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TOLEVOT: THE JOURNAL Of JEWISH GENEALOGY TOLEPOT i s the Hebrew word f o r "genealogyw o r llgenerations. "

155 East 93 S t r ee t , Su i te 3C TOLEDOT disclaims r e spons ib i l i t y f o r e r ro r s New York, NY 10028 of f a c t o r opinion made by contr ibutors

but does s t r i v e f o r maximum accuracy. Arthur Kurzweil Steven W. Siege1 In te res ted persons a r e i nv i t ed t o submit a r t i - Editoh Editon c l e s t o be considered f o r publ icat ion. Man- Rabbi Malcolm H. S te rn Zachary M. Baker u sc r ip t s w i l l not be returned unless a Covlknibu;ting Editon Co&bu;ting Editon stamped self-addressed envelope i s included.

Contributors of published a r t i c l e s w i l l receive SUBSCRIPTIONS: $8.00 fo r one year (four issues) t en f r e e copies of t he i s sue i n which t he o r $14.00 f o r two years (eight i s sues) i n t h e a r t i c l e appears. u.S. $10.00 per year i n Canada and by surface mail overseas. $15.00 per year f o r foreign TOLEVOT i s indexed i n Cutrhent C o ~ ~ t e m l S o c i d a i r mail del ivery. 8 B&uviotrae S c i w c a , S o d S c i e n c a CLZU-

;tion Index, and Genealogicd P iAod ica l @Toledot Press 1981 ISSN 0146-'9568 Annuat Index.

I I F YOU MOVE - Please send us your new address. .I FOR INFORMATION ABOUT BACK ISSUES, t I

IWe a r e not responsible f o r non-receipt of an i s sue I PLEASE SEE INSIDE BACK COVER. COPIES . I I if we have an incor rec t mailing address on f i l e . OF ALL BACK ISSUES A ~ E AVAILABLE.

L t J

TO THE EDITORS

A MATCH

time ago. This was followed, pat ience grew th in , a subscript ion t o TOLEDOT. f months l a t e r t h e

I ' d l i k e t o share with you consequence of my own genealogy zona branch of t he era1 years ago, I contacted r e l a west i n order t o obtain so mation. Af te r sharing t he gave me the address of a N i n turn, re fe r red me t o st

He, i n t e r e s t i ng ly en0 0. Who was SALGO alogy research of h i s own. before and my f a - . Since I d idn ' t

s t o ry shor t , we we We a r e now continu e l s e could he f i t i n t o -- together.

f microfilm ar r ived . on Library was f inding

I l e y SCHWED SAMUEL, i n e r e e l . He was mar- e age of 24. Now I

The second column I f i r s t learned of t he e of h i s f a the r and G e n e o n by Arthur K f o r t he book a t a Scot

2

Eureka was f inding t h a t he r maiden name was MARK- OVICS MARI. The l a s t column of t he r e g i s t e r showed t h a t my great-uncle had pe t i t ioned t o have h i s name changed t o VAJDA SAMUEL, which my f a t h e r t o l d me about i n 1946 when I f i r s t became in t e r - es ted i n my genealogy.

In t he b i r t h r e g i s t e r f o r t he year 1889, I found the name of SCHWED ANDOR. He was t he second of twins and t he f i r s t one was unnamed. The VAJDA nota t ion was a l so i n t he l a s t column of t h i s entry.

Since I had found t h a t my great-grandmother was MARKOVICS MARI, who was SALGO MANO? From my recent ly purchased Hungarian-English dict ionary, I found t h a t t he English name f o r Mano was Emman- uel . But I s t i l l d id no t know who he was, and as of today I have not had a rep ly from my cousin i n I s r a e l as t o how he was r e l a t ed .

On my next t r i p t o t he Mormon branch l i b r a ry , I found the name of SCHWED EMANUEL and solved t he question, "Who was SALGO MANO?" The name shown f o r h i s f a the r was SCHWED LEBI and t he name shown f o r h i s mother was MARKOVICS MARI. The l a s t column showed t h a t he had pe t i t ioned t o have h i s name changed t o SALGO. He married on 4 May 1893

a t the age of 27 t o GROSZ JULISKA, age 18. I t i s d i f f i c u l t t o understand why two bro-

t he r s should change t h e i r names and why one should choose VAJDA and t he o ther SALGO. My cousin wrote t h a t a l l she knew about our great-grandparents i s t h a t they were murdered i n t he town of Beretty6Gj- f a lu . Pe rhaps tha t event had something t o do with t he change of names.

keex b323 Stehn E. Hubbell S t .

ScoZtxdde, AZ 85257

MEMORIAL BOOKS I regre t t h a t , owing t o lack of time and

f a c i l i t i e s , we have had t o discontinue our book- f inding services . Please no t i fy your subscribers accordingly.

Vebohah Gnmhunn, k b h t a n X Editoh She& 2uan;teMy 1 She@ P h a b 7 9 ff d en i f fmdhu S&ee,t P.O.B. 7782, Jehundem, 1bhaeR

Editoh's note: I n voR. 3, no. 4, ,p. 24, we ne- potr;ted on She& ?'hc%hb ' boo b- dindcng b e h v i c a wLih n a p e c t t o ob;tainiMg Mmohiae Boohn.

A GENEALOGICAL MIRACLE - Thanks to the Jewish Agency Arlene Blank Rich

A s I opened t he l e t t e r from The Jewish Agency Alive! Imagine, t he family we had mourned of Jerusalem, I s r a e l , on Wednesday morning, Janu- fo r a l l our l i ve s was a l ive! ary 28, 1981; I couldn't remember exactly-what information I had requested of t h i s pa r t i cu l a r I s ra - e l i o f f i c e i n my search f o r "family t ree" informa- t ion . I a l so wondered about what fu r the r disap- pointment t h i s l e t t e r would br ing. (One ge ts used t o l e t t e r s of r e j e c t when involved i n family genealogy!) A t f i r s t glance, t he name Sidoni Schach- t e r jumped out a t me. I thought t o myself, "what have we not been able t o f i nd out about my Dad's s i s t e r ? "

Reading t he l e t t e r , I r ea l i z ed with a s t a r t t h a t The Jewish Agency was no t t e l l i n g me t h a t they couldn ' t f i nd my f a t h e r ' s s i s t e r . I r e a l i z ed t h a t they were no t t e l l i n g me t h a t t he r e was no record of one Sidoni Schachter enter ing I s r ae l . They wehe t e l l i n g me t h a t Sidoni Schachter, t he only s i s t e r my f a the r ever knew i n h i s hometown of Czernowitz, Bukowina, Rumania, before he emigrated t o t he United S t a t e s i n 1921, was a l i v e and l i v ing i n Azor, I s r ae l .

They even had a telephone . -. number f o r her!

Aneene BRanh K c h h a been ~ d i v e i n Public ReRu- ;tiom Ceevdand don Rhe p a t 25 y e w . Most necw&ty, s h e nerrved a Public ReRaXiom Vaecton 06 Rhe J d h Communtty Centerr 06 CRevhnd, he- &ng when h a bon, Adam, wan bonn neven y e w ag?. Addnchb: 996 E a t Lawn Vhive, Highland Hugkts , OH 44143.

TOLEVOT/VOL; 4, NOS. 1-2

The l a s t my Dad had heard from them was i n 1948. They wrote t h a t they were going t o t r y t o make it out of Rumania enroute t o Palest ine. They had made it through the worst, we thought, l i v ing i n caves by day and ge t t i ng food from farms a t night . We never heard from them again a f t e r t h a t l e t t e r and we were never able t o loca te them when we had them traced i n t he years following t he war.

In January, 1980, I developed an in tense in - t e r e s t i n genealogy and s t a r t i n g t r ac ing our fam- i l y ' s roo ts . I researched my husband's s i de f i r s t because h i s r e l a t i v e s were more of an unknown e n t i t y t o me. During t h e course of my r e - search, I discovered around f i f t y of h i s r e l a t i v e s previously unknown t o him!

Since I knew so much about my s i d e of t he family (so I thought), I plodded on gathering up information f o r t he Rich/Kahn/Shapiro/Ulman family t r e e during most of 1980. Around Chanukah time, I s t a r t e d asking my Dad some questions and a f t e r studying some of t he information t h a t my niece had used on the Blank family f o r a school pro jec t , I rea l ized t h a t I d i d n l t know as much as I thought I knew i n t he f i r s t place. I sh i f t ed my e f f o r t s .

If t he r e has t o be one determining f ac to r i n t h e swing of my current family research emphasis,

, I guess it would have t o be learning t h a t t he l e t t e r from my f a t h e r ' s s i s t e r a r r ived ( i n Cleve-

,

lapd) i n 1948 and not during World War 11. Some- how, finding out t h a t t he l e t t e r a r r ived a f t e r t he war and not during t he war, made me f e e l t h a t t h e i r l i ve s were i n l e s s jeopardy t rave l ing from Rumania t o a haven of s a f e ty a t t h a t time. 4 spark of hope was rekindled.

I then found Arthur Kurzweilts very spec ia l book, Fxum Gen&an t o G e n W o n : How t u Tkace Y a m J M h G e n e d u g y and P m u n a L H i n t a q . I t became my constant companion f o r weeks. I fol-- lowed many of M r . Kurzweil's suggestions i n con- nect ion with t rac ing family here i n t he United S t a t e s and abroad. I n t he course of t h i s ac t iv - i t y , I wrote a l e t t e r t o The Jewish Agency's Search Bureau f o r Missing Relat ives i n December, 1980, querying as t o t he whereabouts of my f a - t h e r ' s s i s t e r , Sidoni Schachter, o r h e r descendants .

I don't think I r e a l l y expected t o hear t h a t Sidoni was s t i l l a l i v e (she would have been close t o 70), but I kind of harbored t h e hope t h a t maybe her son, Isadore, named a f t e r my f a t h e r ' s f a - t h e r (Isak Blanc), had made it t o "The Promised Land. "

But now, t h i s l e t t e r from Jerusalem was t e l l i n g me t h a t Sidoni Schachter was a l i ve . My s i s t e r and I decided it would be be s t t o c a l l I s - r a e l t o make sure we had, indeed, found the r i gh t person.

With t he help of a Yiddish-Hebrew t r ans l a to r , my s i s t e r placed a c a l l , bu t , a l a s , it was t he wrong phone number. I ca l led and found the number l i s t e d t o a Mrs. Greenblatt . I t ' s now ge t t i ng l a t e r ... 10:OO PM I s r a e l i time. I f e l t an urgency about ge t t ing t h e c a l l through t h a t n igh t . We j u s t had t o make contact . I c a l l ed I s r a e l i in for - mation t o check on t h e phone l i s t i n g and found a subs t i t u t i on of numbers by The Jewish Agency gave us a 6 i n place of a 9 and thus t he wrong number.

I knew t h a t I wasn't going t o wait t o l i n e up another Yiddish t r a n s l a t o r before placing t he c a l l again. I ca l led , person t o person, and asked t he operator t o p lease ask i f Sidoni o r anyone e l s e i n t he household spoke English.

The phone rang and a woman answered tlHello." I thought t h a t was a good s ign ... "Hello1' ins tead of ftShalomtt . . . maybe English would be understood. The operator asked f o r Sidoni Schachter and t he woman sa id , "I'm Sidoni Schachter."

Was t h i s r e a l l y my f a t h e r ' s s i s t e r ? The operator then asked t he al l - important question and we heard, "No speak English." She of fe red t o speak i n German, Yiddish, even Rumanian. I speak none of those languages.

The operator s t a t e d t h a t he r par ty would c a l l back t he next day. And then, t h i s person i n Azor, I s r a e l , s a id ha l t i ng ly and hopefully, llArlena?tl (The Jewish Agency had informed he r t h a t I had sen t them a l e t t e r of inquiry about her . )

I now knew t h a t t h i s was r e a l l y my Dad's s i s t e r . I t o l d t he operator t o put t h e c a l l through ... I would t a l k t o t h e par ty ... i n some way !

To my long-lost t&e, I sa id , "Yes, Arlena." She asked, "Jacob, a l ive?" (That s he r brother , my Dad, Jacob Blank.) I shouted out over t he ex- panse of s i x t y years and thousands of miles, "Yes, Jacob a l ive!

And now she knew. She knew t h a t her o ldes t brother , Jacob, whom she had l a s t seen i n March, 1921, was s t i l l a l i ve . I knew t h a t I had r e a l l y found my f a t h e r ' s s i s t e r .

She s a i d it was a mi;tzwa, and s t a r t e d k i ss - ing i n t o t he telephone. We c r i ed t e a r s of happi- ness and inbetween, I was able t o learn t h a t he r son was l i v ing i n Frankfurt, Germany. I couldn ' t make out much more a f t e r t h a t because of t he language ba r r i e r . The conversation came t o a close with a promise t o wr i te from both of us .

A s soon a s I hung up, I ca l led my Dad t o confirm the miraculous discovery and t o ld him t h a t I had ac tua l l y ta lked t o h i s s i s t e r . He then placed a c a l l t o I s r ae l and ta lked t o Sido- n i himself ... a f t e r a 60-year separat ion. When he heard her voice saying uHello,f' from the deep- e s t and most wanting p a r t of h i s hear t , came . f o r t h t he name "Sidica," t he name he ca l l ed he r as a chi ld. She responded with "Yonkela," t he name she had ca l led he r o ldes t brother Jacob i n Czernowitz, Rumania, a l i f e t ime ago!

My f a the r , being able t o converse i n Yid- d i sh (and remembering some of h i s German), and my mother learned t h a t when the family l e f t Ru- mania i n t h e l a t e 1940s, they d idn ' t go d i r e c t l y t o I s r a e l , but s e t t l e d i n Frankfurt, Germany f o r t en years. This was t he reason we could no t loca te them i n our e a r l i e r searches. We s t i l l don't know why they never attempted t o make con- t a c t again. That 's one of t he questions t o be answered i n fu tu r e communication.

A few weeks a f t e r t he phone conversation, Sidoni Schachter and her husband l e f t I s r a e l f o r an extended s t a y i n Frankfurt, where t h e i r son and h i s wife were re jo ic ing t h e b i r t h of t h e i r new daughter, S idon i t s f i r s t grandchild. I f we had wr i t t en t o Sidoni ins tead of phoning on January 28th, our l e t t e r would have arr ived i n I s r a e l while they were v i s i t i n g i n Germany.

Through Sidoni, we learned t h a t my f a t h e r has two o ther s i s t e r s (born a f t e r he l e f t Ru- mania) and t h a t h i s brother , Paul, who was nine years old when h i s big brother l e f t t h e family home i n Rumania ( a t age s ix teen t o l i v e with aunts i n Cleveland, Ohio), i s s t i l l a l i v e and l i v ing i n Russia. The s i s t e r s , Yet t i and Klara, l i v e i n I s r a e l not too f a r away from Sidoni. Each of t he s i b l i ngs has chi ldren and most o f t he chi ldren have chi ldren.

That one l e t t e r t o The Jewish Agency res tored a whole family! I f you would l i k e t o look f o r a missing r e l a t i v e i n I s r a e l , here i s the address t o which t o wr i te :

THE JEWISH AGENCY SEARCH BUREAU FOR MISSING RELATIVES P.O. BOX 92, JERUSALEM, ISRAEL

TOLEPOTIVOL. 4, NOS, 1-2

THE JEWISH FAMILY FINDER

THE JEWISH FAMILY FINDER VOES WORK!

I j u s t wanted you t o know t h a t t he Jewish Family Finder c o l m does work. Since my f i r s t ad t h a t I placed t h r ee years ago, I have succeeded i n f inding cousins Leo and Muriel S i l ve r s t e in from Arizona and Susan Stone who i s researching family from the same town where my grandfather was born. We have mutually ass i s ted each o the r by sending copies of our records and t r ans l a t i ng pa r t s of t he Ciechanowiec Memorial Book.

We even succeeded i n having a mini-reunion of one s e t of cousins my parents had not seen f o r t h i r t y years. Another cousin I "discovered" was "lost" f o r f o r t y years. Both reunions proved t o be very f r u i t f u l as more information, names, s t o r i e s and t r i v i a were exchanged. Each cousin knew the o ther ha l f of each of my s to r i e s . And the family t r e e was becoming more complete, as t he pieces of t he puzzle s t a r t e d t o f i t to - gether.

I t may be d i f f i c u l t t racking down long l o s t r e l a t i v e s but i t ' s never impossible. You need determination, perseverance, pat ience, luck and sometimes a l i t t l e miracle when researching your family h i s tory .

Gany G d b a 163-45 17;th Awe. Wki;ten;tane, NY 11357

The ed i t o r s of TOLEDOT i n v i t e i t s readers t o make inqui r ies about t h e i r research t o t he hundreds of Jewish genealogis ts who read our j ournal .

For $5.00, we w i l l p r i n t your 25-word announcement containing t he surnames, towns o r other information t h a t you might wish t o include i n your inquiry. Your name and address a r e l i s t e d f r e e of charge. For announcements of more than 25 words, an addi t ional 20# pe r word should be added.

To avoid inaccuracies, p lease type o r p r i n t your announcement. Indicate surnames i n CAPITAL l e t t e r s , a s we do i n t he l i s t i n g s , i n order t o d i s t inguish them from place names.

Send your check along with t he wording of your query t o : TOLEDOT, 155 East 93 S t r e e t , Su i t e 3C, New York, NY 10028.

Rzeszow, Galicia; SCHIFFMAN, Mexico; second wife (Helena RINGELHEIM) of Yitzak Leib PERETZ, Yiddish writer.

80-55 Harriet BASKIN, Hammond House Rd., Valhalla, NY 10959 --- Seeks descendants of TSVILIKHOVSKY (possibly Gronov, Podolia): Shumer, Yisroel, Mordchai Baer. TSVILIKHOVSKY or BIBERMAN: Shloime, Laib, Shmuel, Chuna. TSVILIKHOVSKY, Buni, her children Faiga, Sarah. SPECTOR, Shumer, Rafuel. STEELMAN, Melech, Shumer, Michel, Noah. TSVILIKHOVSKY, Mirel, her children Brona, Meyer, Baruch, Baila (ROSENBERG) ... settled Phil- adelphia. TSVILIKHOVSKY-KATZ, Aaron, his children Yussel, Anna FRANK, Chaika BIRNBAUM all of Brooklyn.

80-56 Harriet BASKIN, Hamnond House Rd., Valhalla, NY 10959 --- Seeks descendants of TONKONOGY (probably Gronov, Podolia): Avraham Yitzchak, children Marim (Miriam), Yenta, Moishe, Netanya, Avraham Itzi (Mitzi), Yussel, Aaron, Louis, settled Philadelphia. Dr. TON- KONOGY, M.D., Brooklyn, early 1900s.

80-57 Ralph BERMAN, 5835 Kent PI., San Diego, CA 92120 --- Seeking information Anne KAPLIN, Odessa or Kiev; Louis BERMAN, Odessa or Kiev; Hyman RUTINSTROF, Austria; Rose and Lisa LITCHMAN or LICHTMAN, Austria; Anna GROSSMAN, Odessa.

80-58 Roberta BERMAN, 5835 Kent PI., San Diego, CA 92120 --- Seeking information LAZNICKY, WOPNINSKY families, Lomza, Poland; WEISSBERG, OPPENHEIM famtlies, Kiev; WAGNER, ERSCHKOWITZ families, Roman, Romania; SCHOENHOLZ, CHAMIDES families, Zalescheki, Galicia, Austria, possibly Berlin.

80-59 Dennis S. BERNSTEIN, 111 Hillview Rd., Holyoke, MA 01040 --- Interested in: KOLOVSON, KOLEVZO(H)N/ Dabeikai; BERNSTEIN, BUNES, PLOTNICK, CICHOK/Podbrze- zic (Paberze); SACKS, SHUR/Cekiske; SCHOBEL, SOBLEI Janoshik; GLASSMAN, GLAZER, HIRSHON, H (I) (E) RS (H) (S) - O(H)N/Riga; BENEMOVITCH, RAKOVSKY/Novy-Dvor; HORWITZ, MONUSON, PERELMAN, SINSON/Leeds.

80-60 Franz J. BIERMANN, 4609 Drummond Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20015 --- All data including literary refs: ULLMANN families in Augsburg, Pfersee, Kriegshaber from 1800 back, specifically: Ephraim fl 1770, Mayer Simon fl 1750, Salomon fl 1700.

80-61 Franz J. BIERMANN, 4609 Drummond Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20015 --- All data including literary references: Ancestors of brothers AUB: Lekisch born 1767, Terz born 1765, Simon born 1759, sister Sara MACK widowed LAUER, all Baiersdorf/Bavaria.

80-62 Franz J. BIERMANN, 4609 Drummond Ave., Chevy Chase, MD 20015 --- All data including literary references: Hirsch Elias PAPPENHEIMER 1786-post 1847, married Juedlein GRUEN ca 1810, all Schopfloch/Bavar- ia, and ancestors both.

80-53 Alan R. BARASCH, P.O. Box 3403-A, Birmingham, 80-63 Louis BILOWITZ, 5000 Palm Dr., La Canada, CA AL 35255 --- Searching for OLIM of Debake (? spelling), 91011 --- Seeking descendants of Lloyd KANTOR, died Lithuania. Also MORIC (later LEVY), KANTOROVICH - some New York, January 1949. Wife-Florence, son-Richard, changed to KENTRIDGE in South Africa. BARASCH from daughter-Audrey. Romania.

80-54 Arye BARKAI, 1777 Grand Concourse, #11N, Bronx, NY 10453 --- Information requested for: DORNFEST,

TOLEPOTIVO'L. 4, NOS. 1-2

80-85 Lenore KRAMER, 90 Birch Lane, Woodsburgh, NY 11598 --- Seeking information on s i b l i n g s and t h e i r descendants o f Ignacz JACOBOWITZ and Rivka Chaya (Sa l i ) SAMLOWITZ, married 1858-1862, l ived i n Kiraly Helmecz (Kral-Hlumec), Hungary. JACOBOWITZ changed t o JACOBS, JACOBSON, JACOBY, one branch i n chi ldrens wear, Phila- delphia. SAMLOWITZ changed t o SAMUELS, SAMLOWE.

80-94 Kerry MIELCAREK, 4208 Buckeye Rd., Madison, WI 53716 --- Looking f o r descendants of Samuel, Milton, Leo, Hugo, and Florence KREISMAN of N.Y.C. Alive i n 1933. Parents were Newman and Martha. Came from Peoria, I l l .

80-64 Warren BLATT, 32 East Blvd., Gloversvi l le , NY 12078 --- Seeking: Poland: BLATYTA (BLATT), KIPERSZTOK, Losice; GARBOWITZ, MAMROTH, Kolno; CZAPNIK (CHAPNICK), GDALKA (DALKIN), Chmielnik and Gnojno; MYDLO, SOBKOW- SKY, Checiny; SHEINBERG, Amdur (Indura); KLEINBORD (KLEINBERG), Kuznica and Grodno; and DISHMAN, BERMAN, Simnas, Lithuania.

80-74 Elaine GORDON, 5625 Palmer Ave., Montreal, Que. H4W 2P2, Canada --- Seeking r e l a t i v e s of Yoshua and Binyomin GRITZER, Sokola, l a t e r NYC. Names i n America: GOLDBERG, GREENBERG, GREEN. Lived i n Chicago, Milwau- kee.

80-75 Elaine GORDON, 5625 Palmer Ave., Montreal, Que. H4W 2P2, Canada --- Seeking PILCH (PILISHOOK), Namar-

80-95 Peter MILLHEISER, 6200 SW 144 S t . , M i a m i , FL 33158 --- Seeking information on MUHLHAUSER, MILL- HEISER, MILLHAUSER, MILLHISER family from Hagenbach, Egglofstein, and Hachenbach, Germany. Family s e t t l e d eventually i n New York and Richmond, Virginia . Also descendants of people from Hagenbach.

80-65 Alan DROZ, 27400 Franklin Rd., #519, Southfield; MI 48034 --- Seeking information on DROZ (or DRUZZ) and ROSENFELD famil ies of Kalinov, Ukraine and any in; formation on t h e town. Also SILVERSTEIN (ZILBERSMEIN) family of Ostrolenka, Poland.

80-86 Lenore KRAMER, 90 Birch Lane, Woodsburgh, NY 11598 --- Seeking information on s i b l i n g s and t h e i r descendants of Jacob GELLER and Rosa SAMONOWITZ, mar- r i e d 1860-1862, l ived i n Palocsa (Plavec), Hungary-Slo- vakia, parents of Nathan, Adolph, Hirsch, Leni (HOCH- HAUSER), S a l i (KUNDEL) , Regi (JACOBOWITZ) . Jacob's brother changed h i s name t o GALOS, had a daughter Mar- garet .

o f f . Also descendants o f Carl SCHNEIDER, Oppa, AL; Tony SNYDER, Chipley, FL; Tony SCHNEIDER, Andalusia, AL - a l l c i r c a 1915.

80-76 Richard E. GRAYSON, 134 Seacord Rd., New Rochelle, NY 10804 --- Seeking information on OSTHEIM and SCHIFF. Jacob SCHIFF (1822-1898, born Darmstadt- Hessen, cousin of f inanc ie r ) married Jennie OSTHEIM (1834-1909, born Westphalia) i n Philadelphia i n 1857.

80-96 Gary MOKOTOFF, 507 Crest D r . , Northvale, N J 07647 --- Seeking information on any person named MOKOTOFF, MOKOTOW, MOKOTOV, MOKOTOWSKI, MOKOTOVSKI, MOKOTOWICH. Family or iginated i n Warka, Poland. A l l persons with any of the above names a r e r e l a t ed .

80-66 Barry DUSHMAN, 267 Davis S t . , Anchorage, AK 99504 --- Seeking descendants of Gottschalk'BLUM, and SCHIFFER, i n New York and Colorado i n t h e 1880s; HORN, REITER, SUESS, MELTZER, KAUFMAN, TUNICK, JACOBOWITZ, DUSHMAN i n New York a f t e r 1900.

80-87 Lenore KRAMER, 90 Birch Lane, Woodsburgh, NY 11598 --- Seeking information on s i b l i n g s and t h e i r descendants o f Samuel, Adolph, Ezekiel GOLDBERGER, born Tasnad-Salacea, Romania, 1846-1852. Adolph mar- r i e d Esther BO(E)HM(?), t h e i r daughter Eugenia had Olga, Gizi , E r i z i , o the r s . Amelia BO(E)HM GOLDBERGER had s i s t e r s who married PURGESS, had 4-5 daughters.

80-77 Richard E . GRAYSON, 134 Seacord Rd., New Rochelle, NY 10804 --- Seeking information on POLAT- SCHECK from Hungary ( Iglau o r Budapest). Igna t ius POLATSCHECK (POLLACHECK) came t o U.S. about 1880 (son of Joseph POLATSCHECK and Esther LEVKOWITZ). Married Henrie t ta SCHIFF i n 1888 i n NYC.

80-97 Eleanor VOLMER PATTERSON, 4996 Harrington, Mem- phis , TN 38118 --- Seeking information on Louise VOLMER SLOANE, daughter of Rabbi Leon VOLMER, of L i t t l e Rock, Ark. and Tressa KAUFMAN VOLMER of West Va. Louise was married t o Chester SLOANE and had a daughter, Lesl ie . Also any descendants 6f Louis VOLMER and Henrie t ta BOTT VOLMER, Simon VOLMER and Betty NEWMAN VOLMER, Clara VOLMER SIMONS and Louis SIMONS. VOLMERs a l l from Ober- hustadt , s e t t l e d i n L i t t l e Rock, Ark.

80-67 Gary GELBER, 163-45 17 Ave., Whitestone, NY 11357 --- GELBER, MINTZER, SCHORR, KERBER, Rabbi REI- MER, REIMAN: Gologory, Gologo, Shpikol i tz , Szpikolosy, Kolerone, Kolurul, Kolbuszowa, Tarnopol, Lvov; SCHWARTZ, THALER, LAUFFER, WECHSLER: Dunajuw ("Dunive"), Brzezany, T.arnopo1 province. 80-78 Richard E. GRAYSON, 134 Seacord Rd., New

Rochelle, NY 10804 --- Seeking information on WEINSTEIN from Minsk, Russia. Rebecca WEINSTEIN came t o U.S. about 1891 (daughter of Louie WEINSTEIN and Sarah FINN). Married Hyman GOLDSTEIN i n 1898 i n NYC.

80-88 Lenore KRAMER, 90 Birch Lane, Woodsburgh, NY 11598 --- Seeking information on s i b l i n g s and t h e i r descendants o f Samuel CHASKES, who married J u l i a WEINMAN, s i s t e r of David, Bernath and Ephraim. Phi ladelphia branch includes Fannie, Ernestine, Morris, l a s t names unknown.

80-68 Gary GELBER, 163-45 17 Ave., Whitestone, NY 11357 --- PLISKY, ZUCKERMAN, KUHR, KAPLAN, KAUFKA, RITZ: Ciechanowiec ("Check-a-nov-sat') , Siemiatycze, Lomza/Bialystock province; LUBA, LUBAR, LUBIN, SOTIN: Milejczyce ("Mi-lay-tchitz") , Grodno/Bialystock province. Seeking information about: Yossel ZUCKERMAN, who l ived a t 390 Grand S t . , Brooklyn, 1908; YEHUDA RITZ, survivor , d ied i n I s r a e l 1970s; b ro the r , FISCHEL RITZ, a l i v e i n 1964, poss ibly New York Ci ty area .

80-98 Anita TODRES PIKUS, 8808 Quiet Stream C t . , Poto- mac, MD 20854 and Richard E. GRAYSON [see above] --- Seeking information on TODRES, TODRUS, TODRIS, TODRAS, TODROS, TODORUS, TODERUS from Mielec (Meletz), Cherno- witz, Durbian (?) (Romania), England (Coventry), I s r a e l , Canada, Greece, Turkey, Spain, South Africa.

80-79 Richard E. GRAYSON, 134 Seacord Rd., New Rochelle, NY 10804 --- Seeking information on GOLDSTEIN from Russia. Hyman GOLDSTEIN came t o U.S. about 1893 (son o f Samuel GOLDSTEIN and Ye t t i e BERMAN). Married Rebecca WEINSTEIN i n 1898 i n NYC.

80-89 Linda LEVINE, 26 M t . Auburn S t . , Cambridge, MA 02138 --- Seeking information/descendants: BAER, WEIN- SCHENK, Stebbach, Germany; Wheeling, W. Va.; Norfolk, Va. HORK!-lEIMER/HIRSCH, Freudenthal, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. STRAUS(S) , Se l t e r s , Ger. ; Paris . LOEB/HEIL- BERG, Mainz, Ger. LEVINE/SISKIND, Nizhni Novgorod. S (H) IEVITZ/KOPOLEFSKY, Kovno.

80-99 Esther E . PROFUS, 1291 Woodruff Ave., Los Angel- e s , CA 90024 --- Seeking descendants o f : Lajzer APPEL and Rosa GLANTERNITZ; Saul APPEL and J e t t e Gnendle BRODMAN; Josef APPEL and Fromet BLOCH; Michal APPEL and Tauba RYCHWALSKA. A l l from Kalisz/Poznan.

80-69 Naomi LEVIN GERSHAN, 3305 Macomb S t . , Washing- ton, DC 20008 --- Seeking information on a D r . MEHR (MEYER, MYER e t c . ) of Poneveyz, son o f Sender MEHR of Pashvatine (Pasvi t inys) .

80-80 E s t e l l e GUZIK, 108-24 71 Ave., Fores t H i l l s , NY 11375 --- Seeking information fami l i e s INGBER, KLAP- HOLTZ, KOHANE, HERZ from Tarnow, Nowy Sacz, Ropczyce. Also LANDESMAN, STURM, SEYNER, LANGSAM, FESSEL, AMSEL from Blazowa, Strzyzow, Szendyszow, Dukla, Kombornia.

80-90 Logan M. LOCKABEY, 477 E. 19 S t . , Costa Mesa. CA 92627 --- Researching Vitebsk Gyberna o r Odessa (Russia) 1850-1908 f o r information on Rosa BLOCKOFF, Sophie (Sonj a) BLOCKOFF (SATKIN), Joseph SATKIN, A 1 (Abraham) SATKIN, Aaron and Anna SATKIN, Louis (Leonid) BLOCKOFF, Rachael BOZNER. In New York 1905-1910, Los Angeles 1910-1981.

80-100 Esther E . PROFUS, 1291 Woodruff Ave., Los An- geles , CA 90024 --- Seeking descendants o f : Jacob Zelig HAZE and Pessa APPEL; Zyskind BLAUCWIRN and Machle AP- PEL: Josef KAPUSTA and Malka APPEL. A l l from Kalisz/ Poznan. Have in fo t o share.

80-70 Naomi LEVIN GERSHAN, 3305 Macomb S t . , Washing- ton, DC 20008 --- Seeking information on Reb Zalman LEVIN, born ca. 1818, d ied ca. 1903, f i r s t wife Sara died 1821 [ s i c ] , second wife Basha d ied 1897, a l l o f Poneveyz .

80-81 Thomas HIGH, 77 Beale S t . #3000, San Francisco, CA 94106 --- Families named BLUMANN (BLUMAN) o f Pruss ia (Gonzawa?) and PRICE of Wislisa, Radom, Poland. Her- mann (Harris) BLUMANN came t o New York i n mid-19th century; son Alexander, daughter Ida, poss ibly son George and others . Samuel PRICE (son o f Hirsch and Flora) came t o New York and New Je r sey i n mid-19th century; sons Maurice, Levi, Jacob, Adolph, Simon, An- selm, Joseph; poss ibly o the r s .

80-91 Raymond MAG, 247 Reservoir Rd., Newington, CT 06111 --- Any information on my grandparents E l i a s (Eliayahu) Aaron MAG and Essia FINGER who came here t o Meriden,'Conn. i n 1889 from Oszmiana (Oshmany), Lithu- ania , with e igh t chi ldren. One daughter remained, mar- r i e d t o Benjamin SHOAG i n Vilna. Family began i n Mogi- lev, Russia - came t o Polenik f o r a long period - then Smorganie.

80-101 Esther E. PROFUS, 1291 Woodruff Ave., Los An- geles , CA 90024 --- Seeking r e l a t i v e s o f Malka GOLD- STREICH, Odessa ca. 1895 and Niese KRUPNIK, Odessa 1910/20.

80-71 Naomi LEVIN GERSHAN, 3305 Macomb S t . , Washing- ton, DC 20008 --- Seeking family o f Benjamin (Bearka o r Benny) WINIK o r VINER/WINER of Bronx, NY. Children named Sarah, Abie, Hannoch and Vichne (Baker).

80-102 Michael REYNOLDS, 4883 Del Mar Ave., San Diego, CA 92107 --- Seeking descendants o f : Emil KRAUS (Tren- c i n ) , Shalom TYKOTZKY (Grajewo), Avram Dov LEDERMAN (Odessa), Moshe Mordechai BALAKLEYSKY (Smela and Odes- s a ) , Chaim Aaron FRANKEL (Suwalki), Lazarus ben Morde- chai FINKELSTEIN (Mariampole).

80-72 Chaim S. GIBBER, 407 Yeshiva Lane, P ikesv i l l e , MD 21208 --- Seeking information about my forebears: Rabbi E l i eze r and Golda (POMERANTZ) NITZBERG. He was born c i r c a 1850 i n Pruzana, was r abb i i n Olinka (Su- walki) and Kowel (Volhynia) from 1912?-1935, and au- thored "Damesek El iezer l ' and others . Also, h i s parents Rabbi Dovid Yehuda (Leib) and Ral le (PERKEL?) NITZBERG of Pruzana, where he was a Rosh Yeshiva u n t i l death c i r c a 1890. Also Rabbi Yitzchok Hirsh and Tzivia Faiga POMERANTZ. He was born i n Antipol c i r c a 1830 and was rabbi of Semiatycze. Also, seeking unpublished information on r e l a t i v e Rabbi Mordechai ROSENBLATT, born i n Antipol (1837) and rabbi of Osh- mena and Slonim. Also on r e l a t i v e Rabbi Boruch EYIN of S i s l ev i t sh , author of "Dvar Mitzvah" (1884).

80-82 Cla r i se ILLES, 6230 Caminito Telmo, San Diego, CA 92111 --- Seeking information on family ZACHARIAS (Pruss ia) . Emigrated Charleston, S.C. 1855. Also descendants family TUTEUR from Winnweiler and Otterberg, Germany (Pfalz) , married STRAUS, Moses, 1832. 80-92 Arthur D . MAGILNER, 1251 Fairacres Rd., Jenkin-

town, PA 19046 --- Seeking information and r e l a t i v e s f o r Louis MOGILNER/MAGILNER family. Probably or igina- t e d i n Mogilev nea r Kiev, Russia. Could a l s o have been from Mogilno, Poland. F i ~ s t known address i n U.S. is Chicago i n 1892. Maiden name of Louis' f i r s t wife was CONOVER.

80-83 Elaine KAHN/Lawrence TROSTER, 795 Glencairn S t . , Oshawa, Ont. L 1 J 5B1, Canada --- Want information about MAINZER/MENZ family. Research t r ac ing it t o Spain c i r - ca 1500 l o s t during Holocaust. We have t r e e from 1739 i n various Hessian locat ions .

80-84 Steve KIOUS, 751 NE Piedmont Ave., Grants Pass, OR 97526 --- Seek r e l a t i v e s o f Harr is GOODMAN (1847- 1928) and wife Ida FREZANSKY of Boston. Immigrated 1867 from Poland. Rebecca BACKER (1879-1962) i m m i - gra ted 1901 from Ejszyszki (now Eis iskes) nea r Lida; s i s t e r was Lise RADOWSKU, husband Henry GOODMAN o f Denver.

80-103 Arthur REIMER, Fawn Ridge Rd., P.O. Box 121, Warrensburg, NY 12885 --- Looking f o r ancestors and descendants of Herman (Hyman) WELT b. 1860 Romania, married Rosa (Rosalia) SCUTCH b. 1856 Hungary. Immi- grated t o New York Ci ty 1887 & 1888. Had 5 chi ldren? Disappeared from N.Y.C. a f t e r death of youngest daugh- t e r Char lot te (Levie) VILLANI i n 1911. Older daughter E l l a married Adolf GOLDBERGER i n 1896.

80-93 Kerry MIELCAREK, 4208 Buckeye Rd., Madison, WI 53716 --- Looking f o r descendants o f Isador and Mina KREISMANN of Kurnik, Germany, near Posen, now Kornik, Poland. Children included Siegfr ied, Ruza JAROCYZNSKI, C i l l a BRY, Samuel, Erna LACHMANN, Grete GOLLAND, Karl, and Amalie NATHAN.

80-104 George J. L. RIBA, 48 Park Plaza D r . , Daly Ci ty , CA 94015 --- Seeking descendants of Leibush RYBA (Leibele LINOVER) of Ozarow, Poland, o r h i s s i b l i n g s Daniel, Nissan and El iezer . Also descendants of Her- she l RYBA o f Przytyk, owner of soda-water f ac to ry .

80-73 Nancy GILBERT, 438 W. Horseshoe Ave., G i lbe r t , AZ 85234 --- Seeking information/descendants on KOT- LICKY, KOTLICKI (Kelice, Lopuszno, Poland); WELTMAN, WLOSZCZAWSKA (or -0WSKI) (Warsaw, Poland). Also, RUBANOWITZ and DE WOSKIN (Chlochow, Shenego, Gubana, Kiev, Russia). Family..very anxious!

TOLEVUT/VOL. 4, NOS. 1-2

80-105 Mark A. ROSEMAN, 21000 NE 28 Ave., #204, North Miami, FL 33180 --- Seeking information on f ami l i e s ROSENMAN, ROSEMAN, LILIENFELD, EXELROD, ASCHELRAD from S t r y i , Lvov, a l l ea s t e rn Gal ic ia . W i l l s ha re own information.

80-106 Deena SCHUMAN, 608 Avon S t . , Phi ladelphia , PA 19116 --- Seeking information on f ami l i e s NEWMAIZER ,

(or va r i a t ion ) and SRULOVICH, from Kupin and/or Satan- ov, Podolia Gubernia; SCHWARZ from Shushevitz and Tul- chin, Kiev Gubernia; and SCHOR from Rezina, Bessarabia. W i l l share own knowledge f o r u se fu l information.

80-107 Gary SIEGEL, 6102 Breezewood C t . #303, Green- b e l t , MD 20770 --- Seeking information about: KATZ, RICHMAN, SHAPIRO (Ohio, Pi t t sburgh, Kentucky); ZYK, CEGELSKA (Warsaw, Pi t t sburgh) ; RUBINSTEIN, KITAY (Pi t t sburgh) ; KOSS, KOSSOWSKY (Lomza, Pi t t sburgh) .

80-108 Betty PROVIZER STARKMAN, 1260 Stuyvesant Rd., Birmingham, MI 48010 --- Seeking information: PROVISOR, PROVIZER, PROWIZOR, PREVEZER, PROVIZOR, PROWIZUR -- Mogielnica, Warszawa Guberna, Lodz, Poland. Branches i n I s r a e l , U.S., England. Also seeking family KAHN, KOHN, KON -- Abraham KON married Pepa PROWIZOR i n Mo- g i e l n i c a i n 1843, descendants a r r ived Minnesota t u r n of century.

80-109 Betty PROVIZER STARKMAN, 1260 Stuyvesant Rd., Birmingham, MI 48010 --- Seeking information: family DAVIDOVITCH from Bodzentyn, Poland. Ruche1 DAVIDOVITCH married I s r a e l SAMET o f I l z a (Dri lge) , Poland. Haskell , Yidal, Simma DAVIDOVITCH, ch i ld ren o f Mat t is moved t o Canada e a r l y 1900s -- names changed t o GOLD and DAVIS.

80-110 Betty PROVIZER STARKMAN, 1260 Stuyvesant Rd., Birmingham, MI 48010 --- Seeking information: following f ami l i e s from Goszczyn and Mogielnica, Poland, married PROWIZORs between 1826-1869: HOFMAN, FRAJDENRAJCH, MOR- DEFELD (MORDENFELD), DANIEL, SZWARCBERD, SZTARKMAN. Need information: Mogielnica, Bodzentyn, I l z a , Poland.

80-111 Susan KAPLAN STONE, 2695 Bel le Rd., Bellmore, NY 11710 --- Seeking: KAPLAN, KAZAN, ZAREMSKY, KOWAL- SKY, OKRAINCZYK, SHAPIRO, STEIN, LEKOW(F)SKY from Cie- chanowiec, Poland. KRAFT, FLOON, MANAKER, HANKIN (EN- KIN) from Luck, Poland. SILBERMAN, KOSSOVSKY, TASHEN- SKY from Warsaw area .

80-112 Susan KAPLAN STONE, 2695 Bel le Rd., Bellmore, NY 11710 --- Seeking: EAGLE (IGELSKY), LISHNOFF, TEI- TLEMAN, BOLET (BOLITZKY), DASHER (DOSHEFSKY) from Korsun. STONE (SCHTEYNE), BERLIN, RAPAPORT from Wach- owka and Szandorowka, Ukraine. RAPPAPORT, HERMAN, GREEN from Belaya Tserkov.

80-113 Herman TILLINGER, 7 Ferndale Ave., Morristown, NJ 07960 --- Seeking information and o r i g i n s TILLINGER fami l i e s of Stanislaw, Kolomya, and Kuty a reas . Also MESSLERs of Stanislaw, and LILKERs o f Mikulintza near Tarnopol. W i l l share information.

80-114 Martin S. WEINBERG, 5011 Cliffwood Rd., Louis- v i l l e , KY 40222 --- Looking f o r r e l a t i v e s of g rea t - grandparents, Jacob (Yaakov) and Bessie (GREENKRAUT) MORGUELAN, born near Kiev, Russia and were i n t h e s t e e l foundry business and b u i l t br idges . Le f t Kiev about 1890.

80-115 Martin S. WEINBERG, 5011 Cliffwood Rd., Louis- v i l l e , KY 40222 --- Looking f o r r e l a t i v e s of g rea t - grandfather , E l i eze r FREUND (FRANK) (FRAJND), who l ived i n Augustov, Poland and who had s i x ch i ld ren - Sarah Kate, Betty, Velvel, Jacob, Morris (Moishe), and Keila. Also information on I saac FRANK (Centra l ia , I l l i n o i s ) ,

Samuel FRANK (Nashville, Tennessee), Abraham FRANK (Cincinnat i , Ohio), and Mabel FRANK MARX (Chicago, I l l i n o i s ) . < 80-116 Stephen D . WEISS, 8120 W. Norton Ave., Los An- ge le s , CA 90046 --- Seeking any information on surnames PERKOFSKY, PASOFSKY o r PERKOWSKY. Adolf PERKOFSKY born Ber l in , Germany l a t e 19th century, married Lena SCHWARTZ (SWARTZ?). Also, family SCHWARTZ (SWARTZ) from Ungvar, Austria-Hungary (now Uzhgorod i n Ukraine).

80-117 Stephen D. WEISS, 8120 W . Norton Ave., Los An- ge le s , CA 90046 --- Seeking any information on family WEISZ (WEISS) from Tarpa, Austria-Hungary, a l s o geo- g raph ica l /h i s to r i ca l information on Tarpa. Lajos (Lou- i s ) WEISZ a r r ived E l l i s Is land p r i o r 1915. Sons Alber t , Morris, George, Deszo (David) WEISZ o r WEISS. Also geograph ica l /h i s to r i ca l information on Ungvar, Aust r ia- Hungary (now Uzhgorod i n Ukraine).

80-118 Stephen D . WEISS, 8120 W. Norton Ave., Los An- ge le s , CA 90046 --- Seeking information on Lena SCHWARTZ (SWARTZ?) born Nov. 11, 1882, Ungvar, Austria-Hungary. Brothers Max SCHWARTZ, engineer on Panama Canal P ro jec t , Pe te r SCHWARTZ, Captain i n Spanish-American War, Sadie SCHWARTZ. Also J u l i u s , Paul and Leybel PASOFSKY (PER- KOFSKY?), s e t t l e d i n New York C i ty l a t e 19th century. '

80-119 Joe WILLIAMS, 3112 Lafayet te S t . , Houston, TX 77005 --- Seeking descendants and information on commu- n i t i e s f o r Harr is and Rose SNEFTEMWITZ o r SHEFTELOWITZ (parents of Barney WILLIAMS), Lui and Blume GERSHELO- WITZ (parents of Jennie GOODMAN) from Wisian, Russia, and Venutes, Lithuania, c i r c a 1850-1890.

80-120 Bruce ZATZ, 949 E. 105 S t . , Brooklyn, NY 11236 --- Seeking information on PEREVOSKIN and v a r i a n t s - PROVOSKY, PROVUS, PIROWSKIN, PROVOST, PERRY, PEROVSKY, PEREWOZNIK, e t c . Known o r ig ins - Vilna, Cracow, Belo- r u s s i a , but seeking anyone with s i m i l a r name.

SUCCESSFUL SUMMER SEMINAR The Summer Seminar on Jewish Genealogy,

sponsored by t he Jewish Genealogical Society i n New York on J u l y 12-16, 1981, was a resounding success. The program included morning guided v i s i t s t o research f a c i l i t i e s , afternoon oppor- t u n i t i e s t o do research, and evening l ec tu r e s and get- togethers . Nearly n ine ty Jewish genealogy buf fs , some from as f a r away as Cal i forn ia and Texas, reg is te red f o r t he Seminar, which was chaired by Steven W . Siegel , co-edi tor of TOLEDOT.

"The excitement of t he week has been over- whelming! What a t h r i l l t o be with so many o thers who share t he same obsession," s a id one pa r t i c ipan t afterwards.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Washing- ton, DC has announced t h a t t he Second Summer Sem- i n a r on Jewish Genealogy w i l l be held i n t h a t c i t y Sunday, Ju ly 11 t o Wednesday, Ju ly 14, 1982. The program w i l l f ea ture v i s i t s t o t he National Archives, Library of Congress, and National Genealogical Society. Plan t o be there .

TULEVOT/VOL. 4, NUS. 7-2

RESPONSA LITERATURE: A Jewish Genealogical Source Michele Zoltan

I t has long been acknowledged t h a t individu- a l s who a r e descended from rabbinical fami l ies have a d i s t i n c t advantage when it comes t o genea- log ica l research. They have a s i gn i f i c an t body of secondary resource mater ial a t t h e i r disposal . There a re , a f t e r a l l , biographical works and en- t i r e encyclopedias devoted exclusively t o an examination of t he l i ve s and contr ibut ions of gen- e ra t ions of dis t inguished rabbinical au tho r i t i e s . Arthur Kurzweil's excel lent study, Fnam Genena- ;tion ;ta G e n d o n , lists several of these valuable works and discusses t h e i r s ignif icance f o r t he genealogist. But t he r e i s one avenue of re - search t h a t has long been neglected by t he modern reader i n t e n t upon t rac ing h i s family roots . I t i s t h a t unique and int imidat ing body of l i t e r a t u r e known a s "responsa.

Responsa ( in Hebrew: She' d o t U ' TU huvot, l i t e r a l l y "questions and answers") i s defined. by the Encydopaedia Judaica as "an exchange of l e t t e r s i n which one par ty consul ts another i n a halakhic matter." In every generation, there were rabbis who achieved a ce r t a in reputat ion and s t a t u s which extended beyond the borders of t h e i r own communities and, on occasion, t he borders of t h e i r own countr ies . Colleagues would defer t o t h e i r exper t i se and e rudi t ion i n matters of Jew- i s h law, and submit d i f f i c u l t questions t o them f o r a r b i t r a t i o n and c l a r i f i c a t i o n . These ques- t i ons and t he answers they e l i c i t e d were of ten ed i ted f o r publ icat ion i n a volume of Ifresponsa," and a great many a r e s t i l l extant and r ead i ly ava i lab le t o t he modern researcher.

Histor ians have long been aware of t he value of "responsa l i t e r a tu r e . " The questions which were submitted were general ly no t t heo re t i c a l i n nature, but rooted i n t h e day-to-day r e a l i t y of a community's l i f e . Consequently, they a r e a r e - f l e c t i o n of t he prevai l ing soc i a l and economic conditions of t h e time, and an excel lent primary source f o r h i s t o r i c a l study. On a more personal l eve l , however, a volume of responsa can afford us an in t r igu ing glimpse i n t o t h e personal l i f e of a prominent f i gu re , and an invaluable fund of genealogical information.

For t h e modern reader , a volume of responsa can be a formidable challenge. A working knowledge of Hebrew, while ce r t a in ly indispensable, does surpr i s ing ly l i t t l e t o minimize t h e d i f f i - cul ty . The Hebrew of responsa l i t e r a t u r e i s a world unto i t s e l f , rooted i n i t s int imate connec- t i o n with t he terminology and phraseology of t he Talmud. But t h i s a r t i c l e w i l l attempt t o provide

U i c h d e ZoRtan h a PhV candidate in J w h h kin- X a q at Columbia UnivmLty . R a b b i l b n a d Rappa- pont wacl hen gad-gnd-gnandmo;then 'b u n d e . Addnab: 67 WyhagyR T m . , Nw RocheLte, NY loti04

TULEVOTIVOL. 4, NOS. 1-2

some guidelines t o make an inves t iga t ion of re - sponsa l i t e r a t u r e a rewarding pro jec t f o r t he Jewish genealogist.

We s h a l l use as our model a volume of re - sponsa e n t i t l e d Sephen S h e ' d o t U'Tahuvot Mahcurl'i HaCohen, wr i t t en by Rabbi I s r a e l Rappaport, rabbi of Tarnow, who died i n 1888. Not a l l books of responsa necessar i ly conform t o a s i ng l e s t y l e and s t ruc tu re , but t he r e a r e enough s i m i l a r i t i e s t o enable us t o draw ce r t a in conclusions about t he genre. The very f i r s t page of such a work can provide us with a grea t deal of information. The author usual ly makes some reference t o h i s own lineage. In our case, f o r example, Rabbi I s - r a e l indicates t h a t he i s t he son of Rabbi Abra- ham Abele Rappaport, who was, i n tu rn , t he de- scendant of Rabbi Moses I s s e r l e s and Rabbi Shab- t a i HaCohen. There i s a l so a respec t fu l and af- fec t iona te reference t o Rabbi I s r a e l ' s mother Leah and h i s wife Hannah. Thus we can v i r t u a l l y reconstruct the author 's immediate family from a few b r i e f l i ne s , and know a t t he same time, by t he choice of words, t h a t Abraham Abele ("of blessed memory") was no longer a l i v e a t t h e time of t h i s book's publ icat ion.

We often f ind t h a t a work of responsa was edi ted posthumously, i n which case an introduc- to ry sec t ion was occasional ly included, providing some helpful biographical information about t he author.

The ac tua l l e t t e r s themselves, t he responsa which form the body of t he work, deal of course with re l ig ious matters and lega l ru l ings . Yet they can provide s i gn i f i c an t information of a personal nature as well. In examining an individual response, there a r e a number of items t o look fo r :

1. DATE. Not a l l l e t t e r s have a proper heading. Those t h a t do, however, can be helpful i f we know l i t t l e about t he s i gn i f i c an t dates of t he author 's l i f e .

2 . SALUTATION. Again, not a l l l e t t e r s provide t h i s information. But those t h a t do name the correspondent can be important. I n a prominent rabbinical family, a dis t inguished rabbi i n one community could have any number of r e l a t i ve s serving i n a s imi l a r capaci ty i n o ther places. Younger members of t he family were of ten s tudents i n y ~ k i v o t . The l e t t e r s they exchanged dea l t l a rge ly with matters of halakhic i n t e rp re t a t i on , but the very f a c t t h a t we can i d e n t i f y t he re la - t i v e s who corresponded with our author i s a s ig- n i f i c a n t s t ep forward i n our research.

A l e t t e r addressed t o another rabbi invar i - ably opens with a long and flowery gree t ing , elti- broidered with f l a t t e r i n g references t o t he correspondent s e rudi t ion and in te l l igence . But t he r e a re ce r t a in key words and abbreviations t h e genealogist would do well t o examine. Some a r e , of course, s t raightforward. Rabbi I s r a e l , f o r

example, corresponded frequent ly with "my beloved son (= f J 7 f>l i \ lc) . . .Dov Ze'ev," and severa l l e t t e r s a r e addressed t o "my beloved nephew (='n/c \ A 1219 lc) . . .Isaac." Other references a r e more obscure; witness t he frequent use of t he general term "retat ive" (= ' 7 ~ C P , or 74/ ;\ 7 1cb , abbreviated as ) , or "cousinf1 (= I 3 3 \? , abbreviated as q"> ) . There a r e a l so l e 4 t e r s addressed t o individuals who a r e r e l a t e d t o the author by marriage, i n which case t he s l i g h t l y more spec i f i c term '_)A In El i s used.

3. OPENING PARAGRAPH. I f t he author was wri t ing t o a s t ranger , as was of ten t h e case, t he - l e t t e r was a l l business. But i f t he l e t t e r was addressed t o an int imate f r i end o r r e l a t i v e , t he ........................ opening sentences usua l ly contained some personal remarks, which o f f e r us a t an t a l i z ing glimpse in - t o t he p r iva t e l i f e of t he wr i te r . In Rabbi IS- NEW YIDDISH SERVICE OFFERED r a e l t s case, f o r example, t he r e i s t he h i n t of p r ide i n one response when he notes t h a t he was j u s t twenty years o ld when h i s opinion was sought on t h i s very question by t he community of Rimanow. There a r e complaints of ill hea l t h i n o ther l e t - t e r s , apologies f o r delays i n answering, and, i n a pa r t i cu l a r l y poignant l e t t e r , he laments t h e recent death of h i s young daughter Tz i r e l .

4. CLOSING REMARKS AND SIGNATURE. While t he actual t e x t of a response deals with t h e i n t r i c a - c i e s of t he halakhic auest ion a t hand. t he closing remarks can occasional ly reveal a useful personal d e t a i l . A l e t t e r addressed t o someone whose name means nothing t o us can suddenly be transformed i n t o a s i gn i f i c an t document when signed "your cousin. . . ."

5. MISCELLANY. I f t h e author was a member of a prominent rabbinical family, as was of ten t he case, he may have had i n h i s possession re - sponsa wr i t ten by h i s f a t h e r o r o ther r e l a t i v e s , l e t t e r s which had never been published. I t was not uncommon, therefore , f o r an author t o i n - clude such responsa i n h i s own published work. The value of these addenda i s obvious. Having t he same s t ruc tu re , and providing t he same infor - mation as t he author 's own l e t t e r s , t h e addi t ion- a l mater ial has t he po t en t i a l t o take us back one more generation. There a r e some exce l len t exam- p l e s of t h i s i n our model, t he responsa of Rabbi I s r ae l Rappaport. His work includes severa l l e t t e r s wr i t t en by h i s f a t h e r , who preceded him as rabbi of Tarnow.

Responsa l i t e r a t u r e i s too valuable a source of genealogical information t o in t imida te t he modern researcher. The pat ience and d i l igence it requires a r e of ten well worth t he e f f o r t , because t he i n t r i c a c i e s of halakhic ru l i ngs can of ten y i e ld a t reasure of names, da tes , and places. We would a l l do well t o rediscover t h i s long-neglected resource.

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TOLEVOTIVOL. 4, NOS. 1-2

MY FAMILY REUNION: Its Message for the Jewish People

Rabbi Aaron M. Wise

The second week of June 1980 I had a unique experience - t he worldwide reunion of my Rivl in family i n Jerusalem. I t a l l came about as a re - s u l t of my suggestion t o some cousins during our three-month s t ay i n Jerusalem i n t he spring of

I 1979. My great-grandfather 's great-grandfather, Reb H i l l e l Rivl in, had led an U y a h of Russian Jews t o Ere t s - I s rae l i n 1809, and Jerusalem has ,

1 been t he center of our family ever s ince. f'Why not ce lebra te t he 170th anniversary of

t ha t migration by holding a family reunion i n Jerusalem?," I suggested t o Moshe, David, Gideon and Asher. Lo and behold, they l iked t he idea, organized a committee, sen t out i nv i t a t i ons t o family members a l l over t he world and began plan- ning t he program f o r our Rivlin Kenen i n Jerusa- lem.

That reunion was climaxed on Wednesday evening, June 11, 1980, i n t he Convention Hall of I s r a e l ' s c ap i t a l when 1500 r e l a t i v e s gathered under one roof. We had a three-hour program, a l l i n Hebrew except f o r my remarks. I had been asked t o speak f o r t he Diaspora Rivl ins , coming t o t h i s conclave from many pa r t s of t he world.

The word ffuniquelf appl ies t o something so r a r e t h a t it has never happened before. A one and only. Our reunion was unique. Certainly nothing l i k e it had ever happened before i n Jeru- salem o r anywhere e l s e i n t h e world - f o r a Jew- i s h family t o co l l ec t i n such numbers t o share i n an experience l i k e t h a t . The I s r a e l i press was f i l l e d with a r t i c l e s about t he event, before and a f t e r . The Jawdem Poht even had an a r t i c l e by one of i t s ed i t o r s , Haim Shapiro, about t he black sheep i n our family. Haim is a l so a Rivlin, and he should know.

They even published a cartoon about a pious, I o ld Jew who s t a t ed , "No, I'm not a Rivl in, nor i s 1 my wife a Rivl in, but t he r e ' s s t i l l hope f o r us.

Our grandchildren may marry Rivl ins . " I t was a week of f e s t i v i t y , beginning with a

7 Shabbat morning serv ice i n t he Pres ident ' s Syna- gogue where t he two cantors who sang, t he two rabbis who spoke and the 25 people who received A.&jot t o t he Torah were a l l Rivl ins , j u s t as i f it were Simhat Torah.

Sunday night we had a recept ion a t t he Pres- i d e n t ' s House. Two hundred heads of famil ies gathered i n t h a t beaut i fu l home, and t he re I met r e l a t i v e s from England, I reland, France, Belgium, t he United S t a t e s , even from Soviet Russia. I was given t h e honor of speaking f o r t he Diaspora Rivl ins , espec ia l ly because t he reunion had been my idea. President Yitzhak Navon, himself a Se-

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Rabbi Amon M. Whe d h t phenented tkib manage a6 a n m o n :to kib congheg.gation. Adhenn: A d d M E l , 5540 Laund? Canyon Blvd., Month HoUywocd, CA 91607.

f a r d i , remembered h i s childhood days i n Jerusa- lem, when h i s gang used t o f i gh t with an Ashke- nazi gang loaded with Rivlins.

On Wednesday morning 250 of us went on a tour of t he twelve sect ions of New Jerusalem which were establ ished by my great-grandfather, Reb Yoshe Rivlin. Then Wednesday n ight , t h a t unique experience a t t he Binyaney Ha-Umah, when 1500 cousins, most of whom I had never met before , gathered t o watch a three-hour program of music, drama, comedy, s l i d e s and speeches. Yosef Burg, chairman of I s r a e l ' s delegation ne- go t ia t ing with t he Egyptians, spoke - he i s married t o a Rivlin. Another speaker was Yaakov Tzur, I s r a e l ' s former Ambassador t o France and world head of the Jewish National Fund, who i s a l so one of t he clan. Two comedians, S e f f i Riv- l i n and Rivke Michaeli, top s t a r s of I s r a e l i t e lev is ion , a l so members of t he kept t he crowd laughing with t h e i r jokes. The Army's chief cantor, a cousin, sang a beaut i fu l selec- t i on from the High Holy Day l i t u r g y composed by Uncle Zalman, who had been t he chief cantor of Jerusalem f o r more than f i f t y years.

I t was a great night , one I w i l l always re - member. But what meaning could it have f o r you? What meaning did our reunion have f o r t he Jewish people? There's something about t he Jews - we're never s a t i s f i e d j u s t t o have a good time. What message does t h a t experience convey? What does it say t o t he world?

That 's what we did i n our Bible. So much of t he Bible is family h i s to ry - t he family of Abra- ham, Isaac and Jacob, t h e i r nhcha?l and sorrows, t h e i r quarrels and reconc i l ia t ions , t h e i r f rus- t r a t i o n s and dheylkchn, t h e i r enslavement and emancipation.

The Bible i s a l l about one man's family, t h a t grew and grew and grew. The s to ry of t h a t family became the bas i s of Judaism. From our family 's experience we derived a b e l i e f i n God and a philosophy of h i s tory . The whole world knows the s tory of our Jewish family. The Book t e l l i n g t h a t s t o ry i s t he bes t of a l l best- s e l l e r s .

True t o t h a t t r ad i t i on , I ask: What message did our reunion convey? Let me begin by quoting from my remarks a t t he President 's House: "Our family is j u s t a Vugma, an example of t he e n t i r e Jewish people."

Every human being belongs t o a huge family. Every s ing l e one of us has had two parents , four grandparents, e igh t great-grandparents, e tc . I f you carry it back f o r t en generations, every one of us has had two thousand for ty-eight ancestors. Think of a l l t he cousins you have on your family t r e e - i n t he tens of thousands, i f no t more.

But most of us know nothing about our ances- t o r s , and even l e s s than nothing about a l l these

cousins. They have been swallowed up i n a sea of forgetfulness and obl ivion.

But we Jews kept t rack of our ancestors . We r e l a t ed t o them, we i d e n t i f i e d with them, we took pride i n them: Pa t r ia rchs , kings, prophets, rabbis , judges, martyrs. Our whole t r a d i t i o n can be considered a Yizkon experience, a remembering, a not-forget t ing.

That 's what we've done i n our Rivl in family. We have preserved records of our ancestors t h a t go back t o 1550, a t l e a s t 15 generations. There a r e Jews i n I s r a e l , Jews i n Los Angeles who go back much fur ther , who can t r a c e t h e i r ancestry a l l t he way back t o King David, t h r ee thousand years ago. The most dis t inguished family i n t he world a r e t he Kohanim, t he descendants of t he High P r i e s t , Aaron, who l ived 3300 years ago. Many Kohanim have kept records of t h e i r family f o r a hundred generations.

What does a l l t h a t mean? That t he pas t has remained a potent force i n Jewish l i f e . We were not "born yesterday"; t h a t has given some spec ia l qua l i t y t o Jewish exis tence.

We were given models t o follow: Abraham, t he f i r s t Jew; Moshe Rabeynu, t h e Liberator and Law- giver; Isaiah, Jeremiah and t h e o ther great prophets who followed him; t h e t h r ee thousand rabbis of t he Talmud who came l a t e r ; t he wise men and women of every generation who have enriched t he tapes t ry of Jewish h i s to ry and r e l i g ion with t h e i r spec ia l contr ibut ions.

We a l l know people who buy antiques. They may be a good investment. They add co lor and beauty t o a home. But so of ten these a r e o ther people's antiques - somebody e l s e ' s nhmatta - t h a t we buy t o adorn our homes. And these an- t iques a r e always th ings , th ings you can break o r burn, things t h a t can be damaged o r destroyed.

The best antiques a r e of t he s p i r i t . The bes t antiques a r e memories of people and t h e i r great ideas, t he imprints of t h e i r pe r sona l i t i e s .

I remember as a ch i l d what it meant t o me t o discover t h a t t he Vilner Gaon was one of our family. That was added i n sp i r a t i on t o me when I became a student i n t he Yeshiva and s tudied t he Talmud - t o f ee l connected with t h a t Talmud gen- ius , t o f ee l t h a t I was carrying on i n h i s t r a - d i t ion .

As Jews, we a r e a l l r e l a t e d t o t h e Gaon of Vilna, t o t he Rambam, t o Rabbi Akiba and H i l l e l , t o I sa iah and Jeremiah, t o Moses and Aaron, t o Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. When we a r e conscious of t h a t re la t ionsh ip , it does something t o us .

I t i s n ' t a matter of empty pr ide . That 's what I c a l l being a Yakhnon with no Y i h ~ . Y i h u means being r e l a t ed - not j u s t physical ly , but s p i r i t u a l l y . Without these memories, without t h a t s p i r i t u a l dimension, then our pas t has ceased t o work f o r us.

What was t he grea t crime the American s lave owners did t o t he blacks they enslaved? They robbed them of t h e i r memories, they robbed them of t h e i r h i s tory . They robbed them prec ise ly of what we Jews possess - YihW. That is one reason

why the blacks f i nd it so d i f f i c u l t t o climb out of t he p i t of poverty and degradation.

I s n ' t it sad t h a t so many Jews depdve them- ~ d v e h of t h e i r spec ia l advantage? They want t o become ordinary, face less . They look upon the antique-memories of t h e i r people as i f they were cheap costume-jewelry, not t he precious, i r r e - placeable t reasures they r e a l l y a re .

What i s Jewish education i f no t t h a t process by which we teach a Jewish ch i l d h i s place on t he family t r e e , by which we i n v i t e him t o enjoy and appreciate t he f r u i t t h a t has grown on t h a t t r e e , t he moral values, t he way of l i f e , t he grea t ideas.

Y i h ~ i s not how you and I a r e r e l a t e d phys- i c a l l y t o grea t forebears . I t is how we r e l a t e ourselves t o t h e i r g rea t ideas, t o t h e i r beaut i - f u l l i fe-experiences, t o t he good sense and t he deep wisdom of t h e i r way of l i f e .

There a r e many grea t and wonderful famil ies among our people. When I spoke a t t h e KWU i n Jerusalem, I challenged a l l these fami l ies t o do what we have done, t o hold a worldwide r eun ion ' i n Jerusalem. Let them awaken i n t h e i r chi ldren and grandchildren a cu r io s i t y about t h e i r roo ts . Let them assemble, as we did, i n t he Ci ty of Je- rusalem, t he h o l i e s t c i t y i n t he world, t o pledge t h e i r commitment t o our people.

What a wonderful thing it would be i f every year a hundred Jewish fami l ies held such reunions i n t he Convention Hall i n Jerusalem - rededicat- ing themselves t o t he her i tage , t he f a i t h and t he land of I s r a e l .

I may be a dreamer, but t h a t has such wonder- f u l p o s s i b i l i t i e s . I t would strengthen Jewish famil ies a t a time when they need strengthening. A s Alex Haley pointed out recent ly , we need t o give our younger generation an awareness of t h e i r roots a t a time when so many of them a r e roo t l e s s and d r i f t i n g . I t would recharge our people's w i l l t o l i v e by l ink ing Jew t o h i s fellow-Jew, and binding them together t o t he people of I s r a e l .

What i f every grea t family reunion would undertake a spec ia l p ro jec t i n I s r a e l - t o bu i ld an apartment house f o r young couples, t o provide high school scholarships f o r chi ldren of Oriental famil ies , t o sponsor an I s r a e l i s c i e n t i s t i n a v i t a l research pro jec t . Over and above our con- t r i bu t i ons t o t he United Jewish Welfare Fund, l e t t he r e be some family g i f t t h a t would make a r e a l difference t o t he fu ture of young couples, of a high school s tudent , of I s r a e l i science.

These a r e some of the p o s s i b i l i t i e s t h a t come t o mind. But most important of a l l , I r a i s e t he question: How could so many of my family have attended t he Kena a t Jerusalem's Convention Hall? I th ink of a l l t he Jewish fami l ies i n Eu- rope who were wiped out by H i t l e r . I think of members of our own congregation who t e l l me, "I am the only one of my family of seventy who survived t he Holocaust! "

Everyone I t e l l about t he Kena i n Jerusalem is amazed a t t he number of people who attended: "Do you mean they were a l l your r e l a t i v e s ? Unbe- lievable!" TOLEVOTIVOL. 4 , NOS. 1-2

Do you know why we had s o many Rivl ins i n Jerusalem? Because 170 years ago my ancestors chose t o leave Russia and Lithuania and s e t t l e i n Erets I s r ae l . Nobody could have predicted i t , but t he choice they made saved t h e i r chi ldren and grandchildren from the Shoah. The Jewish f a m i - l i e s who ignored t h e c a l l of Erets I s r a e l l ived t o regre t it.

I think now of Hassidic Rebbes who i n t he 1920s and 1930s t o l d t h e i r followers no t t o m i - g r a t e t o Erets I s r ae l because Zionist leaders were not re l ig ious , who t o l d t h e i r followers, "Don't fo rce God's hand - wait f o r t h e MaAkiah!" And a mil l ion Hassidim perished i n H i t l e r ' s death camps.

I f we bel ieve i n our fu ture , then we can ' t j u s t wait f o r it. We've got t o make it happen. For so many centuries our ancestors were passive victims of forces which they could no t control . Wherever they l ived , they suf fe red t he conse- quences of t h e i r pass iv i ty . What was remarkable about t he s t o r y we celebrated on Wednesday evening, June 11, 1980, is t h a t our ancestors 170 years ago, 140 years ago, 110 years ago were determined no longer t o be passive victims. They became ac;tiviA&. They cr ied out , "Welre not go- i ng t o wait f o r t he MaAhLah. By our work and our s a c r i f i c e s we're going t o make him come!"

By t h e i r courage and t h e i r w i l l they changed t he h i s to ry of t he Jewish people, and they changed t he h i s to ry of t h e i r own family. We est imate t h a t i n I s r a e l and i n t h e Diaspora we have possibly t en thousand members of our Mhh- paha wha a r e l i v ing today because of t h a t v i s ion and t h a t w i l l , because of t he dreams and s ac r i - f i c e s of R. Binyamin, R. H i l l e l , R. Yoshe Rivlin.

That i s t he s t o ry of my family's reunion, and t h a t i s i t s message t o t he Jewish people.

The ~uRRoutiMg L t e m iA taken dnom t h e nouvevtih bookee,t ;tMbu;ted at Lte RivRin FamLty Reunion:

SHLOMO ZALMAN AND SHNEUR ZALMAN A common name i n our family i s Shlomo Zal-

man. I t s popular i ty pays homage t o our f i r s t an- ce s to r t o c a l l himself Rivl in.

Another common name amongst us i s Shneur Zalman. This name s i g n i f i e s t he offsprings of t he Chassidim of Chabad being ca l led a f t e r t he founder of Chabad - Shneur Zalman of Ladi.

Indeed, some two centuries ago an ideologi- c a l s p l i t occurred i n t he Rivlin family, when t he brothers Binyamin and Eliyahu turned t o d i f f e r en t d i rec t ions i n t he Jewish community. Binyamin was a close f avo r i t e of h i s cousin t h e Gaon of Vilna, thus t o become the head of t he P'rushim - Mitnag- dim (opponents of t he Chassidim) i n our family; while h i s brother Eliyahu followed the Chabad Chassidim movement t o become head and champion of t he Chassidim i n t he family.

Their descendants came t o I s r ae l and continued t h e i r f a the r s ' ideological t r ad i t i ons . The Mitnagdim s e t t l e d i n Jerusalem (and p a r t l y i n Z1fat) and t h e Chassidim moved t o Chevron, which became a Chassidic cen t re u n t i l i t s destruct ion during t he disturbances of 1929. The Rivl ins married some of t he offsprings of the founder of Chabad (the Shneursons, t h e Slonims, e t c . ) re ta in- ing t he name Shneur o r Shneur Zalman.

Fortunately, t h a t ideological r i f t did not separate t he Rivlins from each o ther and many of t he Chassidic s e c t married Mitnagdim i n a l l t he years t o come and gave b i r t h t o a mixed "Chassi- dic-Mitnagdic brand1' l i k e t h i s wr i t e r -- s ince my f a t h e r Shlomo Zalman, a Mitnagged, married my mother Hadassa, daughter of Shneur Zalman of Chevron. So ample and complex a r e t he Rivl ins ' "intermarriages1' t h a t any two o r t h r ee Rivlins, meeting f o r a reunion, even casual ly, would quickly indulge i n a pleasurable e f f o r t t o un- fo ld and "decipheru family-connection puzzles.

BOOKS IN REVIEW Zachary M. Baker

Skte;te Finda: J w h h CommuvLitia i n t h e 79th and Eartey 20th C e a a i n t h e Pate 06 S&ement ud Ran& and Poland, and i n LiXhania, Latvia, G a t - i&, and Bukovina, with Nama 0 6 Raidentn. By Chester G. Cohen. Los Angeles: Periday Co., 1980. iii, 145 p. , maps. Paperback. $8.25. Publish- e r ' s address: Box 583, Woodland H i l l s , CA 91365.

Where d id our family come from? Exactly where were those strange-sounding places? What s o r t of people l ived there , and what d id they do there? These a r e some of t he most common ques- t i ons t h a t t he genealogist w i l l ask.


Enter D r . Chester G . Cohen, a Los Angeles school administrator, who spent e igh t years of summers and weekends researching these very ques- t ions . The r e s u l t i s t h i s Skte.22 Finda, a gaze t t e e r of Jewish Eastern Europe.

Before we discuss t he .%Z& F&d&tls con- t en t s , l e t us def ine our terminology.

G a z m e a can be defined, simply enough, as "a geographical d ic t ionary . I1 In o ther words, it i s an alphabet ical l i s t o f place names giving shor t descr ipt ions of these places. The standard general gaze t teer i s t he CoLumbh LippincoLt G a z m e a 06 t h e Wohed, published i n many edi- t ions . Unti l now, no spec i f i c a l l y Jewish gazet- t e e r has been published, though various Jewish

encyclopedias and Berl Kaganls Hebnew S u b b d p - ;tion Lin;tcl (New York: 1975) do bear some of t he

I c ha r ac t e r i s t i c s of a gaze t teer . What s o r t of information might one expect a

J w h h gaze t teer t o contain? F i r s t of a l l , l i k e t he Cohmbia Lipp&c~;tt GazeXeeh it should give o f f i c i a l and var ian t forms of a place name, i t s pronunciation, de f in i t i on ( i . e . , c i t y , town, . v i l l age , e s t a t e ) , population, t h e countr ies and

I provinces t o which it belongs now and belonged i n t he pa s t , and d i s t i n c t i v e h i s t o r i c a l , economic and a r ch i t ec tu r a l fea tures . Cross-references from var ian t forms of a p lace name t o t h e en t ry form a r e an i n t eg ra l f ea tu r e of any gaze t teer . In addi t ion, one would want a Jewish gaze t teer t o include the names of notable rabbis and o ther prominent pe r sona l i t i e s who came from (or l ived i n ) pa r t i cu l a r towns, p lus c i t a t i o n s f o r l i t e r a - t u r e on those places (e.g., memorial books, encyclopedia a r t i c l e s , Hebnew S u b n d p f i o n l h ; t c l item numbers, Genealogical Society of Utah holdings) .

Skt& cannot be defined i n so s t r a igh t fo r - ward a manner. S t i l l , a t t h e very l e a s t we s h a l l attempt a charac te r iza t ion of t h i s widely employed and misunderstood term. Cohen himself suppl ies two i l l u s t r a t i o n s of t he I1shtetl" concept. On page 37 he gives t h e following de f in i t i on , c i t i n g Moishe Glaser (a Yiddish poet) as h i s authori ty:

(1) Matechko--legal permission t o be a community; (2) t h r ee minyan5 of Jewish men t o support a rabbi and a prayer-house; (3) a cheden--Jewish elementary school; (4) a m e n - chdtz--public bath.

Then, on page 98 he suppl ies a face t ious l is t of th6 elements of a s h t e t l , c i t i n g t he Yiddish mem- o i r s of Hershel Perlmutter, who came from the Po- l i s h town of S te r tzev (Szczercow). Per lmut te r l s town included:

(1) a post o f f i c e with a te legraph, (2) a r i v e r , (3) a cemetery, (4) a rabbi , (5) a prayer house, (6) two prayer rooms f o r chas- idim, (7) a Talmud Torah academy.. . , (8) a c l o i s t e r with a p r i e s t , (9) a v i l l a g e moron, (10) several prosperous p e r s o r % a n d (11) many paupers.

On the governmental l eve l , t he most important f ac to r contr ibut ing t o t he de f in i t i on of a s h t e t l i s i t s descript ion as a township ( i n t he Czaris t Empire: a makechko), as d i s t i n c t from a v i l l age (or ag r i cu l t u r a l set t lement) and a c i t y . , From the Jewish standpoint, a s h t e t l had t o have an organized Jewish community, which would in -

Zachany M. Bakm, o m ConttLibu;ting EclLton, hecent- Ry moved t o Monthed, whene he h t h e Yiddinh npe- ciUt on t h e J&h Public Libnany'n pnodanion- d nZadd. He ~ ~ h e v i o w R y wonked at t h e YZVO 1nh;ti- ;Me don J w h h Raeanch i n Nw Yank, whme he wan t h e g w e d o g i c d hedmence l ibhahian and an aC;tive memben od t h e JeLuinh G e n e d o g i c d Socie;ty. Addhan : Jew-ih h Public L i b m y , 5 7 57 Cote Sa in t e Cdthenine Road, Month&, Quebec H3W lM6, Canada.

clude a t l e a s t some of t he a t t r i b u t e s t h a t Cohen has del ineated. In Eastern Europe, t he towns t h a t we c a l l "shtetlekh" had t o t a l populations from 1,000 t o 20,000; Jews comprised anywhere from 20% t o 98% of these populations.

What Cohen has ac tua l ly produced i s not a "nh;t& f i nde r , s t r i c t l y speaking, but r a the r , a locat ion t oo l f o r "most of t he CLCLU and Zownh where Jews l ived i n t he nineteenth century, with- i n t h e boundaries of t he t e r r i t o r y covered, and t he re i s a l so a sampling of t he thousands of v d Y a g a where Jews lived." (p. ii, my emphasis)

A l l t o ld , t he Sh;t& Finden includes e n t r i e s f o r over 2,000 Eastern European Jewish communi- t i e s , i n two separate alphabet ical l i s t s (a main l ist and a supplemental l i s t of addenda). With r a r e exceptions--such as Warsaw--the place names a r e given i n English t r ansc r ip t i on from t h e i r vernacular, Yiddish pronunciations. Of f i c i a l Pol ish, Russian and/or Lithuanian spe l l i ngs (or i n some cases, 19th century German map spe l l ings --e. g . , "Bj eschenkowitschifl f o r Beshenkovichi , White Russia) a r e a l so provided within t he en-. t r i e s . However, cross-references a r e included only f o r widely var ian t forms of place names-- e. g., "Trochinbrod see Sofiovka," but no t "Byten see Biten." The use of Yiddish place names as t he organizing p r inc ip l e of t h i s gaze t teer i s eminently j u s t i f i a b l e from the genealogical stand- po in t , s ince many people a r e not well acquainted with t he o f f i c i a l names of t he places t h a t t h e i r fami l ies came from.

The Sh;t& F&dm loca tes towns by placing them i n r e l a t i o n t o 16 "reference c i t i e s " shown on a map of t he Russian Pale of Settlement and adjacent areas . These c i t i e s a re : Riga, Kovno, Vilna, Minsk, Mohilev (White Russia, no t Podolia), Grodno, Bialystok, Warsaw, Pinsk, Lodz, Brest Litovsk, Lublin, Krakow, Lvov, Kiev and Odessa. In many cases t he e n t r i e s provide addi t iona l loca t iona l c lues. For example, Plate1 ( P l a t e l i a i , Lithuania) i s placed I1NW of Kovno" and "west of Shavel (S iau l ia i ) . " Shavel, i n tu rn , i s placed "N of Kovno." The phrase "close to" (e.g., "Se- rednik, Srednik (Seredzius) . . . close t o Kovno") means t h a t a town i s within 25 miles of t he l a t t e r place indicated. Through geographical de tec t ive work Cohen has a l so managed t o s o r t out many places bearing t he same name--for example, he has i so l a t ed fou r d i f f e r en t White Russian communities named Pohost (no mean f e a t ! ) .

A s a t o o l f o r pinpointing places on t he map --as opposed t o providing general loca t iona l c lues --the ShX& F h d ~ leaves a good deal t o be de- s i r ed . F i r s t of a l l , by using a s e l e c t few c i t i e s as t h e pr inc ipa l geographic frame of reference, t h i s gaze t teer as a matter of course gives impre- c i s e locat ions. This problem i s compounded by t he v i r t u a l absence of reference c i t i e s (aside from Kiev and Odessa) f o r t he va s t expanses of t he Ukraine and Bessarabia. The major Ukrainian c i t y of Kamenets Podolskiy (entered here as "Ko- menitzM)--which could serve as a reference c i t y i n i t s own r i gh t - - i s placed I1SE of Lvov." Given

TULEVUT/VOL. 4, NOS. 1-2

t he 19th century emphasis of t h i s book, placing Kamenets (then as now i n Russia) i n r e l a t i on t o Lvov (Lemberg, then i n Austria-Hungary) i s a geo- p o l i t i c a l anachronism akin t o , say, placing Buf- f a l o "S of Toronto," o r Par i s "S of London." Nor is t h i s t he only case where a town belonging t o Czar i s t Russia is located with respect t o a c i t y i n Austrian Galicia .

I t would have made more sense t o loca te places within t h e i r pre-World War I provinces, giving more prec ise indicat ions of t h e i r d i s - tances from major c i t i e s within those provinces. A simple map of t he Pale and surrounding regions which ind ica tes provincial boundaries--such as a r e contained i n Martin G i lbe r t ' s J&h f f h Z ~ k y A Z h A (New York: 1969) and Diane K . and David Roskies Sh;t& Book (New York: 1975) --would su f f i ce f o r reference purposes.

The body of t he e n t r i e s demonstrates t he author 's extensive consul tat ion of encyclopedias, memorial books, genealogical sourcebooks, pub- l i shed family h i s t o r i e s , d i r ec to r i e s of rabbis , 19th century Hebrew newspapers ( spec i f i c a l l y Ha- m&~) , and above a l l , subscript ion lists i n old Hebrew books ( for which Berl Kaganls work served as t he author 's source of information). The en- t r i e s a r e not uniform i n t h e i r contents, however. An en t ry f o r a town may have only a one-line de- s c r i p t i on o r it may go on f o r two pages (as do t h e Warsaw and Vilna e n t r i e s ) . The en t ry f o r Petrikov (Piotrkow Trybunalski, Poland) i s perhaps typ ica l . I t s 14 l i ne s contain 12 l i ne s of names of subscribers t o two 19th century rabbin- i c a l books, and only two l i ne s of o ther informa- t i on , which i n t h i s case cons is t s of c i t a t i ons f o r a published memorial book, an Encydopaedia Judaica a r t i c l e , and Kaganls en t ry number f o r t he c i t y . The l a t t e r c i t a t i o n i s helpful t o t h e genealogist seeking t o t rack down books i n which t he names of subscribers from t h i s c i t y a r e included. But t he reproduction of se lec ted sub- s c r i p t i on l ists i s numbing t o t he eye and devours valuable space. Cohen could have avoided t h i s constant ly recurr ing problem by providing a de- t a i l e d explanation and i l l u s t r a t i o n of how Kaganls book works, i n h i s introduct ion. The responsibi l - i t y f o r searching out subscript ion lists would then be t he reader ' s , and properly so.

In many cases, e n t r i e s include t he names of prominent town rabbis and o ther notable personal- i t i e s , important events i n t he communitiest h i s - to ry , and c i t a t i o n s f o r photographs of t h e towns1 synagogues which were reproduced i n Maria and Kazimierz Piechotkats book, Wooden Synagogua (Warsaw: 1959). The e n t r i e s sometimes include c i t a t i o n s f o r a r t i c l e s t h a t appeared i n ffam&z, as well . Only r a r e ly (e.g., Divin, White Russia) does Cohen include population f igures f o r a Jew- i s h community, o r an ind ica t ion t h a t t he Mormons1 Genealogical Society has filmed records f o r t h a t community. ( In t he en t ry f o r Bendkov/Bedkow, Poland, he does c i t e t he Spring 1978 Toledot l is t of Polish-Jewish records filmed by t h e Mormons,

TOLEVOT/VUf. 4, NUS. 7-2

Periyoslov Pereyarlav, also PerejaslavChmelnickij, SE of Kiev Located north of ~ i n e v . 1885-Meshulam Pialki was correspondent to Harnelirr. 1894-Yakov Berman war local deputy for the Eretz Israel farmers and workers support association. Birthplace of Yiddish author Sholom Aleichem. who was Solomon Rabinovitz 1859-1916. E J . article Pereyslav-Khrnelnitski. Kagan 6691.

Pervon~aisk, Olviopol, Ore1 Pewomaisk. formerly Olwiopol, N of Odessa Located about 180 kilometers north of 0dessa.'l912-~af- tali Dov ben Tobi' Zav Kanterman, born 1851, was rabbi. Birthplace of Selig Brodetsky, born 1888, who moved to England at age 5 and became a professor of mathematics and a Zionist leader. EJ. article Pervomaisk.

Pesheysh, Pshedetz Rzedecz, NW of Lodz South of Vlotzlavek. Memorial book Sefer Zikron L 'kedoshi Ir Psheitz (Pshedet:). 1974. Kagan 6763.

Petchinizhin Pechenezhin. also Peczenizyn, SE of Lvov Located south of Stanislav. 1920's-Szymon Zajczyk photo- graphed the old wooden synagogue here; see Wooden Svna- gogues. 1959. Kagan 6455.

Petrikov Petrikov, NW of Kiev Located in Minsk province, west of Mozir. 181 1 -The cenlus reported 102 Jews in the population o f Pehikov. 1912- Baruch Nachman Eidelman, born 1857, was rabbi here. Birthplace of Chaim Gutman, born 1887, who moved to the United States in 1905 and was a writer of Yiddish humor, using the pen name Der Lebediger.

Petrikov Piotrkow, also Piotrkow Trybunalski, S of Lodz 1879-Advance subscribers for the book Du'ur hloslre were Rabbi Baruch. Abraham Shidlovrki and his son Baruch. Abra- ham Yitzchak Henaker, Asher Roizinshtein. Eliezer Kasitzki. Eliezer bar Israel Baravski, Benyamin ZPV Shub, Isrelki Shmuelavitz, Yiechak Melnitzer, lsael Karilsbrin, Yakov Yo- sef Roitinberg, Moshe Brandfein, Menachem Zilbershtein, Meir Yitzchak Rabin, Meir Horvitz, Moshe Eibishitz, Naftali Zvi Honitz, Pesach bar Moshe Shub, Fishel Simcha Givertz, Fihel Shitenberg, Zvi Berinovski. Zvi son of the rabbi of Bendin, Shlomo Zelmenovitz, and Shimeon Lipsker. 1880- Advance subscribers for the book Arye Debi Eilai were Yakov Yitzchak Veinfeld and Levi Horvitz. Memorial book Pionokov Tribunalski Vehasviva. 1965, part in English. EJ. article F'iotrkow. Kagan 6661.

Petrikov Koyavsk F'iotrkow Kujawski, MY of Lodz Located west of Vlotzlavek. 1912-Eliahu Vartzka, born 1859, was rabbi in Pietrokov Hakatan (little Petrikov), Warsaw province. Kagan 6662.

Petropavlovka Petropavlovka, SE o f Kiev Located east of Yekaterinoslav (Dnepropetrovsk). 1885- David Ashklin sold Montefiore pictures to aid Eretz Isael. 1894-Naftali Hush Feinshtein was local deputy for the Eretz Israel fanners and workers support association. Kagan 6656.

SampLe entnia dhom Sh te t l Finder. '

but suppl ies references t o these records i n v i r - t u a l l y none of h i s o ther e n t r i e s . ) Another fea- t u r e of t he S h t d Findeh is t he per iod ic inser - t i on of anecdotes and legends between en t r i e s . Usually these s t o r i e s r e f e r t o t he preceding a r t - i c l e , e.g. "The Ropshitzer persuades t he Riman- over" (concerning two Hasidic rabbis) appears r i g h t a f t e r t he a r t i c l e on Rimanov (Rymanow, . Galicia) .

Inevi tably e r ro r s and omissions w i l l crop up i n a work of t h i s kind. The S h k d f i n d e n contains only a few minor mistakes regarding t he current names of places. For example, a cross- reference i s erroneously assigned from Dzerzhinsk t o Rubizhevitch/Rubiezewicze, near Minsk, White Russia; ac tua l ly it i s t he nearby town of Koidan- ovo t h a t now bears t he name Dzerzhinsk ( in honor of t he founder of t he Soviet s ec r e t po l ice , Fe- l i k s Dzerzhinsky). The o f f i c i a l forms supplied by Cohen a r e a l so almost always cor rec t . (Excep- t i on : "Bendery, a l so Taginat!-- t he Romanian name f o r t h i s Bessarabian town i s T i g h i n a . ) The f r e - quent inconsis tencies i n t he spe l l i ng of p lace names a r e a b i t more annoying. For example, t he entry f o r Amshinov (Mszczonow, near Warsaw) places t h a t town near "Skiernovitz." But t he en t ry f o r t he l a t t e r place--known i n Pol ish as "Skiernie- wice1I--reads "Skiernivi tz .

In choosing vernacular Yiddish place names f o r t he en t ry headings, Cohen has performed an important se rv ice f o r t he genealogical community. But t h i s contr ibut ion i s marred by t h e homemade t ranscr ip t ion scheme t h a t he employs. "A" and "0" a r e used interchangeably, but s ince these vowels r a r e ly occur a t t h e beginning of place names t h i s poses a r e l a t i v e l y minor problem. A more ser ious mistake i s h i s indiscr iminate repre- sen ta t ion of t he two very d i f f e r en t sounds of l l tchl l (as i n "Tchaikovsky") and "kh" (as i n llKharkovll) with "chT1. Thus, Kherson, i n t h e Ukraine (pronounced with t he gu t t u r a l "kh" sound) appears here as llCherson," r i g h t a f t e r "Chersk" (Czersk, south of Warsaw) --pronounced llTchersk. "

The absurdi ty of t h i s approach i s underscored by two other en t r i e s : "Chmiliv" (Chmielow, southwest of Lublin, Poland) and "Chmilov" (Cmielow, &o southwest of Lublin!). Without knowing a l i t t l e Polish, t he uninformed reader cannot pos- s i b l y be expected t o d i s t inguish between these two towns, given t h e i r near ly i den t i ca l t ran- sc r ip t ions and locat ions. But t he Pol ish spe l l - ings and t he e n t r i e s f o r t h e two towns i n Hebnew Subncn ipLLon~ LhA make it c l e a r t h a t t he f i r s t place name should be pronounced llKhmelevll and t he second one, llTchmelev. The poin?-is noX t h a t one must f ee l obl igated t o adopt an establ ished t ranscr ip t ion scheme, but r a the r , t h a t i f one chooses t o c rea te a system of one's own, it must be consis tent and it must a l so d i s t inguish between d i f f e r en t sounds!

In a few cases t h e names of prominent towns- people a r e omitted from the en t r i e s . Thus, t he famous Hasidic rabbi , Elimeleh of Lizhensk (Lezajsk, Gal icia) does no t appear under t he head-

ing f o r t h a t town, while t he l e s s e r known Rabbi Shmuel Birnboim does. The a r t i c l e on Uman (Ukraine) does not mention t he residence and shr ine t he r e of t he grea t 18th century Hasidic s t o r y t e l l e r , Rabbi Nahman of Bratzlav, but does mention t he obscure f a c t t h a t i n 1887 "Yosef Krupnik was correspondent t o ffam&z. Fina l ly , t he en t ry f o r Zamoshtch (Zamosc, Poland) overlooks one of t h e g ian ts of Yiddish and world l i t e r a t u r e , I . L. Peretz , who was born there .

There a r e several appendices t o t h e S k t & Findeh. The f i r s t i s an i n t e r e s t i ng l is t of over 25 towns i n present-day Poland (primarily Gali- c i a ) , t h a t gives d e t a i l s on t h e condition of t h e i r Jewish cemeteries as of t he l a t e 1960s.

The second appendix i s t he "Supplemental Lis t" of addi t iona l towns. The en t r i e s i n t h i s sec t ion r e l y f a r l e s s heavi ly on reproducing sub- s c r i p t i on l ists than do those i n t he main sec t ion , and t he r e su l t i ng e n t r i e s a r e much more compact, encompassing more usefu l and readable information i n fewer l i ne s .

The t h i r d appendix comprises a l is t of Jew- i s h communities outs ide of t he areas included i n t he main body of t he gazet teer : Russia ou ts ide of t he Pale, IfGerman t e r r i t o r y " (primarily Posen/ Poznan, now i n Poland), Hungary, Romania. One wonders why Cohen chose t o exclude some areas from t h e scope of h i s work. For example, Ruthen- i a , Transylvania (both pa r t of pre-1918 Hungary) and Romania proper contained hundreds of thousands of shtet l -dwell ing, Yiddish-speaking Jews. Though important Hasidic cen te rs l i k e Munkacs (Mukachevo , Ruthenia) and Szatmar (Satu Mare/Sat- mar, Transylvania) a r e named i n t he t h i r d appendix, they and o ther places i n these regions meri t fu l l - length e n t r i e s i n t he body of a gaze t teer of Jewish Eastern Europe. One town i n Ruthenia-- Rachov--somehow sl ipped i n t o t h e main sec t ion of t he S k t d Finden, where it i s i d e n t i f i e d as being south of Lvov and north of Sighet , Romania. The l a t t e r town (ac tua l ly i n Transylvania)-- b i r thp lace of t he famous contemporary Jewish wr i t e r , E l i e Wiesel--appears i n t he appended l i s t of "Other Communities" under i t s Hungarian name of llMarmaro Sziget" (properly, Marmarossziget). Nowhere e l s e i n t h i s gaze t teer does t he name Sighet appear.

The f i n a l appendix i s a s e l ec t i on of obi tu- a r i e s appearing i n t he Hebrew journal HuXZe~dUL from 1875 t o 1896. This l is t i s arranged chrono- log ica l ly , and t he f i r s t element of each obi tuary i s t he place where t he subject died. Most of t he ob i t ua r i e s a r e f o r r a the r obscure individuals .

The S k t d Findeh i s t h e product of extensive and painstaking research. The s t rength of t he book l i e s i n i t s use as a device f o r iden t i fy ing p lace names and assigning them rough locat ions. I n addi t ion, by providing bibl iographical r e f e r - ences Cohen ind ica tes avenues f o r f u r t h e r research on hundreds of Jewish communities. The S k t d f inde, t ls grea t e s t weaknesses a r e i t s unsystematic amassing of superfluous and t r i v i a l d e t a i l , and

TOLEQOTIVOL. 4 , NOS. 7-2

i t s flawed Yiddish-English t ranscr ip t ion scheme. The S k t d f i n d e h i s a pioneering work and,

a l l i n a l l , a most welcome addi t ion t o Jewish genealogical reference l i t e r a t u r e .

Donna Balopole

In land 06 Hope, In land 06 T e a m . By David M .

1 Brownstone, Irene M. Franck and Douglass L. Brownstone. New York: Rawson, Wade Publishers, Inc., 1979. 307 p. I l l u s t r a t e d . $11.95. v

E l l i s Is land i s geographically merely a t i n y sandbar i n t he New York Harbor, but from 1892 t o t he ea r ly 1930s it was t he scene of much t ea r s , joy, laughter , and hope, f o r it was with- i n these years t h a t 17 t o 20 mil l ion immigrants, mostly from Central and Southern Europe, passed through E l l i s Is land i n t o t he United S ta tes .

The United S t a t e s Immigration S ta t ion a t E l l i s Island opened on January 1, 1892, sup- plant ing t he a r r i v a l center a t Cas t le Garden i n Manhattan's Battery; and except f o r a three-year period (1897-1900) of rebui lding due t o a t o t a l - l y devastat ing f i r e , E l l i s Is land was t he main en t ry s t a t i o n f o r European immigrants i n t o t he United S t a t e s . In i t s peak years, 1900 t o 1914 and 1919 t o 1922, an average of 5,000 immigrants a day passed before t he eyes of two doctors, who checked f o r a wide assortment of disorders and diseases .

But who were these immigrants, from where did they come, and why did they leave t h e i r homelands? In Id land 06 Hope, In land 06 T e a m , David M . Brownstone, Irene M. Franck (h i s wife) , and Douglass M. Brownstone (h i s son) chronicle t he voyage of these people -- Jews, Czechs, Poles, Ukrainians, I t a l i a n s , Greeks, and o ther Southern and Eastern Europeans -- t h e i r f i r s t decis ion t o leave t h e i r homeland, t h e i r journey usual ly by t r a i n t o t he European po r t s , t h e i r steamship

I t r i p across t he At lan t ic , t h e i r a r r i va l i n New York and experiences a t E l l i s Is land, and f i n a l - l y t h e i r much shor te r t r i p s t o t h e i r new American

!/ dest inat ions. To t e l l t h i s s to ry , t he authors spoke t o and

gathered t he o r a l h i s t o r i e s of a wide group of people who survived t h i s journey, and l n l a n d 0 6 Hope, In land 06 T e a m i s t o l d la rge ly through these t r ave l e r s ' own words. Thus, f o r t he gene- a log i s t t he book t r u l y has twofold s ignif icance. F i r s t , f o r those (Jewish and non-Jewish) genea- l o g i s t s researching t h i s e r a of immigration, In land 06 f f ope , In land 06 T e w r e l a t e s h i s t o r -

Donna Batopole , whone ghandpaem% annived at E m Znland 6/zom R u n & and P o l m d , h newn- laen edi;toh 0 6 Xhe J e w h h G e n d o g i c a t Soc,ie,ty i n New Yonh. f h ~ m 9 Xo 5 n h e h a copy edi;toh at a majoh med ica t book p u b L b h a in N e w Yank C d y . Addtrebi: 25-34 130 SZkee,t, C o l l e g e P o i n t , N Y 11356.

TOLEQOT/VOt. 4 , NOS. 1-2

i e s t h a t could very well be t he h i s t o r i e s of our parents , grandparents, o r great-grandparents. Second, f o r a l l genealogists, t he interviews provide a lesson i n how an ora l h i s t o ry interview -- a t i t s best -- should sound and how it can be interspersed with explanatory t e x t t o t e l l a s to ry .

The s to ry opens i n Europe, where poverty and/or oppression a r e spurr ing on many Europeans t o s e l l t h e i r possessions and t r ave l t o America, the land of many of t h e i r dreams. Usually, f a the r s , sometimes with t he o ldes t chi ldren, t r a - veled f i r s t , earned money i n America, and sent back enough so t h a t eventual ly other family members could join them. Middle chi ldren t rave led next , oftentimes alone, and f i n a l l y t he mothers and youngest chi ldren made the t r i p . The i m m i - grat ion routes used were of ten those Jews f lee ing Russian pogroms since t he 1880s had establ ished. Journeying t o t he European por t s was not always an easy matter: from r u r a l areas , t r a i n s did not always ex i s t ; from Russia,. t r a v e l r e s t r i c t i o n s were s t r i c t and involved e i t h e r waiting long periods f o r permits o r br ibing border guards; and from a l l countr ies , young men of oppressed minor- i t i e s , who were escaping serv ice i n t he armies of t h e i r oppressors, had severe problems f lee ing t h e i r countr ies .

Experiences a t European por t s var ied and were not always pleasant . Cel ia Rypinski (a pseudonym), t rave l ing a t t h e age of 13 years from Poland, described with joy t he "great b ig house ...g rand food.. .beautiful bathrooms and t o i l e t s v she encountered i n he r two-week wait f o r t he ship i n Rotterdam i n 1908; Vera Gauditsa (a pseudonym),

t rave l ing i n 1929, from Czechoslovakia, while eight-months pregnant, encountered an open sewer and no t o i l e t s and f l oo r s with straw and not mattresses i n her eight-day s t a y a t LeHavre.

Shipping companies were required by American immigration law t o ca r e fu l l y examine and c l e a r emigrants before they s a i l ed , but most companies quickly passed t he emigrants on; t h i s r e su l t ed i n hardship a t E l l i s Is land f o r many emigrants who were forced t o re turn penni less (although a t t he shipping company's expense) t o t h e i r homelands. The a l t e rna t i ve of c a r e fu l l y checking emigrants and l e t t i n g ill emigrants cure t h e i r problems be- fo r e t h e i r journey was, due t o t he urging of Fio- r e l l o LaGuardia, added i n I t a l y i n 1908; and by 1924, United S t a t e s government regulat ions r e - quired t h i s procedure i n a l l countr ies .

The t r i p t o America f o r most emigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe was i n t he s teerage compartment of t he ship. These windowless below- deck compartments were poorly vent i la ted and lacked clean t o i l e t f a c i l i t i e s and "the food was both monotonous and poorly prepared--if prepared a t all--and f resh water was usua l ly ava i lab le only up on deck. . . .The fou l odors and pounding of t he engines and waves combined t o knock most of t he passengers i n t o a s t a t e of muddled semi- consciousness, with only sho r t f l ashes of pa infu l c l a r i t y ."

Emigrants who could a f ford t o t rave led second c i a s s ins tead (very few t rave led f i r s t c l a s s ) , thus avoiding s teerage and a l so t he E l l i s Island inspect ion, s ince second-class t r ave l e r s were inspected and cleared on board.

However, while many adu l t s suf fe red t h e oftentimes stormy voyage as a b l u r of seasickness and herr ing ( the most prevalent food i n s teerage) , most chi ldren found the voyage a fun - f i l l ed ad- venture. Seasickness a f fec ted them l e s s ; and thus with so many adul t s i l l , chi ldren, when they were not busy caring f o r t h e i r seasick r e l a t i v e s , o f ten had freerun of t he boat. As one Greek woman remembers here childhood journey, "1 was as f r ee as a i r going up and down s t a i r s and swinging on t he bottom of t he boat , having a heck of a time."

The s igh t ing of t he Statue of Liberty and t he coast of America s ignaled t he end of t he i m - migrants' rocky sea voyage, but f o r most passengers--the s teerage passengers--arr ival i n t o New York Harbor d id no t mean immediate entrance i n t o t he United S ta tes . While f i r s t and second c l a s s passengers had t h e i r inspect ions and clearance on ship and then passed onto American s o i l , s teerage passengers were t r ans f e r r ed t o barges where they awaited, sometimes f o r hours, t h e i r inspections a t E l l i s Island.

Eventually t he immigrants passed through E l l i s Island, where they were given first a med- i c a l examination (which included t he pa infu l and fr ightening t e s t f o r traucoma, wherein a button- hook was used t o t u r n t he immigrant's eyel ids ins ide out) and then an administrat ive examina- t i on , wherein t he sh ip manifest information

( i den t i f i c a t i on , mar i ta l s t a t u s , s k i l l s , l i t e r a - cy, e tc . ) were reviewed.

While most immigrants passed these t e s t s quickly, some were detained because of suspected medical o r mental problems, because they were awaiting a r e l a t i v e t o receive them o r awaiting money o r t r a i n t i c k e t s , because it was already evening ( there was no n ight time inspect ion and clearance) , o r because of o ther s p e c i f i c immigra- t i on regulat ions. Out of t he 20 immigrants per hundred t h a t were detained, only two per hundred were eventual ly refused entrance and returned t o Europe.

The major obstacles t o entrance were speci- f i c d i seases , such as traucoma, favus, and tuber- cu lo s i s , and ce r t a in o ther physical problems; mental i l l n e s s ; a f t e r 1917, i l l i t e r a c y ( i n any language); criminal records; t he p o s s i b i l i t y of becoming a publ ic charge o r of being imported f o r o r impressed i n t o "white slavery"; and being i m - ported f o r a s p e c i f i c job (a contract l aborer ) .

Many of t he memories of detainment a t E l l i s Is land a r e not pleasant ones: s t e e l bunks with. no mattresses , overcrowding, poor ven t i l a t i on , t r a - g i c separat ions of famil ies when some members had t o be returned t o Europe, t h e f ea r , t h e crying. On t he pos i t i ve s ide , however, t he r e was p l en t i - f u l food (although the immigrants disagree as t o i t s qua l i ty ) and t o a s s i s t new immigrants, par- t i c u l a r l y of fe r ing a id t o those having entrance problems, many soc i a l agencies--such as t h e He- brew Immigrant Aid Society (HIAS), t he I t a l i a n Welfare League, t h e Travelers Aid Society, and t he Immigrants' Protect ive League--functioned on E l l i s Is land.

The immigrant's journey does no t of course end with E l l i s Is land and 1nRand 06 Hope, 1nLand oh T W concludes with a look a t t he journey in- t o America. For one-third of t he immigrants t h i s meant a shor t f e r r y r i d e t o lower Manhattan and reunion with family already present i n t h e New World. For two-thirds it meant r a i l t r i p s t o o ther po in ts i n t he United S t a t e s on Irimmigrant t ra ins" : slow, o ld , and poorly lit and ven t i l a t ed t r a i n s reserved espec ia l ly f o r immigrants. And f o r a l l immigrants, a r r i v ing i n t he United S t a t e s meant adjustment--often under conditions of poverty-- to a new land, new customs, and a new language. I t meant f inding a p lace t o l i v e and a job, ge t t ing an education, learning new s k i l l s , and moving i n t o American society.

The reco l lec t ions of t h e immigrants i n 1nLand 06 Hope, 1nLand 06 Team a r e a t times t e a r f u l but a r e a l so f i l l e d with t he joy of t h e b e t t e r l i f e they experienced i n t h e i r new country. Their thoughts a l s o include t he r ea l i z a t i on of t he f a t e they would have faced had they not l e f t Europe when they did.

The authors have created a wonderful and well-researched document t h a t e f f ec t i ve ly combines h i s t o ry with personal reco l lec t ion . Inland 06 Hope, 1nRand 06 Tuhh i s recommended reading f o r a l l genealogis ts i n t e r e s t ed i n t h i s e r a of i m m i - grat ion.

Zachary M. Baker

MegZa,t ha-tevab; bornen Re-diva& ymd ha- denaot ve-ha-tevah; ba- yeh~dbn be -UMnah , be-Rwiah ha- gedatah u-ve-Runkh ha-Levanah [Scrol l of slaugh- t e r ; mater ial r e l a t i n g t o t h e h i s t o ry of t he pogroms and t he s laughter of t he Jews i n t he Ukraine, Great Russia and White Russia], By El iezer David Rosental. Jerusalem-Tel Aviv: Ha- vurah, 1927-30. 3 vols .

t h r ee volumes covering only t he f i r s t nine l e t t e r s of t he Hebrew alphabet had appeared. The remain- ing volumes were never published. In e f f e c t , then, only those towns whose names begin with t he following l e t t e r s a r e included i n the extant volumes: A, B, D, G , I , Kh, 0 , T, U , V, Z . Under each _ le t te r , two separate alphabet ical sequences a r e maintained. The f i r s t sequence contains de- t a i l e d na r r a t i ve descr ipt ions of pogroms i n each town l i s t e d ; t he second sequence gives l i s t s of

Le-toLedot ha-hekieot be-Fafin [On t h e h i s to ry of t he Jewish communities of Poland]. By Zevi Hirsch ben Hayyim Aryeh Leibush ha-Levi Horowitz. Jeru- salem: Mosad Harav Kook, 1978. 20, 560 p.

Though the impulse t o memorialize t he dead i s p a r t and parcel of t he Jewish her i tage , t he Holocaust has l e n t a new urgency t o t h i s col lec- t i v e obl igat ion. A s pa r t i c ipan t s i n Jewish h is - tory, we a r e ca l led upon t o reconstruct as bes t D*aa 3 np we can, the sha t te red remains of our pas t . We nwn i9n.Ima a r e obsessed by t he need t o e s t ab l i sh l i nks with ~ * l $ * 4 Dp what i s i n danger of becoming i r r e t r i evab l e . *~m*ar?ani~n p~arh5pa The post-Holocaust generation i s not t he f i r s t generation i n modern times t o be seized by ~ * r a a a9

t h e compulsion t o e r ec t s p i r i t u a l monuments t o i r i *p~$yonn

t he victims of systematic- annih i la t ion . A dress wvn arpn*ripwm rehearsal f o r t he destruct ion t h a t t he Nazis were nnian *p~ar~n*rr t o unleash occurred i n t he Ukraine from 1918 t o nniw *p~mrar5a 1921. During those years of revolut ion and c i v i l ~ m n * arpn*5uo war, t ens of thousands of Jews were k i l l e d i n po- wrrnn5lpranmwm*arwipa groms, and e n t i r e communities were destroyed o r 0 i * n l**mw5rn uprooted. I n t he wake of these mass murders, t h e qDl* 21.3*lIP f i r s t community memorial books appeared: Khuhbn 2-5 *poa111* Phonhuhov (New York: 1924) and F&ktin (New York: nwo noniprp 1937)--true predecessors of t he post-Holocaust .raa np yizkor books. The dis locat ions caused by World 5w mwx War I , t he Russian Revolution, and t h e subsequent r i s e of Nazism caused some pre-war observers t o n ~ m ~p wonder whether t he worst was no t ye t t o come. *px*~na ' ~ n r a n 5w mwn

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21 21KD*lX 9D1* : nruln o*va .YE72 - 53 *?nar i~a r~ m a 0

El iezer David Rosental, a Hebrew wr i t e r born nnxl, ,nik nwn nramn 111 - lii nanino nnlan i n 1856 i n Khotin, Bessarabia, was a Hebrew teach- ,,lp,l,~ l,la ia*k n p ~ a n k x r - M, ~pir* ?no* e r i n Teplik, Podolia a t t he time of t he 1919 po- ,,kn,n,ah n,a, l l n,,s mnrw nwn arp*a5pnn - groms. The experience of witnessing t he t e r r i b l e DnPD Dw D,,x1a5

~ogrom the re was so sear inn t h a t he consecrated . (2'1) hrnw 1*mwika ; I x m u A t he - r e s t of h i s l i f e t o do;umenting what happened k u r m ~ a a*irn* nwnn nwo app* wm*arO~*in ;, o~r, l,,,p, o $ m n n I i n every s i ng l e town t h a t suf fe red a pogrom dur- n""'PnPD lJan ~4~ DY ,1920 C * ~ I D J ~ 019 a i g I .. - ing the- ~ u s s i a n revolutionary period. The r e s u l t was MegZat ha-tevah,.

This work i s an encyclopedia of pogroms oc- curr ing i n Russian (primarily Ukrainian) Jewish communities during t he post-World War I period. Rosental sen t t he manuscript out of t he Soviet Union (he resided i n Odessa a f t e r t he Revolution) t o t he famous poet, ljayyim Nahman Bial ik , i n Tel Aviv. Bial ik then undertook t o have t he work pr inted. By the time Rosental died i n 1932,


L h t 06 pughorn v i c t i m doh tow~~cl beginning with ;the Le t ten "G" dhom Megilat ha-tevab. F&y nama me i n dphabe ; t icd ohdeh undeh each town.

pogrom victims i n many of these towns. Altoge- a l p 8 7 t he r , the th ree volumes contain na r r a t i ve descrip- tions of pogroms affecting over 200 communities, 'r3Zn nnx W13n 95x5 n3r':ln nXB> ~3kW-4913~ ;lit'? ;n*V and l i s t s of pogrom victims f o r roughly 115 con- D311n3il .575Xl l 1 Y 7x13 n1nY 3151': .?":?I 5.517 1YTIZnT nl?Yi?;i Z l X munities. Perhaps as many a s 5,000 individual DJ ;m33pnn lx .lC~n q b ~ 5 nvr331n man n3c.x13 nNm3 i13 i3r33na pogrom victims a r e l i s t e d i n t h i s work. Because : 125 n-~.;~ c n i : ~ 03:=~n n5xi these l i s t s of names a r e incomplete, es t imates a r e a l so given f o r t he t o t a l nwnbeh of pogrom victims a t t he end of some sect ions. (Thus, f o r t he l e t t e r "G", t h e names of about 1,000 victims a r e l i s t e d , while some 2,100 people a r e estimated as having ac tua l ly perished i n t h e pogroms i n zrpx~p5 r:in7 a::> '~"n 73 5 x r 2 o i p 3 i. x ,rli: rcnn 2"n'ln -3 those same towns .) lnll3ys: ~'I?K-: ?"=sl :'I ;PR .J =-st* '1 n--z '- r:l;i- '1 P'X r113 n~i:

How was Rosental able t o compile such a l ~ r n (-:+I:) 7733 r ~ t h-3 1isxi .::;xl? in;?.: --r= ;*,:s?5 n;m: :tln~i book? What motivated him t o have it printed? In l,5y ,,rn I,,,~; yt*=r,n l.s2n .731 ,;:p ly: +;?i rx7 lnvpcn 3nny r,jr his introduct ion, he stated that the documentary In3l;r, py IlxIn 5: l ~ b 3 5 r2r: e-:ix:n n~i3n5 q~uxa~, 3x1 NS: material f o r h i s book r e s t ed on r e l i a b l e eyewit- zi?x~?: n*.Fn n::' i re : .nirU:;.;1 7n9:3 n;ijiian nzipnz 5ftst y - r ~ ~ x ness accounts, on o f f i c i a l l ists, on o ther o f f i - 53x9~ cl;75x 11 -ICE n r i r i 172;: r n :il-5 :;*;* 11 I:> 13 113: .J,~:T:~ c ia1 documents, and on t he au thor ' s own experien- ZKz*; ,$-eye $ 7 - 7 ~ ,+sr;: =:T\K '1 1"' ' ces. The motivation t o produce such a book, q u i t e X""n5 be. 7: 123 .spx-75 13 '?Kl

simply, was based on t he author 's consuming des i r e .5rrx; ~ E K ax -:x ,XFXYFU - ~ : ~ z r ? r ~ i n 3pry n.t.n (1

t o c rea te a memorial "for a l l generations ." The ~35ynz. 5x1~: nvi= Iisxn 13 n ; 11 1 T r 5 K R " ~ ? ~~ ' l l znn 1ix:n -2 s imi l a r i t y between MegLtak ha-twah, and t he post- ,rt3x rn 3fefix1 n:zn :-;xl n1;313 =:..,- ,:~;5y pt1y3s n - 5 ~ 3 Holocaust memorial books i s i n these respec ts .anurnu ~ ~ ~ 1 3 x 5 nrtm nir31 7x73 pt1?3x9 z;?nl xP1m n1c3 .3lnxua qu i t e s t r i k ing .

MeaZak h a - t e ~ a h i s one of t h e most exten- s i v e sources ' ava i lab le on t h e modern h i s - ,a nllnn 5~ "'2s n-KPfl" 120 l:? , P ' : E 7 5 ",' 1 7 ' 1 2 '1 2"?IYl .l

t o ry of pa r t i cu l a r Ukrainian and White Russian Ilxln 5 1 13~pT lmln if.7 ?KT3 .;-=:YE 3";:s $3-3 ?KT3 ? :";nil ?U Jewish communities--a source a l l t h e more import- .J unn~3x nmf l -;;. xna ,~rp-cr-o p8*;~x -ax nn13x nl'ir ant because of t he r e l a t i v e lack of mater ia l s on those communities. The l ists of names contained . t q PEP -C'J~XM - 3 n ~ *~Dc> nxi I i n these volumes ce r t a in ly cons t i t u t e a prime 1--PI ,*v~aii 3iw:>iin 1-rw -inxcz - 5 ~ 1 ~ 7 nmn? neirnft 1issa v*n 3x3 2 genealogical resource, one no t t o be found i n .::zlsl:n SY 3 i ~ ~ t 3 . il!'ynL/ other pr in ted sources. .n~tfr;.' f~ *i?XD> f ~ ! ' F"D as1 3

.3.;1! i t "D OY a~ i~2 )n1 t ~ D C Sv linn~ca ax1 5 .~'~-pn snpSxa a m 4

Rabbi Zevi Hirsch ben Hayyim Aryeh Leibush i 517 ] ha-Levi Horowitz was born i n Cracow i n 1872, t he son of a rabbi. In 1920 he was appointed chief SamyJRe. page ~ e - t o l e d o t ha-kehilot be-Folin. rabbi of Dresden, Germany, serving t he re u n t i l E&y doh R U ~ O W . 1939, when he f l e d t o Belgiwn. He spent t h e en- suing war years i n Nice, France, and died t he r e i n t he spring of 1945. While i n Dresden, he de- had been propagated by e a r l i e r scholars , point ing voted much of h i s f r e e time t o researching h i s t o h i s work a s a cor rec t ive f o r p a s t mistakes. family h i s tory . Moreover, he admonished t he skept ics among h i s

Though wr i t ten i n t he 1 9 3 0 ~ ~ Le-XoLedot ha- readers , "It should not be s a i d t h a t t h e l ineage kekieat be-FoRin did no t appear i n p r i n t u n t i l of i l l u s t r i o u s fami l ies is a superfluous, t r i f - 1978. Horowitz intended h i s book t o be a concise l i n g matter. The custom of presenring one's source f o r t he h i s t o ry of t h e rabbinate of over family t r e e and of knowing i t s source i s a custom 100 Jewish communities i n and around Poland as ancient a s t he Jewish people.. . . I 1 The v i c i s s - (especial ly Gal ic ia ) . The book was i n t h e pro- i tudes of modern Jewish h i s to ry brought Horowitz cess of being pr in ted i n Lodz, Poland, when World t o produce a unique combination of l oca l h i s t o ry War I1 broke out ; consequently, t h a t f irst edi- and family h i s tory . t i o n never appeared. In h i s introduct ion t o t he The work is preceded, appropriately enough, unpublished ed i t ion (included i n t h i s ed i t i on ) , by Horowitzfs own 16-generational l i n e of descent Horowitz commented on t he des t ruc t ion wrought by (extending back t o Rabbi Moses ha-Levi Horowitz World War I . Given t he d i s loca t ions of t he re - of Prague). The e n t r i e s f o r towns a r e i n one a l - cent pas t and given t he ominous por ten ts f o r t h e phabet ical sequence, with a small supplement a t fu ture , he saw it a s h i s "sacred duty ... t o ga ther t h e end, covering f i v e non-Polish communities. a l l t h a t i s known about t he h i s t o ry of various Each en t ry contains a thumbnail sketch of t he Jewish communities." From h i s perspect ive, t h a t community's h i s tory , together with a list of t h e meant co l lec t ing information on what he regarded town's rabbis and t h e i r respec t ive l ineages. For as t he most important f ea tu r e of these communi- example: t i e s 1 h i s tory- - i . e . , t h e i r rabbinate . He r e f e r r ed t o t he many e r ro r s of rabbinical genealogy t h a t

2 0 TOLEUOT/VOL. 4, NOS. 1-2

ULANOW and Jacob Emden, concerning amulets, he sided with t he former. He wrote t he book

Ulanow i s an o ld Polish town i n t he Lwow re - gion. During t he 1648 massacres, many of our

B h k a t Efiyahu. 5. Rabbi Mordecai Rosental.

brethren were k i l l e d by t he oppressors, who burned down the e n t i r e town. These a r e t he rabbis of Ulanow, known from i t s beginnings u n t i l t he l a s t century:

1. Rabbi Joseph Yaski, chief rabbi of Ula- now, son of R. J eh i e l Mikhl of Dukla, author of t he book Ohel Mo'ed and o ther commentaries on t he [Mishnaic] order of Moved (Frankfurt on t he Oder: 1766).

2. Rabbi Jacob Naphtali, son of R. Isaac Harif of Sambor. In h i s youth he was chief rabbi of Ulanow and a f t e r t he death of h i s f a the r he became chief rabbi of Sambor.

3. Rabbi Abraham, son of R. Isaac Harif , brother of t h e above. In h i s youth he s e t - t l e d i n Lwow, and then became chief rabbi of Glogow. When h i s brother became chief rabbi of Sambor, he took h i s place i n Ulanow and died t he r e around the year of 1824.

4. Rabbi E l i j ah (Solomon) t he Kabbalist , son of R. Jacob, grandson of R. Shachna of Lublin. H i s mother was t he daughter of R. Kalonymos, son-in-law of Rabbi [Nathan] Sha- p i r a , author of t he book Tov h a - m & ~ . He was forced t o leave t he Kingdom of Poland and t o move t o I t a l y , where he became acquainted with t he grea t Kabbalist, R. Moses Hayyim Luzzatto. From I t a l y he moved t o Amsterdam, and a t t he time of t he contro- versy between Rabbis Jonathan Eibeschutz

This entry i s perhaps t yp i ca l . Most en t r i e s a r e from one t o f i v e pages long, though en t r i e s f o r such important rabbinical centers a s Apta/ Opatow, Belz, Dukla, Greidi tz , Brubieszow, Tys- mienica, and Zamosc a r e considerably longer. There a r e no e n t r i e s a t a l l f o r Warsaw, Vilna, Cracow, Lublin, Lodz, o r Lwow--in shor t , t he very l a rges t centers of Polish Jewry a r e omitted from t h i s encyclopedic sourcebook. Ar t i c l e s on such important Polish centers of Hasidism as Ger/Gora Kalwaria and Kotsk/Kock a r e a l so missing from t h i s work. Had the l a rge r c i t i e s o r t he Hasidic centers been included, t h i s would no doubt have become a multi-volume work.

One o ther omission i s an index of t he personal names t h a t appear i n t h i s work. The only approach t o individual rabbis t h a t t h i s book per- m i t s is through the towns i n which they o f f i c i a t - ed. This g r ea t l y de t r ac t s from i t s reference value. In s p i t e of these defects , Le-toledot ha- hekieot be-Fafin is a s i gn i f i c an t addi t ion t o rabbinical genealogical l i t e r a t u r e .

But f o r t he Holocaust, books l i k e M e g a ha-tevab and Le-toledot ha-hekieot be-FoRin might have remained bibl iographic cu r io s i t i e s . However today they serve as guideposts t o a c i v i l i z a t i o n t h a t has been completely destroyed, and as har- bingers of a vas t commemorative l i t e r a t u r e on t h a t c iv i l i z a t i on .

THE GENEALOGIST AS FAMILY SECRET-KEEPER

Mark W. Shulkin and Sallyann A. Sack

A s co-authors of our family genealogy, we found ourselves i n t he midst o f an unanticipated dilemma. Although we recognized t he i nev i t ab i l - i t y of e r ro r , we were determined t o be as accu- r a t e and thorough as possible . We rea l ized t h a t , once published, a piece of wri t ing has an inde- pendent existence a l l i t s own. Not only did we want today's readers t o have t r u s t i n what we wrote, but we a l so envisioned fu ture family h i s - to r ians using our book a s a reference. We did not knowingly publish f a l s e data .

The problem f i r s t arose when we began t o co l l ec t o r a l h i s t o ry from various family members. Often we were t o ld "family secre t s . " These usu- a l l y came from someone o ther than t he person involved and were accompanied by " th i s i s not f o r publication." Among the s ec r e t s were s t o r i e s of i l l eg i t ima te chi ldren, br ides pregnant before marriage, concealed marriages, and adoptions. Other t a l e s concerned su ic ides , a black sheep

whose name we were not even t o ld , and family members who served time i n j a i l . Most of t he se- c r e t s could not have been found i n publ ic archival mater ial .

For the most p a r t , our i nqu i r i e s t o even previously unknown family members were greeted warmly. Doing t he research became a labor of love and we envisioned our forthcoming book a s a "g i f tu t o t he family. Publishing data t h a t someone had t o ld us i n confidence was d i s t a s t e f u l t o us, but what were we t o do when we obtained t he same information from d i f f e r en t sources, only one of which wished us not t o publish? We wanted t o be accurate but did no t wish t o cause any of t he family emotional discomfort.

Struggling t o f i n d a so lu t ion , we t r i e d t o analyze t he nature of t he family s ec r e t s . Para- doxically, t he "secrets" of ten were not r e a l l y s ec r e t s a t a l l s ince many members of both immedi- a t e and extended family were aware of them. The

awareness, however, was not t he open, va l ida ted awareness of c e r t a in o ther " t i d b i t s n of family h i s tory , such as inc idents of bootlegging, mental deficiency, o r insan i ty . The "family secre t11 i s unique i n t h a t someone i n t he family, f o r h i s own purposes, has decided not t o speak of t he matter . There is a pretense t h a t t h e s ec r e t has been kept even when others know of it. Frequently, t he protected par ty has not been consulted about h i s wishes i n t he matter.

Most s ec r e t s involve a l o s s , usua l ly t he loss of an abs t r ac t concept such as self-esteem o r hope (e .g., someday I w i l l have a son) . The secret-keeper pro tec t s him/herself from pain i n keeping t he subject from discussion. The problem i s t h a t , j u s t as i n t he normal mourning of a loss , recovery from gr ie f requi res a quan t i t a t i ve amount of "psychic work" t o be done. Funerals and yahtt- z& a re t r a d i t i o n a l mechanisms f o r ensuring t h a t t he mourning i s accomplished. In publishing a family s ec r e t , an author i s pressuring t he secret-keeper t o do t h i s work.

An example of a s ec r e t i s adoption. I f we were aware of it, we c l ea r ly indicated adoption i n our genealogy, whether t he adopting parents d i r ec t l y t o ld us of it o r not . The reac t ion from one mother was close t o rage: "Who t o l d you t h a t my son is adopted? I th ink I know who it was. She had no r i g h t t o give t h i s ou t . She hardly knows my son. She never met him u n t i l h i s wedding." Then, i n a calmer mood: !'Yes, I know t h a t he knows. We t o l d him when he was very l i t t l e , j u s t l i k e they t o l d us t o . He knows t h a t we know he knows, but we never speak of it. Now, how i s he going t o f e e l when he sees t h a t word a f t e r h i s name i n t he book?"

An in t e r e s t i ng hallmark of t he "family se- c re t" as opposed t o t he usual s ec r e t i s t h e dou- b le "know." Whenever t he word "know" occurs twice i n t he same sentence, one i s probably dealing with a family s ec r e t , i . e . , "1 don' t know i f you know t h a t . . . . I 1 Children know t h a t they a r e not supposed t o know and pretend not t o know. Child- ren, even very young ones, and contrary t o many parents1 opinions, a r e amazingly percept ive about what happens i n t h e i r fami l ies . They a re , however, a l so percept ive and s e n s i t i v e t o parental fee l ings , and they soon l ea rn not " to speak of it." The s ec re t l i e s buried i n s ide of them l i k e a psychic cancer, growing pa in fu l l y and spreading gradually t o o ther areas of psychic functioning.

Mank W. S h d k i n , M.V., h a pbyckidt/tint i n pni- vdte p m d c e i n Pkieaddpkia and a rnembm ad ,the Pkieaddpkia S&h G e n e d a g i c d SacieAj. Ad- & a h : 105 Many Watm Fond Rd., B&, PA 79004. SaUyann A. Sack, Ph.V., h a pbychuRught and ,the ~ouncling p k a i d e n t ad t h e Wankingtan S w h h Genealogical Saci&;ty. A d & ~ b : 7604 Edemaad C t . , B h a d a , MV 20034. Mahk and SaUyann atre becand cowinh and ca-au- thann od ,th& @ruXy kintuky wkich they pninted wzdm t h e ; W e ad Mwd Pkah .

Whenever subjec ts c lose t o t he adoption a r e d i s - cussed, t he parent (and l a t e r t he ch i ld) becomes anxious, changes t he subject o r withdraws from the conversation. The more vague t he ac tua l se- c r e t , t he g r ea t e r t he number of r e l a t e d subjec ts which must be d i s to r t ed o r avoided completely. Communication of r e l a t i v e l y unrelated matters i s hampered and seeds of d i s t r u s t within t h e family have been sown.

Trust i s t h e major i s sue . Can parents t r u s t t h e i r ch i l d t o love them even though (s)he has another s e t of parents somewhere i n t he world? Could t he ch i l d bel ieve t h a t (s)he was loved a l - though not t he same blood? Can a parent be va l - ued as a person, even though unable t o reproduce?

Secret-keeping fami l ies divide themselves i n t o two camps: those t r u s t e d with t he s ec r e t and those kept supposedly unaware. Since t he matter is not t o be spoken o f , t h e unaware have a f ee l - ing of being l e f t out , of not being t ru s t ed , a l - though they don't know why. The normal t r i a l s of growing up supply a p le thora of mistaken reasons. When a family member represses t he s ec r e t , bu t not t he fee l ings about t he s ec r e t , (s)he w i l l be handicapped i n attempts a t understanding h is /her persona l i ty pa t te rns . Exposing such "secretsff i s prac t ic ing preventive mental hea l th .

A s psychotherapists, we s t r i v e t o help our pa t i en t s see r e a l i t y , t o understand it, and t o i n t eg ra t e it i n t o t h e i r interpersonal r e l a t i on - ships and self-images. We know of no r e a l i t y , except perhaps t h e imminence of one's death, t h a t cannot be seen i n perspect ive. We know f u r t h e r t h a t repression of personal information comes a t t he expense of psychic f l e x i b i l i t y ; our pa t i en t s pay a p r i ce f o r it, whether o r not t he repression r e s u l t s i n overt symptoms.

But do we have t h e obl igat ion t o perform t h i s se rv ice when it has not been requested? We be l ieve t h a t people have a r i g h t t o t e l l t h e i r s ec r e t s a t a time of t h e i r own choosing. We agree with t he above-mentioned mother t h a t she should have been angry a t our informant as well as a t us. We plead gu i l t y t o upse t t ing he r psy- ch ic balance, and t o doing so by our choice r a - t he r than hers . We had deprived he r of t e l l i n g her s ec r e t with t he t a c t and timing she might have employed. Te l l ing such s ec re t s t o a loved one can be a very int imate experience and an un- doing of p r i o r d i s t r u s t and estrangement.

Family s ec r e t s were more l i k e l y t o be shared with us a f t e r our book had been published. That 's t he problem i n depending upon o r a l h i s t o ry f o r data. The authors become p a r t of t h e family's secret-keeping system and a r e sometimes t r u s t e d and sometimes no t t rus ted .

A t a post-publ icat ion family reunion, a cou- s i n , suf fe r ing an a t tack of g u i l t , confessed t o having shaved a few years of f her b i r thda te . I t was t h i s cousin, a l so , who e a r l i e r had volunteer- ed t h e information t h a t he r f a t h e r had l i e d t o her about h i s bir thplace. He always t o l d he r he was born i n Chicago; no t u n t i l we d id our research did she l e a rn t h a t he ac tua l ly had been born i n

TOLEUOT/VOL. 4, NOS. 7-2

Russia. This same cousin tipped us of f t h a t another r e l a t i v e had f a l s i f i e d a wedding date , t h i s time t o hide t he f a c t t h a t the br ide had been pregnant.

Often mistakes a r e honestly o r unwittingly made. When one of us (S.A.S.) sen t f o r her fa - t h e r ' s b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e , she was astounded t o see t h a t he had been celebrat ing h i s bir thday one month too ea r ly f o r seventy years . When e r ro r s a r e unconscious and not de l ibera te , it i s chal- lenging t o unravel them. For example, t he o ther of us (M. W .S.) reported t he wrong year of death f o r h i s f a the r . A s t he r e did not seem t o be any log ica l reason f o r de l ibera te f a l s i f i c a t i o n , we concluded t h a t t he emotions associated with t he event r e su l t ed i n h i s d i s t o r t i on of t he time s e t t i n g .

In consideration of t he above, we have form- ulated some guidel ines , hoping t o have found a reasonable compromise i n resolving t he dilemma. Where no purpose can be served by t he inclusion of a hu r t fu l f a c t , we would omit it. Thus, we did not reveal t he f a c t t h a t a c e r t a in family member had served time i n pr ison because h i s daughter, s t i l l l iv ing , had no knowledge of it. In some ways t o have included it would have help- ed f i l l i n t he p ic ture of t he familyls l i f e c i r - cumstances a t t he time we were depict ing, but we didn t f e e l t he hur t and/or embarrassment was worth t h e gain.

Suicide i s another "touchy" subject . We were t o l d of s i x su ic ides , something which might be of l eg i t imate i n t e r e s t t o a researcher studying genet ic components of depression, but we chose t o suppress t h i s information, being aware of how painful it would be t o some close r e l a t i ve s . In one case we s l ipped and allowed a reveal ing quote t o remain i n t he t ex t . Predictably, t he daughter of t he su ic ide was qu i t e upset , saying t h a t t he grandchildren had never been t o l d and t h a t she couldn ' t see why it had been necessary t o include t h i s f a c t .

I t was when t h e question of adoption came up t h a t we faced our toughest decision. Here we decided t h a t "the r i g h t t o know1' would take prece- dence over family wishes, and because of t h e po- t e n t i a l importance t o t he adopted person (both medically and psychologically), we would l is t a l l those we knew about. We reasoned t h a t i f we had been t o ld by someone other than t he parents , it was not a pe r f ec t l y kept s ec r e t , and t h a t where aunts and uncles knew, a ch i ld probably did a l so . In hindsight, we recommend the following: I f someone other than a parent volunteers t he in for - mation, check t he b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e . I f t he b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e shows it, go ahead and put it in . We bel ieve t h a t some day t he ch i ld w i l l know, regardless of your decision, but one should give t he parent t he courtesy of t e l l i n g them t h a t you a r e going t o l i s t it. I f t he b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e does not r e f l e c t t h e adoption, and i f t he adoptee i s s t i l l a ch i ld , a l so check with t h e parents . I f t he ch i ld has no t been t o ld , then make an ex- ception and do not include t he information. We

TOLEVOTIVOL; 4, NOS. 1-2

be l ieve t h a t t he dis tancing of parent-chi ld r e l a - t ionships t h a t occurs when s ec re t s a r e t o ld by t h i r d p a r t i e s i s too great a p r ice t o pay f o r t h a t type of accuracy.

In matters concerning i l l eg i t ima te l i v ing chi ldren, we reason as follows: I f both t he par- en ts and t he ch i ld a r e deceased, l ist them. No harm i s done. I f t he parents a re l i v ing and do not want t he chi ld included, respect these wish- e s . The only person who might want o r need t o e s t ab l i sh t he connection t o t he family would be t he ch i ld . This (s)he presumably could do any time (s)he wished merely by producing a b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e . I f t he f a the r ' s name does not appear on t he b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e , inclusion i n t he book would not e s t ab l i sh pa t e rn i t y i n t he lega l sense anyway.

We a r e not suggesting t h a t our so lu t ion t o these problems i s t he only one o r even t he bes t one. We a r e aware t h a t many o ther professionals s t ruggle with t h i s i s sue and develop very d i f f e r - ent philosophies. Newspaper repor te rs may choose imprisonment f o r contempt of court r a the r than t o cooperate i n criminal t r i a l s by exposing t h e i r informants. Clergymen and lawyers have t h e i r own unique standards regarding conf ident ia l i ty . We r a i s e t he i s sue because we bel ieve t h a t it is necessary t h a t g e n e d u g h a develop e th i ca l standards f o r t he publ icat ion o r suppression of family secre t s .

REFERENCES 1. Mark A. Karpel, l'Family Secrets : I . Conceptual and Ethical Issues i n t he Relational Context. 11. Ethical and Prac t ica l Considerations i n Ther- apeut ic Management," Famay P k u c ~ h , v. 19, no. 3 (Sept. 1980), p. 295. 2 . Sallyann A. Sack and Mark W. Shulkin, Seanch dun t h e F m Z y (Marsal Press, Apri l 1980).

BERLOWITZ REVISITED

W i l l i a m K. Berton

Since t he appearance of my e a r l i e r a r t i c l e i n t he f i r s t i s sue of TOLEDOT ("In Search of the Berlowitz Family," Summer 1977), I have continued with my e f f o r t s t o f i nd my l l roo tsn and I have had some notable successes as well as my share of f a i l u r e s . From correspondence with several read- e r s of TOLEDOT, I gained t he impression t h a t my or ig ina l a r t i c l e was of help t o a t l e a s t some of them. I am wri t ing t h i s shor t sequel i n t he hope t h a t t he information contained herein w i l l be equally helpful .

CHANGES ZN PREVIOUSLY-MENTIONED SOURCES 1. Verein fiir Familienforschung i n Ost- und

Westpreussen: Although I have not had any recent d i r ec t contact with t h i s organization, I am aware t h a t there were several changes i n i t s mailing address i n t he inter im period. The l a t e s t address t h a t has come t o my a t t en t i on is : c/o D r . Wolf Konietzko, D-2200 Elmshorn, Eich S t rasse 6, West Germany.

2. S taa t l i ches Archivlager-Giittingen: This archives closed i t s doors a t t he end of 1978. The records it contained have been moved t o and in tegra ted with the: Geheimes Staatsarchiv- Preussischer Kulturbesi tz , D-1000 Berlin-Dahlem 33, Archivstrasse 12-14, West Germany. Most of the material involved i n t he t r a n s f e r has by now been reordered and recatalogued and is again ava i lab le t o t he publ ic .

NEW SOURCES 1. The German Democratic Republic now a l so

has a cen t ra l c lear ing house f o r genealogical information. I t was es tab l i shed a few years ago because, as i ts information l e a f l e t informs us, ". . .of t he perception t h a t genealogy as an inde- pendent d i s c ip l i ne within t he framework of soc i a l sciences can f u l f i l l an important t a sk i n a so- c i a l i s t s t a t e . " Whereas t he West German Zentral- s t e l l e [Verein zur Fiirderung der Zen t r a l s t e l l e fiir Personen und Familiengeschichte e.V.1 i s s t r i c t l y a clearinghouse f o r information, t he East German counterpart houses a co l lec t ion of 18,500 books on genealogy, he r a ld i c and r e l a t e d subjec ts , as well as t he genealogical co l lec t ions of t he former Rolandsverein and Deutsche Ahnenge- meinschaft, both formerly of Dresden. The organ- i z a t i on has some East Prussian mater ial e i t h e r i n t he or ig ina l o r on microfilm, and w i l l conduct l imited searches i n i t s mater ia l s f o r a reasonable fee. A complete catalogue of i t s holdings i s i n preparat ion. The address is: Zen t r a l s t e l l e fiir Genealogie der DDR, DDR-7010 Leipzig, Georgi D i m i - t r o f f Platz 1, East Germany.

2. A small amount of East Prussian mater ial may a l so be found i n the : Bundesarchiv, D-54 Ko- blenz 1, Am Wiillershof, West Germany.

3. Ci ty of Berlin--Vital S t a t i s t i c s : Pr ior t o t he advent of H i t l e r , Berl in was t he s ea t of t he l a rges t Jewish community i n Germany, but during World War I 1 t h e records of t he Jewish Community were almost t o t a l l y destroyed. However t he records of t he la rge (well over 100,000 graves) Jewish cemetery i n Berlin-Weissensee, and of a small Orthodox cemetery nearby, survived in- t a c t . These records a r e now located a t t he ceme- t e r y administration bui lding, whose address is: Jiidischer Friedhof Weissensee, DDR-112 Berl in ,

W,iLLiurn K . BeMon wan bonn i n B u n a W L l L L BehLawLtz. A membm oQ kin n&te.x1n kibbu;tz i n I n n a d akanhRdted pahtn oQ kin o n i g i n d TOLEVOT ah ; t i de in:to ff ebhew. Addnehn : 207 1 Augn bung Vh. , Saginaw, M I 48603.

Herbert Baum S t r a s se 45, East Germany. The records a r e i n alphabet ical order and

contain, besides t he grave number and locat ion, information from the German death records, namely da te and place of death and, i f known, date and place of b i r t h o r age. They do not contain t he names of t he parents of t he deceased, and therefore can only be used t o ve r i fy a death o r d i r e c t t he researcher ' s a t t en t i on t o a l i k e l y place where a b i r t h c e r t i f i c a t e may be procured.

Regarding general v i t a l s t a t i s t i c s records, t he d i rec t ions f o r t he procurement of documents given by Dan Rottenberg i n f i nd ing O u h FaZhm (p. 105), t h a t one wr i te t o "Standesamt, name of your c i t y , Germany," a r e somewhat misleading f o r Berlin. Ignoring fo r t he moment t h e East-West s p l i t of t he c i t y , t he r e never was one s ing l e "Standesamtl' f o r t he e n t i r e c i t y , but each Bezirk ( d i s t r i c t ) had i t s own. The c i t y had 21 dis- t r i c t s of which 12 a r e now i n West Berlin and 9 i n East Berlin. To obtain a b i r t h , marriage, o r death c e r t i f i c a t e from West Berl in , t he inquiry must be d i rec ted t o t he Standesamt of t h e d i s ~ t r i c t i n which t h e event occurred. I f t h i s i s unknown, an inquiry should be made a t the: Standesamt I , D-1000 Berl in 41, Rheinstrasse 54, West Germany. They w i l l advise you about t he procedure and cos t s of c i r cu l a t i ng an inquiry among the 12 d i s t r i c t o f f i c e s . The s i t u a t i o n i n East Berl in i s simpler. Records a r e cen t r a l l y kept a t : Standesamt I , DDR-1054 Berlin, Riicker S t r a s se 9, East Germany.

4. Res t i tu t ion Records: After t he end of World War 11, West Germany passed l eg i s l a t i on wherein it committed i t s e l f t o pay compensation t o victims of Nazi crimes and persecution. A subs t an t i a l bureaucracy evolved t o administer t he laws. In t he f i l e s of t he Wiedergutmachungs- Bmter (Rest i tut ion o f f i ce s ) and Ausg l e i chk t e r (Equalization o f f i ce s ) , i n support of claims nade, there frequent ly a r e copies of German documents, copies of o r references t o anc i l l a ry probate pro- ceedings, a s well as a f f i d a v i t s and depositions of persons no longer a l i ve . From such f i l e s I obtained information of genealogical s i g n i f i - cance. [Edi tor 's note: The cen t ra l f i l e of claims from around the world i s located a t t h e cen t r a l o f f i c e of United Res t i tu t ion Organization (URO) i n Frankfurt am Main, West Germany. Case f i l e s a r e a l so a t t he various German Wiedergut- machungsZnter and i n t he l oca l branches of URO i n West Germany and worldwide. In some in- s tances, German WiedergutmachungsZmter have deposited f i l e s a t t he S t a t e Archives of various German s t a t e s . ]

EAST PRUSSIAN ARCfflVAL MATERlALS Jews were expelled from East Prussia i n t h e

16th century and, with a few notable exceptions, modern set t lement s t a r t e d about 1700. The Jews who s t a r t e d t o immigrate i n t o East Prussia a t t h a t time, l a rge ly from Lithuania, f e l l i n t o t h r ee categories:

1. Those who had o f f i c i a l government permission

TOLEVOTIVOL. 4 , NOS. 122

(Schutzbriefe, Pr ivi legien, e t c . ) , 2. Those who had permission of t he loca l nobi l-

i t y ("unter dem Adel"), and 3. The numerically l a rges t group without any

permiss ion (Eingeschlichene) . In general, those i n t he f i r s t category a r e t he best documented, while those i n t he t h i r d a r e t he l e a s t documented, f o r obvious reasons.

When researching f o r ancestors of t h a t period, t he bes t s t a r t i n g point i s a compilation of t he Jews l i v ing i n East Prussia i n 1720 which i s among the mater ial of t he o ld Kiinigsberg archives and can be found now a t Berlin-Dahlem [address above] under t he heading Etats-Ministerium 38 d 4 N r . 7. This compilation contains t he names of t he heads of household, as well as information on t he number of chi ldren, residence s t a t u s , and occupation. I t was recent ly published by D r . Hans-Jiirgen Kriiger i n N r . 1/2-1978 of t he magazine Pheubnentand. D r . Kriiger a l so published a h i s to- r y of t he ea r ly Kiinigsberg Jewish community, V i e J u d e ~ c h a Q t von KBnignbmg i n Pheubnen, 1700-1 81 2 , i n which mater ial of genealogical i n t e r e s t can be found .

A l a t e r compilation e x i s t s f o r t he year 1748, somewhat l e s s complete, and can be found under Etats-Ministerium 38 d 4 N r . 182. To t he bes t of my knowledge, t h i s has not been published.

Lastly t he r e i s a compilation f o r t he year 1750 under the heading Geh. S t . A. Gen. D i r . O s t - p r . u . L i t . LXXIII Sect . 8 N r . 1, and i s current- l y located a t t he Merseburg Archives [Zentrales Staatsarchiv Histor ische Abteilung, DDR-42 Merse- burg 1, Kanig Heinrich S t rasse 37, East Germany]. The information about individual famil ies i s more extensive and complete than i n t he 1720 compila- t i on . The bulk of t he 1750 information has been reprinted i n Selma Stern, D m pheubnhche S;tctat und d i e Juden, vol . 111, t ab l e s 872, 875 and 876.

Although it i s possible t o f i nd references t o individual Jews sca t te red through much of t he

mater ial of t he o ld Kanigsberg archives, I would l i k e t o c a l l the reader ' s a t t en t i on t o two sec- t ions which deal e n t i r e l y with Jews and Jewish matters. They a re :

1. OberprHsidium Repositur 2. I . Judensachen [Jewish a f f a i r s ] , 1774-1844, 6 volumes; OberprH- sidium Repositur 2. 11. Juden [Jews], 1818-1920, 21 volumes. I t i s impossible t o l ist a l l t he mater ial contained i n these volumes, but here a r e some examples: records of t he Jewish communities of Heydekrug (1858-1922) and Russ (1862-1888), peddling by Pol ish Jews (1831-1931), Jewish or- phanage of Kiinigsberg (1863-1914), baptism of Jews (1824-1853), conversions of Chris t ians t o Judaism (1827-1852), e t c .

2. Etats-Ministerium 38 d 4 Judensachen, mentioned above i n connection with t h e compilations of 1720 and 1748. This sec t ion cons is t s of 246 numbers and contains, besides t he compilations, such things a s requests by individuals f o r r e s i - dence permits, p ro tec t ive l e t t e r s , e t c . Most of t he mater ial i s from the 18th century. Inciden- t a l l y , I found i n t h i s sec t ion (Nr. 67) a request by my e a r l i e s t known ancestor f o r permission t o s e t t l e i n East Prussia , f i l e d i n t he year 1707. H i s residence a t t he time was Georgenburg (Jur- barkas) , Lithuania. I would be gra te fu l f o r suggestions as t o what sources could be consulted f o r t he pre-1707 period.

In closing and f o r what it i s worth, t he area adjoining East Prussia, pr imari ly t he Bial i - s tok d i s t r i c t , belonged t o Prussia f o r a b r i e f time (1793/95-1806) and was ca l led Neuostpreussen (New East Prussia) . The records of t he loca l government (Kriegs- und DomHnenkammer Bial is tok) were handed over t o the 'po l i sh government i n 1947 and a r e now i n some Polish archives. The records of t he cen t ra l Prussian au thor i ty deal ing with t h a t area (Generaldirektorium Neuostpreussen) can be found i n t he Merseburg archives.

BOOKSHELF

Madalyn Hoffman. "50 Years of a Family Circle ," J w h h Cunnem, vol . 35, no. 3, March 1981, pp. 9-13. About t he Nozick family from Osevetz and t he 50th anniversary celebrat ion of t h e i r Loyal Family Circle .

Benzion C . Kaganoff. A vickionuhy 06 s ~ h h Nmeh and T h h f f h tuhy . New York: Schocken Books [200 Madison Ave., NYC 100161. Paperback, 1980. 264 pp. $5.95. The o r ig ina l , hardcover ed i t ion (1977, $10.95) was reviewed i n TOLEDOT, vol . 1, no. 2.

TOLEVOT/VOL; 4, NOS. 1-2

The Lowm E a t S ide: A Guide t o I;tn Jewhh Pan2 &h 99 NU Photogtraphn. Text by Ronald Sanders, photographs by Edmund V. Gillon, Jr. New York: Dover Publications [I80 Varick S t . , NYC 100141. Paperback, 1979. 85 pp. $4.50. The photos a r e of some of t he most famous s i t e s i n American Jew- i s h h i s tory , with numerous views of t he s t r e e t s and buildings of today 's Lower East Side.

John Francis Marion. F m o a and CwLiuuA CemQAeh- i a : A Pic;toniae, f f i n t o n i c d , and Ane.cdo;td Vim 0 6 A m d c a n and Emopean Cemekden and the. fam- OM and ln&.mouA PeopRe Who h e BwLied Thme.

REFLECTIONS ON FATHER'S DAY

Carole Malkin

When I was f i f t e e n years o ld I was s i t t i n g i n my aunt 's kitchen when an o ld man, a s t ranger t o me, came t o v i s i t . My aunt and he spoke Yid- dish and s ince I understood nothing I s a t s i r e n t - l y daydreaming. When my aunt l e f t t he room t o fe tch something, I was s t a r t l e d when the v i s i t o r addressed me, a s I did no t r e a l i z e he spoke Eng- l i s h .

"What language do you study i n s ~ h o o l ? ~ ' "French ." Iff& French! What's t h e importance of

French f o r a Jewish g i r l ? Don't they give He- brew? Why d idn ' t you take i t ? "

Before I could th ink of a r e t o r t my aunt re - turned with a cardboard box which t he o ld man seized possessively. He took out severa l notebooks and as he leafed through the pages my aunt s a id t o me, "That's my f a t h e r ' s autobiography."

I was astonished. I only vaguely remembered my grandfather, David Toback, who died when I was f i v e years old. I had never heard he had wr i t ten anything. F i l l ed with cu r io s i t y , I begged t he o ld man, "Can you t r a n s l a t e a l i t t l e f o r me?" The pages were wr i t ten i n Yiddish.

The old man s a i d t e s t i l y , "No i t ' s impossi- b l e t o t r ans l a t e . I f you s tud ied Hebrew ... o r i f you spoke Yiddish ... then maybe you could under- s tand a l i t t l e . But I s ee you don't have t h e head f o r it. O r maybe you have t h e head but not t he heart ."

He s l ipped i n t o h i s overcoat. My aunt walked him t o t he door and he l e f t t h e house carrying t he box with t he notebooks. Then my aunt returned t o me and sa id , "Better t o give it away and l e t someone have it who can appreciate. ' '

For years I thought of t he o ld man carrying away those notebooks wr i t ten i n an alphabet and words I could no t understand. I began t o f e e l they were mine. I wanted them, but they seemed l o s t forever. Sixteen years had gone by s ince I f i r s t became aware they ex is ted . My aunt had moved from New York t o M i a m i and she was e lde r ly and could not be expected t o take up t h e burden of t he necessary phone c a l l s and l e t t e r s . S t i l l I wrote t o her about it. I received an answer t e l l i n g me the o ld man had died while she was s t i l l l iv ing i n New York, and t he memoir had been

CmoRe M&kinln n m book, The Journeys of David Toback: From.Innocence t o Experience, From Tsar- i s t Russia t o America, Ah avaieable &om Schocken Boob , 200 Madinon Ave., Nm Yonk, NY 10076 don $10.95 (pRun 75# pon;tage and handeirzg). A n&ve 06 Bnookeqn, Canole a gnaduate 0 6 AvLtioch CoR- Rege and San F n a n d c o S;tdte U n i v m a y , whme nhe neccved a ma?lXmln degnee i n c n e d v e wnik- i n g and E n g m h Ri/tuuu%te. Addnan : 7 967 ER Donado Ave., Bmkdeq , CA 941707.

returned t o her and was s t i l l i n he r possession. She was wi l l ing t o send it t o me on t he condition t h a t I promised t o have it t rans la ted . She was s t i l l concerned t h a t it be appreciated. I t tu rns out t h a t I had abundant capaci ty t o do so, had t he notebooks t r ans l a t ed and wrote a book based on t he t r ans l a t i on , The Jouhneqn 0 6 David Toback, published by Schocken Books.

The memoir had a spec ia l personal meaning f o r me. My parents were divorced sho r t l y a f t e r I was born and I saw my f a t h e r r a r e ly . The memoir gave me an opportunity t o come c lose t o another f a the r .

I n a way my f a the r l e s s condition was r e f l e c t - ed by t he e n t i r e family. There were no men. One uncle had died; one abandoned h i s wife. There was my mother's divorce. I remember an afternoon i n l a t e September when I was seven years o ld , walking on t h e boardwalk with my two aunts and my mother. They were small women, European i n appearance i n t h e i r dark coa ts , s ca r f s , black lace- up shoes and t h e i r r e t i c e n t manners. On one s i d e were t he boarded-over s t o r e s and arcades. The wind blew fur ious ly . The sky was long and gray and- t h e ocean- -powerful and ominous--thundered against t he shore. I t was a desolate scene, as desolate as t h e i r l i ve s could be.

We were t he r e t o wash away our s i n s by our proximity t o t he s ea s ince it was near t o t he Day of Atonement. The s i s t e r s spoke i n Yiddish and a l l I heard, a s I skipped about them, were t he undercurrents of yearr~ing, lone l iness and resent- ment. I t was tense as it always was when the t h r ee of them met. I remember a family together but not emotionally close. America had washed away near ly a l l of t he o ld t r ad i t i ons . How could one s i s t e r understand another ea t ing unkosher food? How could a divorce be condoned? My grandparents--living representat ions of those traditions--were dead. They were t he o ld world, and t h e t h r ee s i s t e r s were no t ye t t he new world, but poised on i ts wet and per i lous edge.

Frozen i n my mind l i k e a photograph i s a memory of how we stopped and looked out over those turbulent waters -which had been crossed f o r deliverance from the harshness of Russia.. . .We needed t o look back. My grandfather wrote h i s memoir i n t he 1930s and ca s t it on t h e s ea of time. I t was l i k e a message i n a b o t t l e . Only now does it surface t o c l a r i f y f o r myself and o thers why we, descendents of immigrants, a r e here.

My mother was t he youngest of my grandfa- t h e r ' s chi ldren; I am he r youngest ch i ld . A s t h e youngest of t he youngest I was t he fu r the s t from my grandfather. Yet I f e e l I became the c lo se s t t o him through h i s memoir and by wr i t ing a book

TOLEDOTIVOL. 4, NOS. 1-2

about him. I t i s l i k e t he closing of a c i r c l e . and Canadian Jewish Memoirs and Autobiographies A reso lu t ion , a healing of wounds. i n Yiddish, Hebrew and En l i s h , compZed by E .

Ci6dch&z, 7970, 78 pp. 83.50 @om Y I V O Inhfi- Edi;tohlh note: Readm i & m a X e d i n J m h h mem- .tcl;te don J ~ h h RcUeahch, 104 8 Fid;th Ave., NW o h may &h XO examine Bibliography of American Yohk, Ny 1002 b.

HOLOCAUST RESEARCH: The International Tracing Service The doReo&ng an;ti&e h excmpXed b h o m Xhe chap- X e h on Holocaunt R a e m c h i n Ahthuh Kuhzwcik?ln book, From Generation t o Generation: How To Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Personal History, copy- n i g h t 1980.

THE SEARCH FOR VICTIMS AND SURVIVORS In 1943, t he Committee on Displaced Popula-

t i ons of the All ied Post-War Requirement Bureau, located i n London, observed t he obvious: A s a r e s u l t of t he war and pa r t i cu l a r l y because of persecution, there was extensive displacement of populations. They decided, therefore, t o estab- l i s h t he National Tracing Bureau i n d i f f e r en t countr ies with t he aim of locat ing people who were missing o r who had been deported. In 1944, t he Supreme Headquarters of t he All ied Expedi- t ionary Forces, known as SHAEF, gave orders t o r e g i s t e r a l l displaced persons on index cards, t o a id i n t he locat ion process. By 1945, SHAEF establ ished a t r ac ing bureau which was given t he task of co l lec t ing name lists of displaced persons as well as persons incarcerated i n concen- t r a t i o n camps. This e f f o r t was aided by t he United Nations Relief and Rehabil i ta t ion Admin- i s t r a t i o n (UNRRA) and was located i n Versa i l l es . Together, however, UNRRA and SHAEF relocated t o Frankfort on Main.

I n J u l y of 1945, SHAEF was dissolved and t he Combined Displaced Persons Executive, known as CDPX, establ ished a co l lec t ing center f o r documents as well as a t rac ing bureau. This Central Tracing Bureau had a s i t s goals t o t r a c e missing persons--military and civi l ian--of coun- t r i e s which were members of t he United Nations, a s well as t o c o l l e c t and preserve a l l documents concerning non-Germans and displaced persons i n Germany. I t was a l so given t he task of a s s i s t i n g i n t he reuni t ing of famil ies t h a t had been separated by t he War.

In 1946, t he Central Tracing Bureau moved from Frankfort on Main t o Arolsen. I t was r e - named the In te rna t iona l Tracing Service, as it is s t i l l ca l led today.

A t present , and s ince 1955, t he In te rna t iona l Tracing Service has been d i rec ted and administered by t he In te rna t iona l Committee of t he Red Cross.

In i t s beginning, t h i s organization was involved mainly with displaced persons. However, when t he In te rna t iona l Tracing Service (ITS) came i n t o possession of concentration camp documents, t he function of t he organization changed. Sud- denly, ITS became involved with furnishing proofs

TOLEDM/VOL. 4, NOS. 1-2

of death t h a t occurred i n the Death Camps. I t i s mainly t h i s function of ITS t h a t concerns us here.

The h i s t o r i c a l background of the Interna- t i ona l Tracing Service has been provided here t o o f f e r an understanding of why the major source of information on concentration camp victims is located i n Germany. ITS continues t o receive hundreds of thousands of inqui r ies from a l l over t he world and provide a research se rv ice which is f r e e t o a l l in te res ted pa r t i e s .

Basically, t he In te rna t iona l Tracing Ser- vice has t he most acceptable information of con- centrat ion camp victims and displaced persons i n t he world. While it i s t r u e t h a t Yad Vashem Archives i n Jerusalem has a complete dupl icate co l lec t ion provided by ITS, Yad Vashem i s not s e t up t o do t he kind of research f o r people t h a t ITS i s financed t o do. In f a c t , Yad Vashem d i r e c t s many inqui r ies t o ITS. To be c l ea r , ITS w i l l , under t he r i g h t circumstances which we w i l l explain, provide information f o r you f r e e of charge.

The Internat ional Tracing Service has, as t he most important fea ture i n i t s a r -

chives, a Master Index. This index i s a f i l e , by name of individual , of a l l names appearing on a l l t he documents i n t he archives. The reference cards include t he name, personal da t a avai lable , and t he descr ipt ion of t he document i n which t he name i s mentioned. A t present , t h i s Master Index contains 39,700,000 cards. I t i s i n t e r e s t i ng t o note t h a t t he index is not f i l e d a lphabe t ica l ly but r a the r phonetic-alphabetical i n order t o ac- count f o r d i f f e r en t spe l l ings of t he same surnames. Another r a the r remarkable resource used by ITS i n t h i s regard i s a two-volume s e t of books l i s t i n g f i r s t names and t h e i r many var ia - t ions . This i s obviously useful f o r locat ion of individuals . The l is t of f i r s t names contains 48,096 forms of names.

The Master Index is , however, j u s t t he axle about which t he co l lec t ions within t he archives revolve. A c loser look a t t he contents of the archives w i l l show how useful ITS can be.

In t he In te rna t iona l Tracing Service A r - chives t he following a r e contained:

-Indexes and name l i s t s of concentration camps. -Indexes and name lists of Gestapo and Sipo

Offices . -Name l i s t s of persons. -Deportation l i s t s of Jews. -Index cards and name l ists of towns and com-

munities, d i s t r i c t magistrate o f f i ce s , labor o f f i ce s , heal th insurance firms, e t c . , concerning foreigners who were r eg i s t e r ed during t he War i n Germany, mainly i n t he a rea t h a t i s now West Germany.

-Index cards and name l i s t s concerning chi ldren who had been separated from t h e i r parents o r c lose r e l a t i v e s during t he War o r immediately. a f t e r the War.

While t he holdings of ITS archives a r e i a s t , one should not think t h a t t he mater ia l is com- p l e t e . For example, while t he concentration camp mater ial i n t he archives i s t he l a r g e s t , it i s not a co l lec t ion of a l l concentration camp mater- i a l t h a t ex is ted . ITS r a t e s t he completeness of i t s concentration camp co l l ec t i on a s follows:

Buchenwald almost complete Dachau almost complete Flossenburg incomplete but q u i t e numerous Mauthausen t r i v i a l gaps Mittelbau t r i v i a l gaps Natzweiler not complete but q u i t e numerous Stut thof not complete but q u i t e numerous Niederhagen-

Wewelsburg not complete but q u i t e numerous Ravensbruck incomplete Auschwitz very incomplete Gross-Rosen very incomplete Sachsenhausen very incomplete Neuengamme very incomplete Lublin very incomplete Krakow-Plaszow very incomplete

According t o ITS, t he r e a r e 3,735,000 individual documents i n t he co l lec t ion j u s t described.

Another co l lec t ion of ITS i s t h e Post-War Documents which general ly concern displaced persons who were r eg i s t e r ed from 1945 t o 1951. In- cluded i n these documents a r e l ists of t he in - habi tants of t he DP camps.

The His tor ica l Section of ITS archives i s a l so of g rea t value. Here a r e contained documents of a more general nature including concen- t r a t i o n camps, Jewish towns, Nuremberg t r i a l records, and information of t he persecut ion oFJews i n d i f fe ren t countr ies . I f you a r e i n t e r e s t ed i n ce r t a in Jewish communities i n Europe during t he Holocaust, you w i l l f i nd these archives a t ITS t o be excel lent .

The In te rna t iona l Tracing Service is cur- r en t l y i n the process of es tab l i sh ing a subjec t index t o i t s concentration camp mater ial f o r use by researchers . They a r e a l so publishing a volume on concentration camps de t a i l i ng t he inner workings of each of t he camps.

One might think t h a t t he " t racingu funct ion of t he In te rna t iona l Tracing Service has out- l ived i t s usefulness, but ITS r epo r t s t h a t during t he l a s t f i ve years t he average number of inquir- i e s per year has been 8,000. Af te r more than t h i r t y years, people a r e s t i l l looking f o r l o s t relatives--and a r e sometime? f ind ing them. I t i s sad t o note, of course, t h a t o f ten ITS o f f e r s ve r i f i c a t i on regarding t he concentration camp deaths of individuals .

Final ly , t he Internat ional Tracing Service has a s t a f f of personnel who can answer inquir- i e s i n t he following languages: Czech, Dutch, i Estonian, Finnish, Greek, Hungarian, I t a l i a n , Lithuanian, Polish, Russian, Serbocroatian, Slo- vakian, Spanish, English, French, and German. Inqui r ies i n Hebrew and Azerbaijan can a l so be answered with t he a id of o ther organizat ions, repor t s ITS.

A s has been described, t he In te rna t iona l Tracing Service i s t he be s t source f o r loca t ing information about Holocaust victims. While Yad Vashem has a dupl icate co l lec t ion of t he In te r - na t iona l Tracing Service 's holdings, it i s ITS which w i l l be more helpful. This is because ITS has, as i t s function, t he r o l e of doing re - search f o r individuals f o r f r ee , while Yad Vashem does no t do research f o r persons. I f you wr i t e t o Yad Vashem, they w i l l suggest you contact ITS.

I f you know the name of a r e l a t i v e and you want t o f i nd out h i s o r her f a t e during t he Holocaust, wr i te t o ITS and g ive them a s much, information about t he person as you can. They requi re more than j u s t a name s ince t h e i r f i l e s contain s o many duplicate names. ITS usua l ly asks f o r a person's name and b i r thda te , but i f you do not know t h a t (even an approximate da t e w i l l help) then t r y t o supply any o ther informa- t i o n which w i l l narrow t h e f i e l d f o r t h e re - searcher .

What ITS Lctiee no t do i s send you information on everyone i n t h e i r f i l e s with a c e r t a i n sur- name. Remember: it i s a t r ac ing serv ice of ind i - viduals.

The ITS has a l l t he ava i lab le records kept by t h e Nazis a t t he concentration camps but , as noted, i t s co l lec t ion is not complete. I t a l so has a grea t number of o ther types of records. This means t h a t i t s f i l e s include not only Holo- caust victims who were k i l l e d , but a l so o thers who survived.

I t usua l ly takes a few months f o r ITS t o f i l l your request , but it i s t h e i r po l icy t o send you a note t e l l i n g you t h a t they have received your inquiry. However, even t h i s no te takes sev- e r a l weeks t o a r r ive . Nevertheless, when you do receive t h e i r f i n a l reply, it might include some extremely meaningful information.

A s we have mentioned, ITS a l so has i n f o n a - t i o n concerning t he f a t e of towns during t he Ho- locaust . Along with your inquiry per ta in ing t o individuals , you might want t o ask about ce r t a in l o c a l i t i e s .

When you wr i te t o ITS, simply s t a t e t h a t you a r e i n t e r e s t ed i n knowing whatever they have i n t h e i r f i l e s on your family members and then list those individuals along with addi t iona l informa- t i o n a s explained e a r l i e r . Again, ITS, which i s under t he auspices of t he In te rna t iona l Red Cross, does no t charge f o r i ts research--nor should it.

Write t o : In te rna t iona l Tracing Service D-3548 Arolsen Federal Republic of Germany

TOLEVOTIVOL. 4, NUS. 1-2

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