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The Weekly News Nosh – October 20, 2024

Oct 20, 2024 | Nosh

News About Jewish Genealogy, Jewish History, and Jewish Culture

Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

PLEASE NOTE: There will not be a Weekly News Nosh next week as I will be on vacation.

  1. NEWS NOSH TIP OF THE WEEK: Break Language Barriers with AI Chatbots for Genealogy Research.  Uncover your roots like never before! Use AI chatbots to have seamless conversations and translate foreign languages, breaking down barriers to your genealogical research. Dive into a recent translation of a memorial monument here.  Thanks to Jerry Scherer, VP of JGS of Toronto for this terrific Genealogy technology tip!
  2. People With No Known Jewish Ancestry (No Matter How Many Fake News Articles There Are). Check out this new website on Geni regarding some famous persons. Geni – People With No Known Jewish Ancestry (No Matter How Many Fake News Articles There Are) Project This is a great, new place for discussion on some of the individuals. For example…what are your thoughts about the recent story on Christopher Columbus being genetically Jewish? What about Elvis Presley? His mother’s original headstone had a Star of David on it along with a cross, as supposedly Presley’s great great grandmother Nancy Burdine was Jewish and because under the Jewish law of succession through mothers, Elvis would be Jewish. Elvis also wore a chai symbol around his neck for good luck.
  3. MyHeritage Inbox has a new and improved look while they have added 56 million new records. Unlike the previous version, it is now fully supported on mobile web. Read more: The MyHeritage Inbox Gets a Fresh New Look – MyHeritage Blog The newly added records include birth, death, burial and marriage records from the United States, Canada, France, Ireland, and Poland, and some of them include images. Read more about the new records from their blog: MyHeritage Adds 56 Million Historical Records in September 2024 – MyHeritage Blog
  4. Almost 100,000 Pages of Records from the Foundling Hospital, England’s First Home for Babies. The Foundling Hospital, England’s First Home for Babies who were unable to be cared for by their parents, have now been made available online for the first time. The archive spans the full history of the Foundling Hospital, from 1739 to 1954, when the residential school closed. To view, go to: Foundling Hospital Archive – Coram Story : Coram Story
  5. 10 Proven Techniques to Validate Your Sources. You’re on a mission. A mission to uncover your family’s past. But here’s the thing: bad sources can derail your entire research. Rookie mistake. Let’s fix that. Time to separate the pros from the amateurs. Read the story from Genealogy Explained: 10 Proven Techniques to Validate Your Sources – Genealogy Explained
  6. Historic Prague synagogue used on Yom Kippur for the first time since the Holocaust. The Klausen Synagogue had not held a Jewish worship service since the Nazis shuttered it and murdered most Czech Jews. Originally erected in 1573 and rebuilt after a fire in 1694, the Klausen Synagogue is the largest synagogue in Prague’s Jewish Quarter and once served as a central hub of Jewish life. Read the story from JTA: Historic Prague synagogue used on Yom Kippur for the first time since the Holocaust – Jewish Telegraphic Agency (jta.org)
  7. Under the Nose of the Inquisition. Throughout our long history, Jews have overcome all sorts of obstacles to observe the mitzvah of sukkah. But perhaps one of the most striking instances of the Jewish people’s love for this mitzvah – and determination to fulfill it at all costs – is the sukkah that was built in Mexico City in the year 1603 by a crypto-Jew named Sebastian Rodriguez. Read his story from Aish: Under the Nose of the Inquisition | Aish
  8. Sukkot 101. Beginning five days after Yom Kippur, Sukkot is named after the booths or huts (sukkot in Hebrew) in which Jews are supposed to dwell during this week-long celebration. According to rabbinic tradition, these flimsy sukkots represent the huts in which the Israelites dwelt during their 40 years of wandering in the desert after escaping from slavery in Egypt. Read more from My Jewish Learning: Sukkot 101 | My Jewish Learning Also check out Must-Know Sukkot Words and Phrases: Must-Know Sukkot Words and Phrases | My Jewish Learning
  9. Jerusalem in its glory: Reconstructing the Sukkot pilgrimage to the Second Temple. What was the pilgrims’ visit to Jerusalem on Sukkot during the Second Temple like? Read more from The Jerusalem Post: Jerusalem archaeology: Sukkot pilgrimages to the Second Temple – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
  10. Sukkah on board: Chabad builds Sukkah on USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier. The move had been initiated by chaplain Lieutenant Yehoshua Rubin, who is also a Chabad representative. Read more from The Jerusalem Post: Chabad builds Sukkah on board of USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier – The Jerusalem Post (jpost.com)
  11. The Beatles Jewish manager gets a movie. The extraordinary achievements of Brian Epstein are revealed in the new film Midas Man. Brian Samuel Epstein was born on 19 September 1934 in Liverpool on Yom Kippur. That he arrived on the Day of Atonement was not lost on the man who managed The Beatles as he felt he was born guilty. Read more from Jewish News UK: Finally The Beatles manager gets a movie – Jewish News
  12. Austrian Parliament to house Holocaust exhibition. The exhibition, titled “Torn from Life: The Fate of Austrian Jews After the Anschluss in 1938,” comes amid a surge of antisemitism in Europe. The exhibit is a major step forward in acknowledging the country’s Nazi past. Read more from JNS: Austrian Parliament to house Holocaust exhibition – JNS.org
  13. He left Berlin with 10 marks in his pocket — he came back with an art collection worth hundreds of millions. Heinz Berggruen led a life on the road and on the run before he brought his artwork back home. You’ve probably never heard of a German-Jewish art dealer and collector named Heinz Berggruen, but if you happen to be in Paris this fall you might want to visit the Orangerie Museum to find out about him. Read his story from The Forward: How art dealer Heinz Berggruen turned 10 marks into millions – The Forward
  14. Croatia: Government puts 52 Jewish cemeteries under protection. Around 70 Jewish cemeteries are believed to exist in Croatia. Some are well maintained, but others – probably the majority — are neglected and overgrown. Some 15 Jewish cemeteries are already protected as independent cultural sites, and several are Jewish sections of municipal cemeteries. Read more from Jewish Heritage Europe: https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2024/10/16/croatia-jewish-cemeteries-protected/
  15. What do we know about Elena Kagan’s Jewish Identity? While not directly a Jewish issue, we thought it would be helpful to unpack the Court’s only current Jewish Justice, Elena Kagan. Read more about her from Jewish Unpacked: Is Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan Jewish? (jewishunpacked.com)
  16. Anne Frank Exhibit to Open in NYC. The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam will replicate the cramped rooms where Frank and her family spent two years, July 1943-August 1944 hiding to evade Nazi capture.  For the first time, the full-scale re-creation of the hiding place will be on foreign soil in New York City, NY. This is a partnership between the Anne Frank House and the Center for Jewish History (https://www.cjh.org/). It will open on January 27, 2025 International Holocaust Memorial day. It will be on view through April 30, 2025. For tickets, go to: Anne Frank The Exhibition presented by Anne Frank House (etix.com) Thanks to Jan Meisels Allen, Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee for this story.
  17. MSJE announces expansion with new Southern Jewish Family Research Center. The Museum of the Southern Jewish Experience (MSJE) has announced its first major expansion since it opened in the spring of 2021. The museum will cut the ribbon on its new Southern Jewish Family Research Center on Thursday, November 7, 2024. Read more: MSJE announces expansion with new Southern Jewish Family Research Center – Crescent City Jewish News Crescent City Jewish News
  18. In an Oprah-like moment, Brooklyn synagogue surprises 1,300 attendees with Jewish star necklaces. “I was just reminding them of their Jewish pride,” Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Park Slope’s Congregation Beth Elohim said about the giveaway. Read the story from NY Jewish Week: In an Oprah-like moment, Brooklyn synagogue surprises 1,300 attendees with Jewish star necklaces – New York Jewish Week (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.