News About Jewish Genealogy, Jewish History, and Jewish Culture
Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA [email protected]
- Meet the New Yorker tracing the 300-year history of the Twersky rabbinical dynasty, from Chernobyl to the Bronx. Yitzchak Meyer Twersky has become the world’s leading authority on the globe-spanning Twersky rabbinic dynasty — one of Hasidic Judaism’s most prominent families, and his own. The family, which dates to 18th-century Ukraine, boasts tens of thousands of members around the globe, and Twersky has spent the last 37 years researching, documenting and preserving everything he can learn about them. Read more from New York Jewish Week: Meet the New Yorker tracing the 300-year history of the Twersky rabbinical dynasty, from Chernobyl to the Bronx – New York Jewish Week (jta.org)
The Weekly News Nosh is going out a day early as I leave Sunday morning to attend and speak at the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Society annual meeting in Philadelphia. I hope to see many of you there!
Phil Goldfarb
- Jewish family divided since Russian Revolution united via online genealogy research. For a century, the Schneider family had lost one another, unwillingly split in half in 1924 during efforts to flee the chaos brought on by the Bolsheviks taking control of Russia and the antisemitic riots that ensued. Elisabeth Zetland, a researcher at MyHeritage, noted that the Schneider family’s story “highlights the power of online genealogy platforms like MyHeritage in bridging the gaps created by time and history. Read more from JNS: Jewish family divided since Russian Revolution united via online genealogy research – JNS.org
- KKJ-JNF unveils rare photos of Tisha B’Av from early Israeli statehood. They underscore the enduring importance of maintaining traditions. The images reveal soldiers observing the traditions of the day at a military base, as well as a mass prayer at the Western Wall in Jerusalem. They illustrate how Jewish traditions were deeply rooted in the early days of Israeli statehood and underscore the enduring importance of maintaining commandments and customs. Read the story and see the pictures from JNS: KKJ-JNF unveils rare photos of Tisha B’Av from early Israeli statehood – JNS.org
- PBS Starts Season 11 of Finding Your Roots January 7, 2025. Check your local PBS station in the U.S. and Canada for the time. Read more from People: Finding Your Roots Season 11 to Feature Chrissy Teigen, Kristen Bell and More! (Exclusive) (people.com)
- Ukraine Research Division Adds More Than 100,000 Records in August. The August upload of 100,875 birth, marriage, death, and census records from multiple towns. Explore the details of these documents and the towns they represent in their monthly records spreadsheet at: Monthly Ukraine Research Report – Google Sheets
- Latvia Research Division adds Internal Passports and Birth Records. These records are a valuable resource as the birth dates of the holder, or relatives go back to 1840. The Collection spans the years 1919-1940 and these Internal Passports were identity documents to be used within Latvia. Go to; Internal Passports & Birth Records (jewishgen.org) In addition, translations of Riga birth records, 1883-1890 have also been added. Go to: https://jewishgen.org/databases/latvia/ This adds almost 8500 new records to the Jewish Vital Records of Latvia collection.
- Romania Research Division Adds Emigration Lists, 1947 – 1948 and New Vital Records. Thanks to a new partnership with the Archives of the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Romanian RD has been able to index many emigration lists. Go to: Romania Research Division New Updates (jewishgen.org)
- This Mexican diplomat helped Jews flee Hitler. Does that make him Mexico’s Schindler? Some say Gilberto Bosques was just doing his job. Others call him a hero. As head of the Mexican Consulate in France during World War II, Gilberto Bosques signed visas for leftists fleeing Fascist Spain and Jews fleeing Hitler. He rented chateaus near the consulate in Marseille to house and feed refugees, and he issued papers that provided protection to those who wanted to stay in wartime Europe to fight with the resistance. Read his story from The Forward: Was WWII diplomat Gilberto Bosques the Schindler of Mexico? – The Forward
- The Temple Mount through the Ages. A historical overview of the holiest spot on earth. What is the significance of the Temple Mount and the Temple? Why do the Jewish people continue to mourn for thousands of years? Read the story from Aish: The Temple Mount through the Ages – Aish.com
- The Jews of France. The third-largest Jewish community in the world has undergone alternating periods of achievement and persecution. Jews have been present in France since Roman times. In the first century of the Common Era, Jews were found in and around the area now known as Lyon. By the sixth century, they had built the country’s first synagogue on the Île de la Cité, an island in central Paris. Read the story from My Jewish Learning: The Jews of France | My Jewish Learning
- The Destruction of the Second Temple: A Concise History. The Romans destroyed the Second Temple, but they were only able to do so when civil war tore the Jewish People apart. Jews living in the Land of Israel in mid-1st century CE did not have it easy. At the time, the Land of Israel was under Roman rule. Read the story from Aish: The Destruction of the Second Temple: A Concise History – Aish.com
- Jewish kitchenware unearthed in Jerusalem’s ancient drainage channel. Items such as expensive oils, grape seeds and 2,000-year-old eggshells were discovered during an excavation near the City of David. The secrets of the Jewish kitchen dating back two millennia to the time of the Biblical Second Temple are being uncovered in Jerusalem’s ancient drainage channel. Read the story from JNS: Jewish kitchenware unearthed in Jerusalem’s ancient drainage channel – JNS.org
- This Is the Oldest Known Inscription Bearing the Full Name of Jerusalem. The Israel Museum unveiled a pillar from the 2nd Temple period bearing a 3-line inscription, the earliest stone inscription of the full modern Hebrew spelling of “Jerusalem.” “Hananiah son of Dodalos of Yerushalayim [the way the ancient Jewish city is written in Hebrew today]” was discovered during a salvage excavation earlier this year of a large Hasmonean Period Jewish artisans’ village near what is today’s western entrance to the city. Read more: This Is the Oldest Known Inscription Bearing the Full Name of Jerusalem – Entertaiment News (content4mix.com)
- Second Temple-era massive quarry discovered in Jerusalem. Archeologists uncover part of the quarry whose stones are believed to have been used in construction works of King Herod the Great. The excavated area, about 3,500 square meters in size, encompasses just one section of the quarry, composed of dozens of various-sized building blocks. Most of the hewn slabs extracted in the dig were huge with each quarried block weighing two-and-a-half tons. Read the story from Israel 21c: Second Temple-era massive quarry discovered in Jerusalem – ISRAEL21c
- Study of Cairo’s synagogues reveal an Egyptian Jewish ‘Golden Age’ abruptly ended. Israel’s neighbor Egypt once had a thriving Jewish community dating back to ancient times. Today, only a handful of Jews remain — the result of mass emigration caused by the tumultuous events and changes of the 20th century, including the establishment of the State of Israel. Read the full story from the Times of Israel: Study of Cairo’s synagogues reveals an Egyptian Jewish ‘Golden Age’ abruptly ended | The Times of Israel
- What Does Amen Mean? Amen is actually a Hebrew word that first appears in the Torah, in the book of Numbers (5:22). What does it mean and how is it used in Jewish daily life? Read the story from Aish: What Does Amen Mean? – Aish.com
- What Is A Hamsa? Although it may derive from Islamic or pagan culture, the hamsa today has become a Jewish and Israeli symbol. Read more from My Jewish Learning: What Is A Hamsa? | My Jewish Learning
- Hava Nagila’s Long, Strange Trip. The unlikely history of a Hasidic melody. If there is one Jewish song known by Jews and non-Jews alike, it is undoubtedly Hava Nagila (הבה נגילה), which is Hebrew for “let us rejoice.” From its obscure origins in early 20th-century Palestine, the song has gone on to become a perennial favorite at weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs and Jewish — and non-Jewish — cultural events around the world. Read more from My Jewish Learning: Hava Nagila’s Long, Strange Trip | My Jewish Learning
- The enduring legacy of Borscht Belt bungalows. Decades after the golden age of the Catskills, bungalow colonies are making a comeback. The bungalow colonies of the Borscht Belt, the nickname given to the summer resorts frequented by Jewish people in the Catskill Mountains, were at their height between the 1940s and mid-1960s. By the 1950s, there were about 50,000 bungalows in the Catskills, spread across nearly 2,000 colonies. Read the story from the Washington Post: Bungalow colonies in the Catskills are making a comeback – The Washington Post
- ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ started at a Jewish summer camp. Now it’s making a raucous return to Broadway. A look into the Jewish summer camp origins of the campy musical theatre hit. Once Upon a Mattress got its start at Camp Tamiment: an adult musical theater summer camp with ties to the heavily Jewish socialist labor movement. Camp Tamiment started out in the 1920s in the Poconos Mountains in Pennsylvania as a summer campus of the Rand School of Social Science. Read more from the Forward: ‘Once Upon a Mattress’ started at a socialist Jewish summer camp (forward.com)
- A Jewish baseball event so rare it has only ever happened three times before. A Jewish hitter facing a Jewish pitcher and Jewish catcher. When Max Lazar threw to Garrett Stubbs and Joc Pederson struck out, the three Jewish ballplayers were making history. Read the story from The Forward: Max Lazar, Garrett Stubbs and Joc Pederson made baseball history – The Forward
- Meet the 20 Jewish Olympians who won medals in Paris. With six gold medals, seven silvers and five bronzes between them, this was a bumper 2024 Olympics for Jewish athletes from the United States, Australia and Israel. Read more from Jewish News UK: Meet the 20 Jewish Olympians who won medals in Paris – Jewish News
- A ‘Bachelorette’ contestant this season is the great-great-grandson of the last chief rabbi of Kovno. Avraham Dov-Ber Kahana Shapiro, the last chief rabbi of Kovno, now Kaunas, Lithuania was born in 1873 in modern-day Belarus and who himself was the great-great-great-grandson of Rabbi Chaim Volozhin, who established the Volozhin Yeshiva, widely considered to be the first modern yeshiva as well as one of the most highly regarded in Europe. Considered an “ilui,” or Talmud prodigy, he became the chief rabbi of Kovno in 1923. Read more from JTA: A ‘Bachelorette’ contestant this season is the great-great-grandson of the last chief rabbi of Kovno – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)
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About The Weekly News Nosh
The Weekly News Nosh contains news about Jewish Genealogy, Jewish History and Jewish Culture. The Nosh is published on Sundays and distributed by the L’Dor V’Dor Foundation on its website and social media platforms. “A Family Without The Understanding Of Their Past History, Foundation And Ethnicity Is Like A Tree Without Roots.” Subscribe to receive future announcements.