Volume 23, Number Three! 3

WE HAVE A NEW JGSPBCI LIBRARY AT TEMPLE SHAAREI

SHALOM IN BOYNTON BEACH - See pages 8 & 9

TO LEARN ABOUT OUR NEW LOCATION

! ! ! ! ! ! !! ! ! ! ! ! INDEX

page page

President’s Message 3 New Genealogical Research 12-15

Editor’s Message 4 Town of Our Ancestors 16-18

Welcome New Members 5 Daniel Horowitz 19

Meet Our Board Members 6 Jan Meisels Allen News 20-22

Library Move 8 Genealogy of a Song 23

Member Tidbits 10 Fall Programs 24

Volume 23, Number Three Third Quarter 2016

Barbara Nowak, Glen Segal, Eric Sharenow, Joel Sisitsky

! 2Volume 23, Number Three! !

JGSPBCI OFFICERS and BOARD MEMBERS

President: Cindy Potter TaylorVice-President: Jerry NaditchVice-President: Joel SisitskyTreasurer: Gary StoneSecretary: Ina Getzoff

Board and Committee Assignments

Archivist/Sunshine: Phyllis FrankBrick Wall: Phyllis Kramer, Mona Morris, Mark JacobsonDirectory/Membership Records: Mona Morris, Jerry NaditchEducational Events: Joel Sisitsky, Phyllis KramerLiaison: Sylvia NusinovLibrary Coordinator: Barbara NowakLuncheon: Dennis RiceMedia Publicity: Walter RosenthalMember Publicity: Marilyn LaneMembership Chair: open positionNewsletter Editor: Tina Gudin KornNewsletter Support: Jacqueline Fineblit Marilyn LaneParliamentarian: Dennis RiceProgramming: Dennis RiceReception: Joel SisitskyScholarship: Anne FaivusSpecial Interest Groups: Mona MorrisTelephone Squad: Dorothy BernsteinWebmaster/Media: Jerry Naditch

Past Presidents

Mona Freedman Morris, EmeritaAlbert M. Silberfeld, Z"LAlfred B. Leeds, Z"LSylvia Nusinov, EmeritaMarvin Hamburg, Z"LDennis Rice, EmeritusSandra Hirschhorn Mark Jacobson

Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, Inc.

P.O. Box 7796, Delray Beach, FL 33482-7796 561-450-9577

http://www.jgspalmbeachcounty.orgeditor@jgspalmbeachcounty.org

Member IAJGS, Florida State Genealogical Society

Request for Articles

Article contributions, preferably by email, are invited for inclusion in Scattered Seeds. Quarterly deadlines are December 1, March 1, June 1, and September 1. Editor reserves the right to accept, revise, condense, or reject all submissions. To increase computer compatibility, please send without formatting in one of the following: .doc (e.g. WORD), .rtf (rich text format), or .Pages (Mac). Contact Editor: Tina Gudin Korn, editor@jgspalmbeachcounty.org or send typed articles to: JGSPBCI, Attention Editor, P.O. Box 7796, Delray Beach, FL 33482-7796.

Copyright: Unless articles indicate prohibited reproduction, Scattered Seeds grants permission to IAJGS member newsletters/journals to quote, in whole or part, articles only when crediting original source, including Scattered Seeds title, volume number and publication date. Please inform JGSPBCI when any articles are reproduced.

Statement of Ownership: Scattered Seeds is the publication of the JGSPBCI, a not-for-profit educational organization.

The newsletter, issued quarterly, is a free publication distributed to paid members and Jewish genealogical societies throughout the world. Back issues are available at no charge on our website:http://www.jgspalmbeachcounty.org

Volume 23, Number Three! 3

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE Cindy Potter TaylorWhen I first moved to Boynton Beach in 2001, I met a woman who had strong ties to my ancestral home of Portland, Maine. Over the years, I

discovered a photo in which we were both included (circa 1949-1950) from Ledgemere Kiddie Camp. At a recent holiday get-together, her guests included two JGSPBCI members and a sibling to a LONG-time member. Jewish Geography/Genealogy=Small World.

It’s just about this time of year that I make a list of what I want (and wish) to accomplish over the summer. I would imagine many genealogists follow suit. BUT, this summer I am NOT traveling. This is good and bad. I will miss haunting the halls of Massachusetts Vital Statistics, the best repository since anyone began keeping records...well, in my estimation or “just saying.”

And, while I haven’t been to the archives in Augusta, Maine for many years, it’s on my “to do” list for 2017. Toss in several dozen cemeteries, and you can hear my frustration. But trust me, I will still be busy this summer working and making sure that we’re ready for our JGSPBCI 2016-2017 season, come September. We’ve already filled most of our program slots. The really GOOD news is, I’m just a telephone call or email away, if you need help.

I thoroughly enjoyed all the presenters at our annual SOS meeting in April. I picked up one or two researching tips from Ken Cutler’s presentation. Why not put your story together for 2017. Even if you’re “technically challenged,” program chair, Dennis Rice is available for assistance with PowerPoint. And if you have tips for researching, share them with us via Scattered Seeds.

And, for those of you snowbirds who missed Phyllis Kramer’s newbie class, she plans to repeat it “in season.”

The rumor mill has been rife with “Who’s Going to Seattle?” If you plan to attend, PLEASE let me know so that we can take a group photo. If you’re really enthusiastic, you could email me every day with your thoughts and what you’ve learned.

Have a wonderful productive summer.

Scattered Seeds Staff

Editor Tina Gudin Korn

Support & Editing Jacqueline Fineblit Marilyn Lane

Proofreading Mark Jacobson Gary Stone, M.D. Marilyn Lane

Mailing Mark Jacobson Webmaster Jerry Naditch

Volume 23, Number Three! 4

MESSAGE FROMEDITOR TINA KORN

(On right: Actual FB posting)

I began with a Facebook posting on JewishGen asking for help in obtaining the New Jersey Marriage Certificate of my husband’s parents. We had very little information and lots of questions. This brick wall had never been broken, until I heard from a complete stranger on Facebook.

Jim Murray (a New York historian) responded to me. “Tina, I did a search for you through all of the indexes and variations on Italiangen, and nothing appears. I could not find a marriage application. I will contact my friend who may be able to go to the archives in person.” He then forwarded my name to someone he knew in New Jersey.

I next heard, via email, from Jim Murray’s friend, Greg Burns, who actually went to the New Jersey Archives and photocopied the Marriage Certificate. After several private email communications and the payment of a very nominal fee, he sent me a photocopy of the Marriage Certificate, issued in 1937. It indicated that Rose Rosen, age 24, married Oscar Korn, aged 31, in Passaic, New Jersey.

My husband, who never knew the date of his parents’ marriage, found that information and lots more. We now know his paternal grandmother’s maiden name, his parents’ address at time of marriage, and the names of relatives who were witnesses.

So, my avid readers, try every avenue for discovery. This time it was Facebook that ended one of my searches. Also, thanks to our April 27th meeting, I joined MyHeritage and learned how to post my family tree as a GedCom on their site. So far, I have discovered three new connections with families around the world. I will write about that in my next column. HAVE A GREAT SUMMER!

Volume 23, Number Three! 5

PLEASE JOIN US FOR FUTURE MEETINGS

JGSPBCI meetings are held on the second Wednesday – September through May

South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road • Delray Beach

Special Interest Group11:30-12:15

Brick wall12:30-1:00

Program1:00-3:00

Mentor Meetings

3:00-3:30

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS Flo & Larry Giltman

Jim Hazlett Penny Herbst Marvin Levendorf Henrietta Levine Our JGS season runs from September

through May. As of May, 2016, we have welcomed 65 new members, for a total

membership of 339.

CHAI SCHOLARSHIP DONATIONS

Jerome Bartzoff David D. Davis John & Ina Getzoff Sylvia Nusinov Richard & Carol Winston

Volume 23, Number Three! 6

JOEL SISITSKY

As a JGSPBCI Vice-President, Joel’s face at the welcome desk is the first everyone sees upon arriving at the monthly meetings. His warm smile and extensive background in Jewish genealogy have made a great contribution

to the growth of one of the largest Jewish genealogy societies in the country.

The oldest relative Joel can remember was his bearded great-grandfather, meeting him when he was only seven or eight years old. Four generations in one place was very rare, indeed. As an adult, Joel got interested in genealogy while going through some of his father's papers and came upon a hand-drawn family tree. Little more was added to it until the Internet came along.

For the next 30 years, research into his family’s history led him from a long-forgotten hand-drawn family tree to South African families, via Chicago. He found that the early 1900s were a time when European names were changed to appear less Jewish and his family was no exception. One relative “adopted” the name of a local brewery, Birk, to help ease his integration into American life.

“With my immediate family, I've been able to go back as far as the late 1700s. However, my wife's first cousin is married to a non-Jewish woman and I've traced her line back beyond the 1300s. These ‘relatives’ were Knights, Lords and Ladies. It is all such very interesting information. Genealogy has always fascinated me.”

DOROTHY BERNSTEIN “About 15 years ago my grandson, Chuck Todd, moderator of Meet the Press, bought me a computer and then for Chanukah gifted me with Family Tree Maker. I think he was trying to tell me something,” JGSPBCI Board Member Dorothy Bernstein said, when asked how she became interested in genealogy. Inspired by his gift, Dorothy, who also serves as chairperson of our Telephone Squad, has become a serious researcher and her interests in family history has never wavered. Dorothy’s maternal and paternal families have Hungarian roots, but grandson Chuck’s paternal side of the tree goes back to the Revolutionary War. His paternal great grandmother was a member of the DAR.

As a child, Dorothy lived in the same home as her paternal grandparents and has fond memories of her observant grandmother and grandfather who spoke mostly Yiddish. Her maternal grandparents, who lived close by, were also of Hungarian descent, but were mostly English-speaking.

“At the present time, I am the Matriarch of the family,” Dorothy, keeper of the family trees, added. “Through my research, I have found many family members, including some that were estranged and did not know much about our family. Making the cold calls were tough,” she added, “but they seemed glad to hear from me and we stay in touch.” As Dorothy likes to say, “Everyone is from everywhere!”

MEET OUR BOARD MEMBERS Walter Rosenthal & Jackie Fineblit, JGSPBCI

Members of the JGSPBC Board of Directors are dedicated volunteers who give their time, experience and patience to making sure that our membership has the information and the leadership that makes genealogical research successful.

PROOF OF A SMALL WORLD Dorothy Bernstein, JGSPBCI I went to Cape Town, South Africa 12 years ago, to check on names in archives to see if they were related to my paternal grandfather. It also served the purpose of allowing me to return by freighter from London. While there, I made friends with many in the Jewish Community and one of the women asked if I could find out the maiden name of her great aunt. She knew that her great uncle had married in New York and she knew the first name of the bride. There were at least five male names that matched, but only one with the right bride’s first name. I sent away for the license and mailed it to her.

Fast forward to April of this year. As many of you know, I have a reading machine from the Lighthouse for the Blind which was quite big and cumbersome, so I bought a new version that is one piece and is easier to operate. When the old machine was moved, two letters fell out that had been on the shelf behind it. One was dated 1943 and the other 1947.

When they were read to me, I realized that the writer of one of the letters was the name I had researched years earlier. I sent an email off to Cape Town and the response was immediate. Yes, this was her great uncle. I told her where I found them. My machine must have been previously used by someone from New York who moved to Florida and then donated the reading machine to the Lighthouse. So, I copied the letter for safe keeping and mailed the originals to South Africa.

What are the odds that the person finding the letters would know who or what they meant. and be able to connect them with someone to whom it had meaning? Kismet?

NEWBIE CLASS - GREAT SUCCESS Joel Sisitsky, VP, JGSPBCI

On Wednesday, April 27, 2016, Phyllis Kramer held a “Newbie Class” for Beginners in Genealogical Research. Nine members attended the two-hour session. Each person attending was asked to fill out a four generation family tree sheet, to the best of their ability. The form, along with other handouts, was sent to them a week before the class was held. (Joel Sisitsky

Phyllis Kramer)

Phyllis covered such areas as how to ask relatives questions regarding their family history, how to start a family tree, how and where to go on the internet, how to research family names and information and what do with the information they obtained.

Also covered was organizing and storing information, US Census, Vital Records, Manifests and an introduction to JewishGen.

At the conclusion, there were a lot of smiles and everyone left the classroom with more knowledge and understanding than they had before taking this class. Many thanks to Phyllis Kramer for her diligence and for the generosity of her time and expertise. We are so fortunate to have her as a member and leader of JGSPBCI.

VOLUME 23, NUMBER ONE FIRST QUARTER, 2016! 7! !

Volume 23, Number Three! 8

Bibliotheca ambulatilis, for those of you who are NOT Latin scholars, let me fill you in. The translation is, “library is moving.”

I am very pleased to announce that we have moved our JGSPBCI Library from the Boca JCC up to Temple Shaarei Shalom (Hagen Ranch Road) in Boynton Beach. Negotiations have been on-going for over a year!

Before I tell you more, I wish to give my heartfelt thanks to several people who made it happen: Ina Getzoff and Eric Sharenow, two invaluable people who laid the groundwork by seeking out a new venue and finding Temple Shaarei Shalom; Barbara Nowak and Dennis Rice for pushing hard to finally make it all happen.

BUT wait, we are indebted to Rabbi Anthony Fratello, temple admininistator Linda Gulko and library staff, Dvorah Abramowitz, Nina Lane, Ina Eaton, and Joan Blitman. We seem to work well with these people and are looking forward to this “shittach made in 2016.” Thank you also to extra volunteer hands on moving day, Joel Sisitsky and Glen Segal.

It will take awhile to get our new software up and running, but we’re already making plans for some limited programming and mentoring programs for JGSPBCI members who need help with their research.

Maybe we can add some temple members to our great organization. In the haunting words of JGSPBCI President Emerita, Sylvia Nusinov, “How will your children know who they are if they don’t know from where they came?”

JGSPBCI LIBRARY MOVES TO ITS NEW HOME AT TEMPLE SHAAREI SHALOM Cindy Potter Taylor, President, JGSPBCI

MORE PHOTOS FROM LIBRARY MOVE TO TEMPLE SHAAREI SHALOM

VOLUME 23, NUMBER ONE FIRST QUARTER, 2016! 9! !

!!!!!!!

! Temple Entrance

Dennis Rice ! ! Lots of room in this beautiful library

! Eric Sharenow

Volume 23, Number Three! 10

MEMBER TIDBITS FOR GENEALOGISTS

WHAT IS THE GENEALOGICAL PROOF STANDARD?

The Genealogical Proof Standard (GPS) is a process used by genealogists to demonstrate what the minimums are that genealogists must do for their work to be credible. Based on a book written by Christine Rose entitled Genealogical Proof Standard: Building a Solid Case, this standard lays out five essential steps for accurate research: • Reasonably exhaustive research has been completed. • Each statement of fact has a complete and accurate source citation. • The evidence is reliable and has been skillfully correlated and interpreted. • Any contradictory evidence has been resolved. • The conclusion has been soundly reasoned and coherently written.You can read more about GPS at https://familysearch.org/blog/en/genealogicalproofstandardpart1.

NEW JGSLI YOUTUBE VIDEO AVAILABLE

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island (JGSLI), is pleased to announce its latest video “What is a SIG and 5 Reasons You Should Get to Know Yours.”

When working on your family history, haven’t you ever wished that you could talk with other researchers who understand your specific area of interest?

Well, SIGs can provide you the perfect forum to find those answers. Here is an explanation of what SIGs are and 5 reasons why you should get to know the ones that can help further your Jewish genealogical research.

You can access all 17 of our short instructional videos directly from our You Tube Channel at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUV8xttIn93AwJX2_I0AIAg/feed or from our website http://jgsli.org/ If you have any comments or recommendations for other topics, please let me know at past_pres@jgsli.org

                                                     

Contributed by Marilyn Lane, JGSPBCI Membership Publicity Chairperson

Contributed by President Cindy Potter Taylor, JGSPBCI:

Just because someone did not naturalize in a U.S. District Court, it does NOT mean that the record is NOT available.

A distant cousin reached out to me after she found me on the DMJ (Documenting Maine Jewry) website. She wanted to know her original family name.

I browsed through Ancestry.com, Family Search, etc., and found that her grandfather began life in Lisbon Falls, Maine. It was there that he declared his intention to become a citizen in a county court. He eventually ended up living in Lawrence, Massachusetts where he completed the Naturalization process.

I wrote to NARA Northeast and received the name and email address of the Archivist of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court. Shortly thereafter, I received this reply: "Please send a check for $2.00 with an SASE and we will send you the record.”

Nine days later, in the mail, came Leo Trilling's Declaration (from Maine,) Petition (from Massachusetts) and finally, a Certificate of Arrival, with the original surname of WASSERTRILLING. Now, I am working on tracing back through the centuries!

Contributed by Jane Appelbaum, JGSPBCI:

WHAT IS YOUR GRANDMOTHER’S HEBREW NAME? FIND OUT ABOUT YOUR LOVED ONES, Heidi Hoover, MYJEWISHLEARNING.COM

As a rabbi, one of the life-cycle processes I accompany people through is the funeral. When a person dies, burying them with dignity is a mitzvah, a commandment, in Jewish tradition. But when I do a funeral, I am serving the living, bereaved loved ones

at least as much as I am serving the person who has died, probably more.

It is a tremendous privilege and blessing to be asked to do a funeral. But, it is a great honor to be let into people’s lives at the vulnerable time when they are just starting to realize that their loved one is gone.

There are questions that I ask family members or friends when a loved one has died. Many of the questions are to elicit stories that they or I might use when we give the hespeds or eulogies, at the funeral. Questions like: What kind of a parent was he or she? What do you remember him or her as being like as a young person? What kinds of things did the family do together? How did the person meet his or her spouse?

These are usually questions the family and friends can answer. There are other questions they have more trouble answering, and at the top of that list, especially if the person who died was elderly, is “What was their Hebrew name?” For Jewish family members who don’t attend synagogue regularly, or even if they do, go to synagogues where they are not called to the Torah by their Hebrew name, family members often have no idea what it is. This is made more difficult by the fact that even if you know the Hebrew name, for example, that the person’s name was “Yaakov,” a full Hebrew name includes the names of the parents, for example, “Yaakov ben (son of) Yitzchak v’Rivka.” I don’t mind using the English name during the funeral, but for a gravestone, usually Jewish families include a Hebrew name. Sometimes families regret that they don’t know what it is.

Talk to your family members. Ask them what their Hebrew names are, if they have them, and what their parents’ Hebrew names were.

Volume 23, Number Three! 11

MEMBER TIDBITS FOR GENEALOGISTS

Volume 23, Number Three! 12

BIALYSTOK JEWISH CEMETERY HAS BEEN INDEXED JewishGen Blog, April 19, 2016, Mark Halpern

The Foundation for Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries in Poland has announced an update to the database of Polish Jewish cemetery inscriptions, which includes GPS data and transcriptions of personal data extracted directly from the tombstones.

There are fewer than 3,000 legible tombstones in the one remaining Jewish Cemetery in Bialystok. This represents about 6% to 8% of the number of people buried in the Cemetery from about 1890 through about 1965.

This update includes an almost complete index of the cemetery in Bialystok (2400 inscriptions.) 500 more inscriptions for Bialystok will be added to the database in Summer 2016.

Already included in this database are inscriptions for the Bialystok area towns of Bielsk Podlaski, Bransk, Choroszcz, Ciechanowiec, Drohiczyn, Goniadz, Jalowka, Jasionowka, Knyszyn, Krynki, Michalowo,Narew, Narewka, Sidra, Siemiatycze, Tykocin, Wasilkow, and Zabludow.

Through collaboration with JRI-Poland, this data will be easily available to all researchers, historians and descendants of Polish Jews.

http://www.jri-poland.org/foundation-for-documentation-jewish-cemeteries.htm.

Witold Wrzosinski, Remigiusz Sosnowski and Alicja Mroczkowska are the principals of the Foundation for Documentation of Jewish Cemeteries.

For direct access to the Foundation's website and database, seehttp://cemetery.jewish.org.pl/lang_en/

JEWISHGEN SUCCESS STORIES Phyllis Kramer, JGSPBCI, FloridaVP, Education & Special Projects, JewishGen, Inc.

Three outstanding stories are presented in the latest issue of JewishGen's Success! Stories. You can access these accounts from the "About Us" button on our website or by following this link:www.jewishgen.org/JewishGen/Testimonials/

Angela Strohschein never stopped wondering about her great-grandmother Frieda who had tragically died at the age of 28. Through census records, passenger manifests, vital records, and clues found in the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR,) Angela learns about Frieda's family history and connects with newly found family.

Marla Raucher Osborn received a request from the Director of the Lviv National Gallery of Art to discover the background and history of Dr. Michal Chajes, whose name is stamped on the back of a Bruno Schulz drawing. In researching this Jewish lawyer and his family from Drohobycz, the Schulz drawing also serves to re-join two surviving Chajes family branches separated 70 years ago.

Morton Rappaport wanted to know how eight members of his Goldstein and Gluck families gained entry into Canada in the 1930s -- after Canada had instituted a law which banned the immigration of Asians, Jews, and groups deemed undesirable by Canadian authorities. After 1930, the only way an immigrant could gain entry to Canada was through a law called an "Order-In-Council." After 20 years of searching, Morton finds these life-saving documents.

Prepared by JewishGen volunteers -- Nancy Siegel, Editor and Anna Blanchard, Webmaster. We hope you will be inspired by these stories and we encourage you to submit your own success stories to us at success@lyris.jewishgen.org.

WHATʼS NEW IN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH

FROM GENIE MILGROM:

Hello everyone! I am very excited to announce that after several years of compiling information on the Spanish archives, I have launched a website for all types of research in Spain, including archives, libraries, and universities. You will find times they are open or closed, and tips on research.

This will be an invaluable tool for anyone looking towards Spanish Citizenship.

www.sephardicancestry.com

* * *

WHO CAN APPLY FOR SPANISH CITIZENSHIP?www.rhodesjewishmuseum.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/FAQs-for-Spanish-Citizenship-for-Sephardic-Jews.pdf

Who can apply for Spanish citizenship as a result of the Citizenship Law for Sephardi Jews?You may apply if you prove your Sephardic origin and a special connection with Spain, even if you do not have legalresidence in Spain.

Can a non-Jewish person apply?Yes, he or she may apply. The Law is open to Jewish and non-Jewish people of Sephardic origin, provided that theycan prove their Sephardic origin and a special connection with Spain.

Can I apply for Spanish citizenship according with the new Law?Yes, you may apply. The practice of a religion by the applicant is not an issue, but you have to provide evidence ofyour Sephardic background and of your special connection with Spain.

23 SEPHARDIC JEWS BECOME SPANISH CITIZENS

(CBSNewYork) — (May, 2016) A special day of remediation was held between a group of Jewish men and women and the Spanish government to help right a wrong from more than 500 years ago and to erase a painful piece of history.

The extraordinary ceremony was held at the Office of the Consul General of Spain in Midtown. Twenty-three Sephardic Jews prepared to regain a piece of their past and a piece of themselves after Spanish citizenship was taken from their forefathers centuries ago.

Back in 1492, in the era of Inquisition, thousands of Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain by order of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella after refusing to convert to Catholicism. It is known as the “Edict of Expulsion,” and is referred as one of the darkest chapters in Spain’s history.

Juan Jose Herrera, Spain’s Consul for Cultural Affairs, said to CBS2’s Scott Rapoport “I think that we are fixing a serious, unfair and dark injustice that was committed.”

The people at the ceremony were some of the descendants of expelled Jews.

By order of Spanish King Felipe VI, the Spanish government, and in accordance with a law passed in Spanish parliament last year, these relatives are now citizens of Spain as well as citizens of the United States. There are more than 4,000 Sephardic Jews who have applied for renewed citizenship.

http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2016/05/10/spanish-citizenship-ceremony/

Volume 23, Number Three! 13

WHAT’S NEW IN GENEALOGICAL RESEARCH

Volume 23, Number Three! 14

NEW ONLINE COLLECTION FROM THE ISRAEL STATE ARCHIVES Mark Jacobson, Past President, JGSPBCI

In mid-April, Rose Feldman, from the Israel Genealogy Research Association, reported that the Israel State Archives was creating an online database of scanned images of millions of documents from their collection. Their website is here: http://www.archives.gov.il/en/. This announcement was a surprise to many researchers. For years, I tried to obtain records from the archives with no success.

Now, suddenly, records are online for free. This online archive is not intended for genealogy (the archive is a historical treasure trove for the history of the state of Israel and that is their focus,) but includes many genealogical documents. The database is still 'under construction'. This means that it is searchable in English, but the results are a mix of Hebrew and English and many images are not yet online (but many are being added). Their search engine is not advanced. Searching by name is best, but it is not very good at 'soundex' searching. Most records are not indexed by town so it won't help if you search for the town name.

Most of the genealogical records are for the period of the Palestine Mandate, when Israel (as Palestine) was under the control of Great Britain between the end of World War I and statehood in 1948. The most common and useful records I have encountered are full naturalization files (many 40 or more pages.) Some are in color and some are black and white, and all are presented as .pdf files that can be saved to your computer.

The naturalization files are a treasure trove of documents in mixed languages (including English, Hebrew, Polish etc.) and photographs primarily from the 1930s and 1940s. From what I can discern from the records, married men naturalized for their entire family and only unmarried women could naturalize separately.

The records include dates and places of birth for whole families, occupations, length of time in Israel, and other items such as information on couples who were separated or divorced. I have also found some Polish passports that apparently were surrendered when the immigrants naturalized. These passports include a photo, visas, markings tracing the journey to Israel, and biographical information including date and place of birth and a physical description.

This database is a very useful source for tracing family who were immigrants to pre-statehood Israel and, hopefully, they will continue to add documents and improve the search capabilities. I found many family members I knew had immigrated and some I never knew had left Europe.

From 1933 Polish Passport of my great aunt, her husband and childrenʼs names are listed.

“I used ‘Snip It,’ a Windows program, to snip the photos from a 1940 naturalization file and the page with biographical info for my grandfather's cousin Eliezer Oberlander and his wife.

Eliezer was a hero of Israel - he was an early organizer of the resistance against the British and he was killed in 1948, fighting the Egyptians.

I also snipped a photo and biographical page from a 1933 Polish passport for my grandfather's sister and her husband and children: Henoch and Esther Hinde Schwarz and children Yuna and Eliezer.

When they naturalized in 1940, they had to turn over their passport to the Palestine authority. Now, the passport and naturalization record are in the Israel State Archive and the passport is online. The biographical page from the 1933 passport has their names, dates and places of birth, and physical description in both Polish and French.”

Volume 23, Number Three! 15

Israeli State Archives, Continued

Volume 23, Number Three! 16

OUR SHTETL IS BURNING Undzer Shtetl Brent

It is burning, brothers, it is Burning. Our poor little town, a pity, burns!

Furious winds blow, Breaking, burning and scattering,

And you stand around With folded arms.

O, you stand and look While our town burns.

It is burning, brothers, it is burning Our poor little town, a pity, burnsThe tongues of fire have already

Swallowed the entire town. Everything surrounding it is burning,

And you stand around While our town burns.

This song, Es Brent, was written by Mordechai Gebirtig in 1938, in response to the 1936 Przytyk pogrom. Przytyk, a small Polish town, was the scene of a riot on 9 March 1936. Gebirtig had hoped its message, “Don't stand there, brothers, douse the fire!” would be a call to action. Cracow's underground Jewish resistance adopted S'brent (It’s Burning) as its anthem.

Although this song relates to the Holocaust, it could have been sung by Jews for a thousand years, since fire was an ever present danger for the wooden shtetls of Eastern Europe.

Wood was the most common building material wherever the land was forested. Our ancestors lived in wooden villages that tended to have narrow streets with closely placed homes, perfect for the spread of fires. People used fire for cooking, heating, lighting, blacksmithing, trash removal, and tobacco smoking. Accidental fires frequently occurred. Natural fires, caused by lightning, easily spread to wooden villages.

Houses, business, and institutions, were destroyed by fire. The question was how to finance the rebuilding. In locations where shtetls were privately owned property of a Polish Noble Family, it was to their advantage to rebuild the town. A great fire occurred in the Lithuanian town of Valkininkai at the end of the 18th century. The town and wooden synagogue were rebuilt with the help of its owner Prince Granowski. Local businessmen were also required by Prince Granowski to help pay for the rebuilding.

The newly rebuilt synagogue was visited by Napoleon, on his way to invade Russia. Impressed by the synagogue and the warm greetings received by the town’s Jews, Napoleon gifted them his red saddle pad which was made into a parokhet (the curtain covering the Aron Ha-Kodesh – Ark.)

Poryck Poland, now Pavlivka, Ukraine, was burnt to the ground in 1557. King Sigmund August allowed its owner, Alexander Opdycke to exempt residents from taxes for the period of ten years. In this town, after the Jews were murdered by the Germans, in 1943, the Ukrainian Insurgent Army murdered Polish inhabitants of the town and set fire to the Roman Catholic Church during a ceremony, killing over 300 people.

THE TOWNS OUR ANCESTORS Bill Farran, member JGSPBCI (Part of series of woodcuts and stories)

After the 1753 Białystok fire, Prince Branicki reconstructed the city in accordance with a new architectural idea drawing from French

and German designs. Wooden buildings were replaced by stone and masonry structures, including: the Town Hall, Saint Martin’s House, an armory, a corner tenement house, a house for poor people, a vicarage, and many inns.

After the Partition of Poland (1794) the new Russian rulers found a robust Polish economy based on trade carried out by Jews, who lived under the protection of the Polish Nobility. The Russians considered the Polish Nobility to be disloyal and treacherous, while the Jews were viewed on one hand as valuable assets while on the other hand as evil, deceitful and dishonest. The Russian masters of the Pale of Settlement persued policies designed to weaken the Polish Nobility’s economic wealth. With the Polish nobility and Jewish middle class impoverished, it was harder for shtetls to recover after a fire.

Jews in the Pale often set money aside to help other towns in trouble. The Jews of Pren, Lithuania collected money for communities which had suffered from

pogroms or fires. In the summer of 1881, Avraham Yosef Rudmansky and Yitzchak Garfunkel collected 90 Rubles from the Jews of Pren, sending 40 Rubles to the Rabbi of Augusta whose town had suffered from a fire, and 50 Rubles to help victims of pogroms.

A Great fire occurred in the Lithuanian town of Eishyshok, in the Spring of 1895. Almost the entire town, including the synagogue and study hall were in ashes. Eishyshok was able to recover with the help of the Eishyshok Society in America, and American family members.

At the beginning of the 20th century, a large fire broke out in the town of Vistytis, Lithuania, and most of the Jewish homes burned down. The Emperor Wilhelm II of Germany, who passed through the town and saw the devastation, donated a sum of 10,000 marks to the community. When this donation was publicized, his first cousin by marriage, Czar, Nicolai II, also donated a sum of 5,000 rubles. Without the competition between royal cousins, the town would never have been rebuilt. In 1915, the retreating Russian army set the town on fire; and only the synagogue remained intact.

Fire was a great weapon of war. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising (1648), which was a Ukrainian peasant revolt against the Polish Roman Catholic Nobility there was also unbelievable violence against Jews. Over 300 Jewish communities were destroyed, most by fire. Jews, in time recovered and the synagogue of Pogrebishche Ukraine was rebuilt directly over the destroyed synagogue.

VOLUME 23, NUMBER ONE FIRST QUARTER, 2016! 17! !

(Bill Farran, continued)

During the World War I, Eastern Europe was a great battle field. Many towns were destroyed during the fighting. The towns of Śniadowo, Poland and Gvozdetz, Ukraine and their wooden synagogues were destroyed during battles. Many shtetls were set on fire by warring bands fighting for territory between the war’s end and the final peace treaties.

Holocaust fires destroyed almost everything Jewish in the shtetls. Wooden synagogues that had escaped fires in the past met a horrifying end. The Polish shtetl of Visoka was fortunate in never having been burned down in any conflagration. The old rabbi, the Zaddik, claimed that according to a legend, their town was blessed so that fire could not devour it. On September 10th, 1939, the town was captured by the Germans, who set it on fire.

A survivor of Zabludow wrote in a Yizkor Book, "Only the very old synagogue still stood, the fire didn't touch it. Me and my father, may he rest in peace, are looking, wondering, and imagining it's a miracle!

It was but an illusion, suddenly the Nazi hooligans, may their name and memory be erased, pulled up in a car. They spilled gasoline around the very old synagogue, and they lit it on fire . . . that is how the very famous Zabludow Synagogue was erased from the earth.”

In those places where Eastern European pre-Holocaust Jews lived, from rural farm villages, to shtetls, to cities where horror stories have been told, filled with unthinkable events often accompanied by fires. Their stories have yet to be told, they will in a future article.

VOLUME 23, NUMBER ONE FIRST QUARTER, 2016! 18! !

(Bill Farran, continued)

Volume 23, Number Three! 19

FROM DANIEL HOROWITZ, MYHERITAGE

This is the story of two brothers separated as young children in post-World War II Europe. They hadn’t seen one another in 65 years — until MyHeritage reunited them.

Izak Szewelewicz was born in the displaced persons camp at Bergen-Belsen, Germany shortly after World War II. Izak has no memories of his early years in the camp. He

was sent to Israel for adoption in 1948, at the age of three, and raised by his adopting family. Izak's biological mother, Aida, had meanwhile immigrated to Canada, and she later found and contacted Izak when he was an adolescent. They met several times and kept in touch, but she always refused to speak about the identity or fate of Izak's father or anyone else from the family.

Just a few years ago, Izak received documents from the Bergen-Belsen archive that delivered a shocking revelation: he had had a brother named Shepsyl in the camp, as well as another relative. The records indicated that both relatives had emigrated to Canada, separately from his mother.

In 2013 Izak’s nephew, Alon Schwarz, reached out to MyHeritage and asked us to help him find Izak’s brother. Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet took a special interest in Izak's mysterious story, and requested that our senior researcher and Head of Genealogy (UK), Laurence Harris, devote his time and expertise to try to locate Izak's family and uncover what happened. Together with Alon, Laurence embarked on a relentless and truly international search through the archives at Bergen-Belson in Germany and Yad Vashem in Israel, Canadian and Israeli vital records, and online family trees.

Laurence's search eventually led him to Melanie Shell, the only daughter of a blind Winnipeg man in his 60s named Shep Shell. Corresponding with Melanie, Laurence discovered that Shep’s name had been anglicized upon arrival in Canada; his original name was Szepsyl Szewelewicz, and Melanie confirmed that he had been born in a displaced persons camp in Germany after the War. All the pieces fit together. Izak's brother had been found.

An emotional reunion between the brothers took place in Canada. Izak finally had the chance to get to know his younger brother, a visually-impaired Paralympic skier, cyclist, and marathon-runner. A few days later, they went to visit Aida. Shep met his mother for the very first time since he was a baby. Aida called him "Shepsyl'e."

REUNITING OF TWO LONG-LOST BROTHERS AFTER 65 YEARS

! ! ! TO READ THE ENTIRE STORY: http://blog.myheritage.com/2016/05/myheritage-reunites-two-brothers-separated-for-65-years/

Last year, The New York Public Library launched its OldNYC photographic views of New York City,

covering 1870’s-1990’s in the Library’s Milstein Collection. See: http://tinyurl.com/kgjmo63. The collection is now available in an app which may be purchased and downloaded at iTunes at:https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/oldnyc-explore-historical/id1097347396 For more information see: http://

www.nypl.org/blog/2016/05/04/oldnyc-app * * * *

The New York Genealogical & Biographical Society updated their New York Family History Research Guide and Gazetteer on line at: http://tinyurl.com/jeppw73

Originally published in 2015, many societies and individuals may have purchased the research book for their libraries and may find this information of interest. Suggested additions and locations of original records, updates and corrections with citations may be sent to : NYGuide@nygbs.org This notice was originally published in The New York Researcher, Spring 2016, Volume 27 Number 1.

Volume 23, Number Three! 20

NEWS FROM JAN MEISELS ALLENChairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

On May 18, 2016, Ancestry announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger with Adpay, Inc., which is the creator of and operators of Memoriams.com obituary input network, and is the largest and fastest growing obituary platform, submitting to 3,000 newspapers in the U.S.

The information comes from funeral homes. Along with Newspapers.com, another Ancestry product , they will help newspapers strengthen and grow. AdPay, Inc. will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Ancestry.com Operations, Inc. The acquisition is expected to close in the second quarter of 2016.

To read more go to: http://tinyurl.com/jvfkqmu

* * * *

Many of us are familiar with Google for searches which help with our genealogy research. Google runs different search engines by country. Searches will result in different results depending on which Google search engine one uses. GenealogyInTime has posted the 192 search engines by country and region. The list will be updated periodically to reflect the latest changes on Google, and therefore, you may wish to bookmark this website:http://tinyurl.com/z84397z

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) and Ancestry.com started to collaborate five years ago, by indexing the names of individuals that were persecuted by the Nazis in World War ll.

They have reached the milestone of having one million searchable online records due to innovative crowd sourcing initiative, the World Memory Project, where 3,500 people from around the world volunteered to index name-related materials from the USHMM’s extensive archival holdings.

The project continues and will be the largest online resource for information of all those victims of the Holocaust. To learn more about the World Memory Project, including how to become a contributor (volunteer) see: www.WorldMemoryProject.org.

* * * *

 The  Ancestor  Hunt  has  a  list  of  free  online  European  Historical  Newspapers.    Go  online  to  see  which  are  free  and  which  have  fees.    www.theancestorhunt.com/blog/europe-­‐free-­‐online-­‐

NEW DATA NOW AVAILABLE FOR JEWISH FAMILIES OF THE CARIBBEAN

The Caribbean Genealogy Library has digitized 45 gigabytes of data from the National Archives in Washington, DC, and have placed samples of the documents on their website. The documents may be found at http://cgl.vi/pages/indexNARA.html. These include many records dated between 1895-1921. The records may be found at: http://cgl.vi/pages/indexNARA.html. Access to the online records is free. The documents are in preparation for the 2017 centennial of the Virgin Islands being transferred from Denmark to the United States. One section is about Jewish Families of the Caribbean http://cgl.vi/pages/jewish.html. There were 46 Jewish surnames—69 persons in Charlotte Amalie at the time. Names of the first families are included in the paper. Sephardic Jews (Conversos) started to immigrate to the Virgin Islands at the end of the 18th century—mostly merchants. Most were those who had ancestors who had to flee Spain or Portugal due to the Inquisition. While their ancestors had fled to the Mediterranean and Western European ports, they subsequently immigrated across the Atlantic to the Caribbean, South American and New York and later to the Caribbean Islands including St. Thomas, Virgin Islands—Charlotte Amalie. Thank you to Dick Eastman, and Eastman’s Online Genealogy Newsletter.

Volume 23, Number Three! 21

MORE NEWS FROM JAN MEISELS ALLENChairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee

Volume 23, Number Three! 22

MORE NEWS FROM JAN MEISELS ALLEN

MyHeritage has created an hour-and-a-half webinar on “Getting Started with Your Family History.” The presenter is Schelly Talalay Dardashti. This is just one of many webinars that are

available from MyHeritage. A complete list can be found at http://blog.myheritage.com/category/myheritage/webinars-and-podcasts/. The Ponte delle Guglie.

To the right of the bridge is the passage to the Jewish ghetto.

David Laskin, the author of The Family: A Journey Into the Heart of the 20th Century, has written an article about the 500 Years of Jewish Life In Venice. His article, published in the New York Times on March 9, 2016, talks about the ghetto, established by Doge Leonardo Lorecon in 1516—a place where people were forcibly segregated and surveilled due to religious differences. 2016 is the 500th anniversary of the ghetto. The current Jewish population of Venice is 450—at its height in the 17th century, the ghetto held 5,000 Jews from Italy, Germany, France, Spain and the Ottoman Empire. By World War ll, the Jewish population of Venice had reduced to 1,200 residents. The ghetto has five synagogues still standing. To read the article see: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/13/travel/venice-italy-jewish-ghetto.htmlThank you to Rand Fishbein for sharing the article.

Mocavo, moved its site to the Findmypast site in March, 2016. For those who have a Mocavo account, it was transferred. For those with a free Mocavo account you will receive a free 30 day trial. An email was sent to you regarding setting up your account. For those with a paid subscription to Mocavo, you will be invited to take advantage of an equivalent subscription package on Findmypast where you can be assured that your payments will remain unchanged for your current subscription.

If you hold a Findmypast subscription, too, they will make the necessary adjustments to your two accounts. Once your current Mocavo subscription expires, you will move to an equivalent subscription on Findmypast.

To read more go to: http://tinyurl.com/h43kv8q

Original url:http://www.findmypast.com/mocavo-info?utm_source=fmp&utm_medium=email&utm_term=895899&utm_content=mocavo&utm_campaign=895899 If you have a tree on Mocavo they will migrate it to Findmypast and send you a link where it can be accessed. support@findmypast.com

Volume 23, Number Three! 23

When my mother was seventeen, in 1928, she became engaged to a fellow in Leeds, England. Despite the fact that she did not end up marrying the man, one of the many things she learned from her fiancé’s family was a catchy-tuned Yiddish song about a wedding dress, “Dos Khupe Kleid.” It was the kind of song with a happy-go-lucky melody, which stayed in your head long after the music stopped.

She often sang it to me when I was a child and later, as adult, I would hear her humming it around the house. I often wondered about the piece, as my mother only remembered a scrap of the lyrics and that was somewhat jumbled. Here are the lyrics she remembered:

Chupe Kleidel

Oy dost chupe, chupe kleidelVost kenman machen Firna maidel.

Alle nacht geit zee tansenBis zee firspeil a nadanIn ganson.

Kayna, kayna kenisht vissonVivfila a hartsonVayryn sarisson.

Bis zee chupe, chupe kleidelOy dost a chupe moit.

The lyrics were sung to the tune of “Whispering,” the #1 tune on the 1920 Hit Parade, which was made famous by American bandleader Paul Whiteman. How this American song came to be sung with Yiddish lyrics in England is an interesting question. For those not familiar with “Whispering,” you can look it up on YouTube.

It occurred to me that since I often researched the Yiddish theater, it was time to perhaps look into the origins of the song, its genealogy, so to speak. One of the first things I did was ask a friend, Veronica Belling, who, at the time, was the Jewish Studies Librarian at the Kaplan Centre in Cape Town, South Africa, if she had heard of the song. She had written a book entitled Yiddish Theatre in South Africa and I thought she might have come across it in her research.

Very kindly, she took it upon herself to look it up and she started with the online worldcat.org which is the world’s largest library catalog. The capability to utilize the WorldCat is not only available in libraries, but also to individuals on the Internet.

THE GENEALOGY OF A SONGAnn Rabinowitz, JGSPBCI, JGSGM, JGSNY

The Wedding Dress (Der khupe kleyd) Poster, Lenox Theatre, 1922, Yiddish Theater Poster Collection; American Jewish Historical Society

JEWISH GENEALOGICAL SOCIETYOF PALM BEACH COUNTY, INC.P.O. BOX 7796DELRAY BEACH, FL 33482-7796FIRST CLASS

Volume 23, Number Three! 24