The Judo Twins

I first met the Lepkofker twins, Bob and Bernie when the three of us lived together in the Pride of Judea Children’s Home, an orphanage located in Brooklyn, New York. In 1940, when I was nine years old, my brother Bernie (he was 3 and ½ years my senior) and I had just run away from an abusive foster home and we were placed in this orphanage, which became my new home for the next seven years.

We called the place, “The Home” or “The Pride” and as orphanages went it was one of the best. My brother and I always have believed that, given our acute need at this particular point in time, The Pride came to our rescue and we have felt indebted to it throughout our lives. The Pride stopped being a residential orphanage in 1959 and morphed into an outstanding mental health agency which relocated to Douglaston, N.Y. where it exists to this day. In 1998, I had the pleasure of co-authoring a book about this unique orphanage entitled: An Orphan Has Many Parents (Craft & Friedland, KTAV Publishing, Hoboken, N.J.) which detailed just how it helped so many kids like me.

Throughout our lives, my brother and I remained in contact with several of our closest friends from The Pride. But it was not until 1982 that we had a large and happy reunion of our alumni in Commack, Long Island, N.Y. From this event we formed an active Alumni Association, which today has a mailing list of close to 200 people. Our newsletter, published five times per year and our two yearly events enable us to maintain contact and friendships with our fellow alumni.

Bernard and Robert lived in this same orphanage for twelve years, which overlapped my seven years of residence. Though they are two years my junior, we often played basketball and sports together and we knew each other fairly well. When I left the Pride, considerably ahead of them, we lost total contact with each other. When our alumni group was formed some forty years later, both Robert and I attended its meetings regularly and we resumed our friendship. Bernard, living in upstate New York, was unable to attend these events which always were held on Long Island. Several years after my above mentioned book was published, Robert asked me if I’d be interested in writing a biography of him and Bernard because both of them had had outstanding careers as judo athletes. Although I didn’t really know very much about their adult lives, the idea intrigued me and I answered affirmatively. However, I needed to complete my second book project which I was working on at the time. When that occurred, about a year later, this book, The Judo Twins, was born.

In the course of writing this book I had access to all of the twins’ records, photos and memories. I interviewed many people, friends, famous judo luminaries and many judo life-long practitioners. At every step of the way I was astonished to learn of the amazing achievements of these Judo Twins. Theirs is a story well worth telling and, I hope, well worth reading. Buckle your seat belts readers; I believe that you will enjoy the ride.

Stan Friedland 

August 25, 2007