Knowles Collection: 55,000 records just added

Many of Tracing the Tribe's readers know about Todd Knowles' collection of Jewish records. Yesterday, 55,000 records were added, bringing the total to 195,000 people.

In September 2010, the Knowles Collection contained 140,000 records. And, when it was first introduced, the information included fewer than 7,000 people nearly all from the British Isles. Today more than 60 countries are represented and some 10,000 records are added monthly.

It links together - into family groups - thousands of individual Jews. Until now, these records were available only at the Family History Library, or from private archives or individuals.

The five separate databases in the collection are:

-- Jews of the British Isles: 104,100 people
-- Jews of the Americas: 53,000 people
-- Jews of Europe: 33,200 people
-- Jews of the Caribbean: 4,500 people
-- Jews of Africa and the Orient: 800 people

Records contain (where available): Surnames and given names, links to ancestors, dates, places, source citations and notes.

The collection is free and accessible to all. Those interested can download the data as a Gedcom or do an individual search. Find the links here at the The Knowles Collection wiki page at the Family Search Wiki.

Tracing the Tribe is now going to the Family History Library to meet with Todd.

Global Day of Jewish Learning, Nov. 7

Did you know that the Global Day of Jewish Learning is Sunday, November 7?

The day honors the achievement of Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz's five-decades project of translating the Talmud and encouraging people to join together for study.

It brings together Jewish communities around the world in a historic celebration.

Find out more here about Rabbi Steinsaltz, the day, and click here for more than 250 events as well as online opportunities.

San Francisco: South African Jewish research, Sept. 26

Roy Ogus will present "Jewish Genealogical Research in South Africa," at the next meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society on Sunday, September 26.

The program starts at 1pm, at Congregation Beth Israel Judea, 625 Brotherhood Way, San Francisco. The meeting is free, there is free parking and doors open at 12.30pm.

Many researchers have South African connections as our ancestors, siblings or cousins emigrated there. During the great wave of migration from Eastern Europe (1881-1930s), many Jews - especially Lithuanians - left for the economic opportunity and freedom of South Africa.

The presentation is a summary of key sources of documentation and information of genealogical value to be found in South Africa, and how these materials can be accessed and researched. It also provides an overview of South African history as a backdrop for the discussion of Jewish migration to that remote area.

Additionally, more recent political changes in South Africa mean that many Jews from the region have now resettled in the US, Canada, UK, Australia, Israel and elsewhere.

Born in South Africa, Roy has been researching his family history since 1985 and has traced his ancestors to Lithuania and Belarus in the early 18th century. He's been living in the Bay area since the 1970s and is a computer engineer. He's the vice-president of the Jewish Gen Southern Africa SIG (SA-SIG) and has been a SFBAJGS member for more than 15 years.

For more information and directions, click here.

UK: South African Jews conference, Oct. 30-31

The first international conference of the The International Society for the Study of African Jewry is set for October 30-31, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.

The International Society for the Study of African Jewry (ISSAJ) conference is dedicated to a broad and interdisciplinary overview of the study of black African Jewry. Here's a map showing the locations of population centers:

A number of recent studies have dealt with the construction of Judaism or Jewishness among Black Africans and its relation to the historical experience of migrations, slavery and colonialism. The growth of Judaism, or Jewishness among Black Africans has been nurtured by shared historical discourses about presumed Semitic origins and about Jews, Zionism and blackness that transcend national boundaries.

The topic of Black African Jewry, is not only restricted to the continent of Africa itself, but also includes Israel, the United States, the Caribbean and Europe, where increasingly Black African societies are found which profess Jewish identities and practice Judaism in one form or another.

The tentative program of talks is here (see the link above for information on the speakers):

1. From Near East to Africa -- The search for the "autochthonous" Jew in Africa: Slouschtz and Faitlovitch at the beginning of the 20th century" -- Longing for Jerusalem among the Beta Israel of Ethiopia -- Genetics and History: the Construction of Lemba Identity in South Africa and Zimbabwe -- The Bhuba. A Paternally Inherited Jewish Priesthood in Southern Africa?

2. West African Judaism -- Israelite-Assyrian tradition of origin of the Yoruba -- Convivencia at Timbuktu: archetypes, architects and artisans -- The Legal and Practical Implications of Muslim-Jewish Collaborations in Trans-Saharan Trade -- The Igbo Jews of Nigeria: archaeological findings at Igbo-Ukwu, foreign contacts and Jewish connections -- Jewishness, the Genesis of the Igbo Nation and the Israeli Factor -- Igbo Nationalism and Memories of Biafra -- West AfricanJewries

3. Diasporas -- “We are Israelites but not Jews”: Orientalism and Israelism in the Holiness-Pentecostal Movement and the Beginnings of Black Israelite Religions in the 1890s -- Interrupting Whiteness: Hatzaad Harison, Black Jews, and Burkean Invention -- Theorizing Diasporic Interstices: African Heritage Jews in the Americas -- In and Out of Africa: Black Hebraic Cartographies of Belonging and Difference -- “Jewish sounds from Africa”. The recordings of Leo Levi and the discovery of African Jews in Italy -- Celebration among the Tambahoaka peoples of Madagascar

4. Experience -- Founding the Abayudaya of Uganda in 1962 -- A contribution to the history of African Jews

5. Film -- These are my Names

Conference fees (two-day conference, refreshments and lunch)

£160 (Standard): Includes ISSAJ Membership for 2010-11
£140 (Student): Includes ISSAJ Student Membership for 2010-11
£40 (SOAS students/staff only) - no membership fee
£26 Conference dinner: 30 October

Click here for the registration form; email the completed form to centres@soas.ac.uk. See the link above for complete information.

According to the site, ISSAJ members represent international, interdisciplinary scholars and students of African studies, Jewish studies, ethnology, social anthropology, modern history, history of religions, and history of ideas. Conference participation is open to all those interested.

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.

New York: Jewish Film Festival, Jan. 13-28

The 19th New York Jewish Film Festival will run January 13-28, sponsored by The Jewish Museum and The Film Society of Lincoln Center.

NYBlueprint.com offered details.

The Jewish Museum and The Film Society of Lincoln Center will present the 19th annual New York Jewish Film Festival at The Film Society’s Walter Reade Theater, The Jewish Museum, and The JCC in Manhattan, January 13-28, 2010.

The festival’s 32 features and shorts from 13 countries—28 screening in their U.S. or New York premieres—present a diverse global perspective on the Jewish experience. Several filmmakers and special guests will join in onstage discussions following the screenings.

Films include the New York premiere of Lukás Pribyl’s “Forgotten Transports: To Poland,“ which looks into the lives of Czech Jews deported by the Nazis to camps and ghettos in Eastern Poland’s Lublin region during the Holocaust. I've known Lukás since he came to Israel to interview and film survivors.

There will also be two restored archival films: (1947) "The Axe Of Wandsbek," (1935) Yiddish classic "Bar Mitzvah," with Boris Thomashefsky in his only film performance. The other films and documentaries:

"Saviors in the Night"
"Within the Whirlwind"
"Einsatzgruppen: The Death Brigades"
"The Jazz Baroness"
"Mary and Max,"
"Ajami"
"Eyes Wide Open"
"Ultimatum"
"Valentina's Mother"
"Protector"
"Berlin '36"
"Gruber’s Journey"
"Happy End."
"Gevald!"
"Chronicle of a Kidnap"
"Ahead of Time"
"Making the Crooked Straight"
"Human Failure"
"Leap Of Faith"
"Leon Blum: For All Mankind"
"A History of Israeli Cinema"
"Herskovits at the Heart of Blackness"
"The Peretzniks"

For details on each film or documentary, tickets and all festival information, click here.

Most screenings will be at the Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater, with other screenings at The Jewish Museum (5th and 92nd St.) and the JCC in Manhattan (Amsterdam at W. 76th St.). Single tickets are $11; seniors, $8; Film Society and Museum members and students, $7.

Sacramento: Southern Africa Jewish genealogy, Oct. 18

South Africa's Jewish history is the program for the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento, California, on Sunday October 18.

San Francisco Bay area resident Roy Ogus was born in South Africa and is vice president of JewishGen's Southern African Jewish Genealogical SIG (special interest group).

The meeting begins at 10am at the Albert Einstein Residence Center, 1935 Wright St., Sacramento.

The South African Jewish community is large. While we may not know it, many of us may have South African connections through ancestors who emigrated there.

Tracing the Tribe has located distant cousins there, and also confirmed that some relatives who came to the US kept up communication with their South African family.

From 1881 through the 1930s - the major emigration wave from Eastern Europe - many Jews, especially those from Lithuania, left for South Africa's economic opportunity and freedom. And many South African Jews again emigrated from South Africa during more recent political unrest.

Roy’s program will summarize key sources of documentation and genealogical information of genealogical value in South Africa, and how these materials can be accessed and researched. He will also provide an overview of South African history as a backdrop for discussion of Jewish migration to the remote area.

For more information, about the JGS of Sacramento, click here.

Zimbabwe: A shtetl in Africa

In 1894, 21 Jewish traders and former expeditionary force soldiers gathered in the tent of Messrs. Moss & Rosenblatt to form a congregation in Bulawayo, a sun-blistered town of tin and wooden shanties with roads that were little more than sand paths.

Dwindling from 7,500 Jews in the 1970s - about 80% Ashkenazim - today's community numbers only about 200. A small number of them are residents of the Bulawayo retirement home, Savyon Lodge.

In a Jerusalem Post article by David E. Kaplan, a July 11 reunion for former Zimbabweans in Israel may exceed the number of their countrymen back home. Some 700 former Zimbabweans now live in Israel.

Dave Bloom describes his community as a "shtetl in Africa," and believed it was time to "preserve the past before nothing was left or no one alive to tell the story." He started collecting material which is available here.

Bloom visited archives, made copies of newspaper articles, meeting minutes and photos. He found recordings with early Jewish pioneers, unpublished manuscripts and much more. Of Polish ancestry, he was determined to document all the Jewish graves in Zimbabwe; so far more than 4,500 headstones have been published and former Zimbabweans have contributed more than 250 family biographies.

Englishman Daniel Montague Kisch was the first Jew to feature in the history of Rhodesia. By 1860, he had become a prospector. "and so joined the expedition of diggers, mainly Australian, on the wearisome trek to a golden will-o'-the-wisp on the Tati Fields." Another English Jew was Moss Cohen.

Before its posting on Bloom's Web site, very few had seen Rosenthal's monumental work, commissioned by the Rhodesian Jewish Board of Deputies in 1949. Since its completion, it attracted little else than dust. "Very few even knew of its existence. Gems were coming out of the woodwork," Bloom told Metro. People all over the world were dusting off the past to reveal a treasure trove of Jewish history in central Africa, much of which is now available on his site.

There were also Sephardic immigrants. From Morocco, Marvyn Hatchuel; Behor Benatar from Rhodesia via Rhodes, as was the Alhadeff family.

Wandering off, Hatchuel continued, his father found himself pounding the port area of Alexandria. A ship bound for east Africa grabbed his attention and on the spur of the moment he bought a ticket to Mozambique. Disembarking at Beira, Hatchuel had insufficient money to pay for any further passage. So the young Moroccan followed the railway track and walked the breadth of Mozambique until he crossed over into Rhodesia and completed the last stretch to Penhalonga. "I believe when Behor Benatar saw my father enter his store, he nearly collapsed. Anyway, he gave him a job. At night and under candlelight Dad would sit with a dictionary and a newspaper and in that way taught himself English," Hatchuel related.

The reunion of former Rhodesians and Zimbabweans will be a brunch at 9.30am Friday, July 11, at the Ra'anana Lawn Bowls Club.

Read the complete article here and for contact information and reunion details.

Congo: healing a Jewish cemetery

There's an interesting French-language Web site about the Jewish cemetery of Lubumbashi in Elisabethville, a city in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire).

The site lists 219 burials; some entries include photographs of the gravestones. The names are both Ashkenazi and Sephardic. For the names, click here.

Click here to read how Vittorio (Vico) Levi and his son Robert have renovated the cemetery.

For photos of the cemetery before renovation, click here. For contrast, click here to see how the cemetery looks now.