News About Jewish Genealogy, Jewish History, and Jewish Culture
Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Deep Reading. Antoine Leboyer developed a genAI application to boost the study of Jewish texts. It could offer lessons well beyond the book. Leboyer reached out to Israel’s Sefaria, the world’s largest open-source, digital library of Jewish texts, to discuss how a large language model (LLM) could enhance the collection’s user value. An LLM is a type of artificial intelligence program trained on gigantic amounts of data that can perform natural language processing tasks such as summarizing content and answering questions. Read his story from The Harvard Business School: Deep Reading – Alumni – Harvard Business School. Thanks to Stanley Diamond of JRI Poland for passing this story along to me.
- JRI-Poland Book Club. JRI-Poland announces the formation of the JRI-Poland Book Club whose mission is to encourage our researchers to read and discuss literary works that are set in the current or former geographical territories of Poland. Any JRI-Poland researcher with a free NextGen Account may vote on which of the four book selections will become the next book choice through the poll staged on the JRI-Poland Community Forum. Voting ends on December 10, 2024. From the JRI-Poland Homepage, JRI-Poland | Preserving Jewish Records of Poland select on the top menu bar Community Forum. Search for “Book Club” and vote. Attendance at the Book Club Zoom meetings will be limited to current JRI-Poland Annual Members.
- Restore to forget: Poland and its Jewish cemeteries. Poland once had more than 1,500 Jewish cemeteries. Since Poland’s current Jewish population is estimated at 10,000, the math is stark: today in Poland there is about one Jewish cemetery for every 15 living Polish Jews. In the report, journalist Gabriel Rom tells us about both the virtuous initiatives to preserve these cemeteries and the vicious policies of exploitation to which they are subjected. Read more from k-larevue: Restore to forget: Poland and its Jewish cemeteries – Jews, Europe, the XXIst century
- The Israel Genealogical Research Association (IGRA) added 10 new databases and updated two more in November 2024. In doing so, they added over 26,000 new records. The following summary will give you a clear idea of the updates. In order to release new records quickly, they published some records in their original form without transcription. New Databases November 2024 – Israel Genealogy Research Association
- Exploring the Jewish Roots of Japan. Researchers have discovered many Japanese rituals and festivals that appear to mimic Jewish traditions. Read this fascinating story from Aish: Exploring the Jewish Roots of Japan | Aish
- Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Reagan Library shows Jewish ties to Israel. For the first time in nearly a decade, Dead Sea Scrolls manuscripts are on view in the United States in an exhibit of artifacts from the Israel Antiquities Authority, including some objects that have never been exhibited publicly before. A sheet of the Great Psalms Scroll, from Qumran Cave 11, which dates to the first century of the Common Era and is written in square Hebrew script that remains in use today, is among the items that haven’t been previously shown. Read more from JNS: ‘Not some colonial effort’: Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit at Reagan Library shows Jewish ties to Israel – JNS.org
- The Mural in the Attic. The oldest synagogue painting of its kind in North America finds a new home. For more than a century, this wall mural—painted in 1898 by Noah Levin, a Lithuanian Jewish immigrant artist—had been hidden in the attic of a small wooden apartment building, the original home of the House of Israel, the community’s first synagogue. Read the story from Tablet Magazine: The Mural in the Attic – Tablet Magazine
- Azerbaijan’s Jews hid away during the Soviet era – now they say they are safe and free. In the foothills of the Caucasus Mountains, the Red Village is one of the few places in the world where a Jewish community has lived continuously for more than 2,000 years, now in a Muslim majority country. It’s believed to be the last surviving shtetl, and the only town in the world outside Israel and the US where Jewish residents, numbering around 3,000, make up the majority. Read more from the Jewish Chronicle: Azerbaijan’s Jews hid away during the Soviet era – now they say they are safe and free – The Jewish Chronicle
- Why Jews are literally ‘the people of Thanksgiving.’ Jews are linguistically rooted in gratitude; the word for Jew in Hebrew is directly tied to the word for thankfulness. Jews are linguistically rooted in gratitude, and the word for Jew in Hebrew — Yehudi — is directly tied to the word for thankfulness, or hodaya. Read more from The Forward: Why Jews are literally ‘the people of Thanksgiving’
- Six Ways Jews Shaped Thanksgiving. How Jews helped to create the quintessential American holiday. Read more from Aish: 6 Ways Jews Shaped Thanksgiving | Aish
- Sephardic Torah from the Holy Land | Sephardic Thanksgiving Prayers. Founded in 1654 by 23 Spanish & Portuguese Jews, Shearith Israel is the first and oldest Jewish congregation in America. Read more from The Jewish Journal: Sephardic Torah from the Holy Land | Sephardic Thanksgiving Prayers
- The vanishing Stars of David. Small-town Jewish decline in America has eroded the interpersonal ties that once bridged divides between Jews and their neighbors. Jewish life in small-town America has steadily declined since 1970 as manufacturing jobs disappeared in many areas and other economic shifts reshaped rural and small-town life. Read the story from Times of Israel: The Blogs: The vanishing Stars of David | Austin Reid | The Times of Israel
- Have You Heard of Mitzvah Day? 35,000 unite for Mitzvah Day: UK’s biggest day of interfaith social action. More than 2,500 projects were undertaken including care home visits, cooking for those in need and food bank and winter clothing collections. Read more from Jewish News UK: 35,000 unite for Mitzvah Day: UK’s biggest day of interfaith social action – Jewish News
- How an airplane mechanic named Bennie Roth became the first Jew to set foot on Antarctica. When Commander Richard E. Byrd an aviator, polar explorer and American hero was looking for the country’s best airplane mechanic to help him become the first man to reach the South Pole by air in 1928, he quickly settled on Benjamin “Bennie” Roth, who played an integral role in Commander Byrd’s Arctic expedition. Read his story from The Forward: How Bennie Roth became the first Jew to reach Antarctica – The Forward
- Girl, 12, finds 3,500-year-old Egyptian amulet on hike in central Israel. She discovered a small scorpion-adorned scarab amulet lying out in the open near Tel Qana outside of Hod Hasharon. The scarab amulet, a beetle shape carved out of stone and adorned with the images of two scorpions, is estimated by experts to be 3,500 years old, the time of Egypt’s New Kingdom period when the empire was at its height and had expanded to what is now Israel, Lebanon and Syria. Read the story from Times of Israel: Girl, 12, finds 3,500-year-old Egyptian amulet on hike in central Israel | The Times of Israel
- Once shuttered by the Nazis, Vienna’s 115-year-old Hakoah Sports Club has found new life with a roster of promising athletes. Created as a space for Jewish athletes who were excluded from other clubs, Hakoah now welcomes members of all backgrounds, most of whom aren’t Jewish, and promotes inclusion and diversity. Read the story from JTA: Once shuttered by the Nazis, Vienna’s 115-year-old Hakoah Sports Club has found new life with a roster of promising athletes – Jewish Telegraphic Agency
- For Europe’s Jews, owning grand homes symbolized not just wealth, but equality. In many places, Jews couldn’t own property until the 19th century. Exercising that right gave them social and political status. Read the story from The Forward: For Europe’s Jews, owning a grand home symbolized equality – The Forward
- Katz’s Deli, a NYC icon, gets its first-ever commercial. The historic Lower East Side establishment stars in a spot created by the Jewish-Italian filmmaker and influencer known as New York Nico. Read more from NY Jewish Week: Katz’s Deli, a NYC icon, gets its first-ever commercial – New York Jewish Week
- What Is the Meaning of Chai? The Hebrew word for life is a popular symbol and toast — and is linked to the number 18. Read about Chai from My Jewish Learning: What Is the Meaning of Chai? | My Jewish Learning
- What is Sigd? An Ethiopian Jewish holiday held 50 days after Yom Kippur. The name “Sigd” means “prostration” in Ge’ez, an ancient Ethiopian liturgical language, but it is related to the word sged (same meaning) in Aramaic, one of the languages of the Talmud. Sigd is about accepting the Torah and yearning for Israel and the Temple. It is thought to be the date on which God first revealed himself to Moses. Read the story from My Jewish Learning: What is Sigd? | My Jewish Learning
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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.