Pictured Above: Sarah Benun A"H and her family at Ellis Island in 1996.

Oct 27, 1996 is an extremely significant day in history for two sisters who immigrated to America in the early 1900s. The reason this day is significant is because it was the first time the two women had returned to Ellis Island since they had first come to the United States so many years beforehand.

Sara Sutton Benun's A”H and her sister Alice Sutton Shamah’s A”H families planned a large family reunion trip to Ellis Island in order to relish in their matriarchs' hardships and accomplishments throughout their lifetime.

Rabbi Shamah with Alice and Sarah's families at Ellis Island.

It was a large family affair, with the Sutton sisters’ children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren all in attendance. The reunion was held in a large room at Ellis Island with a catered lunch and a photographer shooting priceless black and white styled family photos for everyone to cherish forever. Lillie Dweck, Sarah Sutton’s daughter, recalled the day very fondly stating that it took her relative, Linda Benun, a year to plan.

Amongst the day’s events were two interviews with a historian from the National Parks Service. The interviews with the Sutton sisters were given individually, recorded, and then archived at Ellis Island. They were both born in Jerusalem, Sarah in 1912 and Alice in 1914. Their father, Yosef Sutton, was originally from Syria and their mother, Lillie Meyers, was born in the United States. Both Yosef and Lillie had immigrated to Jerusalem separately as children.

Alice Sutton Shamah A"H.

Yosef and Lillie met in their village which was very small. Sarah recalled that there were no wedding invitations back then. If a couple got engaged, the details of the affair would be printed in the paper and the whole community was invited as they danced through the streets from the grooms house to the bride’s house, accompanied by music. 

Both Sutton sisters recalled their lives in Israel in the early 1900’s fondly. Alice said that the non-Jews, Jews, and Arabs co-existed peacefully for the most part. She recalled an incident in which Arab children chased after her and her sister on their way to school and threw stones at them because they were Jewish. She said that these Arab children were not brought up well, but that, in general, the Arabs acted very well with the Jews. Alice reminisced of a time when her and her sister were able to walk the streets of Israel alone without any fear of danger.

Sarah Sutton Benun A"H.

The Sutton sisters lived in a three bedroom attached house with a court yard and a garden that grew beautiful flowers. They lived right next door to the Silvera Midrash and Synagogue in the Mahane Yehuda section of Jerusalem.

Their mother, Lillie Meyers Sutton, was an English kindergarten teacher in Jerusalem and taught all of her children to read and speak English. The school she taught at was called the Evelina De Rothschild School for Girls, and her children attended this school which still exists today.

Lillie and Yosef had six children. Jesse, who was the oldest, went to America when he was young. The second was Fortune who also moved to America while young, then got married and moved to Cuba. The third, Rosie, remained in Jerusalem until Fortune later sent for her to come live with her in Cuba. The three youngest children, Sarah, Alice, and Isaac, remained in Jerusalem and grew up there. Lillie and her husband passed down many important values to their children. The Sutton home was always warm with their door and table always open to new guests.

For a long time, Lillie had wished to go back and visit with her family that lived in the United States. She planned the trip and after many years of talking about it, was finally able to go. Because she was a citizen, she could travel to America easily. Her children were also granted automatic citizenship due to Lillie being an American. Yosef, however, was not granted a visa and was not able to visit America.

The S.S. Byron.

in 1927, Lilly decided to take the trip without him, but planned to return shortly. They headed to the port of Jaffa to begin their journey and had to take a row boat to board their ship, the S.S. Byron. Little did the Sutton family know, they would end up settling in America indefinitely.

“It was something very exciting,” said Alice of her experience on the ship. “The captain gave my mother canned vegetables. She was able to boil eggs for us and they gave us some fish and allowed my mother to go into the kitchen, find an unused pot and fried up the fish for us to make sure everything was Kosher.

“We were lucky we spoke English because the crew were Greek and they didn’t speak Hebrew,” recalled Alice. “Some of the crew, however, knew English, and they treated us very well.”

The Suttons had a private room on the double-decker boat with bunk beds. They were heading to New York City.  According to the Ellis Island website, a crossing such as this could have taken anywhere from a week to over a month depending on the ship and the weather conditions.

Alice with her husband Salim.

The ship reached New York just before Rosh Hashanah. Because of the holiday, the Suttons spent three days on Ellis Island enjoying the holiday. The Sutton sisters remember their time on Ellis Island being very pleasant. The Americans went out of their way to make them feel comfortable, but they recall being a little upset having had to leave their father behind in Jerusalem.

The people at Ellis Island gave them weaving crafts and books to try and get their mind off of their sadness. Because it was Rosh Hashanah, they couldn’t work on such projects, but they appreciated the effort. Alice said the scenery at Ellis Island was beautiful. They ate well and there were even prayers that took place for the holiday.

Sarah with her brother Jesse.

Alice recalls being dumbfounded by the heights of the buildings in New York and all the electricity after they left Ellis Island. In Jerusalem at the time, a three story building was a rare sight and they only had gas lights. Sarah remembers the culture-shock of seeing women go to work. She was brought up where the woman’s job was in the home cooking and caring for the family so seeing women working was a very new sight for Sarah.

Lillie was happy to see her family, but still hoped to return to Israel. She wrote her husband a long ten-page letter about how she planned on coming home and asking him to send money. Unfortunately, she later realized the letter never got to him because she addressed it incorrectly. After some time had passed, the Suttons accepted the fact that they weren’t returning home to Israel. They made Brooklyn their new home and after a year, Yosef joined them.

The Sutton family in Cuba.

The Suttons lived very well in America, surrounded by lots of family. Sarah, who was 15 years old when she arrived, went to work in a factory manufacturing women’s lingerie. She later became a kindergarten teacher. Alice went to school for a little while as well.

Both Sarah and Alice got married in the United States. Sarah married Morris Benun, and her sister, Alice, married Sam Shamah. Since then, their families have multiplied tenfold and are still active members of the Syrian community in Brooklyn, NY today.

Sarah and Alice both took many trips back to their hometown in Israel throughout their lives.  The family kept ownership of their house in Jerusalem until the 1950's when it was donated by the Suttons to a Synagogue that was next door and later expanded into a Bet Midrash.

Sisters Sarah, Rosie, and Alice at Ellis Island in 1996.

Although the Sutton sisters are no longer with us, their memory lives on vividly throughout the community to this day. Sarah Sutton Benun’s photo and story is featured in Susan Menashe’s book, Legends, put out by Sephardic Bikur Holim in the Summer of 2017. And the photos of their return to Ellis Island remain as an important part of not only our community’s history, but an important part of American history as well.

Frieda Schweky

Frieda@sephardic.org

Frieda Schweky is Sephardic.Org's official community events reporter. For inquiries and to get involved with our site, please contact Frieda via email.