Ancestry.com: New Jewish collections added

Searching Jewish ancestors? Have an Ancestry.com subscription? The subscription website has added four record groups from the American Jewish Historical Society (AJHS).

You'll need a subscription to Ancestry.com to view the records, although a name search is free.

What other Jewish records are on the site? View the entire collection here. [NOTE: This may take a long time to load; be patient]

Here are the new records:

-- WWI Serviceman Questionnaires, Jews and Non-Jews, 1918-1921, and Undated,
-- WWII Jewish Serviceman Cards, 1942-1947

Some 550,000 Jewish Americans served in WWII. The Bureau of War Records collected records on 106,000. There was also additional documentation from War Department records, newspapers, Anti-Defamation League, manuscripts, correspondence, POW lists and other documents. Remember that not all servicement may have filled out a card or questionnaire.

-- Jews in Colonial America, Brazil, and Surinam (1650-1850) (Oppenheim Collection),

Samuel Oppenheim took research notes from primary sources on Colonial American and  Brazilian  Jewry. Data includes names, dates, residence places and spouse data.

-- The New York Hebrew Orphan Asylum Records, 1860-1934 

These records were indexed by Ancestry to make them more accessible to researchers.

Do let Tracing the Tribe know if you've found records of interest in the new groups. This encourages researchers to check out new or updated resources.

Another relatively unknown record group on Ancestry is the Industrial Removal Office Records. The images are online, but there is no index ... yet.

The IRO helped immigrants through relocation efforts to find them work. Among its tools were networking with successful Jewish businessmen to offer the newcomers jobs. Some communities wanted specific trades, sometimes no trade was specified. Families went to towns all over the US. The records illustrate immigrant life and the road to assimilation.

The original records are at the Center for Jewish History's website and readers can search here for names of interest. This will show the box, page and entry number and then search here on Ancestry for those relevant images.

As we look for our relatives, the mantra should be "leave no stone unturned." Search whatever you can search and you might find some interesting information.

New York City: Jewish walking tour, Sept. 25

James Kaplan will lead a walking tour to important lower Manhattan Jewish sites at 1pm, Saturday, September 25.

The New Rochelle resident - a Wall Street tax and estates lawyer in his real life - has been leading walking tours for some 25 years.

According to Kaplan, "Jewish history in New York is Jewish history in America."

In 2004, he began developing a tour of key Jewish historical sites when he was commissioned to lead a tour for the 350th anniversary of Congregation Shearith Israel, the first Jewish congregation (formed in 1654) in what is now the US.

The tour will track Jewish history from the arrival of 23 desperate Jews from Recife, Brazil in 1654, to the role American Jews played in the establishment of Israel in 1948.

The tour - rain or shine - will take two-to-three hours and cover about two miles, starting at the point where the refugees landed and concluding at the Jewish cemetery on St. James Place.

Kaplan began developing the tour of key Jewish historical sites in 2004, when he was commissioned to lead a tour for the 350th anniversary of Congregation Shearith Israel, the first Jewish congregation (formed in 1654) in what is now the US.

On the tour is today's parking garage, where the refugees first established a synagogue on South Williams Street.

LowerHudson.com covered the story by Gary Stern.

For more details, read the complete story at the link above.

Brazil: Jewish immigrants to be honored

Brazil has set March 18 as a day to honor the country's Jewish immigrants, according to JTA.

The country is home to some 120,000 Jews, the largest Latin American Jewish community after Argentina.

The day will be known as Jewish Immigration Day.

On December 17, Brazil's vice-president Jose Alencar signed the bill and celebrated Chanukah with the local Jewish community in Brasilia. Rabbis, Jewish officials and diplomats attended the event.

The date is significant as it is the re-inauguration date - in 2002 - of the oldest synagogue in the Americas, Kahal Zur Israel in Recife. Founded in 1636, it was built during Dutch rule. When the Portuguese took over, the Jews left for the Caribbean islands while others found their way to New Amsterdam.

The bill was introduced by Jewish congressman Marcelo Itagiba, who said it wasn't easy to find a date reflecting the contribution made by the Jewish community to Brazil.

Washington DC: Jews of Brazil program, Oct. 20

The Library of Congress will host Daniel R. Pinto of the Embassy of Brazil for an illustrated lecture on the Jews of Brazil at noon Tuesday, October 20.

The free program is open to the public and is sponsored by the LOC's African and Middle East Division (which incorporates the Hebraic Section) and the Hispanic Division.

Pinto was born in Rio de Janeiro to Egyptian Jewish refugees. He attended Rio's French School and earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration from Candido Mendes University. Prior to joining the Brazilian Foreign Service in 1999, he worked in the tourist, health care and banking industries. He has been posted at the Brazilian Embassy in Washington since 2006, and follows intellectual property and trade policy issues.

The history of the Jews in Brazil is long and complex. Jewish settlers came to Brazil in 1500, fleeing persecution in Portugal in the wake of the Spanish Inquisition. Under Dutch rule, the Jews of Brazil worked on sugar plantations and were allowed to practice their religion. They established a synagogue in Recife in 1636, the first synagogue in the Americas.

Less than two decades later Brazil fell under Portuguese rule, which caused many Jews to leave the country. Some of these refugees fled to New Amsterdam (New York), founding the first Jewish community in America in 1654.

When a Portuguese royal decree abolished discrimination against Jews in 1773, Jews began to return to Brazil. By 1920, more than 7,000 Jews lived in Brazil. More than 100,000 Jews—less than .01 percent of the population—live in Brazil today.

The program will be held in the African and Middle Eastern Division (AMED) Reading Room, Room 220 of the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E., Washington, D.C.

Brazil: Sao Paulo Sephardic conference

Although this conference has now concluded (September 5-7), Sephardic researchers may well be interested in the topics presented.

It may be possible to contact speakers or obtain transcripts or recordings by sending an email here or here.

Speakers and topics included:

Daniela Levy – “Um Novo Porto, uma Nova esperança – De Recife a Nova Iorque”
Michel Gherman - “Sociedade Israelense – “Da Hegenomia Cultural ao Multiculturismo - O caso dos Judeus Mizrahim”
Israel Brajberg - “Irmãos de Farda- Heróis Brasileiros Sefaradis”

Academic forums:
Renata Rosenthal Sancovsky: “Origens medievais do Marranismo Ibérico”.
Lina Gorenstein: “A História de um judeu que se disfarçou em cristão novo: França, Portugal e Brasil : século XVIII”.
Eneida Beraldi Ribeiro: “A Família Nunes”.
Lúcia Mota Zimerman: “A Família Mesquita em Portugal e em terras de Piratininga – século XVII”.
Maria Izabel de Andrade: “Desmundo, de Ana Miranda: Uma história do medo no Brasil”.
Vivien Gonzaga: “Memórias de Sefarad: o Marrano como perfomance identitória”
Paulo Valadares: “De Abravanel a Zadeh: primeiros judeus sefaradis de São Paulo 1923-2008.”
Rachel Mizrahi: “Os sefaradis na Shoá”.
Alfredo Toscano: “Exílio e Marranismo – A obra de Elia Montalto, precursor da Psiquiatria”.
Daniela Suzana Segre Guertzenstein: “História Sefaradi do Iraque.”
Alicia Salama: “Os Chuetas”
Marília Friedenson: “Origem cristã nova de Cora Coralina”.
Anna Rosa Bigazzi: “De Antuérpia a Ferrara: a nação hebraica espanhola e portuguesa nos Estados Estenses no século XVI”.

Sephardic memories:
Clara Kochen: “Costumes folclóricos”
Fernand Hemsi: “Dichos – refranero djudeo spanyol”
Esther Aharonis: “Konsejas – narrações morais populares”
Alegria Nigri: “Sabores de nossas raizes” – degustação.
Sarina Kalili Worcman: “Sons de Sefarad” – colaboração de Marcelo Cohen e Las Kantaderas
Diogo Souto: “Os costumes sefaraditas através de seus provérbios”.
Cícero Adson: “La Sepharad Mikstika”
Maria Antonieta Cohen : “ O judeu espanhol como língua judaica e românica”

Two hundred years of Moroccan Judaism in Brasil:
Dr. Rinaldo Carneiro: “Do Marrocos ao norte do Brasil”
Luis Benyosef: “Imigração marroquina- Benjamim Benatar”
Álvaro Cunha: “Aspectos da narrativa oral na língua judaico-marroquina – Hakitia”.
Felipe Amaral Rocha de Menezes: “Os Contos Amazonenses de Leão Ezagui.”

Sephardic artists:
Daysi Nasser - escultora
Diana Dorothéa Danon- aquarelista
Dolly Moreno - escultora
Fofo Hemsi- escultora
Miriam Nigri Schreier- pintora
Ruth Sprung Tarasanchi - gravadora

Sephardic literature:
Berta Waldman: “O judaísmo sefardita em O Sr. Máni, de A.B.Yehoshua”
Gabriel Steinberg: “O sefardita de Amós Oz em A Caixa Preta”
Saul Kirschbaum: “Poesia hebraica laica na Andaluzia medieval: um caso de Assimilação Competitiva”.
Lyslei Nascimento: “Ancestralidade judaica, memória de Sefarad em Jorge Luis Borges”.
Nancy Rozenchan: “Representação contemporânea do marroquino na literatura hebraica”

Try emailing to the two addresses above to obtain more information on those speakers and talks of interest.

Morocco, Brazil: Making the connection

[NOTE: Brazil is the English spelling, Brasil is the Portuguese spelling.]

Chris Silver writes the Jewish Morocco blog, and he just experienced one of those serendipitous connections that could only be accomplished with technology making the world much smaller.

Nearly a year ago Silver wrote about the Jewish cemetery in Asilah, and mentioned two tombs he saw. One was that of Levy Roif who died in 1926 at the ripe old age of 110. Tracing the Tribe wrote about his visit to Asilah, so Chris let me know today about this new exciting development.

Last week, Chris received an email from Rinaldo in Brazil. It was a surprise that only the Internet could have enabled. Rinaldo is the great-great-grandson of Levy Roif and lives in Belem in northern Brazil.

Read Chris' story of this new connection here.

Rinaldo wrote:

It was quite a wonderful surprise to read about the location of the tomb of Levi Roif. He was my great-great-grandfather. His son Abraham Roffe, or Roif, emigrated with his family in the late XIXs [19th century] to the city of Belem, in northern Brazil where he died in 1931 and was one of the leaders of the local Jewish Sephardic Community. My grandmother, Miriam Roffe Athias commented about her grandfather Levi Roif whom she knew personally, lived almost 110 years old, and was buried in Asilah.

Rinaldo continued:

In the late XIX’s [19th century] and early XX’s [20th century] there was a massive migration of Moroccan Jews to the Amazon region during the rubber boom, they came from the cities of Tangier, Tetouan, Larache, Rabat and Asilah. The three sons of Levy Roif moved in the wake of that migration and settled in the city of Belém where there is a Synagogue since 1848. Around 300 Jewish Sephardic families still live there. The eldest son, Abraham Roffe, my great-grandfather came with wife and younger children. His eldest daughter, Miriam Roffe my grandmother, stayed in Azilah for a few years more, living with her grandparents Levy Roif an Honoria (The same name of my mother); she died in Belém in 1956.

Rinaldo sent Chris the only known photo in existence of Levy Roif, taken in Asilah, as well as one of the extended family in Brazil in 1922.

Read Chris's complete post at the link above and view the great photographs sent by Rinaldo and other photos Chris took on his 2008 visit.

Connections are made every day!

Brazil: Recife's ancient synagogue

Did you know that Recife, Brazil has the oldes synagogue in the Americas? Read about it in this story:

Flanked by bustling cafes in downtown Recife on Brazil's northeastern coast is a little-known treasure of Jewish history in the New World - the oldest synagogue in the Americas.

Sephardic Jews built the two-story Kahal Zur Israel Synagogue before 1641 - most likely in 1636 - when they enjoyed religious freedom under the Dutch, who ruled part of the northeast region from 1630 to 1654 to control sugar production.

The Mikve Israel Congregation in Curacao, a Dutch Antilles island in the Carribean, was considered by some to have been the first congregation in the Americas. But it was founded only in 1651, also by Sephardic Jews from Holland.

In the world's largest Catholic nation, whose best known icon is the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro, the Recife synagogue became an important symbol of the Jewish heritage in Brazil.

Based on old maps, archeological excavations uncovered the remnants of the synagogue, including the original Mikvah - a bath for religious ceremonies - under six layers of floors. The restored synagogue reopened in December 2001.

The synagogue is a fixture for tourists and its archives are perused by Brazilian and foreign scholars, whose studies are shedding light on the Jewish role in Brazil's early days.

"It challenges the stereotypical view that Brazilian culture is based on a tripod of Portuguese, [native] Indians and Africans," said Tania Kaufman, head of the Jewish Historical Archive in Recife, the capital of Pernambuco state.

"We now know Jews were a fundamental part of Brazil's cultural melting pot."

Records in Amsterdam and Brazil show that the Jews helped to build the sugar industry and infrastructure for the town, which at its largest, had some 1,600 Jews in 1645, the same as Amsterdam according to a Dutch historian. The story also details what happened when Dutch rule ended in 1654, the growth of New York's Shearith Israel congregation.

In November, an annual Jewish festival attracts some 20,000 attendees.

Read more here.

Brazil: Jews of the Amazon

Here's a Jewish Exponent (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) story on the Jewish history of Brazil and the first synagogue in the New World - Kahal Zur in Recife - in 1646.

And yet, although the Jewish community in Brazil numbers less than 150,000 residents -- compared to the total population of 185 million -- it has always played an important role in Brazilian life.

Professor Anita Novinsky, a specialist on Jewish culture at the University of Sao Paulo, says proudly, "Brazil was made by the Jews."

The association of the Jewish people and Brazil began in the late 1500s. During the voyages of Christopher Columbus, Gaspar de Gama (who was Jewish by birth) accompanied Portuguese Adm. Pedro Alvares Cabral to Brazil. Soon after, a 500-year Jewish presence in Brazil began, adding greatly to the history of the New World.

In 1645, there were some 1,500 Jews in the Dutch-controlled northeastern areas. By 1646, there were some 50,000 European Jews - mostly conversos. Many were involved in sugar mills and plantations. The Dutch had no problem with Jewish migration or the public practice of Judaism, and the community prospered economically and religiously with a school, charity fund and executive committee.

In the Portuguese area, Isaac de Castro was arrested in 1647 for Judaizing, deported to Portugal to be burned at the stake. In 1654, the Portuguese nine-year war began, eventually driving out the Dutch to Curacao, New York and Europe. The Recife synagogue closed in 1655.

Not until 1773 did the Portuguese abolish Jewish discrimination, and in 1822, Brazil became independent and more Jewish communities were established:

Belem, in northern Brazil, saw its first synagogue opened in 1824 by the Moroccan Jews. It was called the Porta Do Ceu ("Gate of Heaven") synagogue, and Manaus, a city on the Amazon River, had a Sephardic community by the beginning of World War I.

In southern Brazil, the Jewish Colonization Association formed the Santa Maria agricultural settlement in 1902, followed by other settlements; all were sold because of various difficulties.

By the beginning of World War I, there were 7,000 Jews in Brazil; these were joined by more than 30,000 Western European Jews around 1920. There were 20 Jewish schools in operation at this time. The numbers were later increased by the arrival of another 3,500 North African Jews.

The story brings Jewish history in Brazil up to the current day.

Read the entire story here.