Florida’s Delray Beach.During World War II, Harold Terens served. He celebrated his birthday with family and friends in Florida a few weeks early, marking his nearly 102nd birthday. But there’s more for him to anticipate.
His bar mitzvah.
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At his birthday celebration on Saturday, Terens stated that while his brother received the customary Jewish ceremony signifying the start of adulthood when they were children living in New York, he did not.
My mom is Polish. My dad was a Russian immigrant. In addition, my mother was a devout Jew. My father was also against religion. Thus, two sons were born. They also made a compromise with one son. “One son received a bar mitzvah, while the other did not,” he stated.
Terens stated that he will at last take pleasure in the occasion early next year. No less at the Pentagon outside Washington. According to Terens, it happened when a rabbi overheard him speaking on a TV panel with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
He is the rabbi of the Pentagon, so it’s on my next bucket list. I also indicated that I would like to be bar mitzvahed at 103. Terens declared, “I will have my bar mitzvahe in the Pentagon.”
On August 6, Terens turns 102. The party on Saturday was therefore a bit early.
Terens assisted in fixing aircraft coming back from France on D-Day, June 6, 1944, so they could resume combat. He claimed that day, half of the pilots in his company perished. Twelve days later, Terens traveled to France to assist in returning recently liberated American prisoners of war and newly captured Germans to England.
In June 2024, the French celebrated the 80th anniversary of their nation’s freedom from the Nazis by honoring Terens. However, there was more that took place on those beaches in Normandy.
He wed the now-97-year-old Jeanne Swerlin.
The greatest point of my life, in my opinion, was my wedding in Normandy last year. The most memorable moment of my life. As Terens put it, “Life is measured by the moments that take our breath away, not by the number of breaths we take.”
He survived World War I, participated in a covert mission in Iran, and once narrowly avoided being annihilated by a German rocket after leaving a pub in London.
“With this new wife of mine, my life has become one big fairy tale. As the mayor had us say in Normandy, “I am going to spend the rest of my life with the people I love the most until death do us part,” Terens remarked.
Terens assisted in the shipment of liberated Allied captives to England following the German capitulation in 1945, and he returned to the United States a month later.
In 1948, he wed Thelma, and the two of them produced a son and two daughters. He joined a British conglomerate as vice president of the United States. After Thelma retired as a French teacher in 2006, they relocated from New York to Florida; she passed away in 2018 after 70 years of marriage. Ten great-grandchildren and eight grandchildren make up his family.
Terens is frequently questioned about his longevity secret.
“I believe you’ll succeed if you can figure out how to reduce stress. Your life will be extended by at least ten years. Thus, that is the first priority. And, he added, 90% is luck.
