A Chocolate Masterpiece for a Master Shoe Designer/Holocaust Survivor

Wow! Thank you Hazel Hill Chocolate (Topeka, Kansas) and their extremely talented chocolate designer, Gepshy Del Real, for creating the most spectacular of gifts for Holocaust survivor Joe Rubinstein’s 100th birthday! After WWII, Joe (originally from Radom, Poland), became one of the leading shoe designers in New York City, working for such iconic companies as Herbert Levine, Inc., and Nina Shoes. Bows and ornaments were Joe’s specialty. The picture on the right is a photo of the shoes Joe said he designed for the Herbert Levine, Inc. company…on the left are shoes made of Haze Hill chocolate!

Joe celebrated his 100th birthday on September 16, 2020. The City of Fort Collins, Colorado, where Joe now lives, proclaimed the day: Joe Rubinstein Day.

As Joe’s friend and biographer, I was at a loss of what I could get for this special man on his most special of days. I recalled seeing chocolate shoes at the chocolate shop in the town where I live, Topeka, Kansas. When I showed the staff there a photo of shoes (right), they said they would try and recreate them in chocolate. I was blown away when I went to pick them up, as was everyone who saw them. The chocolate shoes were a hit! Joe loved them. One person at Joe’s party exclaimed, “I can’t tell which ones are chocolate and which aren’t.”

We encouraged Joe that on his actual birthday to further enjoy this “sweetest” of gifts and take a bite of one of them. He did and exclaimed the white chocolate to be delicious!

I’m so grateful for Hazel Hill Chocolate and Gepshy for making this birthday even more memorable!

To learn more about Joe’s remarkable life, read the award-winning/best selling book: Auschwitz #34207 - The Joe Rubinstein Story.