News About Jewish Genealogy, Jewish History, and Jewish Culture
Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Genie Milgrom Launches New Website. Genie Milgrom who has traced her ancestors back 22 generations to Pre-Inquisition Spain and Portugal while identifying 30 or so relatives that were judged or burned in the Inquisition has launched her new website. Genie is an author, speaker, researcher and genealogy award winner Movie – Genie Milgrom who specializes in Crypto Jewish genealogy that cannot be found anywhere else. You can find her website at: Home – Genie Milgrom The unique highlight about the site is the “Ancestor search” feature which is the ability to locate the Jewish ancestries of families who are still Catholic today. In addition, the search yields an East to West diaspora that allows one to follow families to search ancestors from Europe to the New World. Definitely a site to check out!
- Miriam Weiner’s Routes to Roots Foundation to add major collections to her website for the City of Odessa. Other Ukraine towns with new or updated collections are Rovno, Novaya Ushitsa, Dobromil, Izyaslav, Drogobych and Priluki. Learn more from attending her presentation at the IAJGS Conference on Monday, August 19 at 11AM. NOTE: All attendees at Miriam’s lecture will receive a 60+ page handout, color, glossy paper and bound. The Routes to Roots website can be found here: rtrfoundation.org
- Family Search Adds 19 Million New Records. Search over 19 million newly-indexed family history records including 16 million in US Living Persons Database 1970 – 2024. New historical records were also added from collections in Scotland, Austria, Belgium, Colombia, the Czech Republic, El Salvador, Ireland, and Peru. To see the specific additions, go to: New Historical Records on FamilySearch 25 May 2024
- LitvakSIG All Lithuanian Database 2nd quarter 2024 updates. The update consists of 13,485 records and include Vital Records (births, deaths, marriages), Applications for Passports and Personal ID’s, Revision Lists, Taxpayers and Voters database. The ALD search form is at https://www.litvaksig.org/search-ALD/. To limit your search results to the newly added data, include Any Field———-contains———-2024q2as a search parameter.
- Six Common Mistakes New Genealogists Make and How to Avoid Them. Starting your genealogy journey can be thrilling, but new (and experienced) genealogists often trip up on common mistakes that waste time and effort. This post breaks down these errors and shows you how to dodge them, ensuring your family history search is spot-on from the start. From Genealogy Explained: 6 Common Mistakes New Genealogists Make and How to Avoid Them – Genealogy Explained
- Holocaust Survivor Carries the Olympic Torch. With the Olympics to commence, an Auschwitz-Birkenau survivor named Leon Lewkowicz carried the torch to the Vel d’Hiv Memorial Garden as part of the grand lead up to the opening ceremonies of the Paris Olympics. Read his story from Aish: Holocaust Survivor Carries the Olympic Torch – Aish.com
- Einstein letter on saving Jewish refugees to be auctioned. The 85-year-old letter, along with the original envelope, will be auctioned with a minimum bid listed at $20,000. The typed letter, which is dated June 10, 1939, less than three months before the outbreak of World War II, is on Einstein’s personal blind-embossed letterhead from Princeton, New Jersey. Read more from JNS: Einstein letter on saving Jewish refugees to be auctioned – JNS.org
- When Swiss Banks Held Money of Jewish Victims. Before the Holocaust, many Jews deposited their money in Swiss banks in an attempt to secure their families’ future. It took decades and lawsuits for the heirs to recover the money. Some of them never did. Read the story from Aish: When Swiss Banks Held Money of Jewish Victims – Aish.com
- Israel’s landmark Eichmann trial depicted in limited-run NYC production. Giving Holocaust survivors a voice, Adolf Eichmann’s 1961 trial in Jerusalem held Final Solution ‘architect’ responsible for organizing deportation of Jews across Europe. The play is based on Israel’s capture and trial of Eichmann, known as the Holocaust’s architect. He was kidnapped by Mossad agents in Argentina and brought to Israel in 1960. Prime minister David Ben-Gurion engineered the trial in part to educate the nation about what took place during Nazi Germany’s genocide of six million Jews. Read the story from The Times of Israel: Israel’s landmark Eichmann trial depicted in limited-run NYC production | The Times of Israel
- This Jewish gynecologist saved hundreds of pregnant women’s lives in Auschwitz. In 1944, Gisella Perl, a well-known gynecologist was deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp when the Nazis invaded Hungary that year. There, Dr. Josef Mengele assigned her to work as a doctor in the women’s camp, treating Jews and other inmates with hardly any tools, medicine or sterilization equipment. Read her story from JTA: This Jewish gynecologist saved hundreds of pregnant women’s lives in Auschwitz – New York Jewish Week (jta.org)
- The Freedom Train: From Bergen-Belsen to Haifa. Eighty years ago, 283 Jews were released by Nazi Germany and brought to the Land of Israel. This is their remarkable story. Read this interesting story from Aish: The Freedom Train: From Bergen-Belsen to Haifa – Aish.com
- 12 Things To Know About the Temple in Jerusalem. On Tisha B’Av, Jews mourn the destruction of the Temple. But how much do you know about what it was really like? It can be difficult to grasp just how central the Temple was to ancient Jewish life. Here are 12 facts that help illustrate what the ancient Temple was really like, and what it has meant to Jews throughout history. Read the story from My Jewish Learning: 12 Things To Know About the Temple in Jerusalem | My Jewish Learning
- Restoration works kicks off on historic Siena, Italy synagogue. Located just off Siena’s expansive central Campo, the synagogue was inaugurated in 1786 as an extension of an earlier one. Read the story from Jewish Heritage Europe: https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2024/07/25/italy-siena-work/
- Uncovered floor of Vilnius’s Great Synagogue bears witness to Nazi, Soviet devastation. Researchers find 17th-century prayer house, at center of Jewish metropolis, was looted by Germans, razed by Russians. Findings dated to the 17th and 18th centuries included parts of the synagogue’s women’s section, huge water basins used to ensure the purity of the synagogue’s ritual bath, or mikveh as well as one of synagogue’s columns collapsed on its side that stood near the bimah. Read more from The Times of Israel: Uncovered floor of Vilnius’s Great Synagogue bears witness to Nazi, Soviet devastation | The Times of Israel
- When King Louis IX Tried to Wipe Out Judaism. King Louis IX had a Jewish problem. Crowned in 1226, Louis IX was the type of king who liked to take justice into his own hands. He’d often personally judge cases and deliver punishments in his Great Hall in Paris. And he also had a thing about the Jews. He forced Jews into manual labor with the Ordinance of Melun in 1230 and liked to debate Jews about their religion. Read his story from Aish: When King Louis IX Tried to Wipe Out Judaism – Aish.com
- In London, Jewish history is larger than life in a new mural. This grand tableaux, a Breughel-like portrait of Jewish life in London, is a 9-story mural by artist Leon Fenster, now adorning a wall of the Jewish Community Centre London (or, as locals call it, JW3). The mural is jam packed with familiar faces — Sigmund Freud, who died in London and is accompanied by his daughter and disciple Anna Freud, debating with the psychoanalyst Melanie Klein; Rabbi Jonathan Sacks; Karl Marx being wrapped in tefillin as he writes — but also some everyday Londoners. Read more from The Forward: In London, Jewish history is larger than life in a new mural – The Forward
- Germany moves to ease return of art looted by Nazis to rightful owners. Draft legislation would create a new ‘right to information’ for victims from whom works were taken between 1933-1945, suspend statute of limitations for return of artworks. Despite previous moves to encourage the restitution of cultural artifacts seized by the Nazis, many are still not in the possession of their owners. Read the story from The Times of Israel: Germany moves to ease return of art looted by Nazis to rightful owners | The Times of Israel
- Speaking of Stolen Art…Nazi-stolen art returned to heirs in New York City ceremony. The recovery of this important artwork stolen from a prominent Jewish critic of Adolf Hitler sends a message to the world that crime does not pay. Read the story from JNS: Nazi-stolen art returned to heirs in New York City ceremony – JNS.org
- A teenage girl read the Talmud five years faster than it usually takes. Elke Bentley, 18, read the whole Babylonian Talmud five years faster than the traditional reading cycle, which is usually the domain of men. She has completed a remarkable achievement in Jewish text study by reading the Talmud, more than 2,700 double-sided pages of densely printed Hebrew and Aramaic text, commentary and footnotes in just two-and-a-half years. Read her story from The Forward: Teenage girl read the Talmud five years faster than it usually takes – The Forward
- Ask the Expert: Burying the Genizah. What should be done with old Torah scrolls and sacred texts? Burying the contents of a genizah which means “reserved” or “hidden” in Hebrew, is traditionally a place where Jews store sacred documents when they fall out of use. Read more from My Jewish Learning: Ask the Expert: Burying the Genizah | My Jewish Learning
- Lighting Shabbat Candles. Everything you need to know about kindling the Sabbath lights. Shabbat is ushered in every Friday night with the lighting of Sabbath candles, referred to in Yiddish as licht bentschen. This story will answer practical questions about candle-lighting, look at the origin of the custom and give you all the information you need (including a video tutorial) to confidently light your Shabbat candles. From My Jewish Learning: Lighting Shabbat Candles | My Jewish Learning
- Explore the rich architectural history of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road – while it lasts. As demolitions and skyscrapers forever alter the landscape around the capital’s first paved street outside the Old City, the time to explore its hidden treasures is running out. Jaffa Road had been the very first street paved outside the Old City Walls back in the 1860s. Read the Times of Israel story: Explore the rich architectural history of Jerusalem’s Jaffa Road – while it lasts | The Times of Israel
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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.