but flesh; his days shall be a hun-
Albert and Mileva were married in Bern,
dred and twenty years." The most famous per-
Switzerland, January 1903. Their second
son to attain this age was Moshe (Moses).
child, Hans Albert, was born in May 1904,
and their third child, Eduard, was born in
Q: I think Albert Einstein was the
July 1910.
greatest scientist who ever lived and
Albert and Mileva had an unhappy mar-
I'm especially proud that he was a
riage. In 1914, they separated, and in
Jew and a Zionist. I am curious
1919 were divorced. Later that year, Albert
about his children. Did he have any,
married his widowed double cousin, Elsa
and if so, were they like him —
Lowenthal (Elsa's mother and Albert's mother
involved in science and Zionism?
were sisters; Elsa's father and Albert's father
A: Albert Einstein (1879 1955) had three chil-
were first cousins):
dren, two of whom are known; neither became
From her first marriage, Elsa had two
a scientist. The extent of their Jewish identity
daughters, Ilse and Margot, who later took
was questionable, and it seems that they did
on the Einstein name. Albert and Elsa did
not have anything to do with Zionism.
not have children together. Elsa died in
The story of Einstein's children begins while
1936, and Albert did not marry again.
he was at school in Switzerland and fell in love
Hans Albert Einstein became a civil engi-
Caricature of Albert Einstein by David Levin .e.
with fellow mathematician Mileva Maric
neer, earning his Ph.D. in 1936 in Switzer-
(1 875-1948), a Hungarian-born ethnic Serb
land. In 1938, he immigrated to the United
brought up in the Orthodox Church.
States. From 1947-1971, he was professor of hydraulic engineering and
In January 1902, Mileva gave birth to Einstein's child, a girl named
river management at the University of California-Berkeley. In July 1973,
Lieserl. Albert never saw her. He was in Germany when Mileva had the
he died while on vacation in Woods Hole, Mass.
baby in her parents' home in Novi Sad, Vojvodina, Hungary (after

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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO EINSTEIN'S CHILDREN?

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