Boston: Finding lost families, Dec. 12

Tracing the Tribe has - over the years - discovered Talalay relatives in St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, Mogilev, Moscow, as well as those in the US, Germany and Israel.

It is always an interesting experience to reconnect with "lost" relatives, who each provide details previously unknown.

Finding and reconnecting lost relatives in the FSU and Russian Empire is the focus of the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston, on Sunday, December 12.

The program, featuring a panel of experts, begins at 1.30pm at Temple Emanuel, Newton Centre. There is no admission fee.

US descendants of immigrants from the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union report on finding relatives from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) and a recent Soviet émigré reports on finding descendants of his family who came to the US in the earlier waves of immigration.

Speakers include:

-- Aaron Ginsburg: A first-generation American; founder and president of The Friends of Jewish Dokshitsy. He spearheaded an international effort to help the local government of Dokshitsy, Belarus restore and re-dedicate the town’s Jewish cemetery. He recently organized a Dokshitsy reunion in Rhode Island (documented at Tracing the Tribe). He has been involved with cemetery restoration, shtetl and family history since 1995.

-- Yefim Kogan: Born in Kishinev, Moldova; emigrated from Moscow in 1989. Since then, his extensive genealogical research has enabled him to trace part of his family to the mid-18th century and to find relatives in the US who left Russia in 1906. Currently a graduate student at Hebrew College with a focus in Eastern European Jewish cultural history, he has presented on Jewish history in Bessarabia and genealogy at IAJGS conferences. He is a volunteer JewishGen coordinator.

-- Carol Clingan: A third-generation American, her grandparents came from Belarus and Ukraine. Over nearly 20 years of research, she has traced family back to the early-19th century and discovered relatives still living in the FSU. She is JGSGB vice-president and Program Committee co-chair.

For directions, click here.

Boston-area readers should mark this upcoming date:
-- January 16: Robert Weinberg, "DNA of the Jewish People, Similarities and Differences."

For more information on JGSGB programs, click here.

Arizona: Historic Jewish time capsule opened

The Jewish History Museum in Tucson, Arizona, opened its century-old time capsule.

The Arizona Jewish Post covered the event that attracted hundreds of people.

The capsule was placed under the building's cornerstone - then the Stone Avenue Temple - when it was built in 1910. It was the first home of Temple Emanu-El.

It was removed and opened by US Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (photo right. Credit: Marilyn Friedman/Jewish History Museum). Her father, Spencer Giffords, became a bar mitzvah in the synagogue.

The small metal box contained coins, a Masonic medal, old documents and newspapers from June 1910, including the Tucson Citizen and Arizona Daily Star, announcing that a bill for Arizona statehood (admitted February 1912) had been passed.

Speaking to the crowd before the box was chiseled out from beneath the cornerstone, Giffords noted that not only were Jews present in Arizona prior to statehood, they were involved in business, politics, education and “caring for the community.” Along with many of the other speakers, she remarked on the diversity of the Tucson community, noting particularly the participation of the Grand Lodge of Arizona Free and Accepted Masons — whose forebears had helped lay the cornerstone — in the day’s ceremonies.

Giffords wondered what Tucson would be like 100 years in the future.

When built, the structure cost less than $5,000, but more than $600,000 was spent to protect and preserve it. The building was effectively abandoned in 1999, prior to restoration efforts.
A new time capsule included histories of the Jewish community, and three congregations which began life in that building, a history of Southern Arizona's Holocaust Survivors, 2010 coins, copies of the Arizona Jewish Post and Arizona Daily Star, a flag of Israel, a US 48-star flag carried in the city on Arizona Statehood Day in 1912, and a copy of the day's events.

The cornerstone was rededicated by the Masons, who poured “the corn of nourishment, the wine of refreshment and the oil of joy” into the cavity.

For more information, click here.

Boston: Belarus Jewish history, cemetery restoration, Nov. 7

Boston readers with roots in Belarus should not miss the next program of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston on Sunday, November 7.

The meeting starts at 1.30pm at the Gann Academy, 333 Forest Street, Waltham.

Speakers Michael Lozman and Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild will provide an inside look at the history of Jews in Belarus and the work being done on Jewish cemeteries.

Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild, a Research Associate at the Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies at Harvard University, will speak on the history of Belarus’ Jewish community, noting that there was always a large Jewish population in that area of the world but that Belarus did not come into existence as a separate country until 1991.

Dr. Michael Lozman will speak about his work in protecting, preserving and restoring Jewish cemeteries destroyed by the invading Nazis and further deteriorated by neglect due to the absence of returning Jews as a result of the Holocaust. He and his team have to date restored ten Jewish cemeteries in Belarus, and have more planned for future years.

Fee: JGSGB members, free; others, $5.

For directions, click here. For more on the JGSGB, click here.

Heads-up:

December 12:
Aaron Ginsburg and a panel, "Finding relatives from the former Soviet Union."

January 16:
Robert Weinberg: “DNA of the Jewish People, Similarities and Differences”

Rhode Island: Newport's Jewish history

In 1790, George Washington visited Newport, Rhode Island.

A few days later, he wrote a letter to the synagogue members - Sephardim who had fled the Inquisition, settled in the Dutch West Indies, were expelled in the 1650s and came to America.

Congregation Jeshuat Israel (established 1658) is now Touro Synagogue (dedicated 1763), the oldest synagogue in America. It was designated a National Historic Site in 1946. In 2001, the National Trust for Historic Preservation selected Touro to become part of its collection of historic sites.

The letter assured Jews of full citizenship in the US.

Wrote Washington, “…the government of the United States… gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance… every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree, and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

Each year, the letter is read aloud in the synagogue; this year the date was August 22 and some 150 people gathered to hear the 63rd annual reading.

Following the reading, guests visited the Ambassador John L. Loeb Jr. Visitors Center, which opened last August. It is a state-of-the-art museum spotlighting Touro's role in the birth of religious freedom and contributions Jews have made to America. Loeb funded the center; his ancestors were among Touro's first congregants, including the first spiritual leader, Isaac Touro.

Guests also toured the Colonial Jewish Burial Ground, near the synagogue, where many founding families are buried. Perhaps the most notable is Judah Touro, a Newport-born philanthropist whose donation funded the restoration and maintenance of the cemetery, the second oldest Jewish cemetery in America.

For more information on the annual event, see the Rhode Island Jewish Voice & Herald for the story by Nancy Abeshaus. For more on the Touro Synagogue, click here.

Sacramento: Dating photographs, Sept. 20

What clues should you look for to determine when a photograph was taken?

Learn more about this at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento when Sandra Harris, a professional photographer for 48 years, will share tips to answer that question, on Monday, September 20.

The meeting begins at 7pm, at the Albert Einstein Residence Center, 1935 Wright St., Sacramento, California.

Harris and her husband operate the Harris Studio in Sacramento, provide photography services for families, children, weddings and other events; as well as copy and restoration assistance. She has presented programs to genealogy groups on how to care for and date old photos.

Clues include clothing, hair styles and even photographic props and posing. Harris is also knowledgeable about California History Room resources at the State Library and has worked for researchers in the US and abroad.

For more information, visit the JGS of Sacramento website.

Poland: Nowy Dwor Jewish Cemetery, Memorial Project

Ze'ev Shaked has provided an update for descendants and friends of the Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki Project.

At left, a broken tombstone excavated in 2009.

For more information and photos, click here.

-- Fence and gate construction is ongoing and will be completed next month. Rabbi Michael Schudrich (chief rabbi of Poland) and his assistant are working with the construction company to ensure work is conducted according to Jewish law and tradition. Photos are on the website above. http://www.nowydworjewishmemorial.com/

-- Ze'ev will be in Nowy Dwor in mid-October to view the completed fence and gates and distribute final payment.


-- During his visit, he'll meet with the contractor to discuss the scope and preliminary cost estimate for the memorial, meet with the mayor and the city of Nowy Dwor to discuss the project's second phase; additional tombstones will be excavated before and during his visit; and he will spend a day at the archives to look at more names and certificates. An idea for the memorial's design was received from an Israeli retired architect, and logistics and cost will also be discussed.

-- Beginning in October 2010, organizing committee members in Israel and the US will initiate a major fundraising campaign for the memorial and completion of the entire project.

-- The dedication ceremony in 2011 will be either Tuesday, July 26, or Wednesday, July 27. Ceremony details and other events will be discussed with Nowy Dwor's mayor. The plan is to commemorate the Jewish cemetery's restoration and the memorial, but to celebrate the town's Jewish heritage. Events being considered: Jewish pre-war klezmer music concert, a Sholom Aleichem play or "Fiddler on the Roof" (the play) in Polish/Yiddish performed by local high school students, guided tour to Modlin, boat sailing on the Narew, and other events. By next year, the town will have at least 200 rooms for visitors.

-- The committee plans to invite Polish government dignitaries, the Israeli Ambassador to Poland and possibly dignitaries from Israel, as well Jewish representatives in the US Congress. Some families to include to visit Auschwitz after the events. Ze'ev would like to see the participation of Israeli high school students.

-- The project was recently covered by two Jewish papers in the US; the articles are on the project website. Project members who reside in towns and cities with Jewish publications are asked to work with them to publish a similar article.

-- US Congressman Barney Frank sent a letter of support to Nowy Dwor's mayor.

For more information, to donate, to assist in some way, see surnames associated with the town, see the project website at the link above, and contact information with project leaders. Visit the project on Facebook.

Music: Golden age of Jewish music

There's nothing like the great cantorial voices or klezmer groups of the past, and a new set of recordings provides a glimpse.

The Wall Street Journal's Nat Hentoff, who usually writes about jazz, reviewed "Cantors, Klezmorim and Crooners 1905-1953."

There are links to audio clips:

'Unsane Toikef' - Cantor David Roitman -- 'Russishe Shehr' - Abe Scwartz Orchestra -- 'Mi Sheoso Nisim' - Cantor Berele Chagy --'Ich Bin a Boarder Ba Mein Weib' ('I Board at My Wife's') - Fyvush Finkel

The story reveals Hentoff's early encounters with jazz and Jewish music, including a hazzan in 1932, a klezmer band at a wedding, Artie Shaw (Russian-Jewish ancestry), Duke Ellington, Count Basie, and the legendary Jewish clarinetist Dave Tarras.

Writes Hentoff:

Still part of both worlds, I have many books on the musical and social history of jazz, including discographies. But until now I've owned nothing of substance on the nearly 6,000 Yiddish or Hebrew recordings released in the U.S. between 1898 and 1942, and especially the golden age of Yiddish 78s from 1905 to 1953.

From Klezmer clarinetist Sherry Mayrent's Yiddish 78s collection - Hentoff believes it is the largest in the world - this new compilation offers 67 tracks on three CDs, including 42 reissued for the first time.

Mayrent gathered her 5,000-and-growing record collection from diverse sources in the US, Canada, Israel, South America, Russia and other locations with transplanted Jewish communities. The University of Wisconsin-Madison will be home to the new Mayrent Institute of Yiddish Culture.

The collection includes several female cantors.

The CD's producer - and track note writer - is klezmer scholar Henry Sapoznik - who will head the new Mayrent Institute. Tracing the Tribe has posted several articles about Sapoznik and his projects (use the search box).

Some "names" mentioned in the article: Latvian-born (1892) Berele Chagy who arrived in the US circa 1909, escaping army conscription; the first klezmer group to record in the US - Elenkrig's Yiddishe Orchestra; star of the Second Avenue Yiddish theater Molly Picon; and Romanian-born Abe Schwartz's Yiddish swing band, with Tarras on clarinet.

Tracing the Tribe readers will remember actor and comic Fyvush Finkel from his TV roles in "Picket Fences" and "Boston Public," whose contribution here is Ich Bin a Boarder Ba Mein Weib ("I Board at My Wife's").

Read the complete story at the link above, listen to the clips, or purchase your own copy of the three-CD set (at Amazon, $25.99; or download the MP3 album,$17.98).

Happy listening!

New York: Oldest congregation preserves cemetery

The oldest Jewish congregation in North America - New York's Shearith Israel in New York City - has presented the first preservation phase of its cemetery on West 21st Street, in use from 1829-51.

The burial site has more than 250 graves of former members of the congregation. Many are unmarked, and were only recently discovered via a ground-penetrating radar survey.

The oldest known grave (1708) is that of Sarah Bueno de Mesquita.

The congregation was founded in 1654 by 23 Sephardic Jews. It houses archival material and artifacts dating back to colonial days and covering American Jewish life since then. It is planning an archive and museum center.

Members of the congregation paid important roles in the American Revolution. It was the only synagogue in New York until 1825, providing all community needs for more than 170 years.

Some famous members included: Reverend Gershom Mendes Seixas, patriot American religious leader during the American Revolution; Benjamin Mendes Seixas, Ephraim Hart and Alexander Zuntz, founders of the New York Stock Exchange; Commodore Uriah Phillips Levy, first Jewish flag officer in the US Navy; Emma Lazarus, distinguished American poet; Alice Menken, pioneer in social welfare work; Justice Benjamin Nathan Cardozo, US Supreme Court Justice; Judge Edgar J. Nathan Jr., borough president of Manhattan and New York State Supreme Court Justice; Dr. Henry Pereira Mendes, Rabbi of the congregation, founder of the Orthodox Union, Montefiore Hospital and the Lexington School for the Deaf; Reverend Dr. David de Sola Pool, Minister of the congregation, 20th century American Jewish life leading figure.

The cemetery site, about 80 by 120 feet, is also known as the Third Cemetery. There are 67 graves from before 1787; they were moved from the Chatham Square cemetery, the second oldest existing Manhattan cemetery, in use 1682-1831. The 11th Street Cemetery - between Sixth and Seventh Avenues - was used 1805-1830.

The initial phase included conservation and cleaning of tombstones, a ground-penetrating radar study to find unmarked graves, historically sensitive landscaping and new access pathways. Later work will focus on historic metalwork restoration and other items.

Funding for the first phase came from the El Ad Group and 21 LLC Corp. Future phases will cost about $1 million.

Click here and here for more information.

Poland: Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki, new names revealed

Researchers with roots in Nowy Dwor Mazowiecki should be aware of the project led by Ze'ev Shaked and Alan Knecht.

They visited the cemetery on June 7, unearthed numerous gravestones and added the names to their lists.

The Jewish community and cemetery date from the 17th century. During the Holocaust, Jewish gravestones (matzevot) were removed and used in road construction and other works, squatters had set up homes in the cemetery amid graves that had been opened and desecrated.

The men excavated the following matzevot (Jewish gravestones). Abraham Schul, who was born and lived in the town corrected the original list of names, copied below. I also discovered a few more corrections:

Gitel SEGALOWICZ
Sara Mindel Etke SEGAL
Asher MELMAN
Etke Lea RACHIMOWSKI
Szmuel Itzchak PERELMUTER
Bluma GRABMAN
Szmuel Baruch WAINSZTOK
Hana Lea GERSZWANE
Hana FINKELSZTEJN
Lea ZILBERTHAL
Hana Zelda ACKERMAN
Abraham Baruch BERNSZTEJN
Fajga Rivka KRONENBERG
Miriam Gitel KARCOWICZ
Hana Edel MAGID
Itzchak Baruch GRYNER
Hersz BRONSZTEJN or BORNSZTEJN
Perla HAIDELBERG
Miriam Yente SZKLANKA
Briandel ROTSZTEJN
Ruchama Rachel DOMB

There are a few additional stones (1880s-1930s), but the names are illegible.

Alan Knecht has posted pictures of some of these on the project's Facebook page (Nowy Dwor Jewish Cemetery Memorial), and has added additional information wherever possible. More will soon be posted.

Readers are invited to look at the images and see if they can add more information or make corrections to the transliterations.

There's another photo that the group is wondering about. Here it is:

Do you know any of the people in the image? If so, let the project know.

The project is dedicated to the desire to make sure that the Jewish cemetery in Nowy Dwor is secured and that the descendants of the Jewish community have a place at which to gather, remember and mourn.

The group's major accomplishment has been the start of the fence construction around the cemetery. They have raised $40,000 - with $10,000 from the Chief Rabbi of Warsaw.

Better news is that the city undertook - on its own - to dig up more stones while Ze'ev was there, which permitted more images to be photographed.

For more information, see the Nowy Dwor Jewish Memorial, where you can see a current list of names, a photo gallery, contact information and more.

Catskills Bungalow Heritage Museum

While many people joyfully remember their Catskill summers as some of the happiest moments in their lives, there is no physical, visual place to share those memories.

Many Catskill summer kids remember this sign (left). We may have been oblivious to lots of things, but that sign was good to see each year.

Some determined individuals want to change that and create The Catskills Bungalow Heritage Museum.

Phil Brown of the Catskills Institute (which archives information about the region), informed me about this new project

A meeting about the project - whose purpose is the preservation of the heritage and history of bungalow colonies in the Catskills - is set for 11am, Sunday, June 13, at the Mountaindale Firehouse, Mountaindale, New York.

All interested individuals are invited to attend and discuss:

-- Physical acquisition and restoration of at least three original period bungalows.
-- Presentation of furniture, objects, photographs and ephemera from era.
-- Preservation of the history of tenants and tourists of the bungalow colonies
-- Collection of oral histories of former owners and service businesses for the bungalow colonies.

The organizers are Allen Frishman, Evadne Giannini and Raymon Elozua.

We are interested in your ideas and thoughts about such a museum. And we seek support from the local community to develop an initial action plan. We ask if possible to put your thoughts in writing so that the committee will be able to review your recommendations at a later date. We look forward to seeing you there.

Since the 1970s, the bungalow colonies have suffered a severe decline as our nation's wealth and lifestyles have changed. Many colonies were abandoned, demolished or sold for development. In an encouraging sign, a number have survived and thrive today as religious groups seek the same benefits for their members. All in all, a miniscule few remain open for rent to the general public.

The organizers' hope is that the Catskills Bungalow Heritage Museum will become a destination point for families and children who once vacationed in these colonies, creating tourism that will contribute to the economic re-vitalization of Sullivan County.

If you are interested and wish to be kept informed about the project, or wish to share ideas or contacts, email the organizers (above).

NARA: Secret agent man!

Did you know that the US National Archives has a specialist Archival Recovery Team staffed by special agents and an investigative archivist?

This Wall Street Journal story centered on the special team's activities to find lost documents. You can read the official press release here, with a quote from Archivist of the US David S. Ferriero:

"Thousands of researchers each year have access to our nation’s priceless documentary heritage, using original records at National Archives facilities across the nation. This allows American citizens to see for themselves the workings of the Federal government and the accountability of Federal officials. These priceless records must be protected and preserved.”

Remember the film "National Treasure"? Kind of like that without the cameras and the popcorn. The official team tracks down lost or stolen items. Their new weapon is a Facebook page.

The top entry on the page:

Each month the US National Archives Archival Recovery Team will feature an item (or related group of items) that we need your help to locate. Be sure to check back each month, as this album will be updated to reflect the range of missing items we are seeking to recover. This month’s featured National Treasures: Missing... Item-of-the-Month for May 2010 is the Wright Brother’s Flying Machine Patent, consisting of 35 documents, last seen at the US National Archives in 1979. Please take a look and notify the US National Archives Archival Recovery Team if you have any information regarding the patent file's whereabouts.

Over the years, items have disappeared including Whitney's cotton-gin patent drawing, the Wright brothers' "flying machine" application and more.

Other missing items include presidential Civil War correspondence, telegrams, and objects such as swords, daggers, portraits and presidential class rings. View images and descriptions of the missing items.

Read the WSJ article at the first link above, and visit the Recovery Team's Facebook page.

Shanghai: Saving the stones

As is too often the case, Jewish gravestones are used for other purposes by people who live where Jewish populations no longer care for and maintain cemeteries.

Israeli journalist Dvir Bar-Gal, who arrived in Shanghai nine years ago, is the Jewish tombstone collector of the city, according to a CNNGO.com story.

Scattered in cauliflower patches, or sunken, mud-covered, in riverbanks, or sometimes used as washing slabs by villagers around the city, are the gravestones of old Jewish settlers of Shanghai. During the Cultural Revolution, the gravestones were uprooted, smashed and scattered throughout the region. The cemeteries have long been paved over, with no recognition of the bodies buried underneath. The stones that remain are like historical islands, isolated and disconnected from their past.

For Israeli photo-journalist and documentary maker Dvir Bar-Gal, a first encounter with a headstone in a Shanghai antique store has become a decade-long quest to discover their origins. And what started as a journalistic project quickly turned into a personal mission. “I got more connected emotionally,” he says. “There’s a lot of energy involved every time we flip over the stones and read the mud-covered inscriptions.”

Bar-Gal's quest, now called the Shanghai Jewish Memorial Project, has seen him journey to numerous rural villages around Shanghai. There, he’d find old tombstones in fields, along rivers, or used as construction blocks for pathways and walls. His plan is to discover and restore as many stones he can and then display them, as a shrine to this nearly lost aspect of Shanghai's Jewish history.

Stones have been recovered by the Shanghai Jewish Memorial Project from bike path bridges, fields and riverbeds. Bar-Gal interviews local residents and tries to put the puzzle pieces together.

Bar-Gal says there may have been some 3,700 Jews buried in the city, but couldn't find gravestones or cemeteries other than the pieces he discovers. He's found some 85 stones over the past 10 years. He's contacted families of the deceased and asked architects to design a permanent home.

A few years ago, American Lily Klebanoff Blake joined Bar-Gal and they went to the rural location where he found her grandmother's stone in a riverbed.

“It was still covered in mud but I felt compelled to show my respect for my grandmother by washing the mud off the gravestone,” she says. “Touching the gravestone, I felt an uncanny connection to my grandmother, who died when I was four years old.”

The recovered stones remain in a few places: a storage space, a Buddhist cemetery and the journalist's own gallery.

He has a network of people who let him know when stones are found. In March, a neighbor told him some stones were found in a western suburb and he found two new ones.

His inspiration comes from days like that, and he's working on various projects: a documentary (not yet funded), a book about Shanghai's Jewish history, and as a tour guide and photographer.

Yanhua Zhang, research director for a non-profit heritage conservation group, believes that a permanent home for the stones can help people trace their family history, and would raise awareness of the former Jewish ghetto.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Cleveland: Preserving photos, April 7

Professional photographer Rich Santich will cover copying and preserving old photographs at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland, on Wednesday, April 7.

The program begins at 7.30pm in the Miller Board Room at Menorah Park, 27100 Cedar Road, Beachwood.

Santich runs MotoPhoto in Shaker Heights and will demonstrate what individuals can do themselves and what can be done professionally.

MotoPhoto is a photo processing firm and provides other professional photographic services.

He will demonstrate how to copy and/or preserve old family photographs that researchers find among our family possessions.

Those individuals who are so inclined, or willing to learn, a few basic computer skills can often do much of the work themselves when it comes to copying old photos.

Others may be more inclined to have the duplicating done professionally.

Santich will cover the various options as well as offering basic tips on the preservation of historic family photo heirlooms.

Click here for more information on the JGS of Cleveland. Check out their online resources, such as grave photographs and obituaries.

Belarus: Dunilovichi 1834 census, cemetery

Artist and genealogist Susan Weinberg of Minnesota spent six weeks studying Yiddish at the Vilnius Institute and also visited Dunilovichi, Belarus, during the summer of 2009.

While there, she made a copy of the 1834 census for Dunilovichi, which has 375 entries and some 60 surnames.

Susan would like to have it included - to benefit other researchers - on JewishGen's All Belarus Database, but there is a cost to get the translation done. She has already created a ShtetLinks page for the town with extensive information (see link below).

Readers with roots in the area may wish to contribute to this effort.

Where is the shtetl?

It is 82 miles N of Minsk, 80 miles ENE of Vilnius, 18 miles WSW of Hlybokaye (Glebokie) and 16 miles ESE of Pastavy (Postawy). Interestingly, Tracing The Tribe had a TALALAY branch that lived in Glebokie for a short period of time.

Readers might know this shtetl by some of its other names: Dunilovichi (Russian), Dunilowicze (Polish), Dunilovitsch (Yiddish), Dunilavichi (Belarus), Dunilavicy, Danilevitch, Dunalovitch, Dunovitz, Duniloviche, Danilevicai, Dunilovicy, Dunilaviciy. It looks like this in Belarusian: Дунілавічы; in Russian: Дуниловичи; and in Yiddish: דונילאוויטש

She also visited the Dunilovichi cemetery, but it was nearly impossible to walk through as it was so overgrown and stones have fallen (see above photo).

Susan reports that there is now an opportunity to work with the Jewish Heritage Research Group of Belarus to arrange for an annual site clean-up, during which vegetation would be cut back and fallen stones lifted.

"We are fortunate that there is an intact cemetery in this shtetl as so many others have been destroyed," she writes.

Photos on these pages were received from Susan, who writes that she would very much appreciate the efforts of Tracing the Tribe and its readers to assist in both these projects.

The Dunilovichi site contains extensive information, including name lists, gravestones, families, maps, photographs and more.

Contact Susan directly for more information.

She researches and paints her family history, which focuses on Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. During her Vilnius summer, she conducted research in the archives and traveled to her family's Belarus shtetls.

Since her return, Susan has created Shtetlink websites for Dunilovichi and Radom, published an article in Avotaynu and is now developing a body of artwork based on her travels. Her art addresses family history themes through painting and collage. She also does genealogy consulting and lectures frequently on genealogy topics.

Additionally, Susan is a geneablogger - see her Layers of the Onion: A Family History Exploration. She began blogging last summer when she studied Yiddish at the Vilnius Yiddish Institute for six weeks.

ShtetlLinks: New, updated pages

JewishGen ShtetLinks has added new and updated pages that serve as memorials to the Jewish communities that once lived in those places. The sites also provide resources for future generations of descendants.

N =new page
U = updated page

UKRAINE

N - Chumal'ovo (Csmolif)
Helen Ganz Kastenbaum

N - Yurovshchina (Labun)
Emily Garber

AUSTRIA

N - Lackenbach (Lakompak)
Yohanan Loeffler

BELARUS

N - Lebedevo (Lebiedzieva)
Eilat Gordin Levitan, WebPage design, Judith Goldsmith

MOLDOVA

N - Leova
Rennie M. Salz

POLAND

N - Pultusk (Pultosk, Ostenburg)
Stanley Finkelstein

N - Radom
Susan Weinberg

N - Rawa Mazowiecka
Merav Shub

HUNGARY

N - Sarvar (Savar)
Anne-Marie Pollowy Toliver

U - Bodrogkeresztur

Readers who wish to create a ShtetLinks webpage for their ancestral shtetl or to adopt an orphaned shtetlpage should contact Susana Leistner Bloch, VP ShtetLinks. Volunteers are available to help create these webpages.

Cairo: Rededication, Maimonides synagogue, March 7-9

Yves Fedida of the International Nebi Daniel Association has announced the dedication of the restored Moses Maimonides (Rab Moshe) Cairo Synagogue and Yeshiva on March 7-9, in Cairo, Egypt.

The event is by invitation only. Read below to learn how to request an invitation.

See a video (9:47 minutes) on the Maimonides project and visit the association's website, available in several languages.

Learn about the synagogues of Egypt here. To see a short video on Alexandria's synagogues, click here. This is the El Nabi Daniel synagogue in Alexandria:

Cairo's Rabbi Moshe complex - and another nine synagogues in Egypt - are historical heritage sites under the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities.

Through an extensive restoration program, the Supreme Council of Antiquities - with the help of the Jewish Community of Cairo - has completed the renovation of the Maimonides complex.

The rooms have niches where, until recently, sick people of all faiths and genders would spend the night praying for recovery or fertility.

The synagogue adjacent to these rooms was built in the early 19th-century. The yeshiva suffered recurring flooding from underground water and the synagogue was badly damaged in the 1992 earthquake. The restoration has been a painstaking effort returning the compound as faithfully as possible to its original splendour .

The three-day event program includes visits to synagogues and cemeteries, music presentations, history talks, refreshments, brunches and dinners.

- Dinner in the communal centre of the main Synagogue, Shaar Hashamayim, built in the early 20th-century and faithfully restored in its rich decorations.

- Visit to Fostat (Old Cairo) where the oldest remaining synagogue in Egypt stands, believed to have been first built around 340BC.

The pre-Islamic Ben Ezra Synagogue which has also been perfectly restored was the synagogue where Rab Moshe prayed and held services as the head of the Jewish community of the time. The famous Geniza Papers were found at the Ben Ezra Synagogue and the new Geniza museum in the Ben Ezra complex has a number of reproductions of these papers.

- A visit to the also recently restored Moussa Dar’i Synagogue built by the Karaite community in the 1920s. It features Art Deco lotus flower columns and an imposing dome.

- Finally, a visit to the Jewish cemetery at Bassatine, in the southeast outskirts of Cairo, a vast site that has not been easy to maintain.

The Jewish Community of Cairo has made heroic efforts to defend it against a highway overpass and squatters’ buildings which have encroached on the territory itself. Most of the marble tombstones have been stolen in 1967 so that the majority of the tombs are today unidentifiable. However, the Cairo Community has built a perimeter wall and continues to landscape the cemetery and guard it against vandals. It maintains a list of a number of tombs that have been identified.

Events on Sunday, March 7 start at 2pm at the complex, with a presentation, Ladino music, prayer, refreshments, history of Maimonides, history of Jews in Egypt, Arabic songs and a program by the Supreme Council of Antiquities. At 6pm, attendess will have an oriental Egyptian dinner at the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue.

On Monday, March 8, attend a meeting at the Ben Ezra Synagogue, a presentation on Maimonides and his letters discovered in the Genizah, and brunch, followed in the evening by a 9pm dinner reception.

On Tuesday, March 9, attendees will visit the restored Karaite Synagogue, hear the community history. There will be optional tours of other synagogues and the Bassatine Cemetery.

Attendance is by invitation only, which can be applied for from the Cairo Jewish community. Email here or here for more information.

Egypt: More Jewish restoration projects

In an article forecasting announcements of major archaeological discoveries in Egypt, mention is made of additional restoration projects for Jewish sites in that country.

The story appeared on BikyaMasr.com.

Zahi Hawass, Egyptian Supreme Council for Antiquities secretary general, noted that these announcements will be made over the next three months.

Most importantly for Tracing the Tribe readers, he said that Egypt is currently working on the “restoration of Jewish temples, including three temples and the restoration of five other temples would start soon.”

Other topics addressed were DNA test results on the lineage of Tutankhamun:

“Egypt will announce the secrets of the family and lineage of Tutankhamun on the 17th of February in the Egyptian Museum through the announcement of results of scientific tests conducted on the mummy of the king after the completion of DNA analysis and CT scan.”

Other announcements to be made soon will include important discoveries in the area of Saqqara and the Pyramids. Robots will be sent into the corridors of the Great Pyramid of King Khufu.

Hawass added that the Council's work on antiquity restoration includes Pharaonic, Coptic, Jewish and Muslim within the cultural heritage of Egypt, such as the Coptic monastery of St. Anthony and restoration of Cairo's Hanging Church.

Read the complete article for much more.

London: Romanian synagogue exhibit opens Feb. 3

London's Spiro Ark will open a photo exhibition - The Last Jew of Sighisoara and Transylvanian Synagogues - on Wednesday, February 3.

The exhibit will be of interest to those researching Romania or in the restoration of Eastern European Jewish sites in Eastern Europe. The synagogues in the photographs - where Jews are no more - will become Jewish historical and cultural centres.

The exhibit opening will include a talk by Jessica Douglas-Home on the Mihai Eminescu Trust's restoration work on historic buildings in Romania.

The Trust, chaired by Douglas-Home, was founded in 1987 and works in Saxon Transylvania, where its goals are to conserve and restore the region's historic built heritage, to revive the economic life of its village communes and to train indigenous craftsmen in new or forgotten skills.

Freelance journalist Petru Clej, with a special interest in Jewish Romanian history and the Holocaust, will speak on "Attitudes towards the Holocaust in Romania - from frank admission to ugly denial."

The film "Gruber's Journey," by Radu Gabrea, will be screened.

Doors open at 6.30pm; the program begins at 7pm. Fee: £5 (+£1 online booking fee)

Spiro Ark is a London-based charitable organisation which organises Jewish cultural events and courses in Jewish history, culture and languages. Its tag line is "inspiration through Jewish history and culture."

Learn more about Spiro Ark, which aims to teach Jewish history and culture. It believes both are important as it combines Jewish education, history and culture to maintain Jewish identity in the 21st century.

The Spiro Ark also has a blog which covers events, reviews and history. Co-founder Nitza Spiro authored a post on the upcoming exhibit, raising some interesting questions:

The question whether old and dilapidated synagogues, which are no longer in use should be restored and maintained, is in our view a rhetorical one. For us Jews whose life-line to things Jewish is Jewish history, the answer is obvious. The question however remains whose responsibility it is to bear the cost.

Should it be an individual whose ancestors came from the specific area or used that particular synagogue; should a Western community adopt a restoration as their memorial to those who perished leaving us with the obligation to remember, or should it be the responsibility of the State where the synagogues are found?

She includes more information on the Mihai Eminescu Trust's restoration of the Medias synagogue which will become a national heritage center to teach visitors, including students, about Transylvania's Jewish history.

Thanks to Saul Issrof of London for this tip.

Jerusalem: Mount of Olives now online

The world's oldest Jewish cemetery just went online, according to the Jerusalem Post.

More than 20,000 gravestones have already been documented, but there are some 200,000-300,000 in the cemetery. There's a lot still to do.

Mount of Olives burials go back some 3,000 years, to the First and Second Temple periods, and continues today. From 1948-1967, when Jordanians were in charge of the area, there was severe destruction, including broken and destroyed tombstones, with others used to pave floors in Jordanian army camps. During that era, a road was paved south from the top of the mountain. The road to Jericho was widened. All of this took place on top of the graves.

Following the Six Day War, the cemetery was slowly restored. Until now, however, there has been no major effort to map and record graves or to decipher and restore names on the tombstones.

Workers identify the graves and locate them on the map. The website allows global viewers to zoom in on an aerial photo and see a photo of each grave. Each name listed shows available information and a photograph, while users can upload additional data and photos about their loved ones and others who are buried there.

Those planning a visit can also create (and print) a map and route of graves to visit.

Read the story here, about the website, which is available in English, Hebrew and Russian.

Tracing the Tribe's experience with the database:

Search the database with only one letter. I searched for D (Dardashti) and for T (Talalay/Talalai) and J/I (Jassen/Iasin), but none were listed yet, although I know some who are buried there. I'm sure they will be listed eventually. Using the first letter or the first two letters of the surname produces a drop-down list of possibilities. However, if you put in the first three letters of a surname, there is no drop-down list. However, the list appears if you put in the first three letters of a given name.

Doing a search for COHEN, I found COHEN YAZDI. I clicked on the results and found the grave of Lea Cohen Yazdi who died March 27, 1944. On the map I could zoom to the specific grave. Here's a portion of the map that showed (the red dot is the grave):

I clicked on Grave Details and saw this:

This was interesting as the burial society was listed as Spanish, yet the surname of YAZDI indicates a Persian origin.

Here is the actual gravestone photo, after using Snag-It and adjusting brightness and contrast.

According to the news story:

A new project undertaken by the City of David archeological Park, located south of Jerusalem's Old City and at the foot of the Mount of Olives cemetery, has begun the process of identifying and documenting tombstones throughout the entirety of the Mount of Olives and uploading the data to the Web.

Tens of thousands of graves on the mount have already been mapped and incorporated into a database, in the first-ever attempt to restore the graves and record the history of those who were buried there. The project includes the creation of a Web site (www.mountofolives.co.il ) that aims to raise awareness of the City of David and to honor the memory of those buried in the cemetery, as well as to inform about the tours and activities available.

Additionally, the Web site tells stories of the people buried in the cemetery and, through a simple search window, one can locate the documented graves by name.

The project's public relations director Udi Ragones hopes the web site will give people around the world an opportunity to clear the dust from generations of their loved ones' graves. The project is fascinating from both personal and historical perspectives.

Read the complete story here.

Brazil: Jewish immigrants to be honored

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

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

The day will be known as Jewish Immigration Day.

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

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

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