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| David and Bruria Finkel 1968 photo courtesy of Finkel Family |
David
and Bruria Finkel: A
Remembrance. A Marriage.
Bruria
Finkel Interview.
SUSAN
CLOKE
Columnist
Santa
Monica Mirror
August
21, 2015
“The
memorial for David will be an afternoon of shared memories, music and poetry,”
said Bruria Finkel wanting to invite everyone to the memorial for David at the
Broad Theater on August 30, 2015.
David
and Bruria’s 51 year marriage started in 1964. They were married on Pico Place in Santa Monica, where they
lived. Bruria remembers that they
invited about 400 people and almost 1000 guests came. They created a table 100’ long and everyone who came brought
food and drinks to share. The
bowls and pans and trays the food came in were left behind as wedding presents.
They
chose May 1st as their wedding day.
An important day to David as May 1st is International Worker’s Day and
commemorates the Chicago Haymarket Affair of 1886 and the labor union fight for
an 8-hour workday.
And
seeing that May Day is also an ancient European spring holiday there was a May
Pole and dancing.
Bruria
had moved to Pico Place, with her two young daughters, Melva and Wendy in
1959. Bruria describes Pico Place
as an exciting and fun neighborhood.
They had hootenannies on the street. Bruria remembers Pete Seeger coming, Odetta coming. Many musicians and artists lived there
in the 1950’s and 60’s and Bruria was happy to be there, making art and raising
her children.
But
her life was about to change. David’s
friend, Dr. Robert Peck suggested to David that he call Bruria. Peck and David had been in the Army
together during the Korean War.
Both objected to the loyalty oath and were threatened with a dishonorable
discharge. The case went to the
Supreme Court and David got his honorable discharge. He went on to USC to study law. When he met Bruria he was working
with Margolis and McTernan, a highly respected civil rights and civil liberties
law firm in Los Angeles.
Bruria
was planning to go back to Israel where her family still lived. She hesitated about saying yes when
David asked her out but thought to herself, “well, it’s only dinner.” They went to a party to celebrate
the film “The Greatest Story Ever Told” because Bruria had cousins who were
extras in the movie. After the
party they went to the Ash Grove.
“I
knew David was very special five minutes after I met him. I could see the character in the man,” remembered
Bruria.
David
came the next day to meet the children.
That evening they went dancing at the Miramar. “Once I knew he liked the kids and the kids liked him I knew
he was the one. Very generous and
very wonderful and that didn’t change in 51 years,” said Bruria.
David
came to live at Pico Place with Bruria and Wendy and Melva. After about 6 months he said, “let’s get
married.” They did. Then Amy was born and then Adam. David would brag he was the father of
four.
Bruria
was making pottery and doing ceramics.
David decided to go out on his own and Sieroty and Neiman gave him a
space in their law firm. Within a
few months he had a good client list and he and Neil Herring, who will be
speaking at the memorial on August 30, opened an office together. They represented unions and
conscientious objectors to the Vietnam War. David also worked for Civil Rights. In 1964 he went to Mississippi as part
of a legal team investigating the Chaney, Schwerner, Goodman case. And, as always, they were both raising
their four children.
“We
were lucky to be able to borrow money from David’s father and we also had money
from David’s work at Margolis and McTernan. So we could make the down payment on our house. We moved to Hill Street in 1966 and have lived here ever
since,” said Bruria.
“I
had left Israel in 1953 and hadn’t been back. In 1968 I took Adam and Amy and went to visit with my family
for an amazing three weeks. It was
so good for the children to know their grandparents and cousins.”
David
and Bruria and Adam and Amy went again to Israel but not until the time of Adam’s
Bar Mitzvah.
“1976
was a hard time for us. I decided
to request a grant. The CA Arts
Council was giving grants under the Artists in the Schools Program,” said
Bruria. She was one of 24 artists to
receive a grant.
“It
was my first experience working in the schools. I went to a Compton elementary school, Tibby Elementary. It was still a difficult time for Compton. We made the ‘Hop Scotch Map of the U.S.’
We asked, and the union made for
us a 37’ cement circle. The flower
of each State was painted on the circle. It was an important time for me and I became involved in ways
I hadn’t before,” said Bruria
In
the 1980’s David ran for the Rent Board on the SMRR ticket. In that same year he moved his law
office to Santa Monica. It was the
beginning of David’s political career in Santa Monica and he would go on to be
elected to the City Council.
“I
think, in general, the core of my existence has been the family, even though I
have many other interests and David felt the same,” said Bruria.
“Our
interests were both different and similar. At the core was our family and we pursued our other
interests with support from each other.
“In
1971 David and I went on a trip to England and France. When we travelled David always wanted
to go to the courts and meet legal and political activists and I wanted to go
to museums and see art. We decided
one day would be mine and one day his.
And it was interesting to learn that we were not bored with each other’s
interests.
“It
didn’t always work out the way we hoped but it was an important concept. It gave each of us respect for each
other’s work and is a good way to be married.”
In
1990, after being on the Rent Board and the City Council, David ran for
Municipal Court Judge. The
retiring judge, the man David replaced, was the judge who had married David and
Bruria.
“David
very much liked being a judge and did that for 12 years. It was a wonderful gift given to him by
the people of Santa Monica. As a
sole practitioner and a lawyer for the unions we sometimes had hard times and
his being a judge gave us stability and meant we could help our kids and our
grandchildren and that was a blessing,” said Bruria.
“At
that time there was a mandatory retirement requirement at 70 and so after 12
years David retired. He went on to
teach at Santa Monica College and he loved it. It was a terrific opportunity for him to be with
students. He ran for the Santa
Monica College Board. He kept on
with teaching and being a Board Member as much as possible until his death on
July 4 of 2015. He was 83.
“Losing
David has been almost a 3 year process of his sickness but if I get to live
long enough I expect the process of healing from the trauma of his death will
probably come to be the work I do in the future,” said Bruria thinking
aloud. “Already the outpouring of
sympathy from our friends and from the community has been tonic to my heart.”
“My
children have been the sustenance of my life. They are thoughtful, careful, creative people. Having them
near me is really important. Everyone of my children is a treasure as is
everyone of my grandchildren.”
Thinking
about her history and her future Bruria said, “The passing of time fascinates
me – my personal life has always been expressed in my art. You could chart my life through my
work. To actively deal with the
immediate trauma I need time. Art
takes time.”
Memorial
Information:
MEMORIAL FOR JUDGE DAVID B. FINKEL
Sunday, August 30th from 1:00 PM to
3:30 PM
The Broad Stage
1310 11th Street,
Santa Monica, CA
Foundation and donation
information;
Judge David B. Finkel Social
Justice Scholarship
