New York: Gastro-genealogy, eating Jewish

Hey, if we can have "geneabloggers," we can have "gastrogenealogy," right?

Love Sephardic food from Italy, Spain, Portugal, North Africa, South America and other parts, but don't want to cook it at home?

According to the New York Times, chef Nikki Cascone's new restaurant, Octavia's Porch, will offer Jewish dishes from those places and more. Named for the Via del Portico d’Ottavia, in Rome’s Jewish ghetto, he opening is planned for November at 40 Avenue B (Fourth Street).

Info in other articles and blogs indicate the theme is "global Jewish cuisine." See the Village Voice blog - Fork in the Road - for an interview with Cascone on September 16. Here's a bit of it:

What's the status of your new restaurant?

The restaurant's name is Octavia's Porch. It's named after the Roman Jewish ghetto. There's a pizza there called Porta Octavia. We really wanted a story behind our name and that was one of the first places I realized that there were Jews all over the world -- even places like Italy -- doing unbelievable food that had an influence on the cuisine in the countries they resided in. I didn't know that before then and felt pretty naive being that I had a Jewish mom and an Italian dad.

Are you working on menu items yet?

We started recipe testing this week and tasting. There's Eastern European influences, Egyptian, Ukrainian, Hungarian ... you name it. It is global Jewish cuisine. I wanted to emphasize that Jewish food is more than just deli, which really was invented here in New York City. I'm trying to do classic dishes with a modern "Nikki" twist and expose people to less traditional dishes that they may not have seen from some other parts of the world. You eat it and think, "Oh, that's Jewish?" Things like eggplant caponata that the Arabics and Jews introduced to Italians, then Italians got all the credit for it. Jewish really was the first fusion cuisine.

Will the food be kosher?

The restaurant is Jewish by culture and not by religion. So, although we're not going to be kosher, we are not going to serve shellfish and pork.

The second part of the interview is here; learn what the chef ate at her post-Yom Kippur break-fast.

Israel: Birthright brings 18 from Suriname

The smallest country in South America just sent 18 Jewish young people to participate in the Birthright Israel program.

The participants come from Parimaribo, Suriname.

The Kulanu press release indicated that they hoped it will help the young Jews of Suriname, isolated for generations, to strengthen their Jewish roots and ensure Jewish continuity in their country. The trip, envisioned for many years and finally a reality, is expected to have a profound impact on the lives of the young people and on their community.

Most of the young people are descendants of Jews who traveled to the jungles of Suriname some 380 years ago from Spain and Portugal to escape the Spanish Inquisition. Others are descended from Jewish immigrants from Holland, Germany and Poland who arrived later and joined the community. Family names, such as
Abarbanel, Beuno de Mesquita, Robles de Medina, De Costa, Duym and Fernandes, echo the history of Iberian ancestors and their proud struggle and determination to survive and flourish in a far away land.

Despite a jungle climate, economic and political upheaval over the centuries, the community has survived. It is the oldest continuing Jewish community - with some 150 people today, who speak Dutch - in the Western Hemisphere. Suriname's Jews worship at the Neve Shalom Synagogue in Parimaribo, the capital.

For more than 40 years, they had no permanent rabbi or Jewish educator until California Rabi Haim Beliak spent three months there last winter.

During their visit to Israel, the young people will visit the newly restored Zedek v’Shalom Synagogue, originally located in Suriname, which has been rebuilt in the Israel Museum. The synagogue served the Portuguese Sephardic community in Parimeribo until 1999. Today the Jewish community worships together at the Neve Shalom Synagogue.

The Birthright Israel trip for these young people is being supported through various organizations: Kulanu, Good People Fund, World Union for Progressive Judaism and the Union for Reform Judaism in North America.

In 2008, a Kulanu volunteer spent six weeks in the community, initiating a Hebrew teaching program for children ages 6-12. Since then, Kulanu board member (and Suriname coordinator) Jacob Steinberg has raised funds for diverse projects. These include fencing the historic cemetery, renovating the 150-year old mikvah, renovating the old rabbi’s house, developing a Suriname Jewish community website, and buying mezuzot for homes and community buildings.

In 2010, Kulanu helped pay for matzot and kosher wine sent from New York for the community’s Passover seder.

For more information, see Kulanu's Suriname Page and the Suriname Jewish Community website.

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.

San Francisco: Jewish American history, Jan. 27

Jewish history and American history meet in San Francisco, when a Bay Area author and historian presents "A Whirlwind Tour of Jewish American History," on Sunday, January 27, at Congregation Beth Israel-Judea. The program runs from 10am-noon.

Ken Blady will present little known facts about Jewish immigration to America, and traces the Jewish immigrant experience from 1492 to the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, the Gold Rush and the major immigration waves of the early 20th century.

Blady's own immigration story begins in Paris with his Yiddish-speaking Hassidic family which settled in Brooklyn, NY, where he grew up. Although he attended yeshiva and a rabbinical seminary, he became a writer, educator and Yiddish translator. His books include "The Jewish Boxers' Hall of Fame," "Jewish Communities in Exotic Places," and translation of "The Journeys of David Toback."

The event is co-presented by the Judah L. Magnes Museum - Western Jewish History Center of Berkeley and the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society. Members of these groups will be available for Q&A during the after-program reception.

For directions and more information, click here.

Read more here.

San Francisco: Latin American Jewish film series

The Bureau of Jewish Education (BJE) in San Francisco, California offers a multitude of programming with genealogical links. In 1854, the Jewish Education Society began operation at the height of the Gold Rush; some 40 years later, JES was teaching hundreds of Jewish children. In 1958, the name was changed to the BJE.

A film series on Jews in Latin America is set, although you've just missed the first one:

Tuesday, October 9, 7 pm
Autumn Sun (Sol de Otono), 1996 (Argentina)

In order to impress her Orthodox brother who will be visiting Buenos Aires from Boston, middle-aged Clara Bernstein takes out a personal ad seeking a Jewish man to pose as her fiancé. When the sole person to answer the ad turns out to be a gentile, Clara decides to tutor him in the art of being Jewish. Shown in video projection; discussion follows screening. 110 minutes, in Spanish with English subtitles.

Tuesday, November 6, 7pm
Like a Bride (Novia Que Te Vea), 1994 (Mexico)

Like a Bride follows two young Jewish women‹one the child of Turkish immigrants and the other the child of Eastern European refugees‹as they come of age in Mexico in the tumultuous 1960s. Shown in video projection; discussion follows screening. 115 minutes, in Spanish and Ladino with English subtitles. Co-sponsored by the International Latino Film Festival

Tuesday, December 11, 7pm
The Lost Embrace (El Abrazo Perdido), 2004 (Argentina)

The Lost Embrace presents the life of Once, Buenos Aires' old working class Jewish district, through the eyes of Ariel, a college dropout now working in his mother's lingerie shop. Feeling suffocated by his small world, he schemes to escape to Europe. Meanwhile, his emotional life remains dominated by the mysterious absence of his father, who abandoned the family for Israel when Ariel was a young child. Shown in video projection; discussion follows screening. 100 minutes, in Spanish with English subtitles.

Other programs of interest:

An Island Called Home: Returning to Jewish Cuba:
A Reading and Talk by Ruth Behar
Monday, October 15, 7:30pm

Anthropologist Ruth Behar was born in Havana and left as a child, part of the exodus of Jews who emigrated en masse after the 1959 Revolution. In her memoir chronicling the obsessively recurring trips she made back as an adult, Behar describes her encounter with the Jews who stayed and the life that might have been hers had her family remained in Cuba.

The Jewish Gaucho and the Indigenous Jews of Entre Rios:
A Talk by Kitty Millet
Monday, December 3, 7:30pm

Alberto Gerchunoff is primarily known for his short narratives concerning the Jewish gauchos of the Pampas in Argentina, a community situated in the region of Entre Rios. Gerchunoff's stories mimic tales and aggadot familiar to a community well aware of its religious traditions, suggesting to them that Jewish identity emerges naturally from the Pampas.

And, from another corner of the Jewish world - India - don't miss

Dropped from Heaven:
A Reading and Talk with Sophie Judah
Tuesday, November 13, 7.30pm

In the mythical Indian village of Jwalanagar, the Jewish traditions of the Bene Israel have survived for more than 2,000 years, but the 20th century brings with it major change. In these 19 connected stories spanning more than a century, the families of one community find their traditional way of life altered forever.

BJE even offers one-on-one genealogy help, from noon-2pm on the following Sundays: October 7, November 11, December 2, January 6 and February 3

Lost tribes in many places

I recently became aware of a series of articles on communities that have been considered as 'lost tribes of Israel'. These articles, some written by Rabbi Marvin Tokayer, who spent several years in Japan, compare the customs, history and traditions of each of these cultures with Judaism.

Kashmir
Japan: a fascintaing comparison of Japanese and Jewish customs.
The Pathans
Ecuador

In the Ecuador article, Tokayer also writes about Argentina. He discusses claims about finds of ancient menorahs, about supposedly Hebrew-speaking natives who knew the Shema, ancient artifacts inscribed in Aramaic and more.

Food for thought.