Valley Stream doctor traces family roots

On an unassuming suburban block in Rockville Center, Dr. Herbert Ausubel’s home has a lawn matching the neatness of his neighbors, but inside is a mixture of medical knowledge, world music, and fine art. The soft-spoken Ausubel, 80, speaks in length about a family name stretching back to biblical times, one that traversed Turkey, Hungary, and less Jewish places including China and Mongolia. “It’s important to know how they survived and retained their identity through faith,” Ausubel said.

Describing his newly released book “Flower of God” as a Jewish version of Alex Haley’s Roots, Ausubel spoke of his mixed Sephardic-Ashkenazic background, and the ancient origin of his last name. “I remember visiting ancient Ephesus in Turkey. There was an apothecary with the name Ausubel. Another one of my ancestors served as a physician to Suleiman the Magnificent, he fled to Vienna in the sixteenth century,” Ausubel said.

Raised in once-Jewish East New York, Ausubel’s parents treasured an heirloom scroll written by a baker in medieval Granada, Spain, from a time when it was ruled by a tolerant Muslim regime. “Since the time of the Rambam, Jews have served as chief physicians for caliphs,” Ausubel said.

Following in his father’s career, Ausubel was admitted to Harvard Medical College in 1950, one year after the school abolished religious quotas on incoming students. A undergraduate history major, Ausubel lectured the Harvard dean for six hours on his family’s history of practicing medicine, securing acceptance to the school.

While tending patients, he often shared his “geshichtes” with them, which eventually inspired him to take the stories to print and beyond. “I had a dying elderly patient and one day her daughter overheard my stories, Ausubel said. “She shared my stories with her boss, a man named Steven Spielberg.” Ausubel was able to secure a lunch with the Hollywood director’s mother, but no word on any contracts. For now, his story is told in the book, the medical office, and YouTube.

Dr. Dov Bienstock, who is Ausubel’s partner at his Valley Stream medical office, spoke of Ausubel’s encyclopedic knowledge, as well as care for patients. “He has a following among his patients, they’re all on a first name basis,” Bienstock said. “They talk politics and he takes care of them emotionally and psychologically.”

Speaking about the origin of his last name, Ausubel describes a plant, the ezov, used in the Holy Temple as well as medicinal purposes. The plant forms the root in his last name and book title. “The hyssop is a flower converted into s spice, but it could also be used as an antiseptic. You could say that it’s for spiritual cleansing.”