New York: Defining Sephardic identity, Jan. 14

A kick-off event exploring identity in New York's Sephardic communities will take place at the Next Generation Culture Café of the American Sephardi Foundation (ASF) in January.

"Defining Sephardic: A Roundtable Discussion on Sephardic Identity" begins at 6.30pm, Thursday, January 14.

Moderated by filmmaker and Be-chol Lashon's New York director Lacey Schwartz, the participants will be:

-- Zena Babayov: New York University master's (communications) student and active member of the Bukharan community in Forest Hills, Queens.

-- Mijal Bitton: Yeshiva University/Stern College junior from Argentina and an active member of the Sephardic Community of Great Neck, Long Island.

-- Sion Setton: Manhattan's Safra Synagogue director of youth programming, with Iraqi, Syrian and Egyptian heritage.

-- Matieu Furster: Software engineer with both Moroccan Sephardi and Russian Ashkenazi heritage.

Admission is free. Light refreshments served. Email reservations or call 212-294-8301 x8356.

This is the first event of a year-long program funded by the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. ASF also received assistance from the Consulate General of Spain in New York.

For more information, click on the ASF site and see future events.

World Jewish Studies: Latin American topics

The World Jewish Studies Conference, held in Israel during August, also covered Latin American Jewry.

Readers may ask the purpose of listing topics from a conference that has concluded. Tracing the Tribe believes that this list, and the others to follow in other posts, will inspire, educate and encourage readers to investigate topics of interest relevant to their own history or those in which they may have other interests.

These topics cover important volunteer participation in archival projects, organization of collections, and information on specific communities (Mexico, Morocco, Argentina, US, Israel) .

Here's that section of topics, which was sponsored at the conference by the Latin American Jewry Research Association (Sección del Judaísmo Latinoamericano AMILAT – Asociación de Investigación del Judaísmo Latinoamericano).

Here's some of what you missed (S=Spanish, E=English, H=Hebrew):

Special Panel on Archives with Collections on Latin American Jewry
Alicia Gojman de Backal (E) The Documentation Center of the Ashkenazi Community in Mexico City and its Recognition by UNESCO
Project of Registration of Documentation in Israeli Archives by members of the Israeli Association for Promotion of Jewish Latin American Studies
Hadasa Assulin (E) Latin American Volunteers and their Contribution to the Archive’s Work
Moshe Goler (H) Recruitment of Volunteers
Theodor Bar Shalom (H) Organization and Registration of Material from Latin America
Iosef Rozen (H) Organization and Registration of the Collection of the Jewish Colonization Association

American Jewish Communities of Syrian Origin
Margalit Bejarano (E) Between Law and Reality: Mixed Marriages and Conversions among Syrian Ladino Speakers and Moroccan Jews in Buenos Aires
Sarina Roffé (E) The Takanah Against Marriage to Converts of the Syrian and Near Eastern Communities of Brooklyn
Alicia Hamui Halabe (E) La “Retakanización” de la Comunidad Maguén David en México
Susana Brauner (S) Religión, etnicidad y política: los argentinos-judíos de origen sirio

Tracing the Tribe is investigating whether the transcripts will be posted for the sessions and will report back.

JewishGen: New ShtetLinks added

The following new pages have been added to JewishGen's ShtetLinks. These pages create memorials to those Jewish communities that once lived there and provide a valuable resource for future generations.

Some are new (N), some updated (U) and some newly adopted (A). Do check them out for valuable information.

ARGENTINA

Basavilbaso (Lucienville) (N)

HUNGARY

Hodmezovasarhely (N)

Tiszalok(N)

Ujfeherto (Ratzfert) (N)

SLOVAKIA

Michalovce (Nagymihaly) (N)

CZECH REPUBLIC

Mikulov (Nikolsburg) (A)

CHINA

Harbin (U)

For more information on either starting a page or adopting an orphan page, email ShtetLinks to reach JewishGen ShtetLinks vice president Susana Leistner Bloch or ShtetLinks technical coordinator Barbara Ellman.

Argentina: Basavilbaso community site

For 25 years, Yehuda Mathov (Monosson, Israel) has collected information on more than 6,000 residents of the town of Basavilbaso, Argentina, also known as Lucienville. It was established by Baron Maurice de Hirsch and the Jewish Colonization Association in the 1890s.

The photo above shows immigrants arriving at Buenos Aires port circa 1900.

Mathov has created a new JewishGen ShtetLinks website for the town; view it here.

Many settlers emigrated from Kherson and Bessarabia (southern Ukraine and Moldova). The first South American agricultural cooperative was established in this settlement.

To see names of immigrants in the smaller settlements of the area, click here. These smaller areas were Novabuco, Aquerman, Villa Mantero, Las 1300, Escrinia, Gilbert, Lucienville, Colonia San Juan, Linea and others. This link shows the size of the plot and plot numbers for each person/family.

Under Historical Records, find documents from many sources, including business records, occupations, farm records and censuses, town residents and addresses, abandoned farms. One interesting example lists the assets of a farm back in 1896 and compares it with the much more extensive assets in 1926.

Under Family Stories, find memoirs (PDF format) in English, but mostly in Spanish. The Photo Gallery shows images of people and documents. There is a list of useful links and a bibliography.

Readers with connections to the town are invited to contribute memories and material. Contact Mathov here.

Argentina: Tracing Jewish gauchos, podcast

"Shalom Argentina" traces the Jewish gauchos and agricultores incorporated mate (a South American drink) without leaving aside their own traditions.

This podcast, by Rita Saccal, focuses on life in the JCA Colonies in Argentina.

The 25-minute presentation includes a brief history of the Jewish people after leaving Czarist Russia and arriving in a free Argentina, a place that would be their homeland. Their life in the colonies, aspects of Jewish publishing in those settlements, the migration of future generations to Buenos Aires, and the “revival” of the colonies through tourist trips are all covered.

Saccal has worked at the Seminario Rabinico Latinoamericano “Marshall T. Meyer” in Buenos Aires since 1989 and has served as its head librarian since 1997.

The Association of Jewish Libraries (AJL) offers audio lectures, panel discussions, author talks and more.

AJL promotes Jewish literacy through enhancement of libraries and library resources and through leadership for the profession and practitioners of Judaica librarianship.

It fosters access to information, learning, teaching and research relating to Jews, Judaism, the Jewish experience and Israel. There is also an AJL blog, People of the Books. There is a list of Internet resources here, although no Jewish genealogy sources are listed.

See the complete podcast list here.

Argentina: Ashkenazi Jewish history

I didn't expect to find a story about Eastern European Jews in Argentina in the Financial Times.

However, it was a bit disconcerting that an article titled "Argentina's Jewish heritage," completely ignored the Sephardic community, only addressing Ashkenazi history..

The charms of Entre Ríos, a northeastern province of Argentina, are more modest than those of Patagonia’s snow-dusted peaks or the waterfalls at Iguazú. Its rural culture is founded on old-fashioned etiquette, stirring folk music and bountiful nature. It also has an important place in Jewish history, as it was once the home of thousands of east European Jews who escaped the pogroms and came to farm here in the 19th century. Close to Buenos Aires, it also makes a great short break from the Argentine capital.

Entre Ríos’s fortunes were transformed by 19th-century European immigrants. Millions of poor Europeans were lured by unlimited land and open immigration laws. The settlers – largely from central and eastern Europe – set up colonies perpetuating their individual traditions. Local radio stations broadcast in German, Polish and Russian.

From 1888, Jews escaping Russian pogroms headed for the New World in a mass emigration organized by Baron Maurice de Hirsch, who bought vast lands to organize Jewish farming colonies. there were 600,000 hectares in Argentina and 40,000 Jews settled more than 200 towns.

Russian Jews arrived to found farming colonies in Entre Ríos from 1895. The most successful had synagogues, Yiddish schools, public baths and cultural centres hosting European theatre groups. Basavilbaso - once a Russian Jewish town - has a statue of a menorah in the main square and three synagogues.

Read more, at the link above, about Basavilbaso, its cemeteries, where the children of the town live today, and the Novibuco cemetery.

France: GenAmi 46 journal articles

From Micheline Gutman in Paris comes news of the contents of the new issue of GenAmi's journal.

- The call for papers for GenAmi's one-day seminar on March 12, 2009. The event includes lunch and the organization's annual meeting.

- The Jews of Argentina by Paul Armony z'l of Buenos Aires. Cover art is the city's Caminito neighborhood.

- A list of students, who received prizes in 1940, of the Buenos Aires' French College.

- An article on writer Rene Goscinny (who grew up in Buenos Aires), creator of
Asterix, Lucky Luke, the Dalton, Petit Nicolas, illustrated with original photos and drawings. His ancestors and family are also detailed. Goscinny was born in France to a father from Warsaw and a Ukrainian mother (daughter of Abraham Beresniak who authored a 1941 Hebrew-Yiddish dictionary).

- A study of the Jews at Gray in Haute-Saone, an important 19th century river town. Several lists are included.

- The Lyons family from Alsace to San Francisco in 1853. Born in Dijon, Hugues Joseph David went to California with his second wife and children. He was a Paris jeweller but in Sonora, he became a wine and alchohol dealer. A branch returned to France, others stayed in California, a daughter married into the Joseph family (Montreal).

- An article speaks of children and both new and old problems. It addresses the situation of those who do not know one or both of their parents for various reasons: the Shoah, adoption, new fertility methods.

- Other items address the wife of London's Moses Oppenheim and research about the van Oven family.

- The Jewish cemetery of Koenighoffen, Strasbourg: an article (with photos) discusses three registers. One is computerized (free online access to GenAmi members), as well as various documents, civil records, cemetery records, etc.

For more information, click on the GenAmi website.

Argentina: Paul Armony z'l

Jewish genealogy has lost a great friend, passionate colleague and dedicated researcher. I was deeply saddened to learn of the death of Paul Armony of Argentina, who died October 24, 2008 (25 Tishri 5769).

The founding President of the Sociedad Argentina de Genealogía Judia - today the Asociacion de Genealogia Judia de Argentina - Paul was truly the force behind that society and its many achievements. As editor of the society's journal, Toldot, he was honored by the IAJGS.

Paul is survived by his wife Eva; sons Ariel, Victor and Jorge; brother Alberto and family, two daughters-in-law and five grandchildren.

Burial will be this morning (Sunday, October 26) in the La Tablada cemetery according to Jewish tradition.

For more information and to read messages of condolence, view the AGJA site. Messages may be sent to info@agja.org.ar

.............................

I knew Paul for many years, and had known of him for several years before we finally met in person. We communicated occasionally through the years. He was always most generous with his time and assistance to colleagues around the world attempting to research Argentinean family branches.

Although living in Argentina, he spent time in Montreal - two sons are university professors - and returned to Argentina.

Stan Diamond of the Montreal JGS wrote that he experienced "first hand the depth of his [Paul's] interests, the breadth of his knowledge, the intensity of his spirit and the inner drive that has made the Asociacion de Genealogia Judia de Argentina a leader in making important Jewish genealogical resources available to researchers around the world. We are all diminished by the loss of this most generous colleague and friend."

Carlos Glikson of Argentina wrote that "Paul was an example of knowledge, generosity and strength, and - as a tireless, perseverant and devoted leader - resolutely impulsed and organized the advance of Jewish genealogy in Argentina."

He will be missed by everyone who knew him, who was inspired by him and who received his generous help. May his family be comforted.

Beijing: Olympic Jewish athletes

Thank you to readers who have added more names (please see comments below).

This August 6 list (JTA) of Jewish athletes at the 2008 Summer Olympics includes participants from Israel, the US Australia, Argentina, Britain and Canada:

Argentina
Hockey: Gisele Kanevsky;
Judo: Daniela Krakower;
Swimming: Damian Blaum;
Table Tennis; Pablo Tabachnik;
Weightlifting: Nora Koppel;
AustraliaTable Tennis: David Zalcberg;

Austria
Swimming: Maxim Podoprigora;

Canada
Baseball: Adam Stern;
Wrestling: David Zilberman, 96 kg; Ari Taub, 120 kg plus;

Chile
Tennis: Nicolas Massu;

Great Britain
Rowing: Josh West;

Israel
Artistic Gymnastics: Alex Shatilov, all-around;
Canoeing: Michael Koganov, K-1 500 and 1000 meters;
Fencing: Tomer Or, foil; Dalilah Hatuel, foil; Noam Mills, epee;
Judo: Ariel Ze'evi, 100 kg; Gal Yekutiel, 60 kg; Alice Schlezinger, 63 kg;
Rhythmic Gymnastics, Individual: Ira Risenzon, Neta Rivkin;
Rhythmic Gymnastics, Team: Kayta Pizatzki, Racheli Vidgorcheck,Maria Savnakov,Alona Dvorinchenko,Veronica Witberg;
Sailing: Gidi Klinger and Udi Gal, 470; Shahar Tzuberi, windsurfing; Vered Buskila and Nika Kornitzky, 470; Nufar Eledman, laser radial; Ma’ayan Davidovich, windsurfing;
Shooting: Doron Egozi, 50-meter rifle 3, 10-meter air rifle; Gil Simkovich, 50-meter rifle 3, 50-meter rifle prone; Guy Starik, 50-meter rifle prone;
Swimming: Itay Chama, 200-meter breaststroke; Gal Nevo, 200 and 400 individual medley; Guy Barnea, 100 breaststroke; Tom Be'eri, 100 and 200 breaststroke; Allon Mandel, 100 and 200 butterfly; Nimrod Shapira Bar-Or, 200 freestyle; Anya Gostamelsky, 50 and 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 100 butterfly; Synchronized Swimming: Anastasia Gloushkov and Ina Yoffe, duet;
Taekwondo: Bat-El Getterer, 57 kg;
Tennis: Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich, doubles; Shahar Peer, singles; Tzipora Obziler, doubles with Peer;
Track and Field: Alex Averbukh, pole vault; Niki Palli, long jump; Haile Satayin, marathon; Itai Magidi, 3000-meter steeplechase;

United States
Fencing: Sara Jacobson, sabre;
Kayaking: Rami Zur, 500-meter individual
Swimming: Jason Lezak, 100-meter freestyle, relays; Garrett Weber-Gale, 100 freestyle, relays; Ben Wildman-Tobriner, 50 freestyle, relays; Dara Torres, 50-meter freestyle, relays;
Track and Field: Deena Kastor, marathon.

Thanks to Jan Meisels Allen for her pointer to the Jewish Journal's special page, as reported by editor Rob Eshman in his editorial:

...I suggest you check out the special web page we've created that tracks Jewish and Israeli Olympic stories. Because remember the First Rule of Jewish Journalism: If it didn't happen to a Jew, it's not news.

And read a reader's comment below indicating that there's another name to add: Adam Duvendeck who cycles for the United States.

New books with a Jewish genealogy twist

All holidays are family history times, as generations gather from near and far.

Passover is nearly here so we'll have extra time to catch up with our reading during the holiday. Not. That was a joke of sorts. Who has any time to do anything until after the holiday is over? I don't. But put these two books on your list for AP, as we call it, After Pesach.

There's a story here on a Brooklyn bookshop - BookCourt - owned by Henry Zook and Mary Gannett who started the shop in 1981. Today, they run it with their son, Zack Zook, 23.

I'm very curious about the Zook name and just wrote to them. I'll let you know what I find out. In any case, they have a nice website and also send out "These just in" alerts.

The latest list included two new paperback editions that should interest Tracing the Tribe readers because of the characters, backgrounds and historical periods. The books are "Landsman: A Novel," by Peter Charles Melman and "The Ministry of Special Cases," by Nathan Englander.

"Landsman: A Novel," by Peter Charles Melman

... a boisterous, sometimes brutal, and full-hearted tale of a Jewish hoodlum turned Confederate soldier in the Civil War. Elias Abrams is the son of an indentured servant in New Orleans who escapes a robbery gone awry–and the wrath of his old underworld gang, the Cypress Stump Boys–by enlisting in the Third Louisiana Regiment ...

Here's a snippet of an interview with the author:

Melman: ...And yet, there I am a couple years ago, working at a small bookstore in Brooklyn, when I come across a line in Tony Horwitz's Confederates in the Attic claiming that several thousand Jews fought for the South during the Civil War. I was absolutely thunderstruck; the idea of a Jewish Confederacy had simply never occurred to me. As a Jew born in New York but raised in Louisiana, with an undergraduate degree in history and doctorate in English-Creative Writing,...

Learn more about Melman's research at the book's website for resources on the Jews of that time and place, an interactive map and more. Definitely worth checking out if you are interested in New Orleans, have ancestors from there (Ashkenazi or Sephardi) or want to know more about the Civil War.

A Brooklyn resident, Melman has an interesting background: "Born along Long Island’s north shore in 1971, Peter Charles Melman moved with his family to Louisiana at the age of twelve, where he learned to hunt woodcock, skin catfish, dip tobacco, and in so doing, thoroughly offend the more nebbish-y tendencies of his cousins back up in New York." He also used to work at the BookCourt, so this is kind of full-circle for him.

"The Ministry of Special Cases," by Nathan Englander

From its unforgettable opening scene in the darkness of a forgotten cemetery in Buenos Aires, Nathan Englander’s debut novel "The Ministry of Special Cases" casts a powerful spell. In the heart of Argentina’s Dirty War, Kaddish Poznan struggles with a son who won’t accept him; strives for a wife who forever saves him; and spends his nights protecting the good name of a community that denies his existence. When the nightmare of the disappeared children brings the Poznan family to its knees, they are thrust into the unyielding corridors of the Ministry of Special Cases, a terrifying, byzantine refuge of last resort...

There's more on the book at the National Yiddish Book Center, and a bit from the LA Times review:

How to honor the dead, if there's no way to prove they are in fact dead? The question drives Kaddish to distraction and "The Ministry of Special Cases" to its macabre end. As suggested by the current wave of trials in Argentina, this impossible question lingers for thousands of Argentine fathers and mothers and grandparents, most famously the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who have gathered in protest every Thursday in Buenos Aires for decades.

Enjoy!

Chicago 2008: Latin America, Chicago Jewish Archives

Two new items - a Latin America expert lunch and extended hours for the Chicago Jewish Archives - have been added to the 28th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy website. The final program should be posted in a few weeks and the conference discussion group is already active (see link on the website).

Latin America Jewish Resources Q&A

In addition to already scheduled Breakfasts with the Experts, previously posted here, an expert luncheon - "Jewish Resources: Argentina & Venezuela Q&A" - will feature Rabbi Victor A. Mirelman, originally from Argentina, and Daniel Horowitz, formerly of Venezuela and now Israel. Attendees can sign up at the Registration page at the conference site.

Dr. Mirelman, born in Argentina, is an authority on Latin American Jewry, and has personal and academic interests in Sephardic Jewry. His most recent book is Jewish Buenos Aires, 1890-1930 (Wayne State University Press). In 1991, he was appointed Professor of Jewish History at Spertus College (Chicago) and, in 2005, was elected president of the Chicago Board of Rabbis.

Since 1990, he has been rabbi of West Surburban Temple Har Zion (River Forest, Illinois), previously served Congregation B'nai Israel (Milburn, NJ), was visiting professor of history at the Jewish Theological Seminary, and lectured on contemporary Jewish history (1970-74) at Hebrew University (Jerusalem).

He was ordained a rabbi at JTS and received a doctorate from Columbia University and also holds an MS in mathematics from the University of Buenos Aires.

Horowitz often speaks on Jews in Latin America - he will also be presenting two technology workshops at the conference - and taught family history research to students and parents at the Bialik school in Caracas.

As a personal note, among my prized possessions are the two first-edition leather-bound volumes of the Spanish translation, adaption and notes by Marcos Edery - supervised by Rabbi Marshall T. Meyer - of the Conservative movement's English-language siddur (daily prayerbook) and machsor (High Holyday prayerbook). Published in 1965 by the Consejo Mundial de Sinagogas in Buenos Aires, the two volumes - one blue, one green - were sent to me that year by Rabbi Meyer. My set is well traveled, having "lived" in Iran, Florida, California, Nevada and now in Israel.

Rabbi Meyer's papers are archived at Duke University, and this article discusses his remarkable life and achievements in Argentina from 1959 and following his return to the US in 1984. Readers interested in Sephardim of Latin America, may enjoy this interesting article by Margaret Bejarano. For an analysis by Yaacov Rubel of marriage and intermarriage in the Argentine community, click here.

CHICAGO JEWISH ARCHIVES

A fascinating resource for Chicago Jewish research is the Chicago Jewish Archives (part of the Asher Library at the Spertus Institute of Jewish Study). Extended hours will be provided during the conference - appointments are required.

What can you find at the Archives, which holds the memories of Jewish Chicago?

It collects historical material in all formats, including letters, diaries, photographs, memorabilia, audio and video tapes and has some 2,500 linear feet of material, while continuing to acquire relevant material.

Jewish organization records:
American Jewish Congress (Chicago Office); Anti-Defamation League (Midwest Office); Covenant Club of Illinois, 1917-1985; Jewsh Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, 1865-[ongoing]; Johanna Lodge (United Order of True Sisters); Zionist Organization of Chicago.

Synagogue records:
Cong. B’nai Emunah; Cong. B’nai Jacob; B’nai Yehuda Beth Sholom (Homewood); Cong. B’nai Zion; Jewish Reconstructionist Congregation; KAM Isaiah Israel; Kehilath Jeshurun; Lawn Manor Beth Jacob; Mikdosh El Hagro Hebrew Center; Cong. Rodfei Zedek; South Shore Temple.

Family papers:
Robert S. Adler Family Papers; Alfred Alschuler Papers (architect), Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Collection; Gov. Samuel Shapiro Collection, Jerzy Kosinski Papers (author), and others.

Oral history:
Chicago Jewish Historical Society’s Oral History Project (more than 200 interviews); Stanley Rosen’s Chicago Radical Jewish Elders Video History Project (100 interviews); American Jewish Committee oral history project, and others.

Photographs:
The Sentinel Photo Archive, the Weinstein Photo Archive, and the General Photograph Collection. In addition, many collections include photographs as well as documents.

If your family has roots in the Chicago area and you hold records, remember that the archives also seeks to obtain unpublished records such as documents (correspondence, minutes, reports, diaries, family histories, etc.), photographs, audiotapes, videotapes, film, scrapbooks and other selected artifacts as space permits, as well as printed ephemera such as bulletins, pamphlets and internal publications.

UK: Jewish life, dance in Argentina

"Jewish Life in Argentina" is a four-day event at several London venues and opens at 5pm, Monday, November 12, at University College London.

Highlights:

7.30pm, Monday, November 12, Gustav Tuck Theatre, UCL
Lecture, "Jews in Argentina, Past and Present"
Ana Weinstein of AMIA, following the opening reception.
Organizers: Argentine Embassy, Jewish Community of Argentina (AMIA), UCL. Contact/rsvp: events@argentinee-embassy-uk.org

Tuesday, November 13, Bevis Marks Synagogue
6pm, talk by Rabbi Abraham Levy
7pm, reception, photo exhibit "Jewish Gauchos in the Argentine Countryside," Sephardic music and Yiddish tango music by Ladino group Kerensya.
Organizers: Argentine Embassy, AMIA, Bevis Marks.
Contact/rsvp: events@argentinee-embassy-uk.org

Two related events:

7pm, Sunday November 25
"Tangele," Lloica Czackis in concert: A selection of tango in Yiddish with special guests. Contact/rsvp: ltc@londontangoclub.com

7.30pm, Monday, November 26
"History of Yiddish Tango," by Lloica Czackis, in collaboration with the Spiro Ark Centre. Contact/rsvp: education@spiroark.com

Argentina: the history of Jewish gauchos

Learn about the Jewish gauchos (cowboys) of Argentina in this BBC Photo Journal.

This feature focuses on Arminio Seiferheld of Moisesville. His father escaped Nazi Germany, moved to Argentina, traded three bicycles for three cows and began his new life. The town was founded in 1890 as one of the Baron Hirsch colonies.