Cleveland: Fir Street Cemetery renovation, Nov. 3

The renovation of one of Cleveland's oldest Jewish cemeteries will be discussed at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland on Wednesday, November 3.

The program will begin at 7.30pm at Menorah Park in Beachwood.

The speakers will be Cleveland Municipal Housing Court Judge Ray Pianka, and the chair of the "Lorain to Fir Block Club" Jonathon Holody. The topic is "Community Building and the Fir Street Cemetery.

The two men spearheaded the neighborhood project to successfully renovate one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the city.

There is no charge.

For more information and directions, click here.

UK: Restoring Bankroft Road Cemetery

Activists, community leaders and politicans are supporting restoration efforts at one of Europe's oldest Jewish cemeteries, which was bombed in 1944.

The story includes details of the plans.

Architect and amateur historian Susie Clapham, alongside fellow activists at the Jewish East End Celebration Society, is trying to raise the estimated tens of thousands of pounds required to restore graves at Bankroft Road cemetery, located in Mile End.

She has also submitted plans to the Board of Deputies (BoD) - which has owned the cemetery since its closure in 1928 - for a memorial to some of the UK's first Ashkenazi immigrants.
Among those buried there are 19th century authoress Charlotte Montefiore, the sister of Sir Moses.

Clapham says the campaign has become a quest to put right 80 years of neglect.

Founded in 1811, there are 500 graves on the derelict site. The Board of Deputies has approved funds to build a pavilion on the site for education purposes.

"This will mark Bankroft Road being back in its rightful place as an important part of Jewish history and culture - and a yahrzeit to all 500 souls who lie silently buried in its overgrown grounds."

A fundraising campaign will be necessary, according to others quoted in the story.

Read all the details at the link above.

Israel: Birthright brings 18 from Suriname

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

The participants come from Parimaribo, Suriname.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Museum: Jews of the Gold Rush

Creating the Museum of the Jews of the Gold Rush is Victoria Fisch's dream.

Highlights of her latest update:

-- The price has dropped for the Hyman House, the proposed museum site. Three years ago, the price was $1.2 million; last week, $699,000. Victoria has asked her realtor to contact the selling agent and inform the home's owners of the plans for the building and her plans to solicit funds for the purchase.

-- The next step is to formulate a business, including a slide presentation which Victoria could present at synagogues in the Sacramento and San Francisco Bay Areas. Readers with connections to influential individuals who might have an interest in this project, should contact Victoria (see below).

-- Victoria is actively looking for a local Jewish businessman who could help her craft such a business plan. Readers who may be aware of such an individual - who may have the time and interest to partner with her - should inform Victoria.

-- Once she has the business plan and slide presentation, she's hoping to find people who will share her vision and actively participate as donors or board members in forming a non-profit foundation to purchase, renovate, and endow the museum.

Victoria is determined to make known the history of the Jews of the Gold Rush. Unless a venue is created to inform and educate the Jewish community and the general public, this history will be lost. Her passion is to preserve the history of the contributions by Jewish pioneers to this region, the US, and the world for generations of American Jewry.

She is the Northern California editor of the Western States Jewish History Quarterly journal, which is dedicated to chronicling and publishing Jewish participation in the pioneering and development of the American West, Canada, Mexico and the Pacific Rim.

For more information, or to help Victoria establish her dream, contact her.

Reunion: Dokshitsy diaspora, August 20-22

Are you a descendant of Dokshitsy?

Your destination this summer should be the Dokshitsy Diaspora Reunion, August 20-22, in Warwick, Rhode Island.

Aaron Ginsburg has been planning this for some time, and people are coming from Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York.

It's a chance to meet other descendants.

Speakers will include Eva Fogelman, who will speak on the psychology of remembering your Dokshitsy roots. A National Archives speaker is anticipated.

Also coming will be Joel Alpert. He created the Dokshity website and coordinated placing the Yizkor book English translation online. Another participant was born in the town.

The reunion will be held at the Radisson Providence Airport Hotel, with special rates for Dokshitsy descendants.

Visit the Dokshitsy Facebook Page here for more information or visit JewishDokshitsy.org for much more, including gravestone photos.