Philip (Pinah or Pinik to his family and friends) Charash was born in the shtetl of Novye Priluki, Ukraine. He lost his father in a pogrom in Priluki in 1919. Pinah met his future wife, Braina Teplitsky, in the nearby city of Uman where they both attended gymnasium (high school). Philip and Braina's story is full of harrowing escape stories that ultimately brought them to the United States where they built a life and family together.