New York: Balkan Jewish life exhibit, March 31

"Images of a Lost World: Pictures & Stories of Balkan Sephardic Life" will open at 6.30pm Thursday, March 31, at the Center for Jewish History, New York City.

Originally commissioned by the Foreign Ministry of Spain, it is funded by the Spanish Embassy (Washington, DC) and Casa Sefarad/Israel (Madrid), with the generous support of the Consulate General of Spain in New York. It is co-presented with YIVO Institute for Jewish Research

It is based on family stories and pictures pulled from Centropa's archive of more than 200 interviews conducted in Turkey, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia, Bulgaria and Croatia. The pictures and stories take us back into the world of Balkan Sephardic Jewry in its last decades, and through these personal stories of going to school, falling in love and recalling family holidays, Jewish history comes to life.

A program follows, moderated by Edward Serotta, Director of Centropa.

Tickets: $12 General Admission/$8 ASF/YIVO members. Advance registration requested.

Seattle: Sephardic synagogue celebrates 100 years

When Tracing the Tribe was in Seattle for the Association of Jewish Libraries conference in July, we toured landmarks of the Jewish community. Among them was the Sephardic Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, now celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The group received a personal welcome and tour from former Hazzan Isaac Azose (a close friend of our Seattle family), who had been the congregation's hazzan for some 34 years. He also presented a Seattle Jewish history session at the AJL event and presented a rousing Ladino version of the birkat hamazon at a conference luncheon.

The congregation will celebrate its first-century mark today, as noted in the JT News, which carried the story of the celebration.

The anniversary of Ezzie Bezzie - as it is known to insiders - will be celebrated August 22 at a gala dinner. The event also included two major speakers: Dr. Aron Rodrigue of Stanford University spoke about life in Rhodes on August 12, while Seattle native Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel (rabbi emeritus of New York's Shearith Israel, and founder/director, lnstitute of Jewish ldeas and ldeals) spoke on August 19.

A new courtyard will be dedicated with a memorial inscribed in six languages honoring the congregation's founders on the Greek island of Rhodes. It is a replica of the black granite memorial in Rhodes, dedicated to that vibrant Sephardic Jewish community before they were transported to their deaths in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In July 1944, the Germans moved with relentless precision into Rhodes and nearby Kos, and deported all but 50 of the 2,000 Jews who lived there, a mere three months before they were defeated. Those 50 Jews that held Turkish citizenship were protected by the Turkish consulate. Only 151 Rhodesli Jews survived the Holocaust. Thirty-five Jews live in Rhodes today.

The story stressed that although Ezra Bessaroth is an Orthodox synagogue, most members are not, and it is a diverse community repersenting all levels of observance. However, the congregation continues its responsibility to continue the traditions of the founders, who came from Rhodes.

When the first Jewish immigrants from Rhodes began their new lives in Seattle in 1904, others soon followed. Soon, they would need a “kehilla,” the Sephardic word used for a synagogue. More like a Jewish brotherhood in its first incarnation in 1909, the Koupa Ozer Dalim Anshe Rhodes, the Fund for the Aid of the Poor People of Rhodes, was organized. Its first building was located at 9th and Yesler in Seattle and the monthly membership dues were 25 cents.

Today, a congregation that decades ago held daily services in the Spanish-Hebrew hybrid language of Ladino, now uses nearly all Hebrew and English, with only a few prayers in Ladino.

According to a former board member Joel Benoliel, “Here we are, a hundred years later, with the prayer and the ‘minchag,’ or customs that are exactly the same customs as it was 100 years ago on Rhodes.” He serves on the program committee for the celebration and is master of ceremonies at the events related to the centennial and gala. “We think it’s one of the few synagogues in the world that is faithful to the customs of the Isle of Rhodes,” he added.

The challenge for the future is to grow, and it is bringing in a new rabbi - Rabbi Daniel Hadar - with a strong background in outreach and growth. The congregation is looking for him to help with outreach and strengthen their Sephardic heritage while maintaining ties with non-Sephardic members.

For more about the congregation, click here, and read the complete article at the link above.

New York: First Sephardic Jewish Book Fair, July 25

The first annual New York Sephardic Jewish Book Fair will include book readings, author signings, sales and tours at the Center for Jewish History, on Sunday July 25.

From noon-5.30pm - hosted by the American Sephardi Federation (ASF) - the event brings together authors and book lovers, those who write about and enjoy books relating to the culture, history, philosophy, religion, languages and experiences of Sephardic Jews, past and present.

Hundreds of Sephardic-oriented books - new, hard-to-find or rare - will be available.

Visiting authors will discuss diverse topics and personal histories, Sephardic history, philosophy, culture and religion:

12pm: Jean Naggar will read from her Egyptian memoir, "Sipping From the Nile."
12.30pm: Marc Kligman, Professor of Jewish Musicology (Hebrew Union College) will read from his award-winning book, "Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music, and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn."
1pm: Andrée Aelion Brooks will read from and discuss the life of the Sephardic banker and heroine, "The Woman who Defied Kings: The Life and Times of Doña Gracia Nasi."
Children's hour, 2-3pm:
1.30pm: Peninnah Schram, Professor of Speech and Drama, Stern College for Women (Yeshiva University), shares a Sephardic tale for youth, "The Hungry Clothes - And other Jewish Folktales."
2pm: Mara Cohen Ioannides, Professor of English (Missouri State University), reads a story about Sephardic and Romanoite Jews from her award-winning children's book, "A Shout in the Sunshine."
2:30pm: Jessica Jiji reads from her novel, "Sweet Dates in Basra."
3pm: Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Ph.D., founder of The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, North America's oldest Jewish congregation. He speaks on his books, "Foundations of Sephardic Spirituality" and "Maimonides, Spinoza and Us."
4pm: Abraham Sutton reads from "The Aristocrat," a book about his father, Rabbi Hillel Menashe Sutton, a leading member of the Aleppo (Syria) and Jerusalem Sephardic communities.
4.30pm, J. Daniel Khazzoom, Professor emeritus, reads from his book, "No Way Back: The Journey of a Jew from Baghdad."
5pm: Mitchell James Kaplan reads from his book about ordinary people swept up in the Inquisition's chaos and upheaval and the Expulsion, "By Fire, By Water."

Vendors will bring out-of-print Jewish books, as well as modern and rare titles, some from the 18th-20th centuries, including antique Ladino and Hebrew volumes from Salonika, Livorno, Tunis, Venice and Jerusalem.

Rare Sephardic books from the ASF Library and Archives will be displayed and Yeshiva University Museum will offer tours of its current exhibits, including "A Journey Through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books.' This collection includes handwritten manuscripts and printed books from Holland, Italy, Spain, Greece and India.

The free event is set for the Steinberg Great Hall at the CJH, 15 W. 16th Street.

New York: Sephardic Book Fair, July 25

The first New York Sephardic Jewish Book Fair - with book readings, author signings, book sales and tours - is set for Sunday, July 25.

Hosted by the American Sephardi Federation (ASF), will be held from noon-5pm, at the Steinberg Great Hall at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th Street.

The free event, open to the public, will include authors and book lovers, those who write about and read about the culture, history, philosophy, religion, languages and experiences of the Sephardic Jews, past and present.

Hundreds of titles of Sephardic-oriented books, including many rare titles, will be available for sale by the Sephardic House bookstore, as well as by unique vendors that specialize in Sephardic Judaica.

Several visiting authors will discuss a wide range of topics including personal histories, Sephardic history, philosophy, culture and religion. The day's key author and speaker will be Dr. Marc D. Angel, founder of The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, North America's oldest Jewish congregation.

The fair will also feature a display of rare Sephardic books from the ASF Library and Archives, while Yeshiva University Museum will hold tours of their current exhibit: "A Journey Through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books."

The Braginsky Collection includes handwritten manuscripts and printed books from Holland, Italy, Spain, Greece and India.

There will also be hourly free door prizes for attendees.

The ASF promotes and preserves the spiritual, historical, cultural and social traditions of all Sephardic communities as an integral part of Jewish heritage.

Boston: Daniel Laby's Sephardic roots, April 25

Dr. Daniel Laby will share his family's Sephardic journey from 13th-century Zaragoza, Spain to the New World with members of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, on Sunday, April 25.

Read Tracing the Tribe's post about the meeting, which also features Brandeis Professor Jonathan Decter, here.

The Canton Citizen's story about Laby and his family is here.

The pediatric opthamalogist, also a professor at Harvard Medical School, also has family connections to Lerida, where Tracing the Tribe found the first document for our family.

His family's journey has covered Spain, Hebron, Salonika, North Africa, Eastern Europe and elsewhere.

Dan began researching his family in high school when the earliest date he knew was his paternal grandfather's 1904 arrival in the US.

Since then, he's reached back into the 13th century. Family members worked as financiers, diplomats and doctors for the Kings of Aragon.

A few years ago, three generations of his family visited their ancestral family home in Zaragoza and other cities in Spain. He put together an excellent multimedia presentation on the family trip which he shared with JFRA Israel members.

Research on his grandfather's family, from Hebron, was furthered by a book on the history of that community. It included detailed land deeds which helped him trace back several hundred years.

“I think to really understand what your future is going to be … you have to understand where you came from and what your past history is,” Laby said.


“I think anyone could do it,” Laby said of tracing ancestry. “You just have to have curiosity and patience and determination.”

It was interesting to see Dan's quote, that he was “fortunate to have an obscure name.” This is in line with my own views. Dan says if he was looking for Cohen or Levy, it would be more difficult to find the documents for his ancestors.

Tracing the Tribe feels much the same; hunting for Talalay and Dardashti makes it much easier!

While we can trace with probability our kosher winemaker ancestor in Lerida mentioned in a document dated 1358, Dan has gone back to 1202 for his prominent family, which helped arrange the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as funding for Columbus's trip to the Americas.

Dan and I have joked that our ancestor made the wine his ancestors drank way back when.

Using ancient property ownership maps in Zaragoza, he was able to visit the site of the ancestor's home during his trip to Spain.

His family, along with other Spanish Jews, was expelled in 1492. Family members went to North Africa, Italy, Greece and Israel. Through his research, he's met relatives and, in Israel, met the Alazar descendants, whom their ancestors had known in Spain.

“When you do this kind of family history you learn those small details, which makes it real and makes it personal, which is what is fun about it,” he said.

His documents include arrival records, passenger logs, land deeds, maps, and a 1435 ketubah (a Jewish marriage contract).

The Internet has helped, of course, and he aso worked through reams of microfilm at the National Archives, Washington DC. He also uses DNA to help,

How far back does he want to go? "To Abraham," he jokes.

Ladino Music: Romansas, folksongs CD

"Ladino Reflections" is a double CD set of Ladino romansas and folksongs, released by Hazzan Isaac Azose of Seattle.

Tracing the Tribe met Hazzan Ike in Seattle when visiting our Jassen family. He is a beloved friend of our family and of the Sephardic community.

For some 40 years, he has dedicated himself to the preservation of Mediterranean Sephardic traditions. Although he retired as the hazzan of the Sephardic Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, he wrote me that he's busier than ever with many projects on his desk. Think of the energizer bunny!

"Ladino Reflections" has been 20 years in dreaming and six months in production.

Hear the samples and find ordering information here. If you enjoy authentic Ladino music, this CD will make you happy.

Songs on the first CD:

Pasharo Dʼermozura, A La Una Yo Nasi, Alta Alta Es La Luna, Arvolikos Dʼalmendra, Durme Durme, Una Matika de Ruda, La Roza Enflorese, Yo Me Akodro Dʼakeya, Noche, Avre Este Abajour Bijou, Yo Tʼadmiro, Kuatro Anyos Dʼamor, La Serena, Sos Muy Ermoza, Los Kaminos de Sirkedji, Puncha Puncha, Eskalerika de Oro, Noches Noches

On the second CD:

Avre Tu Puerta Serrada, Adio Kerida, Ijika Dile a Tu Mama, Esta Montanya Dʼenfrente, Arvoles, Yorran Por Luvyas, La Vida Do Por El Raki, Misirlu, Morenika, El Dyo Alto, Mama Yo No Tengo Visto, Povereta Muchachika, Tres Ermanikas, Eran Siempre Te Ami, Avrij Mi Galanika, Por La Tu Puerta Yo Pasi, Porke Yorraj, Blanka Ninya, Kuando El Rey Nimrod

For ordering information ($28, includes $3 s&h/US orders only), click here.

Readers interested in Sephardic liturgy as sung at Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, should click here, listen to the samples and order this double CD ($23, includes $3 s&h/US orders only).

For international orders for the new CD or the liturgy CD, click here to contact Hazzan Azose.

Look at the calendar - Pesach isn't that far off. Want to learn the Sephardic melody and the Four Questions in Ladino? Click here.

Crete: 4 arrested in arson attacks

The historic 600-year-old Etz Hayyim synagogue in Hania, Greece, on the island of Crete, has suffered two arson attacks.

For updates, see the synagogue site, and read its blog (click on OUR WEBLOG in the menu, upper left corner of the homepage). Information is given on how to help the reconstruction.

Read the account of the second arson here, by director Dr. Nicholas Stavroulakis. His blog posts and homepage right sidebar provide links to many stories about the attacks.

According to various news stories:

On January 5, a staircase was burned and there was major smoke damage, but the second attack on January 16 caused extensive interior damage and destroyed the roof, along with the library with 2,500 rare books, the archive and equipment.

Four men - two British, an American and a Greek - were recently arrested by the Greek police. Their names have not been released. A fifth man, also American, is sought and believed to have left the country.

The Greek was arrested, confessed and provided the other names. They said they committed the crime because they did not like Jews.

The Guardian (UK) newspaper reported that one of the British men apparently was the ring leader.

The Athens News website reported:

One of the two US citizens who were wanted in the recent arson attacks against the Jewish Synagogue in Hania, Crete, was arrested on Monday [January 25].

The 24-year-old US citizen, who has been residing the last months in Chania and was making a living by doing odd jobs, was sent before a local prosecutor on Monday together with two British nationals aged 33 and 23 years old and another local 24-year-old who had been arrested last Thursday.

The two British nationals and the Greek man will testify on Tuesday, while the US citizen was given a 48-hour extension to prepare his testimony.

According to the the case file, the four suspects, together with another US citizen who is wanted and is claimed to have fled the country, are accused, in addition to the arson, with a felony charge of setting up a criminal gang.

An announcement by the Police General Directorate of Crete said that, according to Greek suspect's testimony, all five suspects participated in the Synagogue's first arson attack on January 5, while only two of the Britons and the Greek took part in the arson attack on January 16, which resulted in the most serious damage. The 33-year-old Briton is believed to be the mastermind of the gang.

To contribute to Etz Hayyim's reconstruction, read all the details at the synagogue's site.

Greece: Public outrage at cemetery desecration

Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos is the museum director of New York City's Kehila Kedosha Janina (Ioannina), a congregation formed by early immigrants from this ancient Jewish Romaniote community.

Recently, she passed on good news concerning Christian citizens demonstrating publicly in support of the Jewish cemetery in Ioannina.

Marcia writes:

Normally I would wait for our monthly e-newsletter to pass on recent news from Greece, but some news deserves to be passed on immediately, especially when it is such good news. Too often, negativity makes the front page.

In recent years, anti-Semitism is all too prevalent.

What then can be more emotionally rewarding than to pass on the news of a recent mass demonstration against anti-Semitism?
Where did this demonstration take place? In Ioannina! It was organized by the Christian citizens of the city and was heralded as a “a human chain against racism.”

The cemetery was surrounded by the citizens of Ioannina to show their support for the Jewish community of the city and to publically show their outrage at recent desecrations of Jewish tombstones. In addition, a public exhibition was held, highlighting the ancient Jewish presence in the city and the importance of the Jewish cemetery as a monument to the long Jewish presence in Ioannina.

The committee that organized the public display of support made the following statement: “The Jewish cemetery is not only the religious space of the Jewish Community but, also, a cultural monument of our city, the protection of which, like other historical monuments of our city, is the duty of every citizen.”

Let us all applaud the good citizens of Ioannina who organized and took part in this historic event.

Marcia Haddad Ikonomopoulos
Museum Director
Kehila Kedosha Janina
280 Broome Street
NYC, NY 10002

Visit the congregation's website for more information. Click "Other Links" (on the left menu of that homepage) for many additional resources for Greek and Sephardic research. Read the online accessible newsletters and view other pages.

Greece: Crete synagogue attack

The only synagogue on the island of Crete was vandalized on the night of January 5, according to an email from Dr. Nicholas Hannan-Stavroulakis, director of the Etz Hayyim Synagogue.

Individuals accessed the synagogue's south garden, opened a cushion from the mikveh and stuffed the filling into a container of flammable liquid. The flaming container was set under the stairs leading to the women's section. The director's office, library and reading room are also on that level.

The library contains valuable books in various languages on Ottoman, Byzantine and Jewish art and architecture, resource books on European, Near Eastern and Cretan history. Also in the office were a computer, CD player and more than 150 CDs of Sephardic liturgical ands secular music.

The vandals left quickly, but smoke from the fire filled the synagogue and poured out onto the street.

Albanian immigrant Yannis Pietra, who lives near the synagogue, saw the smoke and called the police and the fire department. He went to find the director, who arrived with the synagogue's handyman. A young Moroccan, Nasr Alassoud, also traced the smoke and was helpful to the director.

By 1.45am, the fire was out and the police investigation had begun. Synagogue librarian Anja Zuckmantel-Papadakis and her husband arrived soon after the fire was extinguished.

The damage became apparent the next day.

According to the director, what was unusual was the lack of local residents despite the din of the synagogue alarm and the fire engine sirens.

More disturbing, writes Stavroulakis, was the lack of the local residents' sensitivity to the fact that had the synagogue burned out of control, half of Hania's old city would also have burned. Fire trucks could not have accessed the narrow streets.

By 7am, the director had talked to the police and damage was assessed. Synagogue leadership - Paola Nikotera, Konstantine Fischer, Sam Cohen and David Webber - examined the damage to books and the structure.

A bar of soap was thrown against the outer wall. (A common anti-semitic quip in Greek runs...'I'll make you into a bar of soap!').

Early investigations indicated it would take up to a week to have water reconnected. Electric was easier and with the help of engineer Giorgos Archontakis and photographer Angeliki Psaraki, it was working by 5pm.

While the Sefer Torahs were protected, the interior sanctuary walls and stone were stained and streaked by sooty water. By early evening, cleaning plans had been made and, by late evening, carpenter Manthos Kakavelakis had measured for a new staircase to replace the burned one.

All the carpets - some 30 mostly antique Turkish pieces - were packed for cleaning.

On January 6, the group gathered for morning prayers and discussed the incident and their anger, how it should be directed, and ignorance that spurs racism and discrimination.

Etz Hayyim has tried to be a spotlight surrounded by almost aggressive ignorance, in the words of Stavroulakis. The synagogue's doors are open from early in the morning to late at night - a place of prayer, recollection and reconciliation.

In many ways, writes Stavroulakis, "we have been successful through this quiet presence – perhaps our ‘silent presence’ wears not too well on some and is even a source of annoyance to others."

Etz Hayim demonstrates little sign of overt protective security. Bags are not checked, neither are IDs and passports and visitors are not required to sign in. Writes Stavroulakis, the synagogue's character must not change, its doors must remain open – or the congregation will have given in to the ignorance that fostered the destruction.

According to the director, "We will have a heavy burden of funding the necessary renovations and we hope that you as either old friends or new ones will assist us. Any donations will be deeply appreciated and, of course, welcome."

For more information, go to Etz Hayyim Synagogue and learn more. A special account has been set up for donations and contributions:

ALPHA BANK (Hania, Crete)
Account name: Friends of Etz Hayyim
Account # 776-002101-087154
IBAN: GR74 0140 6600 7760 0210 1087 154

To donate in the US, tax-deductible charitable contributions will also be received by the International Survey of Jewish Monuments (ISJM).

Mail checks to:

ISJM
P.O. Box 210
118 Julian Place
Syracuse, NY 13210

Write "Hania" on the memo line - 100% of all funds will be transferred for use by Etz Hayyim.

New Books: Lost tribes and cuisines

Tablet Magazine usually has at least one article that Tracing the Tribe really likes and recommends.

The most recent "On the Bookshelf" feature by Josh Lambert offers several new books that readers may find interesting.

Now on my wish list are these three:

Far From Zion: In Search of a Global Jewish Community (William Morrow, October)

The Ten Lost Tribes: A World History (Oxford, September)

Entree to Judaism: A Culinary Exploration of the Jewish Diaspora (URJ, October)

Zion, by journalist Charles London, covers the "wide, wide world of Jews," and London visited Myanmar, Cuba, Bosnia and Iran, writing a "paean to Diaspora and the furthest-flung Jews." $25.99, 320pp.

Lost Tribes, by Zvi Ben-Dor Benite, recounts the myths and theories about where all these Jews went after their exile in 800 BCE. Benite previously wrote about the history of Islam in China. $29.95, 320pp.

Entree - by Dallas food writer Tina Wasserman - covers the range of world Jewish food, likely carried around the world by Jewish merchants and spice traders, as she shares histories and recipes of the great Diaspora communities. 274 recipes and many photographs. $39.95.

Others on Lambert's list will be of interest to researchers of specific localities:

- The Agony of Greek Jews, 1940–1945 (Stanford, October), by Steven B. Bowman - Greece

- Gratitude (St. Martin’s, October), by Joseph Kertes - Hungary

- The Jewish Husband (Europa Editions, September), by Lia Levi - Italy

- The Jade Cat (Overlook, September), by Suzanne Brøgger - Denmark

Read the complete article at Tablet at the link above. Books are great gifts for all sorts of occasions and remember that Chanukah arives early this year!

New York: Salonika experiences at YIVO, July 12

The YIVO Institute will sponsor, with the American Sephardi Federation, a seminar on Jewish experiences in Salonika through the YIVO Archives, on Sunday, July 12.

Meet the faculty at 3pm; the seminar begins at 3.30pm, at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th Street, New York City.

The Ruth Gay Seminar in Jewish Studies is titled "Uncommon voices, Everyday Lives: Jewish experiences in Salonika through the YIVO Archives."

Pre-registration is required; via email or call 212-294-6143.

Presenter Devin Naar is historian of the YIVO Salonika Project. He is a Stanford University doctoral candidate and writing his dissertation on the Jewish community of Salonika during the 19th-20th centuries.

The Archive of the Jewish Community of Salonika at YIVO was organized, microfilmed and digitized through this project. It was funded by the Maurice Amado Foundation and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum.

The seminar chair is Thessaloniki born-and-raised Dr. Isaac Benmayor, who holds a Ph.d. in Modern Greek Linguistics from Oxford University. He's a past president of the American Friends of the Jewish Museum of Greece, has worked on a number of publications on the Holocaust in Greece and a Ladino scholar.

Dr. Steven Bowman will offer introductory remarks. He is a University of Cincinnati Judaic studies professor and a Greek Jewry historian.

The Salonika Project's academic advisory committee includes Bowman, Benmayor, Stanford University Professor of Sephardic History Dr. Aron Rodrigue, CUNY Graduate CenterDdirector of Jewish studies Dr. Jane Gerber, Greek Jewry historian and Association of Friends of Greek Jewry president Marcia Hadad Ikonomopoulos, Hebrew University Ladino Professor Dr. David Bunis, Panteion University (Athens) Dr. Rena Molho.

Yoghurt: A family history

Ever wondered about Dannon yoghurt in the US - or Danone as it is called elsewhere?

Haaretz.com offered a "yoghurt timeline" explaining the genealogy of the company.

Dr. Isaac Carasso was the son of a prominent Jewish family in Salonica (under the Ottomans in the early 1900s). Another son, Emanuel, was a Young Turk leader.

In 1912, when the Balkan War intensified, Carasso moved his family to Barcelona, where many of his patients had digestive problems.

As was customary in the Balkans (and in the Middle East), people ate lots of yoghurt. He even began importing it from Bulgaria and Paris. In Spain it was sold as a medication in pharmacies.

In 1919, the doctor opened a small manufacturing plant to produce yoghurt, naming it after his son Daniel's nickname, Danone.

The son grew up, inherited the business and turned it global. Daniel died recently at 103 and the company is now marking its 90th anniversary.

In Iran, yoghurt (mast, in Farsi) was always the preferred remedy for stomach problems. The good bacteria in the yoghurt was believed to replace the "queasy tummy" bad type. The older generation believed that a bowl of yoghurt, followed by vodka (to sterilize the stomach, I presume!) was the right treatment. While I have no personal experience with the vodka treatment, the yoghurt works.

Now that it is getting warmer, it's time to be careful if you are enjoying picnics and outdoor activities. Follow health guidelines about keeping things cold (particularly those foods with mayonnaise and dairy products) so they won't make you or your guests sick. Keep lots of those blue ice packs handy in the freezer and pack them with your picnic lunches.

Greece: Jewish history book and more

Tracing the Tribe has just discovered the excellent English-language AthensPlus, produced by the International Herald Tribune and Kathimerini.

This issue is a large PDF file, some 22 MB, but well worth it for a variety of reasons.

Page 20 carried the news that "Greece: A Jewish History," by K.E. Fleming (Princeton University Press, 2008) received the Runciman Award for books. The award is provided annually to a book on Greece or the world of Hellenism, published in English.

It also won the 2008 National Jewish Book Award for Sephardic Culture. Read the first chapter here, and read reviews here.

It was described as "a beautifully written and cumulatively moving account of how, and why, there is both Jew and Greek," by the judges' panel chair Martin Hammond.

Fleming is a New York University professor Mediterranean and modern Greek history and directs the Center for European and Mediterranean Studies and the A.S. Onassis Program in Hellenic Studies.

The book is the first comprehensive English-language history of Greek Jews, and the only one that includes material on the diaspora in Israel and the US. It tells the story of a people who for the most part no longer exist and whose identity is a paradox in that it wasn't fully formed until after most Greek Jews had emigrated or been deported and killed by the Nazis.

For centuries, Jews lived in areas that are now part of Greece. But Greek Jews as a nationalized group existed in substantial number only for a few short decades--from the Balkan Wars (1912-13) until the Holocaust, in which more than 80 percent were killed. Greece: a Jewish History describes their diverse histories and the processes that worked to make them emerge as a Greek collective. It also follows Jews as they left Greece- as deportees to Auschwitz or émigrés to Palestine/Israel and New York's Lower East Side. In such foreign settings their Greekness was emphasized as it never was in Greece, where Orthodox Christianity traditionally defines national identity and anti-Semitism remains common.

Genealogy was discovered on page 16, with a small listing indicating that the Foundation of the Hellenic World (FHW) held a public “Family Tree” discussion on May 24, at Hellenic Cosmos (254 Pireos) about its genealogy programs for Greeks, including those of the diaspora. Michalis Varlas is head of the foundation's genealogy department. The event aims to help participants discover their roots and family trees. Through screenings and group's archival digital collections, visitors can see how their own family history fits into the broader story of Hellenism.

Page 33 offers some interesting recipes from two women chefs. Sougania are stuffed braised onion shells filled with ground beef, rice and cumin. Sfougato is a thick baked grated zucchini omelet with eggs. Both sound delicious. [There are more recipes on page 32, for readers who eat octopus]

The travel section is on pages 42-43, if you're considering a visit to Greece. These pages might encourage you to do that sooner than later. Topics covered the island of Zykanthos, as well as other Greek locations for organic farms, wineries, spas and more.

Enjoy!

Missouri: Going home - to Greece

And what did you do on your summer vacation in 1974?

Rena Benrubi Abrams' high school graduation gift was a trip to Greece and a fortuitous sidetrip to Israel. She likes to tell her parents' story as it gives her the courage to go after what she wants.

Abrams' story is told in the St. Louis (Missouri) Jewish Light.

Rena Benrubi Abrams grew up wanting to be "That Girl," the stylish, ambitious character played by perky Marlo Thomas on the 1966-to-'71 TV sitcom. Nonetheless, Benrubi's parents decided that for her high-school graduation in Indianapolis, there could be no more fitting gift than a summer in Greece, their homeland.

Begrudgingly, 18-year-old Rena packed her bell-bottom jeans, peasant tops, wedge sandals and Jackie O sunglasses. In 1974, her first-ever airplane ride delivered her to her first-ever experience with a dirt outhouse, no telephone, no air conditioning, no TV and no American music.

In the Greek town of Naousa, she met her maternal grandmother, who slaughtered a chicken from the backyard and prepared it for dinner. In nearby Veria, where her father, Ruben Benrubi, had lived, old men reminisced about life before the Nazis and the startling horrors of war.

"These were stories and facts never mentioned to us as we grew up in suburban Indianapolis. But then again, we didn't know to ask," says Abrams. On Holocaust Remembrance Day April 19, she will pay tribute to her mother's Greek Orthodox family. They sheltered seven Jews during World War II.

She also visited her father's old home and, at his request, asked the current owner for permission to search the floor for money her father had buried before going to America.

Amazingly, Abrams says, she found a small leather pouch with several gold Turkish coins inside, buried in the dirt floor of a tiny closet. Though the coins were no longer legal tender, a Jewish jeweler, after biting the coins to ensure they were real, offered her $200.

With the money she bought an El Al ticket to Israel to see her father's few relatives, who had survived and resettled. One of the cousins she saw was a former teenager who had hidden in her maternal grandparents' attic for five years.

Read the complete story at the link above.

DNA: Jews of Rhodes Project

Bob Rubin Mayo has been involved with the Jews of Rhodes for quite some time and organized the Jews of Rhodes DNA Project, which has gathered some 46 participants over the past year:

The purpose of the Jews of Rhodes Project is to try to identify the original 50 families who were Iberian, Italian, and Romaniote Jews that existed in Rhodes in 1522. This will be done by studying the paternal lines (using Y DNA testing) and the maternal lines (using mitochondrial DNA testing) of Jews whose families had lived on the Island of Rhodes.

The Jews of Rhodes Project has had an incredible start. Over the past year, 46 people have enrolled. Thirty-one people have completed Y-DNA tests to ascertain more about their paternal lineages (father´s father´s father ... etc.). Twenty-one people have performed the mitochondrial DNA tests to discern more about their maternal lineages (mother´s mother´s mother ... etc.).

To date, families evaluated include ALHADEFF, BENVENISTE, HANAN, HAZAN, ISRAEL, De MAYO/MAYO, MENASHE, PIZANTE and RUSSO.

Each of this group, with the same surname, were found to descend from a common male ancestor - from the same family, generations ago.

A reminder: Sephardic surnames often appear in different spelling variations. For example, MENASHE may also be spelled MENASCE, MENASHE, MENASCHE, etc.). Bob notes that spelling differences do not typically point to a different origin or family.

In the tested group, there are five groups of people with mtDNA (mitochondrial or female DNA) matches. Each group descends from a distinct female ancestor along the maternal lines.

One of those groups included four individuals. The oldest female maternal ancestors in that group lived 150-250 years ago and are connected to a common female ancestor back in time along the maternal branches. These families included ISRAEL, NAHMIAS and PIHA. This result suggests that their common maternal ancestor lived in Rhodes before 1700.

Y-DNA (paternal/male DNA) ancestors are believed to have originated a few thousand years ago from Northern Africa and the Ottoman Empire.

Y-DNA study family participants are ALHADEFF, ALTABET, BENON, BENVENISTE, BERRO, CODRON, COEN/COHEN, De MAYO, FRANCO, HANAN, HASSON, HAZAN/JAZAN, ISRAEL, LEVI/LEVY, MAYO, MENASHE, NOTRICA, PALOMBO, PISANTE/PIZANTI, ROUSSO/RUSSO, SURMANI, TARANTO, TREVES.

mtDNA study family participants are ALMELEH, AMATO, CAPELLUTO, GALANTE, HAGIEZ, HALFON, MIZRAHI, NAHMIAS, NAVARRO, PIHA, ROZANES, TARICA, TOURIEL/TURIEL

The project has resulted in many individuals discovering new cousins and being able to trace their families back many more generations.

All Rhodesli descendants who would like to become part of this project, should email Bob.

On a personal note, I would be very interested in seeing any correlation between these families and others who have participated in FamilyTreeDNA.com's Sicilian DNA project and other similar projects, as well as the IberianAshkenaz project. The IberianAshkenaz project is for those ostensibly Ashkenazi families from Eastern Europe who either carry Sephardic family names, have an inheritated generally Sephardic medical condition, or have a strong oral history of Iberian origins. The New Mexico DNA project results would also be an interesting comparison to see if there are genetic matches, as those families are mostly descendants of Converso families that arrived in the early 1600s from Spain to northern New Mexico.

Each of these projects add so much more to our understanding of where our ancestors lived and where they later migrated.

Miami: The Jews of Ioannina, Nov. 2

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Miami will host independent scholar Dr. Annette Fromm on the "Genealogy of the Greek-speaking Jews of Ioannina, Greece," at 10am, Sunday, November 2.

Fromm's book on the Romaniote Jewish community of Ioannina is "We Are Few: Folklore and Ethnic Identity of the Jewish Community of Ioannina, Greece" (Lexingon Books, 2007). She holds a Ph.D. from Indiana University.

The Jewish community of Ioannina, in Northwestern Greece, traces its roots to Byzantine times if not earlier. In the early 20th century, at least half of the community's population emigrated to settle in Athens, Israel, and the United States because of economic and religious reasons. The cataclysm of the Holocaust dramatically decimated the community. This steady outward movement created an abrupt rupture of their patterns of traditional culture.

"We are Few" brings this unique community to life in a series of ethnographic sketches of history and traditional culture in order to understand its intense allegiance to ethnic identity.

The venue is the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, 4200 Biscayne Blvd. Miami. Parking entrance at rear of building; bring picture ID.

For more information, click on the JGSGM site here.

New York: Sephardic lecture, Sept. 7

I was just made aware of this opportunity for Sephardic researchers to hear Devin E. Naar's program on Sephardic immigration to the US, at 2pm, Sunday, September 7.

The venue is the Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum, 280 Broome St., on the Lower East Side.

Despite the late notice, I hope that some Tracing the Tribe readers may be able to attend "Between Old World and New: Sephardic Jews in New York during the Early Twentieth Century," which focuses on those from Salonika, Greece.

Naar was born in New Jersey to a Sephardic family. His great-grandfather, Rabbi Benjamin Haim Naar emigrated from Salonika in 1924 to New Brunswick, New Jersey and was rabbi of the Etz Ahaim Sephardic congregation.

Impassioned with learning about his Sephardic heritage, Naar has become a promising young scholar. He majored in history at Washington University (St. Louis, Missouri) where he was an Undergraduate Honors Fellow and graduated summa cum laude (May 2005).

He spent summer 2005 - with grants from the Maurice Amado Foundation and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum - cataloguing a collection of archives from Salonika at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research in New York. Before beginning his studies as a PhD candidate in history at Stanford University, he spent a year in Greece as a Fulbright Scholar.

He is the author of "From the Jerusalem of the Balkans to the Goldene Medina: Jewish Immigration from Salonika to the United States," to be published in the next issue of "American Jewish History."

The program is free and is open to the public. Refreshments will be served.

JTA: Newsbriefs of note

JTA's breaking news briefs often contain items of interest to those interested in family history and Jewish history. Here are some recent briefs:

Iraqi Jewish books made it to Israel

Some 300 rare and valuable Jewish books from Iraq have ended up in Israel.

The books, from a collection of books confiscated by Saddam Hussein's secret police, include a 1487 commentary on Job and a volume of biblical prophets printed in Venice in 1617, according to Ha’aretz.

The Iraqi secret police confiscated and stored a large number of Jewish books. Many were damaged in the beginning of the 2003 U.S.-led war in Iraq during the bombing of Iraqi government buildings. After the war, many of the books were sent to Washington's Library of Congress and some made their way to private dealers, who bought them from thieves.

One such dealer, Mordechai Ben-Porat, who was born in Iraq, began by sending an emissary to Baghdad who shipped the books to Israel directly. Eventually, U.S. authorities discovered his activities and barred further shipments. Ben-Porat then smuggled in the remaining books. ...

Jim Joseph Foundation gives $5 million to NYU

The Jim Joseph Foundation will give some $5 million to New York University to support graduate studies in Jewish education.

Starting in 2009, the foundation will give full scholarships to eight students in NYU's dual Ph.D program in education and Jewish studies, which was founded in 2001, according to a news release on NYU's Web site. The foundation also will award 16 full scholarships to students in a new dual Masters degree program in education and Jewish studies. The recipients of the scholarships will be known as Jim Joseph Foundation Fellows.

The $4.96 million, six-year grant will also help pay for administration and adjunct faculty at the NYU Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development, and the Skirball Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies.

"The Jim Joseph Foundation believes ardently in the importance of Jewish educators and their critical role in ensuring a vibrant Jewish future," Chip Edelsberg, the executive director of the Jim Joseph foundation, said in the release. "We are confident this significant investment in NYU supporting these degree programs will produce future Jewish educational leaders.

Wouldn't it be great if the foundation would fund targeted education programs for Jewish genealogy and family history?

Train work disturbs Greek Jewish cemetery

Work on a new underground train line could disturb what remains of a historic Greek Jewish cemetery.

The excavation in Salonika could move graves and human remains, the AFP news agency reported. Excavation near the Aristotelio University library, built on the cemetery site during an expansion in the 1960s, already has dug up gravestones.

The issue became public last week when U.S. special envoy for Holocaust issues, Ambassador J. Christian Kennedy visited Greece to attend a conference on the matter, and the Greek Jewish community raised the issue.

The cemetery dates back to 1492 when Spain expelled its Jews and 20,000 of them found refuge in the small Greek town of Salonika which then had 2,000 inhabitants. It was one of Europe's largest, with more than 300,000 graves, when it was destroyed by the Nazis in 1942.

Salonika, which now has a Jewish population of 6,000 among its nearly 364,000 residents, was home to about 50,000 Sephardim before the Holocaust. Most were killed by the Nazis.

Lone Tajik synagogue razed

Tajikistan's lone synagogue was demolished.

The 19th century Dushanbe shul was razed last weekend to make way for a park, the Tajiki Jewish community reported.

The government has promised to allocate land for a new synagogue, though details on the plan are sketchy.

"It's painful to lose something very dear, something that cannot be valued in money terms," said a rabbi, Mikhail Abdurakhmanov, in an interview with Reuters. "At the moment the existence of Tajikistan's only Jewish community is under threat."

The community, which numbers some 350 people, is descended from Persian-speaking Bukharan Jews who have lived in Central Asia for centuries. Many Tajiki Jews left for Israel after Tajikistan won independence from Soviet rule.

You can subscribe at JTA.org to receive the daily briefs.

France: New issue, Revue de Cercle de Genealogie Juive

The Cercle de Genealogie Juive is a Jewish genealogical societies in Paris, France. The new issue of its journal Revue du Cercle de Genealogie Juive #94 has just been published.

Articles include:

"From Lengnau to New York: the Guggenheim family, part two: How to make use of one’s wealth," by Jacques-Henri Gougenheim

As announced in the first part, the increased number of descendants, and thus heirs, and the fading of brotherly togetherness brought an end to an apparently endless increase in wealth and power. J.-H. Gougenheim portraits most of the descendants, mainly those members of the second, third and fourth generation who were talented and successful in their business. Almost all of the Guggenheims devoted a significant part of their money to charitable, artistic and scientific foundations that bear the name Guggenheim. Their most remarkable success is to have found outside of the family capable and devoted trustees to manage and develop these foundations.

"A genealogical-biblical round trip," by Ernest Kallmann

A then unknown Israeli genealogist contacted the author because he had located his great-grandfather’s (in fact his great-great-grandfather’s) family Bible with an also unknown lady. The Bible was published in 1837 by German scholars directed by Leopold Zunz, the father of German and American Reform Judaism. The copy bears handwritten notes by the owner, recalling the main events of his family life. It has been generously presented to Ernest Kallmann. In the meantime the few uncertainties arising from its thorough examination have been cleared. All persons involved in the discovery and the return of the book, though not related, are linked by a genealogical circle that is almost closed.

"Searching for the ancestors of Todrosse from Schalbach (Moselle)," by Pascal Faustini

While helping a researcher who has hit a brick-wall with the marriage record of his ancestor Todrosse in 1804, Pascal Faustini progresses several generations back perusing the existing research tools, mostly developed by volunteer members of our society. His paper exemplifies how Jewish genealogy can be conducted back to the late 17th century in Alsace and Moselle from one’s desk, provided sufficient flair and cross-checking is applied.

"How a small group of Thessalonian Spanish Jews survived the Holocaust," by Isaac Revah

Isaac Revah was deported from Salonika in 1943 at the age of 9, and survived because his family owned a Spanish passport. Salonika, nicknamed “a mother in Israel”, accepted Jewish immigration coming from all parts of Europe over the 12^th to the 19th century and became a thriving religious, cultural and commercial center. Things began to degrade with the transfer from Turkish to Greek domination in 1912. In 1924, Thessalonian Jews speaking Judeo-Spanish, thus originally from Spain, were allowed to request Spanish passports.

During WWII, the Germans offered the Jews from “friendly nations”, among which the Turks and Spaniards, relative protection, until 1943. At that time they gave these countries the choice between repatriating them and having them treated as ordinary Jews, i.e. deported.

Spain, under Franco, would not accept them on its territory. In August 1943 Revah’s family was deported to Belsen-Bergen in a convoy of 367 Spanish Jews, where they received a softer treatment than normal inmates. They were finally released after seven months, returned to Spain and after four further months expelled to Gaza via Morocco and Egypt. They finally settled in Tel Aviv, and later returned partly to Greece and France.

For more information on the Cercle de Genealogie Juive and the publication, click here.

Sephardic March of the Living, May 2008 - DATE CHANGE

The first Sephardic March of the Living will now take place May 12-19, 2008, and not as previously stated, announced historian and Sephardic researcher Yitzchak Kerem of Jerusalem.

Kerem envisions that Sephardic survivors will guide participants as they trace the path of the largest Sephardic Holocaust community - Salonika - to perish in the Holocaust, while future trips would focus on other destroyed Sephardic and Mizrahi Oriental communities.

This trip, he said, will bring together American, French and Israeli youth and university student groups, Greek Second and Third generation groups, and other interested Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews to Salonika (Thessaloniki, Greece), followed by visits to Warsaw, Auschwitz and Krakow to see the fate of the Salonika Jews. Public ceremonies will be held in Greece and Poland.

Anticipating 200-500 participants, Kerem, a noted historian on Greek and Sephardic Jewry in the Holocaust, is coordinating the trip with Inbar Tours of Ramat Gan, Israel. The subsidized price will be $1,200 per person, with funds and subsidies being sought.

The itinerary includes Salonika, followed by Warsaw, Auschwitz, Birkenau, Krakow, Treblinka and Athens.

Interested readers should first contact Kerem for the complete itinerary and other details (ykerem@actcom.co.il or kerems@actcom.co.il). For flight and deposit details, contact Rami Brickman (rami@inbartours.com).