Nearing Ninety when this personally autographed photo was published in The Forward in 1953—Regina Margareten, matriarch of the famed matzo-manufacturing firm, Horowitz Brothers & Margareten, and still a major figure behind its role as a kosher food industry leader, would turn 90 years old on Friday, Dec. 25. Arriving daily to work at 8:30 am and ensuring, among other things the quality control of the matzos, she remained until her death 7 years later, the power behind a multi-million dollar business she developed from a neighborhood grocery store on the Lower East Side in New York. This photo was likely taken at her Long Island City office, where the matzo manufacturer had recently moved (New York, NY, 12/20/53).

Margareten was born in Hungary in 1863 and emigrated to New York in 1884 with her husband, Jacob, and parents at the age of 20. Margareten along with her husband Ignatz, her father and brothers started making matzo for Passover and soon developed it into a thriving business, Horowitz Brothers and Margareten Company. Their first business, a grocery store, was located at 94 Willet Street, not far from the Bialystoker Synagogue shown above, became their matzo baking plant until the site was developed into public housing. Their later East 4th Street locale eventually moved to Long Island City until they were sold to another matzo baking-kosher food dynasty, Manischewitz and finally relocated to New Jersey.

Many matzo bakery pop-ups populated the Les, starting in the late 1800's, most of whom advertised in The Forward, but few survived to thrive the way the Horowitz-Margaretens did. One early matzo start-up was Meyer London's Matzo Bakery located first on Bayard Street, nearby the image shown above.

They Meyer Lodon matzo baking biz soon moved to Grand Street, nearby this image above and were still around decades into the 1930's. Curiously, local Jewish socialist politician Meyer London, was the first Jewish socialist, elected to congress to represent the district replete with matzo bakers. A nephew of this matzo baking London, you could very nearly say he was elected on a matzo platform!

Widowed early on by the 1920's Margareten grew into a position of leadership not only in her family matzo and kosher product industry but also in the Jewish community at large. The Forward frequently advertised her annual Passover broadcast on the newspaper's radio station WEVD where the "grand old lady" as she was called by the paper, would speak to the Jewish nation. "Tell your friends, it's not to be missed" the Forward encouraged its readers and listeners. In the early years of its existence, WEVD's broadcast studio was in the rooftop offices of the Claridge Hotel in Times Square, show in the image above.

The Forward not only presented news of matzo celebrities such as Regina Margareten, but also kept on top of matzo news, including monopolies and price gouging which remain an issue. As if to even the playing field, The Forward presented ads from all manner of matzo merchants. In 1935 they published one by the "Federation Matzo" located in Borough Park near this retail market shown above. Federation Matzo suggested they had the freshest and best matzo for sale using wheat ground for this purpose only and, produced only during the 8 weeks leading up to the holiday. Their ad called out to Jewish women specifically, and unlike a family run business or kosher food corporation, they promised income derived from Federation's matzo sales would be used to support a variety of Yeshivas or traditional institutes of higher Jewish learning. In other words, it was a charitable, pop-up matzo factory.

In 1928, The Forward excitedly published news from local Tribeca cream cheese purveyor, Breakstone located on Franklin Street, nearby the folks in the coffee factory seen above. It seems two things of import were conveyed: that cream cheese, the city's \_shmear\_of choice was now kosher for passover, and, it was delicious \_shmeared\_on matzo! Big news for folks keeping traditional Jewish dietary regulations indeed! You can still find matzo and a shmear at many fine New York City diners, delis and the few remaining dairy appetizing joints..

From their factory on East 4th Street, a couple of blocks further east from the image above, the Margareten matzo business advertised in the 1924 Forward newspaper. The ad offered a legendary pursuit of their still relatively new, modern matzo factory: Their matzos were so unique and trustworthy, they were shipping them back to the old country—to Europe they said! And furthermore, matzo wasn't just for the Passover holiday anymore, when they were a religious requirement. "These are so tasty, you can eat them everyday, " they exhorted. It seemed that was also due to Regina's quality control. She innovated the trade by using a blend of flours and until her final days at work, taste tested multiple times a day to ensure flavor and freshness. A generous matzo mogul, Regina Margareten founded a family society, helping employ, support and rescue relatives during the Holocaust.

Margareten lived a traditional, yet fabled, life of entrepreneurship in the kosher food industry, as well as a life of philanthropic purpose. The charitable works she supported numbered over 100, at the time of her death at the ripe age of 95. The recipients of her generosity included family members as well as local and international Jewish charity organizations, educational institutions that ranged from the basic needs of food shelter and clothing. Margereten made numerous trips back overseas, frequently to her Hungarian residence of origin, where she also supported a mining operation to create work for the impoverished locals. She seemed never to forget her own immigration and early widowhood, and was reportedly much admired both by those she employed, many of whom stayed decades working for her, as well as her blood relations. A few decades after her passing in 1959 at 96 years old, her namesake company was bought by another historic family matzo dynasty, Manischewitz and the entire operation now runs out of New Jersey. Margareten herself is buried in Union Fields Cemetery in Ridgewood, Queens, not far from the synagogue in the image above. Using her traditional Yiddish name and a passage from the book of Proverbs, traditionally sung to women householders on Friday evenings as the Jewish sabbath begins. Her tombstone states her original Yiddish name saying: khane-rivke\_ was a god fearing woman, indicating her traditional Orthodox Jewish religious practice. The verse from the Old Testament Book of Proverbs 31 chosen for Margareten's tombstone then follows: מפּרי כּפּיה נטעה כּרם She plants a vineyard by her own labors.