News About Jewish Genealogy, Jewish History, and Jewish Culture
Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Aleph launches Wall of Heroes to honor Jewish veterans. Aleph has launched the Wall of Heroes site, an interactive yahrzeit wall to memorialize Jewish veterans and share their untold stories. This interactive yahrzeit wall allows families to publicly post pictures and information about their veterans, so the world can discover and memorialize their names, faces and untold stories—ensuring their service will be eternally remembered. Read more from JNS: Aleph launches Wall of Heroes to honor Jewish veterans – JNS.org
- Have you heard of Balticgen.com? Some unusual services and genealogical assistance in the Baltic region including Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Estonia, Russia and Poland in 11 different languages. To view lists and much more go to: BALTICGEN as well as his services: My Services Thank you to Sallyann Sack for passing this along to me
- Polish State Archives – October 2024 update. ID application forms provide genealogical information, including birth date, location, and parents’ names. But the best thing is that, in most cases, they contain pictures! Check out the latest: Polish State Archives – October 2024 update – Alyagon Genealogy
- MyHeritage DNA and Ancestry DNA kits are on sale. MyHeritage special price of $36.00 is now available through Nov 20th. To read more and to order go to: MyHeritage DNA | Reveal your Ethnicity & Ancestry | DNA Testing – MyHeritage while Ancestry DNA is now $39.00: AncestryDNA® | DNA Tests for Ethnicity & Genealogy DNA Test
- Are You Eligible for Up to $10,000 from 23andMe’s Data Breach Settlement? Personal data of nearly half of the popular genetic testing company’s customers — 6.9 million people — was exposed in the data breach. Read more from CNET: Are You Eligible for Up to $10,000 from 23andMe’s Data Breach Settlement? – CNET
- A World of Jewish Farming. Jewish Agriculturalism in the Russian Empire, USSR & Bessarabia 1807 to 1917 which led to Jewish Agriculturalism in New Jersey. Read the interesting history and story from Rutgers University: Russian Empire, USSR & Bessarabia – Jewish Agriculturalism in the Garden State
- History… Kristallnacht And The World’s Response. The free world’s muted reaction to the Kristallnacht pogrom foreshadowed the terrible silence with which it would greet the Nazis’ Final Solution. Read the story from Aish: Kristallnacht And The World’s Response | Aish.
- A survivor kept the key from a German synagogue destroyed on Kristallnacht. 86 years later, the relic is returning home. On the evening of Nov. 9, 1938, Marianne Katzenstein, who was 16 at the time, was in her family’s synagogue in Bielefeld, Germany, practicing the organ. She finished up, used a key to lock the building and returned home. Later that night, the synagogue was burned to the ground by the Nazis in the Kristallnacht pogrom. Only two items survived the fire: a Torah scroll and Katzenstein’s key. Read the story from JTA: A survivor kept the key from a German synagogue destroyed on Kristallnacht. 86 years later, the relic is returning home. – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
- Anne Frank House launches 3D virtual tour. The new online walkthrough of the Amsterdam museum will make Anne Frank’s story and the Anne Frank House accessible to worldwide visitors who can immerse themselves in every room of the museum through photos, video clips, sound bites, objects and documents. Read more from The Jewish Chronicle: Anne Frank House launches 3D virtual tour with AI version of Rachel Riley – The Jewish Chronicle
- A Torah Scroll Hidden in Poland for 75 Years Is Getting a Makeover. In 1939 Poland, the Jews in the village of Filipów were forcibly expelled. In an effort to save the synagogue’s Torah scroll, the rabbi of the town gave it to his non-Jewish neighbor, Tomas Wroblewski. The rabbi begged Tomas to hide the Torah until he came back for it. If he perished, he should give the Torah scroll only to a Jewish person. The rabbi was killed in Treblinka. Read the story from Aish: A Torah Scroll Hidden in Poland for 75 Years Is Getting a Makeover | Aish
- Afghanistan’s ‘last Jew’ finally makes it to Israel. When the Taliban took over in 2021, Zebulon Simantov insisted he had “protected” status as the last Jew, but the threats he faced became too much for him to stay. Read his story from Jewish News UK: SPECIAL REPORT: Afghanistan’s ‘last Jew’ finally makes it to Israel – Jewish News
- The History of Ethiopian Jewry. A Jewish community in Ethiopia — the Beta Israel (House of Israel) — has existed for at least 15 centuries. Because of low literacy levels, a tendency to rely on oral traditions, and nomadic lifestyles among most Ethiopians prior to the 20th century, historic material about this community is scant and unreliable. However, a tentative story can be pieced together from written records of Ethiopian rulers as well as testimony from the Beta Israel themselves. Read more from My Jewish Learning: The History of Ethiopian Jewry | My Jewish Learning
- The ‘Shtisel’ Spinoff Is Finally Coming in December. “Kugel” takes place in Antwerp, Belgium, and will tell the story of Haredi father and daughter Nuchem and Libbi, who we met in the original show. Read more about the show from Kveller: The ‘Shtisel’ Spinoff Is Finally Coming in December – Kveller
- What Is Gematria? Hebrew numerology, and the secrets of the Torah. Gematria is a numerological system by which Hebrew letters correspond to numbers. This system, developed by practitioners of Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), derived from Greek influence and became a tool for interpreting biblical texts. Read more from My Jewish Learning: What Is Gematria? | My Jewish Learning
- How the NY Public Library acquired a ‘treasure trove’ of Jewish and Yiddish music. Manuscripts and arrangements of music performed on Yiddish radio station WEVD sat in a basement for 40 years. Sheet music, manuscripts and orchestral arrangements for close to 4,000 musical works — including cantorial music, Hasidic melodies, Yiddish theater, klezmer and opera — that were performed live on the radio station WEVD between 1927 and 1995 are now part of NYPL’s Dorot Jewish Division, which celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2022. Read more from NY Jewish Week: How the NY Public Library acquired a ‘treasure trove’ of Jewish and Yiddish music – New York Jewish Week
- The oldest inscribed stone tablet of the Ten Commandments to be auctioned. Dating to the Late Byzantine period, this remarkable artifact is approximately 1,500 years old, weighing 115 lbs. and is the only complete tablet of the Ten Commandments still extant from this early era. It will be offered as a single-lot sale on 18 December. Read more from Sotheby’s: The Ten Commandments
- Jewish Ghettos of Pre-Emancipation Europe. The word “ghetto” refers to an enclosed place where European Jews were once relegated to live. The term, derived from the Italian gettare, which refers to the casting of metal, was first used in Venice in 1516, when authorities required Jews to move to the island of Carregio (the Ghetto Nuovo, new ghetto), across from an area where an old copper foundry was located (the Ghetto Vecchio, old ghetto). Read more from My Jewish Learning: Jewish Ghettos of Pre-Emancipation Europe | My Jewish Learning
- 12,000-year-old Stone Age site in Israel reveals first evidence of wheel technology. Over 100 small stone objects from Neolithic period are the earliest instance of ‘spindle whorls,’ used to spin fibers into yarn, predating previously known textile tools by 4,000 years. Read more from The Times of Israel: 12,000-year-old Stone Age site in Israel reveals first evidence of wheel technology | The Times of Israel
- Hidden in plain sight, a Holocaust memorial takes on new significance. Even though it stands 38-feet tall, the Holocaust Memorial outside Madison Square Park is easy to miss. Carved into a column on the Appellate Division Courthouse of the New York State at 27 Madison Avenue, the memorial was created in 1990 by Harriet Feigenbaum. Read more about the memorial from The Forward: This little-known Holocaust memorial is more relevant than ever – The Forward
- How Marc Chagall mastered color and made Jewish painting kosher. A New Orleans exhibit examines Chagall’s popularity and influence. Many of the 48 paintings on display, including more than 30 works by the Belorussian-born French Jewish artist, Marc Chagall (1887-1985) are “fresh to the market.” Most have been in private hands or lying unframed in drawers. It’s exceptional to see this many Chagall paintings in any one exhibit. Read more about the exhibit from The Forward: How Marc Chagall made painting Jewish subjects kosher – The Forward
- Modern Jewish History: Louis Brandeis, First Jewish Supreme Court Justice. Brandeis was also the first high court nominee subject to public hearings. Read his story from My Jewish Learning: Louis Brandeis, First Jewish Supreme Court Justice | My Jewish Learning
- How Yosef Yekutieli, the architect of the Maccabiah Games, birthed Israeli sports. Thanks to a Russian-born Turkish World War I veteran, there is a Jewish Olympics. The Maccabiah Games are a coming-together of the Jewish diaspora to compete athletically on a global stage and celebrate our people. There have been 21 Maccabiah Games dating back to the first in 1932, with more than 75,000 Jews participating across 90 years. Read more from Jewish Unpacked: How Maccabiah Games founder Yosef Yekutieli birthed Israeli sports
- Day-long events mark the 200th anniversary of the synagogue in Sabbioneta, Italy. Jews lived in Sabbioneta from the town’s early days — even before it was laid out in its present form, and the town developed into an important center of Hebrew printing. There is no Jewish community in Sabbioneta today, and the synagogue forms part of the town’s cultural attractions. Read more from Jewish Heritage Europe: Italy: Day-long events mark the 200th anniversary of the synagogue in Sabbioneta, an “ideal city” that is on UNESCO’s world heritage roster – Jewish Heritage Europe
- Researching disappearing small-town Jewish communities…finding the best of America. Jews played crucial roles in shaping the civic, cultural and economic landscapes beyond the big cities, writes a historian and writer based in Rochester, New York. These histories must be shared and integrated into broader conversations about American identity. We not only honor Jewish families who helped to build and sustain so many small-town communities but also ensure that future generations understand the complexity and richness of small-town life in America. Read more from JTA: I research disappearing small-town Jewish communities. I’m finding the best of America. – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
- These new klezmer musicians aren’t old enough to drive. Members of the Klezmaniacs, ages 10 to 16, find new meaning in a genre associated with the “Old World.” This youth klezmer band is one of at least three klezmer youth ensembles that have sprung up around the country in recent years and are connecting Jewish youth with their roots. Read more from JTA: These new klezmer musicians aren’t old enough to drive – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
- 8 Popular Jewish Superstitions. Like all cultures, Jews have developed numerous superstitious practices applicable to a variety of occasions. Read more from My Jewish Learning: 8 Popular Jewish Superstitions | My Jewish Learning
- Lox Club: Modern Jewish Matchmaking. The Lox Club, a dating app for Jews with “ridiculously high standards” launched in 2020 and got over 10,000 applications in the first week. By 2021, there was a waitlist of over 20,000, with Vogue was calling it “the Jewish Raya.” Read what a Jewish grandmother inspired from Aish: Lox Club: Modern Jewish Matchmaking | Aish
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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.