Cuba: Castro and the Jews

NPR has a transcript of a September 14 program lending some insight on Fidel Castro's views of Jewish history.

Numerous scholars have written about Castro's likely Jewish heritage. The name is a documented Sephardic surname. His remarks, according to this transcript, are interesting.

In August, the former Cuban leader invited Atlantic correspondent Jeffrey Goldberg to Havana to discuss an article he wrote. Goldberg invited Julia Sweig, Council on Foreign Relations senior fellow, to join him. She shares details on the talk with Castro on the NPR program.

In one section she mentions that Castro's talk with Iranian president Ahmed Ahmadinejad.

Ms. SWEIG: ...was Fidel's insistence that Ahmadinejad respect Jewish history, respect the Holocaust, respect the state of Israel, and that that clarity with which Fidel communicated that to Goldberg for Ahmadinejad and Iran to hear was really quite important given the stakes and given the concern in the Middle East. And given, I would say, the standing that Fidel Castro has in the non-aligned movement and for, potentially - I hope at least - those listening in Iran.

CONAN: And it was interesting that he was pointing out to the Iranian president that, yes, Muslims have had it hard being disrespected by the West, but Jews have had it harder.

Ms. SWEIG: Yes, it was very interesting. I mean, you know, he was - there was no pause when Fidel was expressing his view of Jewish history and also his interest in the Inquisition which, of course, Bibi Netanyahu's father is a great scholar of, as Jeff Goldberg's article explains, it was very clear that there was great sort of sympatico for Jewish history, for the state of Israel from Fidel. And he made a point of talking about, as Jeff writes, the kind of environment and the Catholic education he received of anti-Semitism in Cuba when he was a small boy. And he expressed a kind of outrage at the ignorance that that reflected of his own society.

Read the entire transcript at the link above.

New Zealand: On a different note

According to J-Wire - which covers Jewish news in Australia and New Zealand, Radio New Zealand will broadcast "The Art of the Cantor."

The story reports that the series of eight weekly programs will begin at 7pm, on Thursday, September 2.

The series focuses on the music of the 20th century's greatest cantorial voices, such as Richard Tucker, Gershon Sirota, Yossele Rosenblatt, Moyshe Oysher, Jan Peerce, The Koussevitzky brothers and others.

For those unfamiliar with Jewish clergy, the cantor or hazzan often fills diverse tasks, including leading worship, officiating at life cycle events, education of children and adults, synagogue music and pastoral care. This is in addition to roles handled by rabbis of congregations.

The program is hosted by internationally known Sephardic Hazzan Alberto Mizrahi, of Anshe Emet Synagogue (Chicago, Illinois). It provides historical background and personal insight into the lives and voices of these spiritual and musical leaders.

Here are the eight programs and the focus of each segment:

1: Greatest Cantors of the 20th Century, 1
2: Greatest Cantors of the 20th Century, 2
3: Greatest Cantors of the 20th Century, 3
4: Operatic Cantors and Cantors in Opera
5: The Cantor in America
6: Cantors in Concert
7: The Western European Tradition
8: Cantors After the Golden Age

New Zealand listeners are in for a treat!

San Francisco: Jewish community's diversity

Listen to a radio interview by host Michael Krasny with Fred Rosenbaum on his book, "Cosmopolitans: A Social and Cultural History of the Jews of the San Francisco Bay Area."

The KQED Forum's 24-minute interview chronicles the diverse ways the Jewish community has shaped and enriched the region, from the first congregations to the Gold Rush to today.

Rosenbaum received the Anne and Robert Cowan Writers’ Award of the Jewish Community Endowment Fund, for exceptional achievement in giving voice to Jewish perspectives in the Bay Area.


Listen to the interview segment above or follow this link for information on ordering the book).

Montreal: Genealogists on the air!

Genealogy on the radio - listen to Stanley Diamond and Gary Schroeder speak about finding your roots on CJAD Talk Radio in Montreal, recorded December 30, 2009.

The two-part segment runs about 45 minutes in total: Part 1→Listen and Part 2→Listen

Stan, of course, is well-known as founder of Jewish Records Indexing-Poland, his leadership of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Montreal and other Jewish genealogical endeavors. Gary Schroeder is president of the Quebec Family History Society.

James Mennie of The Gazette interviewed both men in the far-ranging conversation about various aspects of genealogy, such as the impact of the Internet, medical reasons, Western European sources, specialized ethnic genealogical societies (Italy and Jewish, etc.), finding Jewish records, JewishGen resources, connecting with researchers of the same name and geographical location, resources in Montreal, getting started, church records, immigration, changing names,

Called-in questions from listeners covered the following topics: surname origins, censuses, databases, New France early arrivals, Family History Centers, adoption, children's family tree projects, Scotland, changing borders, Polish records, Russia, UK, no names changed at ports of arrivals in Canada, online censuses, Italy, Portugal, local versus state archives in other countries, genealogical societies providing assistance, labor/DP camp records, International Tracing Service, contradictory data, civil records, marriage records, immigration records, Ireland, "burned records" myth, Trinidad, French records online and DNA genetic genealogy (FamilyTreeDNA.com mentioned),

A very informative session!

Library of Congress: Yiddish radio webcast

Scholar Henry Sapoznik of the Yiddish Radio Project spoke on the Yiddish radio phenomenon at the Library of Congress.

View the webcast - "Hear, O Israel: Yiddish-American Radio 1925-1955" (recorded in October 2009) - here.

Sapoznik says Yiddish radio existed only in America. At one time, 180 stations were broadcasting (1925-1955) in mame loshen; 25 in New York. Most were in large cities like New York, Philadelphia, Boston and Chicago, but Yiddish programs were also broadcast in Memphis, Dallas, Salt Lake City and Sioux City, Iowa

While some stations reached a large geographical area, one small 50-watt station in Brooklyn broadcast from a clothing store. If they opened the window, he said, they'd reach more people!

The lecture offers a glimpse of the most memorable and powerful moments in this nearly lost world of ethnic American broadcasting.

In the 1940s, the New York radio stations provided a place for the community's diversity to show. Programs included cantorial music (and even female cantors, who couldn't then sing in synagogues but reached listeners on the radio), pop music, quiz shows (with Victor Packer), rabbinical advice programs, live Yiddish theater acts, man-on-the-street interviews to the news of the day in verse (with Zvee Scooler) and much more.

To hear 26 gems from these shows, click here.

In 1933, the first-ever broadcast court program was House of Justice, with Rabbi Rubin, who listened to problems listeners brought to him. It was a first time for public mediation.

Yiddish radio also kept Yiddish theater alive. One anecdote concerned a series, "Men Without Eyes," the story of a girl disfigured in a fire and married off to a blind man. One episode announced there would be a live wedding and invited listeners to attend. Not only did they come, but they also brought wedding gifts!

According to Sapoznik, the radio took a folk culture and adapted it to a popular culture. And there were shows that showed how people really interacted in their own language.

An announcement was made on one station that Mr. Goldberg was 111. There was a musical interlude, and the announcer returned with a correction. Goldberg was ill, not 111 years old.

Commercials were important, giving local businesses and local products an opportunity to be a patrons of the arts, to buy air time to support specific shows.

Do you remember My-T-Fine pudding? It was one show's sponsor. Usually the ad was for chocolate pudding. One day, the company announced a new flavor, nut-chocolate. Of course, it was broadcast in Yiddish. Listeners called in and asked "If it is NOT chocolate, so what flavor is it?" Accents and language were everything.

Another popular show was "The Jewish Philosopher" (Der Pilosof), the Dr. Phil of his day - even though the supposed letters from listeners were written by his brother-in-law. What was more interesting was that St. Joseph Aspirin, a national product, was the sponsor.

Manischewitz sponsored the Jewish Children's Hour. Its producer had seven shows running simultaneously. It focused on Yiddish cultural education in New York among listeners who came from various communities (Yiddish, religious, social, etc.). Sholom Segunda was its musical director, and he wrote "Bei Mir bist du schoen."

"Song Book" aired Yiddish songs and compiled a book of favorites for their audience. If a listener sent in a postcard, s/he would receive the songbook. It may have been the first audience survey and done on a very low budget. It helped the show to understand its audience size.

Some announcers, like Zvee Scooler, read the news in verse. mixing daily folk and culture life with the responsibilities of a news show. This wasn't found in mainstream media.

Read more about the Yiddish Radio Project and view the 57-minute webcast by Sapoznik.

Sapoznik is a record producer (four Grammy nominations), a radio documentarian, an author, and a performer of traditional Yiddish and American music. He received a 2002 Peabody award for his 10-week National Public Radio series on the history of Jewish broadcasting, The Yiddish Radio Project, the 2000 ASCAP Deems Taylor Award for Music Scholarship for his book "Klezmer! Jewish Music from Old World to Our World," and an Emmy nomination for his score to the documentary film, "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg." He founded the Max and Frieda Weinstein Archives of Recorded Sound at the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research, as well as Living Traditions' annual KlezKamp: The Yiddish Folk Arts Program.

Video: Yiddish melodies in swing

"Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" - one of the greatest Yiddish songs - is performed by a host of performers of all backgrounds via this clip from the Yiddish Radio Project.

Listen here to A musical montage of various recordings of "Bei Mir" by Guy Lombardo, Ella Fitzgerald, Benny Goodman (who played it at Carnegie Hall), Lee Marjane, Zarah Leander, Felix & His Crazy Cats, the Lennon Sisters, Jimmy Rushing, Louis Prima and Judy Garland.

Recorded by almost every every pop and jazz artist, translated into many languages, it was also a hit in Hitler's Germany, "until the Nazi Party discovered that its composer was a Jew, and that the song's title was Yiddish rather than a south German dialect."

Listen to a 16-minute NPR documentary on the Project, focused on Yiddish Melodies in Swing, sponsored by the Manischewitz Company. The program ran for nearly 20 years, from 1938, when it had a large studio with a live audience of 1,000 and a large orchestra - all of which dwindled through the years.

Don't miss the exhibit about crooner Seymour Rexite (originally Rechtzeit - for the genealogists reading this!) and listen to his Yiddish versions of "Surrey with a Fringe on Top/Oh, What a Beautiful Morning," 1948; "Tea for Two," (with Miriam Kressyn), c1950; "Love and Marriage," (with Miriam Kressyn) c1950; "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," 1954; Barbasol jingle, 1948; and the Ajax jingle, 1952.

In "Love and Marriage," note that "horse and carriage" are now geyt tzuzamen vi zup un knaydlakh (go together like soup and matzoh balls).

There's much more on this Yiddish radio phenomenon as the Library of Congress has recently posted a video presentation on the topic by scholar Henry Sapoznik of the Yiddish Radio Project, recorded October 14. 2009. This presentation is detailed in another Tracing the Tribe post.

On the Radio: Susan King, Tracing the Tribe, Nov. 3

Tracing the Tribe will be featured on Susan E. King's radio show - "Where genealogy and spirit connect" - on Tuesday, November 3 (see below for the times in your area).

All of Tracing the Tribe's readers are invited to listen in and ask questions.

We'll talk about many topics, including the IberianAshkenaz DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com, which has already linked some 75% of ostensible Ashkenazi project participants to Hispanics with known or suspected Jewish roots; Persian Jewish genealogical research, Sephardic research, genealogy blogging, and many other subjects.

Additionally, listeners from around the world may call in with questions - toll-free - by calling 888-815-9756. We are looking forward both to our conversation and to receiving questions from listeners.

To listen live, tune in Tuesday at the following times:

US/Canada: Pacific Time 11am, Mountain Time 12 noon, Central Time 1pm, East Coast 2pm

International: Israel 9pm, UK 7pm. Check other times for your geo-location.

Click here or here to go to the show at the proper time, and there's also information on how to connect for a better experience. Check out this link now so you'll know what to do on Tuesday.

Listeners around the world can listen in live and also ask questions, toll free worldwide, by calling 888-815-9756.

For more information on this episode, click this link.

For those who cannot listen in live, the interview will also be available via podcast.

UK: Radio show reunites family in Moscow

It was with some trepidation that I read this story from the UK's Telegraph.

Last week - after all - the same paper got a story about Ahmedinejad's supposed Jewish roots completely wrong. I'm hoping the Telegraph checked the facts on this one, because it is heartwarming.

All family history researchers would like this to happen to them.

The British Labour Minister Ed Miliband appeared on a Moscow phone-in show and found a relative, Sofia Davidovna Miliband, 87, as he answered questions on climate change.

Producers first cut her off as they thought it was a hoax. Luckily, they later met and she provided family details. His brother also plans to meet his new cousin on his next trip to Russia.

The chance discovery will help him and his brother David, the foreign secretary, learn more about their late father’s Polish Jewish side of the family.

Samuel, the brothers’ grandfather, and Ralph, their father, fled to England at the start of the Second World War but many other family members were stranded in Nazi-occupied Poland.

Mrs Miliband, a historian and Middle East expert, rang the program and announced she was the brothers’ only living relative in Russia and wanted to tell Mr Miliband about his family’s past.

“My name is Sofia Davidovna Miliband,” she told the talk show host who cut her off quickly.

But Mr Miliband later visited the woman in her Moscow flat, keeping guests at an embassy reception waiting to catch up with his family history.

They are still trying to work out the genealogy, but he believes that his great-great-grandfather was the brother of Sofia’s grandfather.

Mrs Miliband, explained how she had told the minister how two men thought to be Mr Miliband’s great uncles committed suicide in order to escape the Nazi concentration camps, while a third was killed during the Nazi invasion of Poland. One of the men, Mikheil, killed himself by swallowing a dose of poison while boarding a train he learned was bound for Auschwitz or Dachau. A second relative, Osip, gassed himself and his wife using the kitchen stove, and a third relative, Stefan, was killed by German troops.

“I told him all I knew,” said Sofia. “And he told me all he knew.”

Read the complete article at the link above.

Radio: Daniel Horowitz, Sept. 15

Daniel Horowitz will be interviewed by Susan E. King on her new online radio show on Tuesday, September 15.

The interview is set for 2pm US East Coast (11am US West Coast, 7pm UK, 8pm Europe and 9pm Israel). To see those already interviewd as well as the future schedule, click here.

Daniel is the database and translation manager at MyHeritage.com and is well-known to genealogists for his technology presentations at conferences and to societies. He serves on the IAJGS board of directors, and has been an accomplished genealogist and genealogy educator for many years. His other hats include serving as webmaster for both JFRA Israel and the Horowitz Family Association.

Susan and Daniel will discuss the new technologies available on MyHeritage.com for today's genealogists. Face Recognition, Smart Matching, Family Tree Builder and Smart Research are just a few of the free MyHeritage tools available to assist genealogists and families to connect and share research.

Born in 1971 and raised in Caracas, Venezuela, Daniel graduated from the Moral y Luces Herzl-Bialik High School. His professional background includes computer technician, BS.c. (Computer Engineering), education and management of educational institutions.

At the high school, he was a computer instructor and instructor/director of the "Searching for My Roots" genealogy project, and created/edited project material and presented workshops for students and parents. In 2001, he received the “Project of the Year” school award, and, in 2004, the Gonzalo Benaim Pinto Venezuela national award. From 1997-2005, his students received nine consecutive awards in the Beth Hatefutsoth/Museum of the Diaspora international competition, "My Family Story."

Daniel was also the founder, member and lecturer of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Venezuela (AGJUVE). Married with two young children, he and his family made aliyah to Israel in 2005.

JewishGen's founder, Susan recently interviewed Jewish names book author Alexander Beider, and Daniel is next on the genealogy list.

The schedule of past and future interviews here

View Susan's website here.

Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg!

Gertrude Berg was Mrs. Goldberg.

She created the radio series, "The Goldbergs," which became the first family TV sitcom. It introduced America to a Jewish family following the Holocaust. The family was welcomed into homes across the country and likely showed Jewish customs and traditions to people who had never seen them before.

The Women and Hollywood site has an interview with director,Aviva Kempner of a documentary , "Yoo Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg."

The thing about Gertrude Berg is that she did everything on the show. She wrote the scripts, she produced the show, and she starred in the show. EVERYTHING. She worked her ass off and received the first Emmy for best actress ever.

What was also so great about Gertrude is that she stood up for her co-star Philip Loeb who was named as a communist. Sadly, standing up for her convictions and her friend doomed the show. She lost her sponsors and couldn’t get any more until she fired Loeb which she refused to do for over a year. During the McCarthy insanity there were not many people who stood up for others and Berg was one of those few. The show never really recovered and when they moved the family from the Bronx to the suburbs it was doomed.

This film is a great history lesson about a woman who was a feminist before the word was used. At the height of her popularity she was the second most admired woman in America after Eleanor Roosevelt. I’m so glad that her life has been preserved for generations to see.

Aviva Kempner has been working for many years to bring Gertrude’s story to the screen. She answered some questions about the film.

Why did Kempner want to tell Berg's story?

For the past 30 years I have done films about Jewish heroes–men and women who fought the Nazis and baseball slugger Hank Greenberg. This time I wanted to concentrate on a heroine who had such a positive influence on American culture.

The child of a survivor, Kempner lost three grandparents and an aunt to the Holocaust. Her mission to make films about Jewish heroes and heroines that contradict negative stereotypes about Jews.

Kempner discovered, among other things, that Berg wrote in the bathtub every morning.

It opens this weekend at the Lincoln Plaza Cinema and the Quad Cinema in New York City, on July 17 in Washington, DC and in other locations over the next few months. Click here for more information.

The New York Times review is here.

Israel: Radio show connects people

Batya Unterschatz is a living legend for attempting to reconnect people during her years at the Jewish Agency's Search Bureau for Missing Relatives. Today, a daily radio program (Hebrew only) with Yaron Enosh attempts to fill the gap, announcing, at most, only seven searches on each show.

A Jerusalem Post story details Enosh's work as well as a recent reconnection as Italian-born Nobel Prize laureate Mario Capecchi discovered he might have a sibling in Austria, mentions the 19th World Conference of Child Holocaust Survivors underway in Jerusalem and the broadcaster's plans for a non-profit foundation and search for volunteers to assist.

According to the article, he is in touch with genealogical associations and search bureaus worldwide - Jewish and not - and "aims to set up a central voluntary search bureau in Israel using all the archive material of the Jewish Agency."

Jewish genealogy has become something of an obsession among Jews who lost relatives in the Holocaust or who do not know whether their relatives survived. Thanks to an Israel-based radio program, however, their chances of obtaining that precious information have greatly improved.

Yaron Enosh conducts a daily program called Hamador L'hipus Krovim (Searching for Dear Ones) on Israel Radio at 16:50 in which listeners seek to find data about missing relatives or about relatives or friends with whom they have lost contact. He has been inundated with so many requests that he is setting up a nonprofit organization dedicated to tracing Jewish individuals and families.

The story details the Capecchi family incident as well.

Marlene Ramberg Bonelli, 68, was taken in by an Italian family in the early years of the war when her mother was deported to Dachau in 1941. Her elder brother, Capecchi, was sent to another family, but the money his mother had provided for his upkeep ran out and the family turned him out to the street. He wandered homeless for nearly four years, sometimes living briefly in orphanages.

After the war, his mother returned and found him after an intensive search. She never reclaimed her daughter, and according to reports Capecchi said his mother never told him he had a sister.

Read more here.