Southern California: Orange County genealogy programs to begin

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles is expanding programming south into the South Bay area to reach genealogists who don't want to drive long distances into the city.

JGSLA' programming chair Pamela Weisberger told Tracing the Tribe that the the first two meetings scheduled will be:

-- Thursday, April 14
Warren Blatt (of JewishGen) will speak on "Abram to Zlata: An Introduction to Jewish Given Names" at the Toyota Car Museum of Torrance, 19600 Van Ness Avenue, Torrence, CA 90501.

-- Tuesday, June 14
Daniel Horowitz (MyHeritage.com's chief genealogist) will speak on Tuesday, June 14 about "Planting a Family Tree Online with MyHeritage.com," at Congregation Shir Chadash, 6440 Del Amo Blvd., Ladewood 90713.

Pamela says that more programming will be offered in Orange County and South Bay to reach more Jewish genealogists during the coming year.

For more information and directions, click on the JGSLA website.

Mocavo.com: New, free genealogy search engine launches

Claiming to be the world's largest free genealogy search engine, Mocavo.com launched today.

The tag line reads, "Searching billions of names in tens of thousands of free sources."

The world’s largest free genealogy search engine, says Mocavo.com, provides genealogists access to the best free genealogy content on the web including billions of names, dates and places worldwide.

The site seeks to index and make searchable all of the world’s free genealogy information.

According to the website, Mocavo.com discovers new sites every day. Sites currently searchable include genealogy message boards, family trees, state and local historical societies. Some of the well-known sites that Mocavo accesses include the Library of Congress, National Archives, Ellis Island, Find A Grave, the Internet Archive, various U.S. state archives, and large numbers of genealogy sites built by individuals for their own family history.

Mocavo links directly to the original content sites.

Dick Eastman and Randy Seaver have already posted about their experiences. Tracing the Tribe is contributing to the Jewish experience on the new site.

I usually start with my names of interest, TALALAY and DARDASHTI, moving onto the geographical locations important to this research, as well as other topics of interest. The website claims to enable the search of more than 50 billion words, so there must be something for Tracing the Tribe, right?

• There were 168 results for TALALAY and 1,757 entries for DARDASHTI.

The TALALAY entries included Ancestry board posts, conference entries and more. This search did offer a few new ones that I need to follow up on, and it saved me from what usually happens on a Google search, which produces thousands of references to cousins producer Rachel Talalay and her films, Dr. Paul Talalay (Rachel's father), the latex rubber Talalay process and broccoli sprouts.

The DARDASHTI entries included many for Tracing the Tribe, of course, but the others included many conference entries.

• My first geographical location -Mogilev, Belarus - displayed more than 1,550 hits, mostly from JewishGen's various pages, but aso including other sites. Some results need to be investigated more thoroughly.
• A search for "sephardic" - important for many Tracing the Tribe readers - produced more than 7,000 results, mostly from JewishGen. "Jewish Sephardic" brought out some 1,100. There were differences in the results.
• A search for "Tracing the Tribe," brought in some 71 hits, while "Jewish genealogy" resulted in nearly 20,000 results, covering a wide gamut of resources (JewishGen, Jewish genealogical societies, various archives, libraries, book lists, individual family history pages and much more).
• Searching merely for "Jewish," produced nearly 680,000 results. Among these were state history sites, message boards, state sites for Jewish archives, museums, JGSs, local history sites, cemeteries and many more.

Tracing the Tribe suggests you try it for your own "dot on the map" and surnames. Many more sites will likely be added and searches will produce many more results.

Mocavo.com also has a Facebook page, which Tracing the Tribe has "liked." I think you'll also like it.

Try it out and let your fellow readers know what you've found in your own search.

France: What's in a Jewish name?

Anne Morddel writes the French Genealogy Blog. She covers French Jewish genealogy in this post, "French Jewish Genealogy - Pick a Name - Le Décret de Bayonne."

The Revolution brought full citizenship to Jewish French on the 27th of September, 1791. Napoleon did not retract it (as he retracted the abolition of slavery) but he did issue an edict that has proved invaluable for genealogists (given above in the Bulletin des lois). With the Décret de Bayonne, issued on the 20th of July, 1808, he ordered that all Jewish people in France or immigrating permanently to France who did not have a fixed and hereditary surname be required to choose one.

These registres d'options de noms 1808 became a de facto census of the Jewish people of France (to be followed in some places by a real census a year later). The numbers are interesting. According to a list in the Archives nationales (code F19 11010) there were 46,054 Jewish people in France who chose permanent names. The majority were in the departments of  Bas-Rhin, Haut-Rhin (with some very legible examples for the city of Mulhouse), and Moselle. In each, the head of a family, usually the husband and father, gives for each family member his or her name, date and place of birth, and the surname and forenames chosen. The registrations have the appearance and structure of any other acte d'état civil in 1808. ...

To read the complete post - and to see the original decree (in French) - click here.

Thank you, Anne.

Lithuania: Discoveries, databases and more!

Tracing the Tribe is always looking for records for the elusive BANK family in Kaunas and environs.

My maternal great-grandmother - Riva bat Tsalel BANK - had relatives in Kaunas (known as Kovno back then) city and surrounding shtetls, as well as close family (most went to South Africa) in Kedainiai (Kedain). Tsalel's family lived in Petrniskey, Kovno gubernia, a community listed in the Black Book of Destroyed Communities.

While we know numerous bits of information linking the family groups, such as Riva's younger brother Chatzkel marrying Traina Leah, daughter of Tsalel's brother Gedalia of Kedain, and Traina Leah's contacts with her South African siblings, we are still missing much information.

When LitvakSIG announced the completion of the Kaunas Family List project, with 18 files (23,000 lines of data) added to the Kaunas Family List, I checked to see what was there. View the surname list here to see several files, disovering two BANKs in one file and 18 in another.

In the actual Excel spreadsheets of records, I discovered additional details for future research. As genealogists know, tiny details often lead to much larger discoveries, and the 18-name file provided clues to Taurage as well as Gaure (Rasainiai uyezd). 

The KFL list is important as information recorded came from various documents presented to authorities. It includes former shtetls of residence, details of extended families and confirms family details of moving to Kaunas or moving elsewhere. This may well solve some mysteries of history for some researchers looking for their Lithuanian roots in the area.

While LitvakSIG finds the information, it is the group's supporters and contributors who make it possible to hire translators and make the data accessible. Thanks to those who contributed, the project was completed in less than two years and researchers like myself have more to see.

Readers with ancestors in the Kaunas area should consider contributing to the Kaunas District Research Group for access to this important data. The minimum qualifying contribution is US$100, which provides access to the data which will not appear on the All-Lithuania Database for another year. All funds raised go towards translating more vital records for Kaunas , Vilijampole and tax lists for Kaunas district shtetls.

LitvakSIG is an independent nonprofit membership organization, with its All Lithuania Database and Daily Discussion Group hosted by JewishGen.

Kaunas District Research Group coordinator Dorothy Leivers is stepping down, and Ralph Salinger (Kibbutz Kfar Ruppin, Israel) is taking over. Well-known for his work on Jewish cemeteries in Vilkaviskis and Kalvarija, he's been researching his family for some 25 years, tracing them back to western Poland in 1732.

Azerbaijan: The Mountain Jews

Learn about the Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan in this issue of Tablet magazine.

Sarah Marcus' story provides a good look at this community.

Russia’s great expanse stretches south from the Arctic for many thousands of miles until it comes to a halt at the long spine of the Greater Caucasus Mountains. The republics on the northern side of the Caucasus, including turbulent Dagestan and Chechnya, still belong to Russia. Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia, on the southern side of the mountains, gained their independence when the Soviet Union collapsed in the early 1990s.

The high slopes are home to shepherds and the descendants of clans who have long lived there. Lower down, where sleepy towns look up from valleys to the snowy peaks, bigger communities try to scratch out a living.

The town of Oguz, Azerbaijan is about 4 1/2 hours from Baku, the oil capital on the Caspian Sea, where some 80 Mountain Jews live.

Mountain Jews, who speak Judeo-Tat (a Farsi dialect), live in Azerbaijan and Dagestan. Some 2,500 years ago they were exiled from Israel, passed through Persia and settled in the Caucasus.

Sitting in the dark-stone building that houses Baku’s Mountain Jewish synagogue, Semyon Ikhilov, the Mountain Jews’ national leader, shakes off the idea that his people might be descended from indigenous Caucasian mountain dwellers who converted to Judaism. “We’re real Jews who came out of Israel,” Ikhilov said, explaining that they acquired the moniker “Mountain Jews” because they settled in the peaks. “We were not mountain people.” And according to a recent genetic study led by researchers in Israel and Estonia, Mountain Jews share a common origin in the Levantine region of the Near East with other Diaspora Jewish communities.

At one time, there were 40,000 Jews in Azerbaijan, today, some 8,000-25,000. Although 90% of the population is Muslim, and the Russian influence is also felt strongly there, they are still praticing Jews.

“Last night we lit the Shabbat candles,” says 30-year-old Gunai Iusupova, sitting in the airy dining room of her wooden-balconied Caucasian house. “We said a brucha and ate salted bread. I served up food prepared fresh for Shabbat.” The garden outside was bright with pale pink and deep red summer roses. “And that’s not just us, that’s all the Jews here in Oguz,” she adds, explaining that although they may not observe all the rules of Shabbat precisely, Friday night dinner is sacrosanct.

The Persian influence is also not far away. A description of a breakfast here is the same as what we ate in Teheran: egg, salty cheese (panir), fresh bread, and thick homemade strawberry preserve. However, we preferred sour cherry (albalu) preserves.

Krasnaya Sloboda is a famous more prosperous Mountain Jewish village in the Caucasus, known for its rugs. Some 2,000-5,000 people live there. It was established as a Jewish settlement (mid-18th century) by Hussein, the khan of Guba.

Some of them now live in Israel, others in Moscow, and are successful businessmen. Many former residents return to visit.

Worshippers remove their shoes - a Persian/Mizrahi and Moslem tradition - to enter synagogues with carpet-covered floors

The story details political developments, restrictions on freedoms and religious groups and more, and the fact that the village is often showcased on tours to high-level foreign delegations.

Read the complete story and the comments at the link above.

Ellis Island: A rose by any other name...

If I had only one penny each time I've heard this story.

Do we need a national day to convince people that their names were not changed at Ellis Island? How can we convince people that the romantic myths in their family are simply that - a myth?

No one's name was "stolen," "changed," "Anglicized," "transliterated" or "translated" by an Ellis Island clerk, as stated in a New York Times story and reader comments (see below). Marion Smith of the CIS has always stressed that not one documented case of such an action has ever been found. It is strange that Smith is quoted in this New York Times story (see below) and did not provide that information - or wasn't asked the right question.

Passenger lists were compiled from immigrants' documents before embarkation. Such documents included ship tickets, passports or other travel papers. At Ellis Island, the clerks merely checked off the names from the list.

Every once in a while, another writer or publication - which should know better - stirs up the issue again providing misinformation. This time it was Sam Roberts and the New York Times.

Also perpetuating the myth is a photo caption in the story: An undated photograph from Ellis Island, where officials sometimes transliterated the surnames of immigrants. No, they didn't. The list was written prior to embarkation, and the Ellis Island staff included many who were immigrants themselves and who spoke nearly every language in the world. Since names were merely checked off the list, there was no opportunity to transliterate names.

However, as most genealogists know, there was nothing to prevent an immigrant from changing a surname the minute they set foot in the city. Some had previous relatives who had already changed the name an the newcomer adopted that name. Some were helped to immigrate by relatives and changed their surname to that of the relative who helped.

In my own family, four TALALAI brothers were brought to Philadelpha in the first decade of the 1900s, by their brother-in-law FEINSTEIN. They were so appreciative that they changed their surname to FEINSTEIN. We cannot find them, so if you know of any FEINSTEIN who were TALALAI, please let me know.

In 1898, when Max (Mendl) TALALAI arrived from Mogilev, Belarus, he had already decided on a new name. On the ship coming over, a fellow passenger who knew some English advised him to change it immediately upon arrival. "No one," he said, "would give a job to a Mr. Tell-a-Lie."

Max, the first relative to arrive, wrote home to Mogilev and Voratinschtina and told all the relatives that their new name was now TOLLIN. Most changed to that name after their arrival, although we do have some TALLIN, TOLL, TALL and TAYLOR.

And, of course, FEINSTEIN. A family joke was that perhaps they wanted a less Jewish name than TALALAI.

Other than perpetuating this myth, the story - "New Life in America No Longer Means a New Name" - is excellent as it addresses name changing by immigrants and the reasons why.

For many 19th- and 20th-century immigrants or their children, it was a rite of passage: Arriving in America, they adopted a new identity.

Charles Steinweg, the German-born piano maker, changed his name to Steinway (in part because English instruments were deemed to be superior). Tom Lee, a Tong leader who would become the unofficial mayor of Chinatown in Manhattan, was originally Wong Ah Ling. Anne Bancroft, who was born in the Bronx, was Anna Maria Louisa Italiano.

The rationale was straightforward: adopting names that sounded more American might help immigrants speed assimilation, avoid detection, deter discrimination or just be better for the businesses they hoped to start in their new homeland.

According to the story, the paper looked at more than 500 applications during June at New York's Civil Court. Only some six intended to Anglicize or shorten original surnames; most did it because of marriage, childbirth or other reasons.

Iyata Ishimabet Maini Valdene Archibald of Brooklyn changed her name to Ishimabet Makini Valdene Bryce. Guo Wi Chan of Forest Hills, Queens, changed his to Ryan Guowei Chan. And after Jing Qiu Wu, the Flushing, Queens, mother of 5-year-old Star Jing Garcia, divorced, she renamed her daughter Star Rain Wu, dropping her husband’s surname.

The US is much more diverse culturally than it was a long time ago, and there's less pressure to fit in. In fact, reminds the author, ethnic identity may be an asset for certain reasons, such as affirmative action programs.

In regards to the "name changed at Ellis Island" myth, Marian Smith, CIS senior historian is quoted, but not on this subject. Perhaps Smith wasn't asked the right question about that myth.

Now for the part of the story that the author and, in fact, the New York Times should have known better:

A century or so ago, some names were simplified by shipping agents as immigrants boarded ships in Europe. Others were transliterated, but rarely changed, by immigration officials at Ellis Island. Many newcomers changed their names legally, from Sapusnick to Phillips (“difficulty in pronouncing name, interferes with their business,” according to a legal notice), Laskowsky to Lake (“former name not American”) and from Katchka to Kalin (Katchka means duck in Yiddish and a particular Mr. Katchka was “subjected to ridicule and annoyance because of this”).

There's also a modicum of humor in the article concerning legal name changes. While most requests were generally granted, one case seems to have been simply bad luck as to the assigned judge:

... as recently as 1967, a Civil Court judge in Brooklyn refused to change Samuel Weinberg’s family name to Lansing “for future business reasons, such that my sons shall not bear any possible stigma.” The judge’s name was Jacob Weinberg.

The story continues and touches on some celebrities, ethnic individuals wishing to retain their names after marriage, easier names or spellings adopted.

Author Sam Roberts’s grandfather arrived as Samuel Rabinowitz, then Rubin and tchanged it to Roberts.

Read the complete story and all the comments.

France: What's in a [real] name?

Following World War II, Jewish immigrants to France were encouraged to change their names. Today, they want to reclaim their original surnames.

A Los Angeles Times story detailed this interesting occurrence.

In the post-war French Civil Code, a section indicates that surnames are "immutable" and must be continued. It allows foreign-sounding names to be changed to those more "French-like," but also states it is impossible to revert [to the original].

Following the war, during the 1940s-50s, many Jews - among them many Holocaust refugees - arrived in France. Most were poor and stateless and also feared anti-Semitism in that country which had sent so many to concentration camps.

According to the story,

There was no legal obligation for them to drop their family names, but they often were encouraged to do so. Many people agreed to new French-sounding names even when the new names bore little relation to the ones they had passed down through generations: So the Rozenkopfs became the Rosents; the Frankensteins the Franiers; the Wolkowiczs the Volcots.And Benjamin Fajnzylber became Benjamin Fazel.

On the face of it, it isn't much different than what happened in America and England, as immigrants anglicized their names to make them easier to say and to spell, to better "fit in" to their new home.

The one difference is that the immigrants to France were encouraged - if not officially required -to change their names. After what many refugees had been through, it wasn't something they wanted to fight.

The story focuses on Jeremie Fazel - a descendant of Benjamin Fajnzylber of Poland - and Celine Masson - whose original name is Hassan of Tunisia.

Says Fazel:

"It doesn't feel right," he said. "It says nothing about my family or our history."

Says Masson:

"I was born a Masson, but the name means nothing," she said. "It carries no history, it says nothing about my family, my roots, where we came from."

Masson has set up an organization called La Force du Nom (The Strength of the Name) with French lawyer Nathalie Felzenszwalbe — whose family retained its name — representing more than 30 French Jews who want to change their names to reflect family origins.

Last month the organization submitted its first requests for reversions of names to the State Council, which has said it will deal with them one by one.

Athough only about 30 families have requested the name reversion, change is in the air.

"Everyone needs to know where they come from. A family's name is part of the compass in life," Fazel said.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Seattle: What's in a name?

Marlene Schiffman of Yeshiva University provided an interesting session at the Association of Jewish Libraries conference on the historical impact of modern governments on Jewish names.

Focusing on Ashkenazi names, she covered the concept of "legibility," (a better term might be "visibility") or the identifying of a person, essential to the modern state. The phrase "name it - organize it" summed up the concept.

In 1843 Paris, other modern organizational tools were also used, involving language, uniform codes, registration, surnames, legal issues and taxes. "The object was to enumerate, register or conscript," said Schiffman, who stressed that this was not so much for personal identity but for state control. Thus, Personal surnames became important.

In Austria, Jews were given more freedom in the late 18th century and were also subject to the draft. They were required to obtain surnames from a list of German names, and even to choose given names from a list. While this was hailed by secular Jews, others considered it a conspiracy. Jews were integrated into the population.

In 1804, in multicultural Russia, a surname law was passed, even though Russian Jews tried to remain invisible to avoid the draft. As many genealogists are aware, many brothers in the same family often adopted different family names as another way of remaining "illegible."

In 1836, the Crown Rabbinate began keeping registers. In my own experience, the seven microfilm rolls of registers kept by the Mogilev (Belarus) crown rabbi have been invaluable research tools. Crown rabbis were later replaced with state rabbis, and by the 1850s, Jews and others were no longer invisible.

According to Alexander Beider, she added, there is no extant direct testimony of this or lists of surnames, there are evident naming patterns with Jews. For example, in Belarus, many names end in -in (Sorkin, Dvorkin, Belkin), deriving from female names (Sora, Dvora, Bella).

In 1857 Russia, Jews couldn't change their surnames. After they had finished their term of army service, they could take their godfather's name if they converted.

In Poland, Jews were assigned surnames at various times from 1787-1807. In 1821, when Poland was under Russian control, they handed out "certificates of names," which had to be carried and used for all civil or legal transactions. By 1824, most Jews had names.

In 1808, Napoleon forbid toponyms (those indicating a geographical location). Names from a list were adopted unless the name in question had already been used for a long time.

In Austria and Galicia, many names were pejorative or negative, with stories describing blackmail and bribes for a better name. The King of Poland decreed that each family was to have "a unique name" - unfortunately, it meant that six brothers may have required six different surnames. In 1787, names selected had to be approved.

Governments believed that standardized, permanent surnames would lead to greater interaction, would be more useful and help administration, track criminals and refugees. It was easy to identify Jewish names.

In Prussia and Germany, 1821 saw the acquiring of permanent names and citizenship for Jews. But by 1938, they could no longer adopt "Aryan" names. They couldn't change their surnames, had to return to non-German names, and also were required to add Sara or Israel to their given names, as identifiers.

Jewish names, said Schiffman, became Jewish "branding" in 1941, with the introduction of the yellow patch and tattooed numbers.

In the US, it was very easy to change a surname. Many immigrants did that as soon as they left Ellis Island, thus obscuring their origins.

The session conclusion was that modern governments needed to accelerate the control of population assets. When the naming process was complete, the government could see a specific group as a whole.

An interesting session, to be sure.

UK: Original Record site for Jewish research

Our international geneablogger community continually shares useful information.

Tracing the Tribe saw The Original Record spotlighted on Chris Paton's Scottish Genealogy and realized it might be useful for Jewish research. Thanks, Chris!

Although searches are free, scanned records are not - each costs £4-6. There are special rates for purchasing all records for a specific surname. 

Whenever I check out a new site for Jewish content, my fall-back search is COHEN - and there were some 472 hits.

When the search was complete, this popped up:

Buying all 472 results of this search individually would cost £2,548.00. But you can have free access to all 472 records for a year, to view, to save and print, for £100. Save £2,448.

This seems like a good deal. Only a little quibble: Perhaps Tracing the Tribe doesn't understand British humor, but paying £100 isn't exactly "free" access.

That said, however, the free access [at a cost of £100] gives you an entire year of access to all those scanned records.

Begin your search using the first two letters of the surname, such as CO or TA. You may refine that search by selecting a year range, such as 1570-79 or 1800-1809.

After clicking on the two-letter category, the next page will show all names in the database beginning with CO, for example. This may be very useful for those searching for unusual spellings. One of the first rules of Creative Spelling is to change vowels around within a name. You may also search using wild cards, a good way of finding variants.

As just one example (not from The Original Record, which had only one contemporary listing for the name) TALALAY has been found on passenger manifests, census records, and other record groups as TOLOLAY, TOLALEY, TALOLAY and many others among some 30 documented spellings of this seemingly very simple phonetic name.

Records including this quintessential Jewish name range from Official Papers (1697, 1700-02, 1703-4 ), Cambridge University graduates (1760-1846); Masters of Clerks and Apprentices as well as Clerks and Apprentices (1775, 1782, 1783, 1784, 1785, 1787, 1790, 1792, 1793, 1794, etc. ); Deaths, Marriages, News and Promotions (1776, 1777); Bankrupts (1786-1806), 1797 Universal British Directory provincial sections; Lawyers, law officers and clerks in London (1791); Traders and Merchants in London (1791); Deaths, Marriages and Accidents (1802-1803); Freehold voters (1802), Inhabitants of London (1805), Deaths (1808), Owners of Merchantmen [ships] (1822), Debtors, School students, Aliens Traced/Wanted/Apprehended By Police (1923), Convicted Criminals, Irish Medical Practitioners (1926).

And that's only some of what's on pages 1-38. There are a total of 48 pages of results, ending with a 1958 list of telephone subscribers in Cambridgeshire and elsewhere.

Searching for COHEN also produced such possibilities as COHAGNE, COHAN, COHANY, COHEM, COHEN-ANDRES, COHENI, COHENM, COHENNE, COHENS, COHEN-VANGELDEREN, COHGEN, COHIN, COHN, COHN', COHNE, COHNI, COHNREICH, COHNREIGH, COHNRICH and COHNS.

There were also COHEN variants including KAG (such as KAGAN) and KAH (KAHAN, KAHAINE), KOH (KOHAN), KOG (KOGAN) and others. As most researchers know, while it is likely many people with these names and variants are Jewish, that is not a guarantee.

On the other hand, having the opportunity to view so many historic 16th-17th-18th-19th century records, sounds like an excellent idea for those interested in Jewish genealogy and history. I wish I had access to them.

This resource will also prove helpful to Sephardic researchers, as it offers name variants for common Sephardic names, such as MENDOZA or PEREIRA.

Searching MENDOZA produced 52 hits (1540-1957), covering manuscripts, pirates, soldiers, spies, traitors, ambassadors, Netherlands, official papers, people in the news, apprentices and clerks, masters of apprentices and clerks, inhabitants of London, prisoners, social announcements, school students, police records and Navy officers. MENDOSA: four records (1540-1588); MENDOZE: one record, an 1854 bankruptcy.  MENDOUCA: one missing person/kin record, 1880.

Searching PEREIRA, produced 125 records, 1540-1958; PEREIRA-MENDOZA, three records,  (3, 1939-51; PEREIRAS, two records, and PEREIRO, one.

Yes, there was a TALALAY (our cousins who lived in London), but no DARDASHTI.

It is certainly worthwhile looking over the names and viewing the variants. A certain spelling of a rare name may provide a clue to your missing link.

Make sure to wear your Creative Spelling hat!

Colorado: WDYTYA mentoring workshop, May 16

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Colorado is offering a mentoring workshop on Sunday, May 16.

The workshop runs from 9-11am at Congregation Har HaShem in Boulder.

The US version of Who Do You Think You Are? has generated interest among many people new to family history research.

Watch episodes online - including Lisa Kudrow's own story.

Readers who wish to learn how to search for their own families are invited to this program, led by president Ellen Shindelman Kowitt and other JGSCo members.

Fee: free of charge.

For more information, click here.

Israel: Jewish Names, Esterson memorial lecture, May 12

Dr. Gerald L. Esterson z"l, an accomplished genealogist and researcher, was a longtime member of JFRA Israel's Ra'anana branch.

Among his achievements was the creation of JewishGen's Given Names Database, drawn from many sources and demonstrating the evolution of name variants. Jerry was always ready and willing to help anyone with 'brick wall' problems regarding mysteries of given names and nicknames; he always loved a good challenge.

On Wednesday, May 12, IGS/JFRA will remember Jerry with a memorial lecture on the first anniverary of his death.

Onomastics researcher Dr. Aaron Demsky (photo right), will speak on "Patronyms, Matronyms and Acronyms - Understanding Jewish Family Names."

The program will begin at 7pm with light refreshments and sharing of memories, with the lecture beginning at 8pm. The venue is Beit Fisher, 5 Klausner St. (off Ahuza), Ra'anana.

Fee: IGS/JFRA members/Esterson family guests, free; others, NIS 20. Reservations are essential as a large crowd is expected; email Ingrid Rockberger to reserve a place.

Demsky counts as one of his major achievements the making of the study of Jewish names (onomastics) into a recognized academic discipline in Jewish studies.

A Bar Ilan University (1968-2007) professor emeritus of biblical history, Demsky founded (in 1991) and continues to direct The Project for the Study of Jewish Names at Bar-Ilan University; he has organized nine international conferences on the subject.

He is now editing the fifth volume of "These Are the Names - Studies in Jewish Onomastics" (Ramat-Gan, 1997, 1999, 2002, 2003), and, in February 2010, his book "Pleasant are Their Names - Jewish Names in the Sephardi Diaspora" was published (University of Maryland Press).

Demsky is academic advisor to the Archive of Jewish Surnames, The Museum of the Jewish People (Tel Aviv); and academic committee chair of the International Institute for Jewish Genealogy and Paul Jacobi Center, Jewish National and University Library (Jerusalem).

He made aliyah to Israel in 1965 and holds a PhD (Jewish History) from Hebrew University.

Demsky's new book, is an anthology of papers on the subject of Jewish names by internationally-known scholars, researching Jewish names in various communities from biblical to modern times and presenting various viewpoints.

- THE SEPHARDIM AN HISTORICAL AND CULTURAL OVERVIEW FROM 1492 TO THE PRESENT - Moisés Orfali

- THE ETYMOLOGY OF SEPHARDI SURNAMES: ACHIEVEMENTS AND PERSPECTIVES - Alexander Beider

- THE JEWS OF BULGARIA: THEIR SURNAMES AS A MIRROR OF THEIR HISTORY - Mathilde A. Tagger

- THE NAMES OF THE JEWS OF MONASTIR (BITOLA), MACEDONIA - Shlomo Alboher

- JEWISH NAMES, SURNAMES, AND NICKNAMES OF NABEUL, TUNISIA - Victor Hayoun

- FIRST NAMES IN SEPHARDI COMMUNITIES - Ora (Rodrigue) Schwarzwald

- BIENVENIDA“BLESSED BE HER WHO COMES” AND AZEBUENA “DOES GOOD DEEDS” NAME-GIVING PATTERNS FOR GIRLS AND WOMEN IN THE JUDEO-SPANISH DIASPORA(SALONIKA 1492–1943) - Gila Hadar

- PERSONAL NAMES OF IZMIR JEWS IN MODERN TIMES - Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky

- PERSONAL NAMES IN JUDEO-SPANISH PROVERBS FROM NORTHERN MOROCCO (HAKITIA) - Yaakov Bentolila and Tamar Alexander

- VISITATIONAL DREAMS AND NAMING PRACTICES AMONG MOROCCAN JEWS IN ISRAEL- Henry Abramovitch and Yoram Bilu

- INDEX OF NAMES

The 338-page volume is $35 and available from University Press of Maryland, PO Box 34454, Bethesda, MD 20827; fax: 253-484-5542, or email.

JewishGen: ViewMate feature improved

Have a letter in an unknown language? Need help in deciphering a tombstone inscription? Require assistance in analyzing difficult handwriting?

Over the years, many researchers have used JewishGen's ViewMate feature with great success, uploading an image of their particular problem, and posting a message - detailing the required assistance - on the appropriate discussion group list.

The concept was created by Tracing the Tribe's friend Bernard Israelite Kouchel.

Users may upload letters, documents and photos for translation as well as to identify people, clothing, artifacts, and many other items. Images remain visible for seven days or 168 hours. They may be reposted after that time expires.

Click here to see archived images. As of today, there are 579 pages (20 images per page) of images, totalling  10,975 items. The first item in the archive was posted 14 October 2002. Set the archive to reveal 10-50 items on each page.

See the current gallery here, which includes requests for tombstone inscription translation as well as language translation for Yiddish, Russian, Polish, Hungarian.

Current images may be organized in chronological order, reverse chrono, grouped by category, new images and other parameters. Categories include: "Do you recognize," "Interpretation," "Photo Identification," "Tombstone," "Translation-Hungarian," "Translation-Polish," "Translation-Russian," and "Translation-Yiddish."

Please note that to post a translation or comment, you must be logged into JewishGen. But any visitor may see the Archive or the Gallery. To register (free) at JewishGen, click here.

On May 1, the ViewMate team, headed by administrator Sam Eneman and webmaster Gary Sandler, made enhancements to its look and use:

-- Changed to new JewishGen colors and page layout.

-- New, easier-to-understand navigation menu.

-- Support for new image types TIFF, PNG and GIF, in addition to JPEG.

-- Bookmark and share images and pages with more than 200 Web 2.0 tools - Twitter, Facebook, Delicious, Digg, Email and more.

-- Filter and sort images on the Gallery page - new ways to organize and view posted images

-- Rotate a full-sized image while translating - easier to read words in margins

-- Display time remaining for each image on the Gallery page

-- Updated FAQs for managing and editing submissions

Contact Enemean and Sandler with comments or questions.

Israel: Already preparing for 2014!

Every 10 years, the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy is held in Israel and 2014 is the next one.

The Israel Genealogical Society is already preparing a list of documents to convert into databases to be available at the event.

IGS webmaster Rose Feldman says that many families or parts of families immigrated to Eretz Israel. Some remained and built their lives in the country, and some moved on to other places.

Databases available now may be viewed here. Those which have been completely funded are available for viewing by the public.

The Montefiore Censuses are being prepared as a joint project of IGS and London's Montefiore Endowment.

The IGS is currently considering the following collections:

--  Names changes as published in the official government publication Yalkut Hapirsumim through 1954;

-- 1928 Pinchas Habogrim -  which is the equivalent of electoral lists of those over 18 years of age. Currently, they have been located in Haifa, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.

They are already working on some early 20th century Mukhtar Ledgers of Jerusalem's Ashkenazi population.

Readers who are aware of any other documents dealing with Eretz Israel covering the early 19th-century through 1930, are asked to contact Rose.

Florida: Share success, May 12

Researchers are often frustrated by brick walls and remaining gaps in family history, but we also love to hear about colleagues who have made considerable progress and to share their success.


Some 15 years ago, Tracing the Tribe was looking for relatives from Mogilev, who had settled in Detroit, Michigan. The strategy included sending out, via snail mail, a stack of letters to those with the same or similar names. The letter explained why I was looking for those family members and included my contact information. I received quite a few answers.

My favorite response: "I'm not a member of that family, but I do know them. Here's their contact information." While some may consider this strategy a long shot - only one good response is needed to find those whom you seek.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County - celebrating its 19th year - will hold its annual SOS ("Share Our Success") membership meeting on Wednesday, May 12. The day runs from 12.30-3pm at the South County Civic Center in Delray Beach.

The agenda includes a Brick Wall Session, election and installation of officers and the main program starts at 1pm.

Three members will share their successful research stories and explain the methods used to trace their families:

• Dr. Gary Stone will give a PowerPoint presentation "Barney's Story," a moving narrative of a family member who was responsible for bringing most of his family (more than 50 persons) to the USA.
• Dorothy Bernstein will share her research success finding family members despite the many changes in the spelling of the family name. Her persistence in searching for vital records enabled her to discover the various spellings were actually in the same family.
• Glenn Segal will discuss how to make successful research contacts through phoning.

The annual program provides a wealth of genealogical research information. It is always one of the most popular events of the year. Q&A follows the presentations; members are invited to discuss their own success stories.

For more information on the program, or to submit questions for the Brick Wall discussion, e-mail program chair Helene Seaman.

Ohio: Cleveland's cemetery database, May 5

Do you have roots in Cleveland, Ohio?  There's a new database that may help you document individuals of interest in some 71,000 burials from 16 Cleveland-area cemeteries.

The project was carried out by the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland’s Commission on Cemetery Preservation. The Federation staff person coordinating the project is Susan Hyman and she will be the speaker at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland on Wednesday, May 5.

The program begins at 7.30pm, at Menorah Park, 27100 Cedar Road, Beachwood, Ohio.

The topic is “Using 21st Century Technology To Find Your 19th Century Ancestors - Jewish Cleveland’s New Cemetery Database.”

She has been, since 2007, the Federation's Information and Referral Specialist in the Community Planning, Allocations and Community Services Department. In addition to helping those affected by the economic downturn, sharing information about community programs and services, her portfolio includes cemetery preservation and other areas as well.

On March 13, a story - "A new database helps Jewish families find graves of ancestors" - by Grant Segall appeared on Cleveland.com detailing the project and successes.

According to the story, genealogists in Cleveland and elsewhere are networking via computers to share and collaborate on family history.

A California woman slogged through Cleveland snow this month and found more than 50 family graves.

In a way, the snow helped. Ricki Lee Davis Gafter of San Jose used handfuls to moisten headstones and make the letters stand out in her photos.

Gafter got much more help from a new database compiled by the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland's Commission on Cemetery Preservation. A dozen volunteers, some of them from the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland, spent about six years compiling some 71,000 records of burials in 14 Jewish cemeteries and in Jewish sections at two other cemeteries.

"It's been really helpful," said Gafter, who spent a few days here in her hometown visiting the living and finding the dead. "My family came to Cleveland in the late 1800s, and no one knew where everyone is. There was no record."

Using the database, she discovered not just stones but facts. "I just found my great great-grandma, who I didn't even know had made it to the U.S. Now I know who paid for her plot."

While some area Jewish cemeteries are professionally staffed, others are run by volunteers and there are no burial lists.

The project brought together data from cemeteries, synagogues and other sources. In one example, someone had filled a scrapbook with Jewish obituaries.

There are some estimated 85,000 area plots, so the 71,000 records in the database offer a good sense of history. Volunteers will continue to expand and update it, and it is expected to be online in a few months.

If your family comes from the Cleveland area and you'd like more information, email Hyman.

JGSLA 2010: New programs, classes, workshops!

In addition to lectures, JGSLA 2010 will offer programs on maps, roots travel, films and filmmakers, classes and crafts.

"This year in LA" is the 2010 mantra for Jewish genealogists around the world.

Don't miss the early registration discount for the 30th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 11-16, in Los Angeles. Discounts end April 30, don't miss out. Go to JGSLA 2010 and register today.

Two fascinating speakers have been added to the program, and see further down for even more additions to the program.

Holocaust

USC Shoah Foundation Institute executive director Dr. Stephen Smith will speak on Wednesday evening, July 14.

He was founding director of The UK Holocaust Centre, the UK's first dedicated Holocaust memorial and education center. For this work, he was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.). Additionally, Smith co-founded the Aegis Trust, withe the goal of prevention of crimes against humanity and genocide. He chairs the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which organizes the UK national Holocaust commemoration.

A dynamic speaker, he is dedicated to bringing the Shoah Foundation’s survivor testimonies into the 21st century by making them accessible to a worldwide audience. His talk will address this topic.  The conference resource room will offer streaming Shoah Foundation survivor testimonies daily during the conference, beginning on Sunday, July 11, at 10am.

Sephardim

Professor Delores Sloane will discuss her new book, “The Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal: Survival of an Imperiled Culture in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,” a storyteller’s account of what happened to the expelled Iberian Jews who built new lives in exile after leaving what had been their home for 1,500 years.

Sloan believes that history is best understood through the experiences of those who lived it.

In 1996, she traveled through Spain and Portugal for five weeks, by train, bus and by foot, looking for footprints left by the remarkable Jews who had created a golden age of learning and discovery.

Her new book offers a compelling portrait of Sephardic Jews, who created a Golden Age on the Iberian Peninsula under Moslem rule for nearly seven centuries, and continued to advance science, medicine, political economy, government and the arts under Christian rule that followed. See the link above for more information.

Here's even more to absorb:

Maps and more

Ukraine and Galicia are on the menu with the famous Brian Lenius speaking on cadastral maps and landowner records; Alexander Dunai (from Lviv) on maps in the Ternopil (Tarnopol) archives; and Alexander Denysenko (from Lviv), on roots travel. Dunai and Seattle's Sol Sylvan will present how you can plan the trip of a lifetime. Other experts will be able to discuss roots travel to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania.

Films

Filmmaker, researcher and travel planner Michael Masterovoy of Moscow is flying in to  speak at the Belarus SIG luncheon (don't forget to sign up for this added event!). He'll speak about his recent trip to several Belarus towns, including Vitebsk, home to Movsha Shagal (AKA Marc Chagall).

He has created documentary and campaign videos for North American Jewish organizations and the film festival will screen several of his films, including “Brailov: A Town Without Jews."

In about two weeks, the complete Film Festival schedule will be online.

Arts & Crafts, Workshops, Classes

Frequent conference-goers know we all need breaks from lectures.

Some classes and workshops:

• Sunday, Lil Blume will offer a two-part workshop on “Writing Family Stories and Memoirs.”
• Monday-Thursday: Lynn Saul - “Creating and Retelling Your Family's Stories: A Participatory Writing Workshop;” Mike Karsen - “How to Create Your Family History;” and Marlis Humphrey - “I Couldn’t Put it Down! New Ways to Publish Family History.”

Crafts:

• A Tallit–making class will cover the history of the Jewish prayer shawl, the Hebrew prayer for the atarah (or collar), the aleph bet chart with various Hebrew fonts, images to stitch to decorate the tallit, how to tie tzitzit (corner fringes), and sha'a'tnez. (prohibition of using two different fibres in the same textile).
• “How to Create a Genealogical Quilt” using ancestral photographs as the artwork.
• “Pomegranate Jewish Papercut” session to learn the art of Jewish paper cutting, using scissors. References to Jewish paper cutting date from 14th century and it became an important folk art among both Ashkenazim and Sephardim in the 17th-18th centuries. Each participant will have a papercut that they can display at home. There's a $10 kit fee for the project materials.

Holocaust, Sephardim, maps, roots travel, writing, films and filmmakers, along with arts and crafts! No matter your specific interests, there will be something - and lots of somethings - for you.

Tracing the Tribe looks forward to greeting you in Los Angeles.

South Africa: Seeking Ochberg Orphan descendants

Genealogists are detectives, so here's a case many of us might be able to help solve.

David Solly Sandler of Australia is seeking 2,000 South Africans - the descendants of 60 Ukrainian war and pogrom orphans, known as Ochberg's Orphans.

Writes David: 

In 1921, Isaac Ochberg, representative of the South African Jewish Community, travelled to Poland and the Ukraine and brought back with him to Cape Town 167 "Russian, Ukraine and Polish War and Pogrom Orphans" plus 14 "attendants and nurses," mainly older siblings.

Half the children were placed in the care of the Cape Jewish Orphanage (later Oranjia) and half went to Johannesburg, under the care of the South African Jewish Orphanage (later Arcadia). Many children were adopted by Jewish community members, who contributed generously to a fund to bring the children to South Africa and care for them.

What's David's connection to Arcadia? Born in 1952, David grew up from age 3-17 at Arcadia, the South African Jewish Orphanage in Sandringham, Johannesburg. Now a semi-retired chartered accountant, he lives in Western Australia and has completed two books on Arcadia (see below for more information). For the history of the orphanage - established in 1899 - click here.

David is now in month 18 of the 27 months he's allocated to record the life stories of the Ochberg Orphans. Of the 181 children, the stories of 90 have been recorded, contact has been made with another 30, but 60 still remain to be contacted.

How did he arrive at this number? David believes - for the so far "missing" 60 - that each child was born around 1910, married and had three children, nine grandchildren and 27 great-grandchildren, thus there should be more than the estimated 2,000 descendants cited above. Of course, no one knows for sure.

However, what is really important in this story is that many descendants might not know their connection to the Ochberg Orphans. The children did not often speak about this and many tried to hide the fact from their children because of the stigma of being an orphan.

One descendant wrote, says David:

Today, as for the general South African Jewish community, half  of the 2,000 descendants likely have left South Africa and now live around the world in Israel, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and the US.

“The general attitude of the community was that it was a mitzvah to have adopted one of those poor orphans, a good deed in a dark world, but you really wouldn't want one of them to marry into your family, would you? After all, you knew nothing of their parents and extended family, their health history and their genetic background. This is a generalisation that isn't true of all the adopters but it was certainly true of a fair number, nervous, insecure, only to do nothing that would jeopardise their increasing prosperity and emergent social solidity.”

Here's the kicker - here are the names of these orphans. If you have someone with this name in your family tree, born c1910, there's a chance you might be an Ochberg Orphan descendant, so read the list carefully and if you find a name of interest, contact David (email below).

-- BARMATCH Sara, BARUCH Leya, BERNFELD Hersh,
-- CWENGEL Saul,
-- ELMAN Blume, ELMAN Jentl/ Izzy, ELSHTEIN Abo, ENGELMAN Jakob,
-- FREMD/FRIEND Max,
-- GARBUS /GOLDSTEIN Shmul, GAYER Chawa, GEBENCOL/GOLZ Rochel, GERYNSHTEIN Abram, GINSBURG Mintcha, GUBER/GEIBER/GRUBER Tcharna (Charlotte ODES),
-- H/GURWITZ Rosa,
-- ISRAELSON Chaim,
-- JUDES Rubin,
-- KAHAN Channe, KAHAN Golda, KAHAN Morduch/Mordche, KAHAN Shachna, KAILER Rywka, KAUFMAN Cypora, KAUFMAN Soloman/Shlama, KAWERBERG Mayer, KAWERBERG Mees/Moshe, KIGIELMAN Jacob, KNUBOVITZ Zlata, KREINDEL Rejsel, KRUGERr Rejsel, KRUGER Abram, KRUGER Jacob,
-- LIPSHIS Moishe, LIPSHYTZ Perel,
-- MARGOLIN Sara, MILER Braindel, MORDOCHOWITCH Gutro, MORDOCHOWITCH Estel,
-- NUDERMAN Gdalia,
-- OCHSTEIN Salomon, ORLIANSKY Abram,
-- PERRCHODNIK/PERECHODNIK Ussr, PINSKY/PINSKA Faywel, PINSKY/PINSKA Feyga (Birdie GLASER), PINSKY/PINSKA Maisha, PINSKY/PINSKA Zlata,
-- REICHMAN Abram, REICHMAN Chaim, REISENDERRubin, REKLER Leya, RINSLER/RINZLER Chaskiel/Chaykel, ROSENBAUM Leon, ROSENBLIT Gdalia, ROSENBLIT Szamay,
-- Y/J/SAGOTKOWSKY Jacob/Jacov, SCHTERN/SHTERN Szlema/Solomon, SCHWARZ Josef, SHTEINER/STEINER Chaskel, SHTEINER/STEINER Hersh, SHTEINER/SZTEINER/STEINER Isaac, SMITH Morduch/Mordche, SHTRASNER Feyga, STILLERMAN Hersh/Harry,
-- TREPPEL Jacob
-- WEIDMAN Sheindel.

David adds that by the end of 2010, the lifestories of some 130 of the children will have been collected. They will be included in a book to be published and sold internationally with all proceeds going to Arcadia and Oranjia, as are the Arcadian Memory Books.

Readers who recognize names of interest should email David for more information, or if you are a descendant and want your family's story included.

"100 Years of ARC Memories" (March 2006) celebrates the centenary book of Arcadia, formerly the South African Jewish Orphanage.

"More ARC Memories" (December 2008) is the sequel to the first volume, and includes 17 chapters on the Ochberg Children.

Together, the books total 1,100+ pages and hold the memories of more than 250 children. All proceeds go to the Arcadia Children's Home that still exists and looks after children in need. By the end of 2009, some Rand 365,000 had been raised and the target is Rand 1 million. The set of two books costs $100 plus $10 shipping (click here for more information).

Lebanon: Ashkenazi, Sephardi Beirut burials online

Jeff Malka, creator of SephardicGen.com, informed Tracing the Tribe that Beirut Jewish Cemetery data is online now at his site.

In 1948, some 24,000 Jews lived in Lebanon. Most of them were in Beirut. Today, there only 30 seniors.

Jewish community symbols in Beirut today are the Magen Avraham synagogue and the Jewish cemetery (with 3,300 burials).

Tracing the Tribe has previously written about Beirut and its Jewish community.

 During the Lebanese civil war, the cemetery was the border of  the Christian Phalange forces. Although damaged by bombs, it was never desecrated.

A Lebanese Christian, Nagi Georges Zeidan, has memorialized the Jewish community of his country by researching its history and creating a database, using both cemetery and civil registrations, with 3,184 gravestone inscriptions
.
Both Ashkenazi and Sephardi burials are included in the searchable database.

Click here for the English database and here for the French version.

Do check out the many searchable databases covering numerous countries and topics at SephardicGen.com.

Sephardim: The Portuguese story

Here is a new and fascinating book of great interest to Sephardim around the world. Unfortunately, it is currently available only in Hebrew.

Thanks to Ruth Almog for her Haaretz review of "Portuguese Jewry at the Stake: Studies on Jews and Crypto-Jews," (Hebrew) edited by Yom Tov Assis and Moises Orfali (Magnes Press and the Dinur Center for Research in Jewish History, 259 pages, NIS 89).

In the preface to "Portuguese Jewry at the Stake," Yom Tov Assis writes: "This is the first book in Hebrew that is dedicated exclusively to Portuguese Jewry, a subject that has been rather neglected by scholars in Israel. This book is designed to partly remedy the situation."

This extremely interesting compilation of scholarly articles does indeed reveal new facets of an extinct Jewish community. That said, it is not by chance that the study of Portuguese Jewry has been neglected, but because Portugal's Jews have in large part been lumped together with those of Spain, since the two countries, whose borders fluctuated throughout the Middle Ages, were both part of medieval Iberia.

There's a short description of how Portuguese came to be. It developed in the 11th-12th centuries following encounters between Galician and Lusitanian languages, and influenced by Arabic. Historically, Moslems conquered much of Portugal in 713. It was reconquered at the end of the 9th century and only a century later did Portugal separate from Galicia. In the second half of the 12th century, Lisbon was conquered when Portuguese were assisted by troops on their way to the Second Crusade. The Moslems left, the Jews stayed. At the time, estimates are of only 35,000 people in the whole country.

The Jewish history of Portugal is short, some five centuries:

The first Portuguese king, Alfonso Henriques (1109-1185 ), encouraged Jews to settle in the areas he had conquered. By appointing a Jew, Yahya Ibn Yaish (also known as Yahia Ben Rabbi), as state treasurer, Alfonso paved the way for his successors to employ Jews in financial and administrative positions. Ibn Yaish was not only "chief rabbi," but also the "chief cavalier." The king's heirs expanded the employment of Jews as administrators in the kingdom. So it was that during the reign of Portugal's first five kings, the situation of the Jews was good and they lived in security. The problems began later, but even during the period surrounding the 1391 pogrom against the Jews of Spain, Portugal served as a haven for the Jews of Castile.

According to Assis, the well-organized community (alfama) lived in its own neighborhoods was headed by a chief rabbi, was recognized by the crown and protected by the king. Persecution came from the church. The Jewish population increased and after the 1492 Expulsion from Spain, some 120,000 of them went to Portugal.

The Jews were never expelled from Portugal in 1496. Manuel I wanted to marry the daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, who demanded he first get rid of his Jews. He didn't want to lose them, but announced a plan for their departure. When the Jews arrived to board the ships, priests demanded they convert, and no one was allowed to leave. Thus baptised, the king could claim there were no Jews in his country and he could marry the princess.

Says Assis, most of the Jews became Conversos - converted under force - and the Jewish percentage there was the highest in Europe. Many of them succeeded in leaving and reaching other safe geographic destinations. There are the Conversos of Belmonte, whose matriarchal society has kept Judaism alive since the Inquisition.

Articles include:

-- Historian Elvira Azevedo Mea's "New Christian Women and the Inquisition" is based on her study of Inquisition files, which suggest that almost until the 20th century, it was the women in New Christian families who were responsible for passing on Jewish traditions.

-- Eric Lawee writes about philosopher and financier Isaac Abarbanel (1437-1508 ), during his Portuguese years.

-- Late historian Elias Lipiner deals with Jewish religious law problems that concerned the Conversos.

-- co-editor Moises Orfali's "Jews and Judaism in Christian Polemics in Portugal," shows how, even after Jews had "disappeared," accusatory writing against them did not stop. This article also relates the long reach of the Inquisition - into Goa, India (then a Portuguese colony) - where many Sephardim lived. In 1560, the Goa Inquisition center was founded and persecuted Jews, Hindus and Moslems.

-- Edgar Samuel writes about the Curiel Sephardic family over a century (16th-17th centuries) as some branches remained in Portugal, others went around the world, some were burned alive at the stake, others acquitted, some became devout Catholics and others became public Jews again in South America.

-- Historian Jose Nunes Carreira's "Portuguese Diaspora in the Near East (in the 16th and 17th Centuries ) in the Light of Travel Reports," covers the travelogues of Portuguese missionaries. He describes travelers who reported on meetings with Portuguese Jews in Aleppo, Tripoli, Basra, Cairo, Persia and Palestine. He includes clergyman Gaspar de Bernadino who says most Jews he met in Aleppo were Spanish speakers; he met Portuguese Jews in the Galilee, where there were more than 400 "Portuguese origin" households. The reports reveal that Sephardim were on the Persian Gulf island of Hormuz and Syria's community longed for Portugal. And he includes Frey Pantaleao de Aveiro, who discovered many Portuguese Jews in the Middle East (in Jerusalem, Galilee, Damascus and Tripoli). Aveiro wrote about Dona Gracia Mendes Nasi who leased Tiberias from the Turkish sultan in 1558. In Damascus, he met a man from Braga, Portugal, who had fled after his father was burned.

-- Claude (Dov) Stuczynski's article deals with religious identity and economic activities of the "New Christians."

Now we need the English version to make these articles accessible to the worldwide community.

Shanghai: A Jewish walking tour

Today must be Shanghai day!

Tracing the Tribe has covered gravestones, a film and now a Jewish walking tour of the city.

Take a look at this interesting city tour, covering seven Jewish-relevant sites, complete with a nice map.

For more, contact guide Patrick Cranley from Historic Shanghai.

The sites detailed, with photos, include:

-- An estate built in 1925 by a British Jewish trader, Ray Joseph.

-- The building where author Rena Krasno (1923-2009) lived with her parents, who came to Shanghai from Russia in the early 1920s. Her father was editor of "Our Life," a tri-lingual Jewish magazine; her uncle Gabriel Rabinowitz designed Ohel Moshe synagogue (now a museum commemorating Shanghai’s Jewish refugees).

-- The villa home to one of the most prominent Sephardic families, the Ezras, who owned several properties including the Astor House Hotel.

-- A luxurious apartment building (1936) built by and named for Ray and Hannah Joseph.

-- The Shanghai Conservatory of Music was the former Shanghai Jewish Club. Behind it is a German-style villa under renovation. It was the old clubhouse for a Zionist youth group, Betar.

-- In back of the Fudan University Eye, Ear, Nose and Throat Hospital is the original B'nai Brith Polyclinic building (1934), know in the 1940s as the Shanghai Jewish Hospital.

-- The Ezra family built (1934) an upscale residential community in Xinkang Huayuan.

See the complete article at the link above and see the photos.