elana israel

On the final episode of this first season of The Memory Generation, host Rachael Cerrotti is joined by her cousin Elana Israel to talk about their grandmother, Hana Dubova. Hana was the matriarch of their family. She was a joyful, fun, spirited grandmother who also was the sole Holocaust survivor in their family. Rachael spent more than a decade researching and retracing Hana's survival story and turned it into an award-winning documentary podcast and a book. This is the first public conversation she has had with any extended family member about this work. (This project is titled We Share The Same Sky. Learn more at: www.sharethesamesky.com). 

Elana is a psychologist and a relationship coach and lives outside of Philadelphia with her son. In this conversation, Elana shares her experience living with Hana in the final months of her life and struggling with addiction in the years after. Rachael and Elana dig into their process making amends when Elana became sober and how addiction affects grief. They also share memories and reflections about Hana and what it felt like to have a grandmother who carried such a heavy life experience.

Elana and Rachael recorded this conversation on October 29, 2022. Elana was at home near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and Rachael was in Portland, Maine.