Connecticut: 'An 800-year Sephardic Journey,' April 17

Dr. Daniel Laby will be speaking on his family's eight century journey from Aragon (Spain) to Massacusetts, for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Connecticut on Sunday, April 17.

The program starts at 1.30pm, at the Godfrey Memorial Library, 134 Newfield Street, Middletown.

Dan and I share some roots in Lerida (Lleida) in Catalunya, the same great researcher (Maria Jose Surribas) and a Persian connection. The Lerida archives provided him with a document dated 1204, while our earliest document from the same archive is dated 1353.

Dan is a great speaker and his family's story is fascinating. A few years ago, his family went on a roots trip to Spain. He presented a multi-media program on that trip to the Jewish Family Research Association (JFRA) in Israel. I was privileged to also meet his parents during the 2006 IAJGS conference in New York.

"From Aragon to Massachusetts" follows Dan's family history (Laby de la Caballeria or Cavalleria) from western Massachusetts and New York’s Lower East Side back to the Ottoman Empire and pre-Inquisition Spain.

Dan will describe how he traced his family to 13th-century Spain using both modern DNA analysis and microfilms. He shares his story because he hopes to make Sephardic Jewish genealogy more widely known.

An assistant clinical professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School, Dan is also a sports vision specialist, working with the Boston Red Sox and several other professional and Olympic teams. His search for his family predates his medical practice.

For more information, click on the JGS of Connecticut website.

Dan's story is worth telling to many more family historians and genealogists, and not only because it is Sephardic story. If your JGS can convince him to speak - if he has time - it will be worth it.

JewishGen: Sarina Roffé elected to board of governors

The Board of Governors of JewishGen announced that Sarina Roffé has been elected to the board.

A family historian and journalist, Sarina is a member of Brooklyn's Syrian Jewish community and an active member of the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc. (JGSNY).

She has published widely on themes connected with Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish genealogy and is a recognized authority on the history and culture of Aleppan Jewry.

She is executive director of New York's non-profit Shehebar Sephardic Center, which fundraises for its rabbinical training program in Israel, and support for schools and outreach centers in more than 60 cities worldwide.

According to Rand Fishbein, PhD, a board member: "We will be looking to her for fresh ideas on how to expand our programming and online resources in Sephardic genealogy. Her knowledge and experience are sure to prove invaluable as we look to expand our outreach activities.”

Tracing the Tribe congratulates Sarina on this election!

London: Food of the Jews of Babylon, April 3

The Jews of Babylon have a culinary tradition dating back more than 2,000 years, but it is a home-based cuisine rarely found in restaurants.

The Spiro Ark Centre, 25-26 Enford St., London, W1, will host Linda Dangoor, of a well-known Iraqi Jewish family in the UK, on Sunday, April 3, at 7.30pm.

The cost is £12 + £1 Internet booking fee. Click here to book now.

The cuisine, much like Persian food, is well-flavored, aromatic, but rarely spicy or hot.

The event marks Dangoor's new cookbook - "Flavours of Babylon" - and she will talk with Sami Zubaida about Babylonian Jewish food and its significance as a language and badge of identity.

Attendees will also get a chance to sample some foods.

Dangoor has been working in the design field for more than three decades as a designer, painter and ceramicist. The cookbook is her first book.

Zubaida is Emeritus Professor of Politics and Sociology at Birkbeck College, University of London. He has published several books on the religion, culture and politics of the Middle East; and is co-editor of "A Taste of Thyme: the Culinary Cultures of the Middle East." The event will include a book sale by both authors.

Seating is limited; advance reservations are recommended.

A blog: Jewish Maritime Historical Society

Tracing the Tribe discovered the blog of the Jewish Maritime Historical Society, billed as being
"dedicated to Jewish captains, pirates, sailors and all seafaring people."

Unfortunately, it now seems defunct with the most recent post in November 2009. Its posts covered personalities, historical events, maritime instruments like astrolabes, archaeological evidence and more. The articles come from major and minor websites and publications.

Posts that Tracing the Tribe found interesting: Jews and Navigation, First Hero of the Portuguese Discoveries and Jewish Traders of the Diaspora. In these days, when immigration issues are part of the conversation, read  Aaron Lopez's Struggle for Citizenship.  For parts farther afield, there's an article on the Jews of Cochin.

If this area of Jewish history interests you, or if you had ancestors who sailed the seven seas, take a look.

Texas: 'Our Jewish Ancestry,' Oct. 17'

The Rio Grande Valley Hispanic Genealogical Society will present "Our Jewish Ancestry," on Sunday, October 17.

The program takes place from 2-4pm, in the Harlingen Public Library auditorium, in Harlingen, Texas.

The speaker is Diana Sotelo-Zertuche, a journalist, author, historian and speaker. The flyer for the event shows the speaker with a bubble quote, "Hace mucho eramos Judios" (A long time ago we were Jews).

For more information, send an email.

New York: 'Jewish life in Morocco' opens Oct. 14

"Looking Back: Jewish Life in Morocco" will open at the Center for Jewish History in New York City on Thursday, October 14.

It begins at 6:30pm at the Center for Jewish History,15 West 16th Street New York.

Produced by the American Sephardi Federation , the exhibt focuses on the history of the Jewish people and Jewish life, as it once was in Morocco.

This event launches a year-long series of programs on "2,000 Years of Jewish Life in Morocco: An Epic Journey" including an international symposium, a concert and individual lectures.

ASF president David Dangoor said:

"The American Sephardi Federation aims to promote cross-cultural understanding and highlight the diversity and international scope of the Sephardic Jewish heritage. The ASF is delighted to present this series of multidisciplinary events that will celebrate the patrimony and legacy of Jewish culture in Morocco."

Jews have lived in Morocco since at least the time of the Phoenicians, 550 BCE. Over several thousands years, Jewish communities lived there and were influenced by those with whom they lived: the Berbers, the Spanish, the Arabs and the French.

The exhibit is an overview of the presence and flourishing of Jews in the ancient and modern Kingdom of Morocco.

Included are artistically designed textual displays, documents, pull quotes, non-photo images (e.g. lithographs and engravings), historic photos, captions, replications of historic documents, and other visuals demonstrating the life of the Jews in this area.

The opening night keynote address will be presented by Dr. Norman A. Stillman, the Schusterman-Josey Professor and Chair of Judaic History at the University of Oklahoma. The developer and curator of the exhibit is Shelomo Alfassa.

Fee: ASF members, free; others $10. Reservations are required.

Tracing the Tribe's many readers interested in Sephardic programming may also follow the ASF on Twitter and Facebook.

New York: Aleppo-Syrian Jewish concert, Oct. 21

The American Sephardi Foundation will sponsor a concert of Syrian Jewish liturgical music, utilizing the Arabic maqam system for Hebrew poetry and prayers, on Thursday, October 21.

It begins at 6.30pm at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th St., New York City. See ticket details below.

Speaking and performing will be:

-- Mark Kligman, PhD, Professor of Jewish Musicology, will trace the development of this music which he explores in his book "Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn."

-- Isaac J. Cabasso, Cantor of Congregation Beth Torah, a Syrian synagogue in Brooklyn, NY, will lend his 50 years of experience in Syrian Hazzanut to the conversation, and perform excerpts of the prayers in various maqams.

-- Musical accompaniment on the oud will be performed by Victor Esses, Cantor of Sephardic Synagogue, Brooklyn, NY.

-- Joseph Mosseri, Cantor and founder of the Hazzanut Forum, will discuss the resurgence of maqam music among the community's younger generation.

This program is presented in association with the American Society for Jewish Music

The concert will be held at the Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street. Tickets are $10 at the door; $5, ASF members. Reservations requested; send an email.

For more information, visit the ASF website.

South Florida: Jews in Caucasus, Central Asia, Oct. 13

Learn about the Jews in the Caucasus and Central Asia with author Helene Schwartz Kenvin at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, on Wednesday, October 13.

A family history researcher for more than 35 years, Kenvin has authored a recently published book, “Silk Road Adventures: Among the Jews of the Caucasus and Central Asia.”

Kenvin will speak about the Ashkenazi, Bukharan, Georgian and Mountain Jews who live in the Muslim republics of the former Soviet Union. She is the founder of an international, all-volunteer organization that has worked in these regions since 1984.

The day starts with registration at 12:30pm (registration/brick wall) and the 1pm program, at the South County Civic Center, 16700 Jog Road , Delray Beach. The Lithuanian SIG 9with Tracing the Tribe's dear friend Sylvia Nusinov) will also meet from 11.30-12.15pm.

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

Click here for more information on the JGS of Palm Beach County.

New York City: Jewish walking tour, Sept. 25

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

LowerHudson.com covered the story by Gary Stern.

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

Food: Italian Jewish holiday cooking

Did you know that Italians also love gribenes (chicken or goose cracklings)? Do you know how this tradition arrived in Italy? Find the answers below.

A favorite cookbook of Tracing the Tribe is Jayne Cohen's Jewish Holiday Cooking: A Food Lover’s Classics and Improvisations (John Wiley, 2008). She also writes for Jewish Women International's "Jewish Women Magazine."

The holiday issue of the magazine is now online with really interesting articles on Italian Jewish cuisine (and recipes) and a new blog, "Beyond Brisket," written by Cohen. Tracing the Tribe has a separate post on the blog.

When the chestnuts in Piedmont ripen in time for the fall holidays, Roberta Anau serves her Rosh Hashanah guests special burricche: turnovers lush with chestnuts, onions, raisins and smoked goose.

Silvia Nacamulli’s family includes Swiss chard among the ritual foods at its Rosh Hashanah seder; growing in profusion, chard symbolizes a wish for bounty in the new year. But this is Rome, so we’re not talking about serving it simply boiled. “We prepare it in a delicious frittata,” she says, a savory combination of the cooked green leaves, sauteed onions and eggs, fried golden on both sides and served at room temperature.

Jewish-style carciofi alla guidea (artichokes) are the best known Jewish dish, originating in the Roman ghetto, with the oldest continuous Western Jewish community dating back some 2,000 years.

Read the article and learn more about Anau and her restaurant and hotel near Turin, and about Nacamulli, who teaches Italian Jewish cooking in London and organizes cooking tours to Italy.

A Jewish-origin food marks the end of the 1576 plague in Venice. A special annual feast celebrates that event. The traditional dish is pesce en saor, cold fried fish in a sweet-and-sour sauce with raisins and pine nuts. Cohen says it was developed to preserve fish for Shabbat, dousing the fish in hot vinegar with sweet sauteed onions, raisins and pine nuts.

After the 1492 Edict of Expulsion, Sicily's Jews (including many from Spain) were expelled in 1943, and many went to mainland Italy. They brought along marzipan, sweet-and-sour sauces, raisins and pine nuts. Caponata was originally a Sicilian-Jewish dish - a cold salad of fried eggplant, onions, garlic, olives and capers (and New World tomatoes).

Cohen discusses German and Central European Ashkenazi immigrants who settled north of Rome, and brought along their geese. Soon Italian-Jewish recipes incorporated goose fat and cracklings (griebenes, Yiddish; gribani, Judeo-Italian), and made salami, sausage and ham from the birds.

Anau recalls that her great-grandfather, Moise Colombo from Turin, was so fond of his gribani that “he carried them around with him wrapped in paper, like chewing gum. He would go out for a glass of wine, unwrap the paper and snack on the gribani.”

Edda Servi Machlin, whose Italian Jewish cookbooks also share space in my kitchen, describes more specialties. Learn why the Jews in her Tuscan village of Pitigliano call stuffed breast of veal chazarello (piglet).

There are recipes for risotto with pomegranate seeds, cheese and etrog peel; Jewish-style spinach, and the ricotta cheese dessert mentioned above. Yum.

Read the complete article at the link above, and for additional Italian Jewish Recipes, click here.

New York: Merchant Jews in the New World, Nov. 7

Plan ahead for this interesting conference - Merchant Jews in the New World, 1800-1900 - to be held at the Center for Jewish History, on Sunday, November 7.

The 2009 conference covered 1500-1800; this year's program covers 1800-1900; and 2011 will focus on 1900-the present.

The conference will focus on lesser-known Jewish contributions to economic expansion of retail, industry and finance in 19th century America. It is sponsored by The Gomez Foundation for Mill House, as part of the lead up to the 300th anniversary of the construction of the Mill House, on the upper Hudson River. It was built by one of the earliest Jewish merchants in the US.

Sessions include presentations on 19th century developments in retail, industry and finance, as well as roundtables and discussions.

The keynote address will be by Gene Dattel, author of "Cotton and Race in the Making of America: The Human Costs of Economic Power."

Other presenters include:

-- Andrée Aelion Brooks, Jewish historian, journalist and author
-- Kenneth Libo, Adjunct Professor of History, Hunter College
-- Bonnie S. Wasserman, Lecturer, Fordham University
-- Ainsley Henriques, historian, Jamaican and Caribbean Jews
-- Kate Myslinski, Colonial Jewish genealogist, writer
-- Ruth Abrahams, executive director, Gomez Foundation

Said Abrahams, "We hope to encourage further dialogue on the topic of Jewish contributions to the founding and development of America."

The day includes a kosher continental breakfast and buffet lunch, at the CJH, 15 West 16th Street, New York. Registration: $75; seniors 60+ and students under 21, $65 (also CJH members, affiliates and Channel 13).


For more information, email the Gomez Foundation, or to register, click here. Click here for more information on the non-profit The Gomez Foundation for Mill House, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

London: Jewish Museum acquires Sephardic treasure

Here's one wedding present that wasn't "re-gifted" after the happy occasion.

Tracing the Tribe wants to know where the bride and groom registered their wish list three centuries ago.

The London Jewish Museum raised £282,000 to acquire the silver hanukkiah, according to the story, although it had been on loan to the museum since the 1930s.

Known as the Lindo Lamp (below), it is a Sephardic treasure of British Portuguese and Spanish Jews. It was commissioned for the marriage of Elias Lindo to Rachel Lopes Ferreira in 1709.

Silversmith John Ruslen fashioned the memento at the request of Isaac Lindo, Elias’s father, who fled the Inquisition in the Canary Isles to settle in London and founded the city’s iconic Bevis Marks Synagogue at the start of the 18th century.

“Hanukah lamps are central to Jewish celebrations and the Lindo Lamp is particularly special as it is the first one known to have been made in England,” said Dame Jenny Abramsky, Chair of the Memorial Fund.“It is witness to the long history of Jewish people in this country, and it’s wonderful that the Fund has played a part in saving it for future generations.”

It will be displayed at the Museum's Judaism: A Living Faith exhibit, which recently reopened following a £10 million redevelopment.

Funds to purchase the piece came from The National Heritage Memorial Fund (£145,000), Art Fund (£75,000) and the MLA/V&A Purchase Fund (£30,000).

Colorado: Hispano DNA study results released

Tracing the Tribe readers may remember several posts concerning a cluster of "Ashkenazi" breast cancer among Hispanic women in Colorado's San Luis Valley a few years ago.

Later genealogical research showed the women were descendants of conversos (Jews forced to convert to Christianity during the Inquisition) who had settled in the area centuries ago.

A paper in the San Luis area just carried an article about the results of a February 2009 DNA study on Hispanic residents in the San Luis, Alamosa, Conejos and Pueblo, by Dr. Harry Ostrer of NYU's Human Genetics Program.

Ostrer, well-known to many Jewish genealogists, collected blood samples from residents for his study. He said the project’s purpose was “to shed light on the history and ancestry of Hispanos from northern New Mexico and southern Colorado” and “to compare the DNA of Hispanos with that of other Hispanic and Latino populations in the Americas.” He was looking for a broad picture of the community's genetic heritage, not individual characteristics.

The findings:

Testing the Hispano admixture, he discovered that 50-60% were European; 30-40% Native American; 1-5% West African; and 1-5% non-European (Middle Eastern).

“The first two components of the admixture are not surprising, since the Spanish and Indian heritage of Hispanics is well known,” Dr. Ostrer stated in a letter to participants. “In fact, in May of this year, we published a paper in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences on the DNA of several Hispanic/Latino populations, including Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Colombians, Ecuadorians, and Mexicans. Our study showed that Hispanics and Latinos represent a highly diverse blend of European and Amerindian stock, with lesser contributions from African and non-European sources.”

He added that the non-European portion probably originated in the Middle East in either Arab or Jewish populations, and then brought to Spain and the Americas.

“The issue of Jewish ancestry in Hispanos remains an intriguing but unsettled question. In the next stage of our analysis we hope to learn more about that part of your heritage,” Ostrer told participants.

Ostrer and others have been involved in researching Jewish groups throughout the world and how they are related, literally. He and other researchers have concluded that “Jewishness” is not just a religious characterization but also a genetic one. “... the studied Jewish populations represent a series of geographical isolates or clusters with genetic threads that weave them together,” wrote Ostrer and others in a recent trade journal article.

“Over the past 3000 years, both the flow of genes and the flow of religious and cultural ideas have contributed to Jewishness.” - Atzmon et al, Abraham’s Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry, The American Journal of Human Genetics (2010).

Jews and their genetics moved throughout the world; the DNA of people in the San Luis Valley could be partly traced back to the Middle East.

“Each Diaspora group has distinctive genetic features ‘representative of each group’s genetic history,’ he [Ostrer] says, but each also ‘shares a set of common genetic threads’ dating back to their common origin in the Middle East,” Science Editor Sharon Begley wrote in a June article “The DNA of Abraham’s Children” in Newsweek.

Jews of the Diaspora, according to the Newsweek article, share genetic markers supporting the tradition that Jews around the world share a common ancestry. And Jewish populations have kept their genetic coherence in the same way as cultural and religious traditions despite their migrations from the Middle East to the world over many centuries.

Seattle: Sephardic synagogue celebrates 100 years

When Tracing the Tribe was in Seattle for the Association of Jewish Libraries conference in July, we toured landmarks of the Jewish community. Among them was the Sephardic Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, now celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The group received a personal welcome and tour from former Hazzan Isaac Azose (a close friend of our Seattle family), who had been the congregation's hazzan for some 34 years. He also presented a Seattle Jewish history session at the AJL event and presented a rousing Ladino version of the birkat hamazon at a conference luncheon.

The congregation will celebrate its first-century mark today, as noted in the JT News, which carried the story of the celebration.

The anniversary of Ezzie Bezzie - as it is known to insiders - will be celebrated August 22 at a gala dinner. The event also included two major speakers: Dr. Aron Rodrigue of Stanford University spoke about life in Rhodes on August 12, while Seattle native Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel (rabbi emeritus of New York's Shearith Israel, and founder/director, lnstitute of Jewish ldeas and ldeals) spoke on August 19.

A new courtyard will be dedicated with a memorial inscribed in six languages honoring the congregation's founders on the Greek island of Rhodes. It is a replica of the black granite memorial in Rhodes, dedicated to that vibrant Sephardic Jewish community before they were transported to their deaths in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In July 1944, the Germans moved with relentless precision into Rhodes and nearby Kos, and deported all but 50 of the 2,000 Jews who lived there, a mere three months before they were defeated. Those 50 Jews that held Turkish citizenship were protected by the Turkish consulate. Only 151 Rhodesli Jews survived the Holocaust. Thirty-five Jews live in Rhodes today.

The story stressed that although Ezra Bessaroth is an Orthodox synagogue, most members are not, and it is a diverse community repersenting all levels of observance. However, the congregation continues its responsibility to continue the traditions of the founders, who came from Rhodes.

When the first Jewish immigrants from Rhodes began their new lives in Seattle in 1904, others soon followed. Soon, they would need a “kehilla,” the Sephardic word used for a synagogue. More like a Jewish brotherhood in its first incarnation in 1909, the Koupa Ozer Dalim Anshe Rhodes, the Fund for the Aid of the Poor People of Rhodes, was organized. Its first building was located at 9th and Yesler in Seattle and the monthly membership dues were 25 cents.

Today, a congregation that decades ago held daily services in the Spanish-Hebrew hybrid language of Ladino, now uses nearly all Hebrew and English, with only a few prayers in Ladino.

According to a former board member Joel Benoliel, “Here we are, a hundred years later, with the prayer and the ‘minchag,’ or customs that are exactly the same customs as it was 100 years ago on Rhodes.” He serves on the program committee for the celebration and is master of ceremonies at the events related to the centennial and gala. “We think it’s one of the few synagogues in the world that is faithful to the customs of the Isle of Rhodes,” he added.

The challenge for the future is to grow, and it is bringing in a new rabbi - Rabbi Daniel Hadar - with a strong background in outreach and growth. The congregation is looking for him to help with outreach and strengthen their Sephardic heritage while maintaining ties with non-Sephardic members.

For more about the congregation, click here, and read the complete article at the link above.

Virginia: George Allen to discuss Jewish heritage

Tracing the Tribe's readers may remember former Senator George Allen's refusal to admit his Jewish background during his failed 2006 election campaign in Virginia.

Sephardic researchers immediately recognized his grandfather's surname - LUMBROSO - as Jewish.

On Thursday, August 19, he'll speak publicly for the first time about his mother's and grandfather's heritage, as he delivers the keynote address to some 600 attendees at The National Jewish Retreat in Reston, Virginia.

According to the San Francisco Examiner story:

Allen's Jewish grandfather, Felix Lumbroso, was a resistance fighter in French Tunisia whom the Nazis imprisoned during World War II. Allen's middle name, Felix, honors his grandfather.

Allen's father, the late George H. Allen was a Hall of Famer coach of the Los Angeles Rams and Washington Redskins. Allen's brother is now general manager of the Redskins. Allen and his siblings were raised as Christians.

During 2006, he told a questioner that his mother was French-Italian with a little Spanish blood. He's admitted errors since then and said that after his defeat he had learned about his mother's ancestry.

It had never occurred to him that his grandfather Lumbroso was Jewish, although he noted his concentration camp internment.

In 2006, his mother Henriette "Etty" Lumbroso said she kept her ancestry secret from her children as she was afraid they would be persecuted. She told her son in August 2006, before the debate, and swore him to secrecy, even from his siblings, wife and children.

Read more here.

Jewish History: Sephardic articles - Spain, Antwerp, Sicily

The "Jewish History" quarterly journal offers several articles and a book review of interest to Sephardic researchers.

"Jewish History" (Vol. 24, Issue 2 - June 2010) offers diverse content to researchers. Find it in local public and university libraries (more likely) as it is available online only to subscribers. Read more here.

Jewish History, the sole English language publication devoted exclusively to history and the Jews, expands the horizons of historical writing on the Jews. Not only does the journal publish contributions from the field of history, but also from the intersection of history with art, literature, sociology, and anthropology.

The diverse personal and professional backgrounds of the journal's contributors represent a truly international meeting of the minds and are reflected in the journal's innovative essays. Special issues have included women and Jewish inheritance, the Jews of Latin America, and Jewish self-imaging.

In the latest quarterly issue find three articles of interest:

-- Renee Levine Melammed: "Judeo-conversas and Moriscas in sixteenth-century Spain: a study of parallels." (pp. 155 - 168)

Though interesting research has been done on Jewish women conversas in Spain, as well as on Morisco women converts, no comparison of the activities of the two groups has been made. This paper comes to fill this lacuna, examining their commitment to Judaism and Islam and ritual practices, especially as reflected in Inquisitional records. Despite basic differences, a surprising number of parallels appear in the behavior of both groups, suggesting the importance of women in preserving ties to the past and maintaining the converso mentality.

-- Timothy De Paepe: "Diego Duarte ii (1612-1691): a converso's experience in seventeenth-century Antwerp." (pp. 169 - 193):

From the early sixteenth century onward, many conversos or New Christians left Spain and Portugal and went to Antwerp. One member of the converso community in Antwerp was Diego Duarte ii (1612–1691). Diego Duarte ran a thriving jewel business and had a large commercial network. He was also a highly cultured man, who forged many friendships through his love for music and paintings. Antwerp was, however, still off-limits for Jews. This article seeks to explore Diego’s professional, religious and, in particular, his artistic background seen against the place and time in which he lived.

-- and a book review. Lucia Finotto: Shlomo Simonsohn's "The Jews in Sicily" - Volume 15: Notaries of Trapani. A Documentary History of the Jews in Italy." (pp. 213-216) (Brill, $340, 746pgs). To see more about each volume in the series, click here.

Although there is no summary, the first page of the review is on view.

The review indicates that Simonsohn provides information on Palermo notarial deeds and legal documents from Trapani, the focus of this volume. There are administrative materials and court cases involving Jews. There is an index of people and geographic locations, a glossary of Sicilian terms, a bibliography and a subject index. Here's some of the index:

The volume demonstrates classes in the community - wealthy merchant families, financial and administrative elites, religious leaders, ordinary families and artisans. It includes cases of complaints against powerful family groups in the community.

As is the case with most of Brill's publications, they are beyond the economic reach of most Sephardic family history researchers, so do check your local public (less likely) and university libraries (more likely).

The journal's editorial board includes: editor Kenneth Stow, University of Haifa, Israel; co-editor Adam Teller University of Haifa, Israel; book review editor David Starr, Hebrew College, Newton, MA; with assistant editors and an editorial board based at Hebrew University, Princeton, Smith, Michigan, TAU, UCSan Diego, Yale, Penn, Brandeis, and UWashington and elsewhere.

Call for Papers: Jews in Asia, Asian Jews in the US

There's a call for papers and panelists covering Jews in Asia and Asian Jews in the United States at the upcoming joint conference of the Association of Asian Studies/International Convention of Asia Scholars, set for Honolulu, March 31-April 3, 2011.

A two-hour panel has been scheduled for the topics. At least one additional presenter or discussant is needed, in addition to a panel chair.

Currently, papers have been received on: Baghdadi Jews in Malaya, Singapore and and Hong Kong during the Japanese Occupation; Indian Jews in the United States; and Luso-Sephardic Jews and their descendants in Goa.

Those interested in participating, submitting papers or obtaining additional information, should contact Dr. Joan Roland.

Tracing the Tribe reminds those interested that the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (Washington, DC; August 2011) is also an appropriate venue for talks on such little-known Jewish communities. The Call for Papers for DC 2011 is coming up.

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.

New York: First Sephardic Jewish Book Fair, July 25

The first annual New York Sephardic Jewish Book Fair will include book readings, author signings, sales and tours at the Center for Jewish History, on Sunday July 25.

From noon-5.30pm - hosted by the American Sephardi Federation (ASF) - the event brings together authors and book lovers, those who write about and enjoy books relating to the culture, history, philosophy, religion, languages and experiences of Sephardic Jews, past and present.

Hundreds of Sephardic-oriented books - new, hard-to-find or rare - will be available.

Visiting authors will discuss diverse topics and personal histories, Sephardic history, philosophy, culture and religion:

12pm: Jean Naggar will read from her Egyptian memoir, "Sipping From the Nile."
12.30pm: Marc Kligman, Professor of Jewish Musicology (Hebrew Union College) will read from his award-winning book, "Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music, and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn."
1pm: Andrée Aelion Brooks will read from and discuss the life of the Sephardic banker and heroine, "The Woman who Defied Kings: The Life and Times of Doña Gracia Nasi."
Children's hour, 2-3pm:
1.30pm: Peninnah Schram, Professor of Speech and Drama, Stern College for Women (Yeshiva University), shares a Sephardic tale for youth, "The Hungry Clothes - And other Jewish Folktales."
2pm: Mara Cohen Ioannides, Professor of English (Missouri State University), reads a story about Sephardic and Romanoite Jews from her award-winning children's book, "A Shout in the Sunshine."
2:30pm: Jessica Jiji reads from her novel, "Sweet Dates in Basra."
3pm: Rabbi Marc D. Angel, Ph.D., founder of The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, North America's oldest Jewish congregation. He speaks on his books, "Foundations of Sephardic Spirituality" and "Maimonides, Spinoza and Us."
4pm: Abraham Sutton reads from "The Aristocrat," a book about his father, Rabbi Hillel Menashe Sutton, a leading member of the Aleppo (Syria) and Jerusalem Sephardic communities.
4.30pm, J. Daniel Khazzoom, Professor emeritus, reads from his book, "No Way Back: The Journey of a Jew from Baghdad."
5pm: Mitchell James Kaplan reads from his book about ordinary people swept up in the Inquisition's chaos and upheaval and the Expulsion, "By Fire, By Water."

Vendors will bring out-of-print Jewish books, as well as modern and rare titles, some from the 18th-20th centuries, including antique Ladino and Hebrew volumes from Salonika, Livorno, Tunis, Venice and Jerusalem.

Rare Sephardic books from the ASF Library and Archives will be displayed and Yeshiva University Museum will offer tours of its current exhibits, including "A Journey Through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books.' This collection includes handwritten manuscripts and printed books from Holland, Italy, Spain, Greece and India.

The free event is set for the Steinberg Great Hall at the CJH, 15 W. 16th Street.

El Paso: Deep in the heart of Texas

It's the stories that get to you.

The stories of people from Brazil, Argentina, New Mexico and right here in this corner of Texas. Some drive for hours to connect to the heritage of their ancestors - which is now theirs.

They come from all backgrounds and professions. They are artists, consultants, professionals, teachers, musicians, contractors - and even rabbis. Some have made a short journey, others have taken years to learn the secrets of their families. Each has accomplished this in his or her own way, with the support - or not - of their families.

The music of Judaism has aways drawn me, and these past few days have been filled with various traditions. The beautiful circular chapel of El Paso's Congregation B'nai Zion was the perfect setting for the Sephardic chanting of Rabbi Juan Mejia and the Ashkenazi tradition of Rabbi Stephen Leon, whose father was a hazzan. In addition to these two fascinating men, there were others who took on major portions of some services and those who read from the Torah.

The 7th Sephardic Bnai Anousim Conference has been an eye-opener for me, even though I've known these stories for a long time. Hearing, in person, the life stories of these people from many backgrounds who have returned to public Judaism is an inspiration - or should be - for all of us.

I've heard the experiences of those who began searching, of the reactions of their families, their encounters with messianic churches and with people who misled them along their return. I've heard the stories of a man - originally from Monterrey, Mexico - and asked about his siblings. There are six, they live in different places, and "we all know who we are."

Rabbi Juan Mejia, recently ordained by the Jewish Theological Seminary, is an amazing guy. His journey - from Colombia and Catholicism and the family secrets to teaching via the internet and in person to an audience that could potentially number in the millions - is inspiring.

While many anousim - children of the forced (even though that force was centuries ago) - look for acceptance from mainstream Judaism, many of these individuals believe they must be more proactive and organize their own centers. Rabbi Juan described a congregation in South America that he visited. A beautiful facility, filled with the returned and returning. A flourishing congregation. When the Ashkenazi congregation in their city could not afford to retain their rabbi, this congregation hired him.

I'm still absorbing this weekend.

My talks on Jewish Genealogy 101 and Sephardic Research Trends elicited many questions. I distributed notes of my talks, urged attendees to write down what they know, to record their stories, so future generations will understand. I distributed MyHeritage.com software to help in the process. I've explained about DNA testing - Y-DNA, mtDNA and the new autosomal Family Finder - and what our IberianAshkenaz DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com has demonstrated.

A pilgrimage is on the books, as the 8th Sephardic Bnai Anousim Conference will be held in Israel in August 2011. The plan is to be in Jerusalem on Tisha b'Av.

The date is important as Rabbi Stephen Leon introduced a resolution to the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism's conference in December 2009. It was unanimously accepted by the organization that Tisha b'Av be recognized as a day of memorial for the victims of the Inquisition - and that bnai anousim be welcomed - at Conservative congregations. Outreach for this movement is also being conducted in the Reform, Reconstructionist and Orthodox communities.

The group is planning to build a learning center in El Paso to assist bnai anousim in their quest.

As part of the conference, we watched a production of "Parted Waters" which described one family's experience with the ancestral secret. If this is offered in your community, do see it.

This morning, I'm heading to Ruidoso, New Mexico, and will be back in time to attend Tisha b'Av services.