Lillian Zabar

Lillian Zabar (born Leika Teitelbaum; c. 1905 – 22 December 1995) was an American entrepreneur and co-founder of Zabar's delicatessen.

Biography Lillian Zabar was born Leika Teitelbaum around 1905 in the Russian Empire. She claimed it was her 90th birthday the day she died but all that is known is that she was born at Hanukkah but not exactly which year. As was tradition among Ashkenazi Jews, a child's birth was celebrated on the nearest holiday, and not the day they were born. In the 1920s, she arrived in the United States fleeing the persecution of Jews in Ukraine. She initially fled to Warsaw, where after being helped out by HIAS was able to depart from Danzig to Boston. She gave a younger age to prevent any chance of being sent home as too old. She initially lived in Philadelphia before moving to New York. Louis Zabar was from the same village. Zabar was a talented cook while her husband was interested in deli food. She specialised in potato salad, coleslaw as well as the popular blintzes and they opened their first delicatessen in 1934 in Brooklyn before later moving to Manhattan. The couple had three children; Saul, Stanley, and Eli.