It is Joel Levy’s conjecture that Harry Hoberman (who is pictured standing in the back of this Zimmerman family picture) and he was the son of one of Esther Zimmerman’s older sisters to escape the Czar. Thus he called Esther “Tante” because she was in fact his aunt, so all the younger children followed suit. This also explains that Leonard Levy and Joan Horton believe they are cousins to each other.72

Nancy Golberg confirms the conjecture saying the sister is Chaika. Harry was the son of Chaika Rudevitsky, who married Israel Hoberman in Europe.  My information came from my mother, who got it from Priva Rosovsky Alper in the 1970s.  I grew up knowing Priva, who was very sharp and had a good memory for family history, so I feel pretty confident about what she said.  Unfortunately, I never asked her much about the generations in Europe.96,91

He left Minsk in 1909 to avoid military service in the Russian army. He sailed from Hamburg to NYC on the President Grant and arrived 24 December 1913, age 21 [EIDB].95

By 1920, they lived in upper Manhattan, and Harry was a self-employed housepainter [census].

Harry became a successful businessman in real estate and owned many rental properties. By the late 1920s, they had moved to Sea Gate, a gated community on the southwest tip of Brooklyn near Coney Island. When Morris & Ida Rosovsky moved to Brooklyn c. 1931, Harry hired Morris to do painting and handyman work in the rental properties. The Hobermans spent several summers at “Rod’s Farm” in the Berkshire Mountains. My mother went there also95