News About Jewish Genealogy, Jewish History, and Jewish Culture
Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA
- Major Breakthrough: 3.4 Billion Records Extracted From Historical Newspapers Were Added to MyHeritage. This treasure trove of genealogical information is just the beginning: these are the first four of 16 similar collections that they are planning to publish in December 2024. The full suite of collections using AI, covering the entire United States and several additional countries, will collectively add more than 10 billion records to My Heritage’s historical database, expanding it by 50%! Read more specifics from their blog: Major Breakthrough: 3.4 Billion Records Extracted From Historical Newspapers Were Added to MyHeritage – MyHeritage Blog
- Discover the origin of your last name. Your surname can tell you a lot about your family history, including where your ancestors lived and their occupations. Want to find where people having your last name are found? Search for your surname to learn more. From MyHeritage: Last Names Research – MyHeritage
- New website shows you how much Google AI can learn from your photos. Upload your photo and get a thorough, three-paragraph description of it. Read this interesting and unusual article originally from Wired: New website shows you how much Google AI can learn from your photos – Ars Technica
- At U.S. Supreme Court, Holocaust survivors seek right to sue for compensation of seized property. More than 560,000 Jews in Hungary, over two-thirds of the country’s pre-war Jewish population, lost their lives at the hands of the Nazis and the Hungarian government during the Holocaust. Most of those deaths occurred in a three-month period in 1944. In November 1944, the Hungarian government declared that all valuables owned by Jews were part of the national wealth. The government then confiscated virtually all of the property – including cash, jewelry, art, and gold – owned by Jews in Hungary. Read the story: At Supreme Court, Holocaust survivors seek right to sue for compensation of seized property – SCOTUSblog Thanks to Jan Meisels Allen, Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee for alerting us to this story.
- Jewish Genealogist Miriam Weiner wins National Award. Miriam Weiner described as “The Genealogist Who Lifted the Archival Iron Curtain” and “A Rock Star in the Jewish Genealogy World,” just received the 2024 Massachusetts Genealogical Council’s Shirley M. Barnes Records Access Award in recognition of her dedication to keeping records open and the significant impact her work has had on genealogists everywhere. If you have not visited her web site, The Routes to Roots Foundation, you might want to check it out: Routes to Roots Foundation
- How Did a Salvadoran Colonel Save 40,000 Jews in WW2? As the Holocaust raged, José Arturo Castellanos Contreras, a Salvadoran diplomat, quietly defied the Nazi regime, secretly forging Salvadoran passports to save Jews from extermination. Watch the video from Aish: How Did a Salvadoran Colonel Save 40,000 Jews in WW2? | Aish
- In a legal first, Italy compensates victims of Nazi crimes. Italy has for the first time paid compensation to victims of Nazi war crimes, giving 800,000 euros ($840,000) to the heirs of a man killed in a 1944 civilian massacre in Tuscany. The landmark decision, coming after decades of legal struggles, marks a significant shift in the Italian government’s approach, potentially setting a precedent for the families of other victims of Nazi and fascist crimes. Read more from Reuters: In a legal first, Italy compensates victims of Nazi crimes | Reuters
- More from Italy…President Sergio Mattarella was guest of honor at a ceremony celebrating the 120th anniversary of the Tempio Maggiore, Rome’s Great Synagogue. The Rome Jewish community president stressed that the synagogue is a symbol of Jewish life, pride, and resilience in the Eternal City, which has a Jewish presence dating back more than 2000 years. “We are b’nai Romi’ — children of Rome,” he said. “Proudly Italian and proudly Jewish.” Read more from Jewish Heritage Europe: https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2024/12/08/italy-120-years-tempio-maggiore/
- Franz Kafka’s papers metamorphose into National Library of Israel exhibit. Wide-ranging exhibition ‘Kafka: Metamorphosis of an Author’ features the institution’s singular archives and marks 100 years since the Czech author’s death. Read more from The Times of Israel: Franz Kafka’s papers metamorphose into National Library exhibit | The Times of Israel
- Mount Zion dig unearths 16th century Chinese porcelain bowl fragment. Researchers say the find, with the earliest Chinese inscription discovered in Israel, is a sign of trade ties between the Ottoman Empire and the Ming Dynasty. Mount Zion, which lies just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls, has multiple layers of settlement and history. Read more from The Times of Israel: Mount Zion dig unearths 16th century Chinese porcelain bowl fragment | The Times of Israel
- Andorra, where non-Catholic houses of worship are illegal, gets first full-time rabbi. Chabad emissary Kuty Kalmenson to become first Jewish religious leader of tiny principality, where around 250 Jews live among a total population of around 80,000. Read the story from The Times of Israel: Andorra, where non-Catholic houses of worship are illegal, gets first full-time rabbi | The Times of Israel
- How the biggest antisemitic riot in America transformed Jewish history. The Yiddish Forverts led the way in 1902 denouncing the police brutality in an editorial attributed to founder Abraham Cahan. Never shy about finding political lessons in American Jewish misfortunes, Cahan implied that the tragedy was at least partly the fault of Jewish voters who had failed to elect socialist officials who would care for them. Read the story from The Forward: How America’s biggest antisemitic riot transformed Jewish history – The Forward
- Klezmer Music. Ashkenazi “Old Country” music found new life in America in the late 20th century. From its inception in Europe, klezmer had always reflected a unique amalgamation of the music of the Jewish community with the music of the surrounding culture. Klezmorim playing at Jewish celebrations and at non-Jewish festivities alike had contributed to a cross-pollination between Jewish and gentile cultures, enriching both. Read more from My Jewish Learning: Klezmer Music | My Jewish Learning
- Speaking of Music… Spain’s Sephardi sounds. The International Sephardic Music Festival in Córdoba pays homage to the city’s Jewish legacy. Spain and the Jews must be mentioned in the same breath and nowhere is this relationship more deeply embedded than in the city of Córdoba. Read more from The Jewish Chronicle: Spain’s Sephardi sounds – The Jewish Chronicle
- 1,000 teens mark Portuguese Edict of Expulsion in visit to Jewish Museum of Porto. On the anniversary of the Edict of Expulsion of 1496 that banned Judaism in Portugal, the Jewish Museum of Porto welcomed a thousand teens from schools across the country, who were able to learn about the long history of Jews in Portugal and commemorate the dark day. More from JNS: 1,000 teens mark Portuguese Edict of Expulsion in visit to Jewish Museum of Porto – JNS.org
- Sephardic Torah from the Holy Land | Hanukkah, December 1948. The State of Israel is seven months old, recovering from the War of Independence that claimed 6,500 lives. The heroes who defended Israel – the men and women of the newly established Israel Defense Forces – were the first Jews since the Maccabees to take up arms and defend Jewish independence in the Land of Israel. Sephardic Chief Rabbi Benzion Uziel was eager to light Hanukkah candles with these heroes and express his praise and gratitude to them. Read the story from the Jewish Journal: Sephardic Torah from the Holy Land | Hanukkah, 1948
- The Jewish Gladiator. Imagine the choices and consequences that starving slave had to face. Jewish slaves in Rome had to wear a palm tree symbol to publicize that the Romans had conquered their homeland and had taken its people into captivity. Read the story from Aish: The Jewish Gladiator | Aish
- In a watery Golan cave, Herod’s great-grandson entertained in the Roman imperial style. An altar dedicated to the cult of Pan was likely converted to a banquet area by Herodian ruler Agrippa II, aligning with the account of Josephus, new research shows. From The Times of Israel: In a watery Golan cave, Herod’s great-grandson entertained in the Roman imperial style | The Times of Israel
- Senate passes bill to consider transferring Weitzman museum to Smithsonian. “All Americans should understand the inextricable, indelible and important links between our nation and its Jewish communities,” Read more from JNS: Senate passes bill to consider transferring Weitzman museum to Smithsonian – JNS.org
- New photo emerges of Golda Meir’s historic 1948 Moscow visit. Thousands of Soviet Jews risked persecution to greet Israel’s first ambassador, overwhelming security measures to show solidarity with the new Jewish state. Meir, serving as Israel’s first ambassador to the Soviet Union, visited the Choral Synagogue on Sept. 10, 1948, one day after presenting her credentials. While this first visit was quiet, word that the representative of the newly established Jewish state was in the Soviet capital spread like wildfire among Moscow’s Jews. Read the story from JNS: New photo emerges of Golda Meir’s historic 1948 Moscow visit – JNS.org
- Famed General Charles De Gaulle’s WWII speech against Nazis on show for first time. One of the most famous speeches in modern French history, a two-page manuscript featuring De Gaulle’s handwriting and numerous crossings-out, of the French war leader’s so-called ‘Appeal of June 18, 1940’ radio plea urging resistance to the Nazi occupation is featured at an auction house in Paris for the first time. Read the story from The Times of Israel: Famed De Gaulle WWII speech against Nazis on show for first time | The Times of Israel
- Banner bearing Adolf Hitler’s personal standard found at Polish museum. “The fact that this may be the only such banner in the world does not particularly fill us with pride,” said a spokesman for the National Museum in Poznań. Read more from JNS: Banner bearing Adolf Hitler’s personal standard found at Polish museum – JNS.org
- Israeli researchers discover gene mutation in Ashkenazi Jews that can cause autism. One in 80 Ashkenazi Jews carry the TBCB gene; Israelis can now test for it as part of the Health Ministry national healthcare basket. Read the story from Times of Israel: Israeli researchers discover gene mutation in Ashkenazi Jews that can cause autism | The Times of Israel
- Pass the matzo: Brigham Young’s Jewish quarterback lands endorsement deal with Manischewitz. The purveyor of gefilte fish and macaroons partners with Jake Retzlaff for a series of videos that will release between now and Passover. Read more from The Forward: Jake Retzlaff, the ‘B-Y-Jew,’ signs Manischewitz endorsement deal – The Forward
- Ripped, dipped, sliced and shmeared — what makes a bagel a bagel? Rippable bagels are the newest controversy in the world of bagels, but far from the first. You probably don’t envision obliterating the bagel’s iconic circular shape by ripping it into hunks to dunk in a tub of cream cheese, but several hyped bagel bakeries are hawking exactly that: “rip and dip” bagels. The fluffy bagel trend extends beyond the ripping. It’s just in vogue right now, dominating what Bon Appetit termed “the Great Bagel Boom.” Innovators are no longer trying to imitate the New York bagel, or even the very-different-but-still-iconic Montreal bagel. Read more from The Forward: Ripped, dipped, sliced and shmeared — what makes a real bagel? – The Forward
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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.