London: 'Sounds of Silence' Lithuania exhibit opens May 5

A free exhibit - Sounds of Silence - is dedicated to the annihilated Jewish communities of Lithuania, and will open May 5, at the Spiro Ark Centre in London. It will run through June 17.

Hours are Monday-Friday, 10am-5pm. The Center is located at 25-26 Enford St., London W1.

Photographs capture the images of the cemeteries, prayer houses, and other buildings and sites, portraying the remnants of the Jewish golden age in Lithuania.

Attendees will learn about the Yiddish and Lithuanian names of towns and villages where Jewish inhabitants made up a large proportion of the inhabitants - if not the majority of the population in the 19th-20th centuries.

For more information on Spiro Ark, click here.

Philadelphia: Marion Smith to speak, Oct. 11

Senior CIS historian Marion Smith will speak on Philadelphia's role as an immigration center and the Red Star Line at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia, on Monday, October 11.

This special program is co-hosted by the JGSGP and the Gershman Y to spotlight the Borowsky Gallery exhibit at the Y.

The JGSGP meeting will begin at 7.30pm at the Gershman Y, 401 S. Broad St., Philadelphia.

Smith - Chief of the Historical Research Branch for US Citizenship and Immigration Services - will discuss various organizations and individuals who made their living from immigration to Philadelphia at the turn of the last century. The two presentations are:

-- "One Foot in America - The Jewish Emigrants of the Red Star Line and Eugeen Vn Mieghem," and

--  "Philadelphia's Immigration Business in the Late 19th-Early 20th Century"

For more information, see these links: Red Star Line Friends, and two Gershman Y links here and here.  information check out the following links:

Guests are always welcome. Fee: JGSGP members, free; others: $2.

The JGSGP - and the entire Jewish genealogical community - extends its deep condolences to Mark and Joan Halpern on the death of their beloved son, Jeremy, on September 2. May his memory be a blessing.

Contributions may be made In Jeremy’s memory to: Be The Match Foundation, 3001 Broadway Street NE, Minneapolis, MN 55413-1753.

In the story of Jewish immigration to America, Philadelphia and the Belgian city of Antwerp share a special link. Ships of the Red Star Line carried over one million Jews from Antwerp to Philadelphia and other cities. The artist Eugeen Van Mieghem captured many of them in poignant portraits just before they set sail - as they figuratively put "One Foot in America."

From government officials to steamship lines, local businesses to charitable organizations, each played a role in the business of immigration.

Wales: Jewish history, then and now

Bangor University research has revealed that Jews first settled in north Wales during the building of Edward I's castles, according to a BBC story.

According to the story, Dr. Nathan Abrams and Dr. Sally Baker have put together a touring exhibit of their findings, celebrating regional Jewish history.
Abrams would like to hear from anyone with more information on the Jewish diaspora in Wales.

(Photo: The Wartski family of Llandudno. Their business had a branch in London's Bond Street. See below for more.)

See the exhibit at Bangor University's Main Arts Building, 16-30 October, and in Neuadd Dwyfor, Pwllheli - just don't ask Tracing the Tribe to pronounce that! - 6-20 November.

Previous studies have focused on 19th and 20th century Jewish communities, but there is evidence that Jewish families settled in fortified towns like Caernarfon and Beaumaris back in the 13th century.

“I think because Jews were mainly used for financing at that period, they were there to assist with the castle-building programme,” said Dr Abrams.

“In 1290, the Jews were expelled from England, and a little earlier from Wales. This was right at the height of the building work."So I think once they'd fleeced them, they expelled the Jews and their properties were appropriated.”

The exhibit was funded by a £19,000 grant from Beacon for Wales.

From ancient history, the exhibit then looks at Eastern European immigration in the 1800s. According to Abrams:

“They travelled out from places like Liverpool into the Welsh countryside as peddlers.

“But eventually they set up communities first in Bangor, then in Llandudno, Colwyn Bay, Rhyl and Wrexham.”

Those peddlers moved on to renting small shops, and then owning large stores like Pollecoff's of Pwllheli and Wartski’s of Bangor and Llandudno, which boasted of being 'By Royal Appointment’.

According to the story, Isidore Wartski become the mayor of Bangor, and is believed have been the first Jewish mayor in Wales. The Wartski store even had a branch in London's Bond Street.

The area's Jewish communities have dwindled since the mid-20th century. Although there is no longer a Bangor synagogue, there is a small one in Llandudno run by Manchester's Orthodox community. During the summer, however, Abrams says there are notices in the Orthodox press of Jewish services being held all over Wales.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Latvia: Riga Ghetto Museum opens, Sept. 21

The Riga (Latvia) Ghetto Museum opens September 21.

More than 70 000 local Jews and nearly 20 000 Jews deported from Western Europe were executed in Latvia in the World War II. The Museum is located in the historical part of the city near the borders of former ghetto.

The opening of the first exhibit includes the names of more than 70 000 Latvian Jews who faced the Holocaust, with stones from the streets of Riga Ghetto. A photo exhibit includes anti-Semitism propaganda, Holocaust in Latvia, the Resistance and the Righteous Among the Nations.

Jewish history in Latvia dates back some 450 years, and a section of the exhibit documents this history.

According to director Rabbi Menachem Barkahan:

Riga Ghetto Museum is not just a museum. I do hope that it will become the significant memento of the dreadful events that occurred in the history of Latvia and should never ever be repeated again. The Museum is becoming a center of culture and education, a source of tolerance and mutual respect.

Earlier this month - on September 1 - a new Jewish calendar was released and dedicated to the history of Jewish development during Latvia's First Republic.

There is also a database with the names of Jewish children who perished during the Holocaust in Latvia.

Click here for more information about the Jewish Culture Festival 5771 in Riga, with a video and photos.

For more information about the community organization Shamir in Riga, send an email.

Canada: Southern Alberta Jewish Life

There's a lot going on - genealogically speaking - in Vancouver, British Columbia. Read on for information on a new exhibit, a workshop on photographs and subscription database access.

The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia hosts an exhibit based on Southern Alberta Jewish life.

"A Joyful Harvest : Celebrating the Jewish Contribution to Southern Alberta Life, 1889-2005" opens with a reception from 7-9pm, Thursday, August 5.

From 7.30pm, there will be three guest speakers:

-- Maxine Fischbein and Gary Averbach, both of the Jewish Historical Society of Southern Alberta, and
-- Dr. Moira Stilwell, MLA Vancouver-Langara

From their start as homesteaders and small business owners, Jewish immigrants have made their mark on Alberta society.

The exhibit's title is based on a line in Psalm 126: “Those who sow in tears shall reap in joy.” It is sung on festive occasions before the Grace after meals, and applicable to Alberta's Jewish immigrant experience.

The event will be held in the Sidney & Gertrude Zack Gallery Jewish Community Centre of Greater Vancouver. Refreshments will be served.

The exhibit will run through August 31.

For more information and photographs, click here.

Here's a head's-up on archives workshop at the archives and museum - "Caring for your family photographs" - set for Sunday, September 26, from 2-4pm. The cost is $25 per person. Jewish Historical Society of British Colombia members receive a discount.

Jennifer Yuhasz, MAS Archivist of the Jewish Museum & Archives of British Colombia, is the presenter.

Have you ever wondered what to do with all those old family photographs that are stored in drawers, shoe boxes, falling apart photo albums? Did you know that putting photographs into albums can actually do more damage than good? Here is your chance to discover and learn from a professional archivist how to save your family photos for future generations. Bring your photos and negatives to the museum and join us for a hands-on session.

To reserve a seat, send an email.

For Jewish genealogists in the Vancouver area, here's some good news:

The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia, together with the Jewish Genealogical Institute of British Columbia have announced that subscription databases ancestry.com, findmypast.com, and footnote.com, are now available free of charge in the Nemetz Jewish Community Archives Reference Room, during normal operating hours of the Museum & Archives. There is a nominal charge for photocopies, and researchers must make an appointment (two-hour time blocks) to access the databases.

For those who need assistance, JHIBC mavens are available to help on some Sundays, 1-4pm, by appointment.

Food: 'Jewish' in America?

[My traveling schedule has forced me to cut back a bit on posting -

everyone needs a few days to kick back.

Here's a post of a few weeks ago - but still delicious -

that was languishing in draft format]

American Jews are mostly familiar with Ashkenazi-based food products, both in supermarkets and at home. Have you ever looked at the shelves in a large Middle Eastern market?

When I'm in northern California, a favorite store is the Rose Market in Mountain View, a well-stocked bazaar of exotic Persian foodstuffs and kitchen essentials. If they don't carry a desired Persian product, it's likely not available anywhere!

Today I arrived in Los Angeles from Seattle. My schedule is tight with the 30th IAJGS International Conference of Jewish Genealogy starting on Sunday, but I'm still hoping for a chelo kabab meal at one of the great Persian restaurants here.

Attesting to the influence of the Los Angeles Persian Jewish community - sometimes called Irangeles or Tehrangeles - are the many kosher-certified products, from exotic ice cream specialties, baked goods, canned foods, dairy items and much more. These products are available across the US, wherever there are Persian or Middle Eastern shops.

It's a far cry from Eastern European gefilte fish to Persian faloudeh (a frozen rosewater-rice stick confection that's both delicious and safe for the lactose-intolerant!). Frozen confections - from little ice cream sandwiches encased in wafers, to large containers of exotic items such as creamy saffron pistachio or rosewater ice - bear the names of Golnazar or Mashti Malone's and others.

US supermarket yoghurt is too watery to the Middle Eastern palate. If you're a yoghurt aficionado, try some Persian mast (yoghurt) - I recommend the thick Ab Ali brand - perfect for making various summer salads with spinach (borani-esfanaj) or other vegetables. Ab Ali comes out of the container looking like thick stiffly beaten whipped cream. For those who want an even thicker type, there is mast-e-kiseh (literally "yoghurt in a bag," where the yoghurt is even further drained) which can be mistaken for cream cheese.

Another Ab Ali product is doogh, a carbonated tangy yoghurt drink, beloved by most Persians. It isn't to my taste, but watching someone shake it, carefully open it with a glass on top, is an experience. Those who love it claim it is very refreshing on very hot days.

Ab Ali, a natural spring, was a destination resort for picnics and barbecues outside of Teheran. My husband's family went there very often when he was young.

Persian breads are different and delicious. Instead of bagels, try breakfast-size nan-barbari (photo left). While the original version is a long flattish bread with ridges; the loaves are about 8" wide and may be more than 24" long, the breakfast size is about 4" by 8". Split it, toast it, spread with Persian-style panir (a feta-type cheese).


In Iran, the best panir(also sheep mik) was from Bulgaria and it came in large green or green-and-white cans. Here in the US, an excellent less salty, milder brand is Valbreso (sheep milk from France, photo right) is available in bulk and smaller portions. For an even more exotic taste, spread the Valbreso on your barbari and add some Persian halvah over the cheese. Yum! The combo of salty and sweet can't be beat!

Or, use a bit of butter on your barbari and add sour-cherry (al balu) jam. With a cup of fragrant steeped Earl Grey tea, this is heaven!

Feel like making barbari? Try this recipe.

When we visited Shiraz years ago, we sometimes stayed at the Park Hotel, with its lovely gardens. We enjoyed breakfast outdoors, amid the fragrant roses, with all the delightful essentials plus fresh watermelon juice. Who would want to forget those experiences?

Giving Jewish American food its due is a current National Yiddish Book Center exhibit presenting food-related artifacts reflecting the search for a balance between acculturation and identity.

The Jewish experience in America has been told in home kitchens and grocery shelves across the country. It represents the past, present and future from the early-20th century immigrant community through today and beyond. I don't know if the exhibit includes any references to the Jewish Persian influence, but that would be nice.

The Amherst, Massachusetts-based center offers signs, menus, ads and packaging from the collection of Rabbi Michael Strassfeld, and a Garden Cafeteria sign is on loan from the Museum at Eldridge Street. The exhibit runs through October 3.

Enjoy!

New York City: Hebrew manuscripts, books, July 1

The Metropolitan Museum of Art will offer three lectures on the art of Hebrew manuscripts and books on Thursday, July 1.

Lectures will be held from 2-5pm, in the Sacerdote Lecture hall of the Uris Center for Education. They are free with Museum admission.

The exhibit - "A Journey Through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books" - offers recent research in the field and is currently on view at Yeshiva University Museum.

-- "Hidden Treasure: The Intellectual Life of Medieval Ashkenazi Jews," by
Ephraim Kanarfogel, E. Billi Ivry Professor of Jewish History, Bernard Revel Graduate School of Jewish Studies, Yeshiva University

-- "Making Hebrew Manuscripts in a Gentile World," by Evelyn M. Cohen, independent scholar, New York

-- "Hebrew Manuscripts after Gutenberg," by Emile G. L. Schrijver, Curator, Bibliotheca Rosenthaliana, Special Collections, University of Amsterdam

For more information, see the museum website.

North Carolina: 'Down Home' Jewish life

North Carolina has a long history of Jewish life, much the same as in other states, as immigrants arrived to create better lives.

The first Jew in what is today North Carolina was metallurgist Joachim Gans of Prague, who arrived at Roanoke Island in 1585 with Sir Walter Raleigh's second expedition. A year later, Gans returned to England.

The North Carolina Museum of History's exhibit (through March 7, 2011) - "Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina," is the first celebration of this minority culture. Along with the exhibit and a book, a television documentary recently aired and a special school curriculum (for 4th and 8th grades) was developed.

The project, in conjunction with the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina, took about six years to complete, including oral and written histories research, as well as extensive records from the 1840s-1880s. In the project's companion book, author Leonard Rogoff writes: "The challenge for native and immigrant Jews alike was to become southerners while remaining Jews."

Two recent stories, in the News Observer and the Herald Sun, provide details of the project, exhibit and book.

"It was not always assumed North Carolina had a Jewish history or that it was significant," said Leonard Rogoff, exhibit curator and the author of a companion book published by UNC Press. "But we found it, and it dates back to 1585."

Jewish immigrants settled in ports, such as Wilmington - the first and largest Jewish community and the state's first synagogue. Jews served in the Confederate army. In the late 1870s, there were Jews from Poland, Bavaria, Prussia and the Netherlands as well as the native-born, living in Durham. Some 300 Jews were listed in the 1870 census.

In the late 1800s, Eastern European Jews were directed to the South by a Baltimore dry goods warehouse owner whose agents met immigrant Jews at the docks to offer them peddling. Many settled in North Carolina and graduated from wagons to permanent shops. Such chains as Family Dollar and Pic 'n Pay Shoes began in this way. Other families - Cones of Greensboro, Blumenthals of Charlotte - built factories and plants for a variety of items.

The museum exhibit is intended to teach non-Jews about their Jewish neighbors, and includes prayer books, kipas and a shofar (ram's horn). There's also a 1950s Jewish kitchen with a refrigerator and a pot of matzo ball soup on the stove, and visitors can braid challah or write down their own memories and family recipes.

Things weren't always so easy. The prestigious Duke University had a 3% Jewish quota in the 1930s-40s, and school organizations were divided along religious lines. Fast forward to 1988 and 1994, when two North Carolina Jews won Nobel science prizes.

Harry Golden - a former stockbroker and humorist - moved to Charlotte in 1941 and began publishing "The Carolina Israelite," which served as a pulpit for civil rights advocacy.

He is probably best known for his "Vertical Negro Plan," in which he recommended eliminating chairs to solve the problem of segregation. (Southern whites didn't mind standing with blacks, but they didn't want to sit down alongside them.)

The Herald Sun story quotes Leonard Rogoff, author of the book and exhibit curator, as saying the project has two missions: "To tell who we are. To tell how we are."

Visitors can see a seder table, an early immigrant's peddler cart. They are also asked questions to think about:

"Why do Jews need to study? Isn't belief enough?" and "If I'm a JewishAmerican, am I different than other Americans?" and "Why is it said where there are two Jews, there will be three questions?"

The first section - Keeping the Faith - asks a question that non-Jews might have:

"Is Judaism an ethnicity, a culture or a religion?" "Yes, yes and yes."

It also provides information on prominent families:

One area displaying merchants' information and photographs from over the years includes a familiar name in Durham: E.J. "Mutt" Evans, a 1928 graduate of UNC and the mayor of Durham from 1951 to 1963. His store, Evans United Department Store, was the only store on Main Street with an integrated lunch counter before integration. When a local judge told him that the state prohibited blacks and whites from sitting together in public, Evans took out the tools and raised the countertop to elbow height.

Detailed in the second article is the role of Jews in the tobacco industry. In 1881, Moses Gladstein in New York brought more than 100 workers to tobacco king Buck Duke's factory, where they were supervised by Joseph Siegel. Duke's competition, W.T. Blackwell, hired Joseph's brother David to bring workers to his factory. Although the Duke workers left following problems, Gladstein stayed. His brother, Louis, opened a men's clothing store which remained open until the 1970s.

The "Down Home" project took about six years to complete, including oral and written histories research, as well as extensive records from the 1840s-1880s.

"The challenge for native and immigrant Jews alike," writes Rogoff in the book, "was to become southerners while remaining Jews."

The book - "Down Home: Jewish Life in North Carolina" - is $35 (UNC Press). For more, read the two newspaper articles (links above), and visit the Jewish Heritage Foundation of North Carolina.

Vancouver, BC. Jewish Museum, April events

The Jewish Museum and Archives of British Columbia has April programs focusing on women's history and Jewish summer camps, and has announced a new book and a new online archive for a local Jewish newspaper.

The Women's History Fair will display more than 20 displays from museums, archives, historical societies, cultural groups, schools and more in cooperation with the Women's History Network of British Columbia. Jewish women pioneers are part of the exhibit.

The exhibit takes place Saturday, April 10, from 1-4pm, at the Central Library, 350 West Georgia St. Admission is free. It is co-sponsored by the VPL Special Collections, Herstory Cafe and the Vancouver Courier.

Michael Schwartz will present a curator's talk on the Home Away From Home exhibit which focuses on British Columbia's Jewish summer camps, on Thursday, April 15, from 7-9pm. Admission is free.

The exhibit runs through October 7, and includes hundreds of photographs from Camp Miriam, Camp Hatikvah and Camp Solomon Schechter. Explore the camp histories and view interactive displays including camp alumni interviews, photographs and songs. Visit Sunday-Thursday, from 10am-5pm.

Since the 1930s, the children of the BC Jewish community have attended Jewish summer camps in BC and elsewhere. They have learned about Jewish history and ethics, the history and politics of Israel, and developed a strong sense of community. When asked about their experiences at camp, alumni often say that their dearest and longest lasting friendships began at the age of seven or eight, in their first days at camp. The exhibit explores such lasting impressions and features an array of photographs, artifacts and interactive displays. Jewish Camps featured in the exhibit include Camp Miriam, Camp Hatikvah, and Camp Solomon Schechter.

Schwartz was a Camp Miriam long-time staff member and served as executive director in 2006 and 2007, and as programming director in 2005. He earned an MA in History (University of Toronto) and worked as a researcher and coordinator at the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre.

The Jewish Western Bulletin which changed its name to the Jewish Independent in 2005, has been the British Columbia Jewish community's newspaper since 1930. Currently, it is published 49 weeks of the year.

Originally labeled "The Organ of the Jewish Community Centre," the Jewish Western Bulletin was first published as a newspaper October 9, 1930. It superseded the Jewish Centre News, a publication that had existed under a series of names since 1923. Issues of the Jewish Western Bulletin and its precursor publications dating from 1923 - 2004 have been digitized using OCR technology and are made available on the Multicultural Canada website.

The project was made possible through the financial support of the Irving K. Barber BC Digitization Program, Multicultural Canada, the National Archival Development Program (NADP), Simon Fraser University and the THEN/HiER History Education Network.

A new book on sale at the Museum is the 50-year history of Camp Solomon Schechter, by David Michael Smith.

Established in 1955 by Rabbi Joshua Stampfer and his colleague Rabbi Joseph Wagner, Camp Solomon Schechter aimed to fill a gap by providing the Jewish families of the Pacific Northwest with the region's first kosher summer camp.

Its 156 glossy pages chronicles the history and life of camp with photos, illustrations and alumni experiences. The price is $10 (softcover), $12 (hardcover) plus S&H.

For more information, send an email, or view the Museum website.

Israel: 'Auschwitz-Birkenau Blueprints' opens Jan. 25

Sculptor Bernie Fink's Memorial to the Jewish Soldiers (1985) at Yad Vashem.

Bernie is a FINK cousin from Suchostaw and Skalat

(Austro-Hungary, Galicia->Poland->Ukraine).

His father went to South Africa from Galicia. (See below for more)

"Architecture of Murder: The Auschwitz-Birkenau Blueprints" is a new Yad Vashem exhibit opening on Monday, January 25, as part of a diplomatic symposium.

On display will be original architectural blueprints of Auschwitz-Birkenau, given to Yad Vashem for safekeeping last summer by the German newspaper Bild, published by Axel-Springer.

“The original plans detailing the construction of Auschwitz, constitute graphic illustration of the Germans’ systematic effort to carry out the ‘Final Solution’,” said Avner Shalev, Chairman of Yad Vashem. “We have chosen to display them to the public to illustrate how seemingly conventional activities of ordinary people brought about the construction of the largest murder site of European Jewry.”

Marking the 65th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz and International Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the opening will take place as part of a special symposium in the presence of dozens of members of the diplomatic corps - representing some 80 countries - and Auschwitz survivors, and with the participation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Among the speakers will be the Prime Minister, Minister of Education Gideon Saar, Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat, Holocaust survivor Ruth Bondy, Prof. Shlomo Avineri, Prof. Moshe Halbertal, Bild Editor Kai Diekmann, Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum Director Dr. Piotr Cywinski, Historical Advisor to the exhibition Dr. Daniel Uziel, Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council Rabbi Israel Meir Lau and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Directorate Avner Shalev will address the participants.

Also displayed for the first time will be the photo album of Auschwitz's construction. Other items include an aerial photo of Auschwitz from the RAF, the Vrba-Wetzler Report (authored by two Jewish Auschwitz escapees in 1944), quotes from SS men and Jewish prisoners describing the site and its murderous purposes, and a copy of the poem “Death Fugue” by Paul Celan.

The exhibit was curated by Museums Division director Yehudit Inbar. A traveling version of the exhibit will open at the United Nations in New York on Tuesday, January 26. Attending that opening will be Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Public Diplomacy Yuli-Yoel Edelstein, US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice, Israeli Ambassador to the UN Gabriela Shalev, American Society for Yad Vashem chairman Eli Zbrowoski, and the exhibit curator Yehudit Inbar.

*The Memorial

Bernie's work is dedicated to the 1.5 million Jewish soldiers, ghetto fighters, partisans and soldiers of the Allied forces who fought against Nazi Germany.

Six oblong, hexagonal blocks of granite are arranged in two groups of three. A Star of David - Magen David - is created between the hexagons, sliced down the middle by a stainless steel sword. The blocks represent the six million Jews murdered by the Nazis, the Star of David symbolizes the Jewish People, and the sword, the fight against the Nazis.

The Star of David and a sword is usually associated with the Israeli Defense Forces; the symbolism connects Allied Jewish soldiers and today's Israeli soldiers.

An annual ceremony is held on May 9 at the memorial, marking the victory of the Allied forces over Nazi Germany.

For more information, view the Yad Vashem site.

Museum of Family History: Jews of Asia

Tracing the Tribe is very happy to see a new exhibit at the cyber Museum of Family History - "The Jews of Asia."

Many Jews - both Ashkenazim and Sephardim - lived in various Asian countries.

Steve Lasky indicated that aspects of Jewish life will be presented.

The first offering is "Synagogues and Memorials." Although incomplete, viewers can now see contemporary photos from Hong Kong, Shanghai, Bombay/Mumbai, Cochin/Kochi, Rangoon, Singapore and Istanbul. More will be added.

The photo above left is one of the Sephardic Torahs from Ohel Leah in Hong Kong; some scrolls date to the 18th century.

On August 7, 1901, Abraham Jacob Raymond, senior member of E. D. Sassoon & Co, laid the foundation stone of the new Sassoon-sponsored synagogue on land donated by brothers Jacob, Edward and Meyer Sassoon. It was named after their mother, Leah Gubbay Sassoon.

In 1995, a modern Jewish community center opened next to it. In 1998, the historic synagogue (below) was carefully restored (at a cost of US$6 million) to its original form. It is a UNESCO Heritage Site.
Steve asks Tracing the Tribe readers to think about sharing photos they may have taken for places not currently listed. Reach Steve via email.

Tracing the Tribe has often written about Asian Jewish communities. Use the search box and plug in the city and/or country of interest and see what's already been covered here.

Tel Aviv: Lithuanian synagogues exhibit opens Dec. 17

An exhibit of Lithuanian synagogue photos will open at Beit Hatfutsot (the Museum of the Jewish People) in Tel Aviv on Thursday, December 17.

"Sounds of Silence: Traces of Jewish life in Lithuania" is under the auspices of the Embassy of Lithuania in Israel, and focuses on the remaining synagogues in the country. The photos were taken by outstanding Lithuanian photographer Raimondas Paknys.

Lithuania's Minister of Foreign Affairs Vygaudas Usackas will open the exhibit, which includes the lighting of the sixth handle of Chanukah. Tracing the Tribe has been invited and will write about the exhibit.

Other speakers include MK Ze'ev Bielski, Israeli-Lithuanian parliamentary group chair; MK Yohanan Plesner; Minister Usackas, and Markas Zingeris, Vilnius Gaon Jewish Museum director.

Washington, DC: Lincoln and American Jews, Dec. 13

Professor Anne Rubin, a Civil War expert at the University of Maryland, will present "Father Abraham and the Children of Israel: Lincoln and American Jews" at the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington meeting on Sunday, December 13.

The joint program - with the Jewish Historical Society of Greater Washington (JHSGW) - will begin at 12.15pm, at the Beth El Hebrew Congregation in Alexandria, Virginia.

Prior to the main program, there will be tours of the JHSGW exhibit, Jews of DC, which focuses on local Jews during the Civil War.

One of the most important events in our nation's history, the Civil War forever altered American life. Washington and Alexandria were sites of intense activity. This new, original exhibition tells stories of Jewish life in Civil-War Washington and across the river in Alexandria. Mounted as part of national celebrations of Lincoln's bicentennial in 2009, this exhibition includes images from JHSGW collections, supplemented by photographs from the Library of Congress and other local repositories.

Admission: JGSGW/JHSGW members, free; others, $5.

For more information see the JGSGW website.

New York: Jews of Spain conference, Dec. 5-7

The historic link between Spain and the Jewish people will be explored at an international conference - "The Jews of Spain: Past and Present" - set for December 5-7, organized by the American Sephardi Federation/Sephardic House.

The event, at New York City's Center for Jewish History, will bring together experts and scholars from the US, Canada and Israel, with the participation of senior Spanish government officials.

Renowned as both the historic birthplace of Sephardic culture, Spain was also the site of dark moments in Jewish history.addressing both the triumphs and travails of the Sephardic Jewish legacy in Spain.

The event is being organized by ASF with the assistance of the Consulate General of Spain in New York.

Saturday night's opening will feature a gala concert and dessert reception with Spain's Paco Díez, showcasing his voice, guitar, hurdy-gurdy, bagpipes, percussion and folk traditions from diverse regions in Spain.

The program covers contributions of Jews to Spain through scholarship, culture, the tragic medieval period, and contemporary issues.

Speakers include:

-- From Insiders to Outcasts: A History of the Jews in Spain - Prof. Jane S. Gerber (CUNY)

-- Yehuda Halevi, Poet and Pilgrim - Prof. Raymond P. Scheindlin (JTS)

-- The Challenge of Philosopy on Religious Thought: The World of Moses Maimonides - Dr. Albert L. Ivry (NYU)

-- Jewish Thought: The Mystical Traditions - Prof. Elliot Wolfson (NYU)

-- The Reconquista: Jews and the New Realities of Christian Spain - Prof. Jonathan S. Ray (Georgetown University)

-- The Unknown Jewish Artists of Spain - Dr. Vivan Mann (JTS)

-- Jews and the City in Medieval Spain - Prof. Eleazar Gutwirth (Tel Aviv University)

-- The Inquisition/The Expulsion of 1492 and Don Isaac Abravanel - Prof. Eric Lawee (York University)

-- Spain and the Jews Today - Enrique Mugica Herzog (ombudsman, Spain)

-- The Jewish Communities in Contemporary Spain - Jacobo Israel (president, Federation of Jewish Communities in Spain)

-- The Sephardic Heritage as a Living Part of Spanish Culture - Diego de Ojeda (director general, Casa Sefarad/Israel, Madir) and Assumpcio Hosta Rebes (secretary general, Red de Juderias, Girona)

A book will be published on the conference topics, documenting Sephardic heritage's deep roots in Spain. Translated into Spanish, it will be distributed throughout Spain to universities, libraries and other centers.

Tickets are daily attendance or a Sunday-Monday package ($95, with a discount for ASF members/NextGen members for $75). Fee includes a kosher buffet lunch each day. The Saturday night program is $35/$25, for concert and dessert reception. Reservation deadline is November 30.

The program is funded by the Edmond J. Safra Philanthropic Foundation. Other participating organizations are Casa Sefarad/Israel (Madrid); Red de Juderias (Girona), the Instituto Cervantes (New York) and The Catalan Center (NYU).

ASF/SH is committed to promoting this program to a wider Jewish and non-Jewish audience to enrich public knowledge about the Sephardic Jewish experience.

ASF has a library and archives exclusively devoted to Sephardic/Mizrahi topics and authors - the only one in the western hemisphere open to the public. Its mission is to collect, preserve and provide access to resources for the study of Jews tracing their ancestry to the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, the Middle East, the Balkans and the Orient. Click for the Online Catalog.

"The Jews of Spain: Past and Present" is a year-long ASF initiative. Other components include:

Exhibition: "Jerusalem and the Jews of Spain: Longing and Reality." Free and open to the public through May 2010.

Film Festival: The Sephardic Jewish Film Festival (February 4-11, 2010, New York) will feature selected films on Spain.

Lecture Series: Such topics as "Maimonides, Spinoza and Us;" "Daughters of Sara, Mothers of Israel;" and "The Jewish Presence in Contemporary Catalan Literature."

See the ASF site link above for much more information.