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.

Food: Genealogy of gefilte fish

When my Teheran-born husband first heard "gefilte fish," he thought the name was "filthy fish." He soon learned that putting enough chrein (horseradish) on it made it palatable.

The Dallas Observer's Hanna Raskin offers a great story on the genealogy of this quintessential Ashkenazi holiday fare. It is a variation on "tell us what you eat, we'll tell you where you're from."

Gefilte fish, perhaps the most maligned food on the traditional Jewish High Holiday table, encodes its maker's ancestry as surely as hand-me-down stories and immigration papers, a local fishmonger says.

Jon Alexis of TJ's Fresh Seafood Market in Preston Forest Village claims he can almost always pinpoint where a customer's forebears first settled in the United States based on which fish they ask him to grind for their gefilte fish preparation. Although Alexis is quick to clarify his theory is based on purely anecdotal evidence -- "I don't want to upset anyone," he says -- he believes most recipes reflect a generations-old preference for certain flavors.

"These recipes are heritage, so you have that Antiques Roadshow thing," Alexis says.

Learn about the various mixtures of fish - pike, carp, whitefish, buffalo, tilapia, saltwater snapper - with a geographical tinge. Learn about the concoction with and without sugar, and what that might mean.

Nearly 50 years ago, someone suggested there was a "gefilte fish line" running about 40 miles east of Warsaw. West of it, it was sweet with sugar; to the east, it was hotter with chrein and pepper. Well-known to many Jewish genealogists searching Poland, many sugar refineries in Poland were owned by Jews and that's suggested as a possible reason.

Interestingly, though, nobody wanted credit for the sugary gefilte fish. Polish gentiles called it "Jewish fish" and Polish Jews called it "Polish fish." Gefilte fish has never been stylish.

Read the complete story at the link above, learn what a "fish dork" is, and read the comments.

UK: Manchester archive in temporary space

A major Jewish archive in a British city has been temporarily moved as its permanent home is under a three-year renovation closure.

The Jewish Chronicle story adds that the material was in Manchester's Central Library which will be closed for the project. The Manchester City Council averted a serious problem for Jewish studies students and researchers.

Archives documenting the history of Manchester's Jewish community have been moved from the library as part of a four-month transfer of one million books, cleared from over 20 miles of shelves. The process, completed last Friday, included the moving of 300 metres of shelves of Jewish documents, which contain burial records dating back to 1798, and records from four Jewish schools and the Great Synagogue dating from the 1850s.

To maintain open access for academics and to Jewish genealogists, the archive will be housed temporarily in the Greater Manchester County Record Office.

When at the Central Library, material requests were filled in 30 minutes. In the temporary location, requests may take two days or two weeks, in some cases.

The website of Manchester Council has a special section on Jewish records, with a 35-page Jewish archival catalogue for download.

According to the Central Library's archivist, Kevin Bolton:

"We made an effort not to send the Jewish archive collections off-site. This is because they are some of the most important collections we hold and they are well used. Both the Jewish Museum and Bill Williams (the major historian of Manchester Jewry) were kept informed of our decisions."

The cooperation of the Manchester City Council - in providing continued access for researchers and Jewish genealogists to these important materials - is to be commended.

Boston: NEHGS launches AmericanAncestors.org

The venerable New England Historic Genealogical Society, founded in 1845, has launched AmericanAncestors.org, the new website of the expanding and growing regional and national repository of genealogical resources.

Information below is from the press release. I accessed the site several times today but cannot load it now, most likely due to a heavy usage.

The site will contain all of NEHGS's New England and New York content, features, articles, resources, in addition to weekly updates and databases in regional and ethnic specialties, such as sources for mid-Atlantic, Irish, and African American research. The website provides access to 2,400 databases containing 135 million names. Many databases are restricted to members who pay $75 annually, but there is a free section.

The new site provides online access to important research tools and resources, a new image viewer, faster navigation, faster search results and more unique content. Society members and the public will benefit from the improvements. The oldest and largest non-profit genealogical organization has some 26,000 members nationwide.

NEHGS president/CEO D. Brenton Simons said:

"This website marks a transformative experience in our 165-year history, the first genealogical society founded in America. It represents the next major step ahead as we continue to expand our resources." Simons added, "AmericanAncestors.org is a new, dynamic platform from which we will grow in our position as a leader in American genealogy and as the nation’s largest genealogical society."

He added that New England will always be the greatest strength and primary focus, and that the new site will add 25 million more New England names to search. According to the press release, the site will provide:

-- More unique, searchable materials for New England, New York, and other regions.
　
-- A new "master search" to search across all databases and other web-based content, faster results and easier navigation.
　
-- A social networking feature for NEHGS members to develop an online profile, input family research information, and share it with others.

-- A state-of-the-art new image viewer for easier saving and viewing of images and data.
　
-- More news on the homepage and an enhanced blog - "The Daily Genealogist" - to provide stories and helpful research tips

Readers are invited to sign up for the NEHGS "Guest User" free registration for access to weekly news stories, special access to some databases, resources, articles and other research tools. Read more at AmericanAncestors.org.

"American Ancestors" is the new brand identity for NEHGS. In October 2009, it began publishing "American Ancestors Journal," an annual supplement to its quarterly "The New England Historical and Genealogical Register," while its quarterly member magazine was renamed (earlier this year) "American Ancestors: New England, New York, and Beyond."

Located at 99-101 Newbury St., Boston, NEHGS has some 28 million books, journals, manuscripts, papers, photographs, documents, and other artifacts, many centuries-old.

Summer travels are over!

Tracing the Tribe is home, following a really busy summer of conferences, traveling, speaking and visiting with friends and family.

I'm also trying to catch up on a series of articles for a well-known website and other assignments.

A serious internet connection problem put a damper on my usual frenetic blogging pace, but that's been fixed!

Announcements on upcoming activities will be made soon.

Texas: FamilyTreeDNA.com conference, Oct. 30-31

FamilyTreeDNA.com's annual genetic genealogy conference for group administrators is set for October 30-31 in Houston, Texas.

Tracing the Tribe attended a few years ago and it was one of the highpoints of my involvement in the field with two family projects and as co-founder and co administrator - with Judy Simon - of our fascinating IberianAshkenaz DNA Project.

The increasing popularity of genetic genealogy is seen at genealogy conferences, some of which even have program tracks dedicated to the numerous presentations.

This will be the company's sixth conference and will be held at the Sheraton North Houston.

Each year, world renowned experts in genetics and science present cutting-edge developments and exciting new applications at this two-day educational forum which draws attendees from Family Tree DNA's Group Administrators from around the world. This year's conference will focus on the new Family Finder test which allows customers to find relatives across all ancestral lines.

As most of us in the genetic genealogy community know, the company was founded in April 2000, and was the first company to develop the commercial application of DNA testing for genealogy. Until then, tests were only available for academic and scientific research.

Ten years later, it remains on the cutting-edge of the growing genetic genealogy field.

Importantly for those who believe in how DNA assists genealogists of all skill levels - confirming or disproving or providing more clues to follow in their quest - FamilyTreeDNA has the largest DNA database in the field. What this means is that those who test with the company have more probability of finding genetic matches for recent and distant ties. The database grows daily with more than 300,000 individual records, 95,000 surnames and some 6,000 lineage and geographic projects.

Since 2005, it has also been the designated testing company for the Genographic Project, run by National Geographic and IBM, to study mankind's migrations. It has processed more than 300,000 tests alone for that project.

The names of FamilyTreeDNA-associated researchers and scientists are known to many genealogists, such as Dr. Michael Hammer, Dr. Doron Behar, and Thomas Krahn.

For more information on the conference, click here.

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.

Netherlands: Photos of child Holocaust victims

Gaby Laws of CemeteryScribes.com has informed Tracing the Tribe about a project to create a memorial book for young Dutch Holocaust victims.

Athough CemeteryScribes.com focuses on photographing headstones and recording inscriptions, this request touched on those who have no headstones. Their only memorials are names on lists.

Aline Pennewaard, a freelance writer and Jewish history student, and author Guus Luijters are compiling a "Memor-book" for Dutch children who were transported and killed. The project is similar to Serge Klarsfeld’s "French Children of the Holocaust."

Pennewaard and Luijters have already collected some 2,200 photographs of Dutch Jewish children who perished in the Holocaust. The hope is to find more photographs before the book is published in February 2012.

According to Pennewaard's link above:

Together with Guus Luijters I'm working on a memor-book about Dutch-Jewish children till 18 years, who were deported and never returned. The book is scheduled to be published in February 2012. At the same time there will be an exhibition in the Amsterdam Historical Museum.

I'm looking for as many photos as I can find from children who were deported and never returned. At this moment we have around 2200 photos. If you can help us, or if you're looking for more information about your own family, please contact us.

Tracing the Tribe readers are asked to help in this project. Do you have photos of Dutch Jewish children who did not survive?

If you have such photos and wish to share them for this project, let me knew via a comment to this post or to ask@tracingthetribe.com (include your real email address so I can provide contact information).

Click on Pennwaard's link above for an excellent site with links to the Jewish Historical Museum (Joods Historisch Museum) (English/Dutch), Jewish Historical Childrens' Museum, Hollandsche Schouwburg Monument, The Spanish Portuguese Synagogue, The Bibliotheek Ets Haim - Livraria Montezinos, Joods Digital Monument (Engllish/Dutch), and the Menasseh ben Israel Institute (English/Dutch).

Gaby also noted the Dutch Community Joods Monument, which has thousands of member-uploaded photos of gravestones.