The Weekly News Nosh – February 8, 2026

This Jewish heritage news digest is this week’s NewsNosh (The Weekly News Nosh) from L’Dor V’Dor Foundation—a curated set of links for anyone interested in Jewish family history, Jewish history, and Jewish heritage. This week’s NewsNosh Jewish heritage news digest includes IAJGS survey results, JOWBR’s 2025 update, Qesher, Ukrainian archives search upgrades, and more.

Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

This week’s news links:

1. IAJGS Survey Results. The International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies sent out a survey recently regarding their Annual Conference. It reached over 1,000 people, and they received valuable input that will influence how conferences will be organized in the future. To read the blog post and results on their website, go to: Future Conferences: What You Told Us – IAJGS. It has also just been announced that this year’s meeting will be Virtual Only and will be held from October 18-20.
2. JewishGen’s Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) 2025 Year End Update. This update adds approximately 52,000 new records and 24,000 new photos.  The database is adding and/or updating 269 cemeteries.  This brings JOWBR’s holdings in excess of 7 million records and 2.6 million photos from approximately 12,000 cemeteries / cemetery sections representing 145 countries!  To search, go to: JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry
3. Have you Discovered Qesher Yet? If Not, You Should!  Qesher, (connection in Hebrew), is a project that introduces Jewish life around the world. There are Jewish communities all over the globe, each with their own unique history, culture and people, all of them different, but sharing so much. Discover some of these stories, to enrich and deepen your knowledge of our common Jewish heritage. To learn more go to: Discover, Learn, Connect – Qesher Editor Note: To not miss any of their truly outstanding programs, go to JDays, The Worldwide Jewish Event Calendar where they are posted: JDays
4. Vast database tracking Ukrainian archives going online improves with search engine. The search engine is precise to find the record cases by keywords- names of people, communities, synagogues, events, ethnic groups, etc. To read more, go to: Vast database tracking Ukrainian archives going online improves with search engine – Find Lost Russian & Ukrainian Family
5. Jewish family database of the 19th and 20th centuries. From the emancipation to the destruction of the former Jewish life in the years1933-1945. This database presents the vital records and, in increasing numbers, the biographies of Jewish men and women of the 19th and 20th centuries who lived within the borders of the German Empire of 1914. To search, go to: Online Local family database Jews in the German Reich
6. AI Handwriting Transcription Rankings. Genealogists using AI models to transcribe handwritten historical documents is one of the most valuable applications of the technology. OpenTranscribe can batch-transcribe documents using many different providers, but choosing the right model can be tricky. These rankings highlight which AI models can deliver the best performance, speed, price and value for your handwriting transcription project. Go to: AI Handwriting Transcription Rankings
7. Y’alla Oklahoma: As antisemitism surges, Tulsa Jews invite Canadians to join them. A new program bringing potential immigrants to the Bible Belt city is finding unexpected interest from a northern neighbor’s Jewish community battered by discrimination and economic woes. Read the story from The Times of Israel: Y’alla Oklahoma: As antisemitism surges, Tulsa Jews invite Canadians to join them | The Times of Israel Editor’s Note: In addition to what is in the article, Tulsa has the only Jewish Genealogy Society in Oklahoma, The Bob Dylan Center, and a Museum named one of the top Jewish Museums in the U.S. and Canada by Jewish Living Magazine (with a major announcement on a Jewish Genealogy Archive acquisition planned for 2026!).
8. Looking for Unusual Information About The Mogilev Gubernia in Belarus? A web site from Shlomo Gurevich contains numerous lists of former Jewish residents of Mogilev gubernia such as “Jews wanted by police or court,” “Jewish draft escapers,” “Jewish public workers,” “Jewish professionals,” Jewish businessmen,” petitions signees, etc.  Most of them are based on open sources of information – “Mogilevskie gubernskie vedomosti” gazette, “Mogilev gubernia’s Memory books,” Jewish newspapers published in Russian empire. To explore, go to: Jewish Mogilev Gubernia
9. 2,000-year-old Pilgrimage Road to Temple Mount opens to public after years of digging. Millennia after being buried, streets once traversed by millions of faithful from southern end of ancient Jerusalem to Western Wall can once again be walked by visitors. Read the story from The Times of Israel: 2,000-year-old Pilgrimage Road to Temple Mount opens to public after years of digging | The Times of Israel
10. Knesset displays 2,000-year-old jar used by ancient Jews. The jar, known as a ‘kalal’, is part of an exhibition to celebrate the history of Israeli governance. Read more from The Jewish Chronicle: Knesset displays 2,000-year-old jar used by ancient Jews – The Jewish Chronicle – The Jewish Chronicle
11. Rare 600-year-old Hebrew prayer book sells for $6.4 million at auction. Sotheby’s called the book…Rothschild Vienna Mahzor, completed five years before community’s destruction “supremely rare” and a “masterpiece of medieval Jewish book art.” Read more from JNS: 600-year-old Hebrew prayer book sells for $6.4 million at auction – JNS.org
12. The Jews of Iran. The history of Iranian Jewry features stories from the Hebrew Bible, flourishing medieval poetry and fruitful exchange with the wider Iranian culture. Read their history from My Jewish Learning: The Jews of Iran | My Jewish Learning
13. Counting the days: How Jews clung to the Hebrew calendar as Nazis tried to erase it. A new exhibition at Yad Vashem highlights the extraordinary efforts made, often at risk of death, to preserve and mark the Jewish holidays during the darkest of times. Learn about the exhibit from The Times of Israel: Counting the days: How Jews clung to the Hebrew calendar as Nazis tried to erase it | The Times of Israel
14. From Nazi Germany to the LAPD. Rabbi Israel Hirsch’s life shows how memory, faith, and integrity can be transformed into lifelong service. Read his story from Aish: From Nazi Germany to the LAPD | Aish
15. The One-Woman Bomb Squad. She survived the Siege of Leningrad and defused 750 mines by hand. Meet Sofia Golovinskaya, the female Jewish Red Army sapper history nearly erased. Read her story from Aish: The One-Woman Bomb Squad | Aish
16. The Woman Who Refused to Give Flowers to Hitler. She faced Hitler and refused to bow, helped build Israel, and survived October 7. The extraordinary life of Yocheved Gold, a century of quiet Jewish courage. Read her story from Aish: The Woman Who Refused to Give Flowers to Hitler | Aish
17. The Nurse Who Helped Build Modern Medicine in Jerusalem. In the early 20th century, Schwester Selma Meir, a German-trained nurse, brought order, compassion, and professional care to Jerusalem, changing the future of medicine in the Land of Israel. Read her story from Aish: The Nurse Who Helped Build Modern Medicine in Jerusalem | Aish
18. Naturalization of victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants. Victims of persecution by the Nazi regime who were forcibly deprived of their German nationality and their descendants can now be re-naturalized in Germany. A decision by the Federal Constitutional Court has made it possible for more people to claim citizenship. Read more at: Naturalisation of victims of Nazi persecution and their descendants – Federal Foreign Office
19. Hamburg, Germany’s Altona museum opens a permanent exhibition about Hamburg Jewish history, incorporating a Jewish component in a mainstream museum. The Museum, one of the largest regional museums in Germany, has opened a permanent exhibition about 400 years of local Jewish history. Read the story from Jewish Heritage Europe: https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2026/02/06/germany-altona-museum/
20. How the Lion of Judah Became a Jewish Symbol. From menorahs to tombstones, how and why the majestic lion represents the Jewish people. The lion of Judah has been a Jewish symbol since ancient times. Though originally associated specifically with the tribe of Judah, it has since become a Jewish symbol representing the entire people. Read more from My Jewish Learning: How the Lion of Judah Became a Jewish Symbol | My Jewish Learning
21. The Surprising History of Bar/Bat Mitzvah and Confirmation. The bar mitzvah (and even more so the bat mitzvah) is a relatively new phenomenon. Read more from My Jewish Learning: The Surprising History of Bar/Bat Mitzvah and Confirmation | My Jewish Learning Editor’s Note: While this story doesn’t talk about it…there is something now called a “Bark Mitzvah” for dogs who turn 13. Read about this mitzvah as well (and smile!): Why I gave my dog a ‘bark mitzvah’ – The Forward
22. He documented a changing Jewish world, and the Jewish world changed him. Photographer Bill Aron’s work is on display at a retrospective at the American Jewish Historical Society. See some pictures and read his story from The Forward: Bill Aron’s Jewish photography charts decades of communities – The Forward
23. Everything We Know About the Ethan Slater-Led Play ‘Marcel on the Train.’ An entirely Jewish cast tells the story of Marcel Marceau, before he was a famed mime, saving Jewish children during the Holocaust. Read more from Hey Alma: Everything We Know About the Ethan Slater-Led Play ‘Marcel on the Train’ – Hey Alma
24. The Jew who put Hitler on trial — and the play that stages his story. The new play ‘Hans Litten: The Jew Who Cross-Examined Hitler’ recounts the little-known story of a young lawyer’s crusade. In May of 1931, a 27-year-old Jewish lawyer named Hans Litten called the Nazi leader to the stand to answer for the violence of his Brownshirts and the role his rhetoric played in inciting them. Hitler did not like being questioned, and, when he rose to dictator, he wasted no time in retribution. Read more from The Forward: The Jew who put Hitler on trial — and the play that stages his story – The Forward
25. Created in hiding during WWII, a Jewish artist’s underground ’zines are finally rising to the surface. From 1943 to 1945, Curt Bloch produced 96 editions of a satirical publication he called ‘The Underwater Cabaret.’ Read his story from the Forward: Curt Bloch’s ‘Underwater Cabaret’ is finally rising to the surface – The Forward
26. Yiddish theater is revived in Tbilisi, Georgia after 100 years. Born to Christian parents, historian Lasha Shakulashvili was stunned to find Yiddish theater posters in Georgia’s national archives. Read more from The Forward: Yiddish theater is revived in Tbilisi, Georgia after 100 years  – The Forward

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About The Weekly News Nosh

The Weekly News Nosh (NewsNosh) is the L’Dor V’Dor Foundation’s weekly Jewish heritage news digest—a curated set of links for anyone interested in Jewish family history, Jewish history, and Jewish heritage. NewsNosh is published on Sundays and shared on our 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 NewsNosh every Sunday, directly in your inbox. Browse past issues of our Jewish heritage news digest in the NewsNosh archive.