and the Hebrew Language See also my'Language' page
Israel's population
...rose in the year 2001 to an estimated 6.7 million people, according to
Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. Of these, 5.4 million are Jews and 1.3 million are Arabs. The present population consists of many who were born in other countries. Third generation Israelis make up 29% of its citizens with Ashkenazim in the majority - 41%, primarily because of the large immigration from the former Soviet Union; Sephardim, 16 percent. Over 78,000
Ethiopian Jews have been transported to Israel. Over 45% of the adult
Ethiopian Jews now living in
Israel are unemployed. Three million people have immigrated to
Israel since 1948. Israel will become the world's biggest Jewish community in the year 2006, a recent study by the Jewish People Policy Planning Institute announced. Further, by 2020, only 46 percent of Jews will have been born in Israel or chosen to move there, up from the present figure of around 40 percent.
Israel's Jewish population grew 1.5% (80,000) in 2007 while
the number of Jews in the Diaspora declined 0.2% (20,000).
Forty one percent of Jews live in Israel. Barring major
migration changes, Israel's Jewish population will over-take
North America's in size in the next 10 or so years. While
haredi women give birth to an average 4.7 children,
significantly upping population figures, non-haredi Israeli
women also record a higher birthrate than Jews in other
Western countries, 2.7 versus 1.1 in the Diaspora.
The
Tel-Aviv area, including Givatayim, Ramat Gan, Bat Yam and Bnei Brak has 2,621 people per square mile, the
highest concentration in the country. However,
Jerusalem is the larges city with a population of 670,000 with less
than a third of that being Arabs.
In 1991 alone, 15,000 Jews were airlifted out of the
Ethiopian capitol of Addis Ababa.You can read more about
Ethiopian Jews
at my 'South Africa'page.
Country
Emigrants
Former U.S.S.R
907,200
Morocco
167,400
Romania
125,800
Poland
83,300
Iraq
76,800
North America
69,500
Ethiopia
56,300
Iran
51,600
Algeria/Tunisia
42,300
Yemen
37,000
Other Countries
340,500
Source: Newsweek Magazine April 1, 2002, Page 38
Israel holds a wealth of information available to the Jewish genealogical researcher. The breadth of the material
available is enormous and even the casual visitor is overwhelmed. The information is varied and includes a register of
documents
pertaining to the Jews of Barcelona in the 13th century to
historical originals from Morocco, Greece and
Poland that share space with
records from Russia and Chile ... and even New York.
More and more, records are being computer processed and in the near future, many of the lost records will be
available to the hundreds of thousands of Jews who are searching so reverently for a trace of their relatives. These
sites could be the medina for many. Interesting for all!
This is the
Table of Contents site where you will find links to
Israel information by category: To 1881 which includes
"The Pale of Settlementand thepogroms of 1881 in Russia"; 1882 to 1903; 1904-1914; 1915-1918; 1919-1921
Igal Morag has created some
wonderful panoramas of various architectural sites around
Israel including Domus
Galilaea, Old Bait Shean, Mammila
Churches in Jerusalem and the Tunisian Synagoguein Acco
http://morageng.artvision.co.il/
Color Film of 1947 Israel
- This is footage taken by a Boston Jew who bought one
of the only privately owned portable color movie cameras in
the 1940s and 50s and traveled to Israel to record the
historical formation of the state in color.
http://www.blip.tv/file/2915188
Most books, CDs, etc. can be ordered through my link to Amazon.com
by clicking here > Jewish Genealogy
"A Guide to Jewish Genealogical Research in Israel" - authored by Sallyann Amdur Sack
"The Chase is the Game: The Journeys of an American-Israeli Pioneer" - authored by Saadia Gelb. Gelb rose to international prominence as the founder of Habonim, the Labor Zionist youth group and went on to become a key figure
in the shaping of the
State of Israel. Not that it makes much difference, but Saadia's late sister, Vivian and I
were
schoolmates and their father was one of my Hebrew teachers back inMinneapolis. The book was published by M.
Dworkin and Co./Jewish Contemporary Classics, Inc. and is a 219 page paperback. $16.95
"Treasures of Jewish Galicia from the Museum of Ethnography and Crafts in L'viv, Ukraine", a catalog of the
exhibit at
Beth Ha'tefutsorth in 1994-5. Edited by Sarah Harel Hoshen, the catalog was published in soft cover in 1996.
Rubin Mass Ltd. - is an exporter of all books and periodicals published in
Israel. They have published more than
1,500 books, and are distributors of books and periodicals for several academic and governmental institutions. They
also distribute the publications of Yad Vashem - the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority and the
maps and guides of Carta's - the Israel Map and Publishing Company. E-mail rmass@inter.net.il http://www.id-knowledge.com/mas/index.htm
I would appreciate your mentioning my name and email address should you purchase any books from this company.
Click on map to enlarge
Map of Israel from Haaretz www.Haaretz.com Scroll down to view map
General Israeli Genealogy The Wailing Wall - Jerusalem
Information
Global Gazetteer is a great web site. It is a directory of
2,880,532 of the world's cities and towns,
sorted by country and linked to a map for each town. A tab separated list is available for each country. www.calle.com/world/
History of the Middle East - this is not a comprehensive history, but it is a factual presentation that
provides a brief summary for those who don't have the time to go into the deeper details of the conflict. History in a
Nutshell & Imagine were created by Udi Ohana. Scroll down to the bottom of the page www.conceptwizard.com
HNOH (Hebrew National Orphan Home) has a page devoted to Jewish Orphanages in the US - There are extensive lists
of links too. www.hnoh.com
Andres Forces
Jewish soldiers who were in Iraq during 1942-43. Information about and between members of this group and the Jews of Iraq who befriended them is at http://www.babylonjewry.org.il/index.html
Anti-Semitism
Although politics rarely enter into a genealogy discussion, or onto my web site, The Pipeline of Hatred, like those that
have preceded it and other material of interest, can be accessed from this info page, at:
http://www.conceptwizard.com/info.html
Central Archives for the History of the Jewish People (Telephone: 972-2 658 4258, 972-2 658 4259 and
972-2 658 4261) - has an excellent collections of Jewish records from Poland, Germany and much more in the nearby
Sprinzak buildings http://sites.huji.ac.il/archives/
Jewish National and University Library - located at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is forming a new facility,
the International Institute of Jewish Genealogy. The genealogists working on this in this international research
center will be working cooperatively with existing facilities such as JewishGen, Yad Vashem, the Central Archives for
the History of the Jewish People and the New York-based Center for Jewish History. http://jnul.huji.ac.il/
World Zionist Organization -
The Central Zionist Archives - official repository of the Zionist Movement, the CZA is
the largest Jewish Archives in the world holding over 80 million documents, a large photo collection and unique
collections of printed material, maps, stamps and posters; in
Jerusalem http://www.wzo.org.il/cza/
Atlit
A
Britishmilitary camp located six miles south of
Haifa, where they held tens of thousands of illegal immigrants in the
1940s. As the illegals entered the camp, which was surrounded by a triple fence of barbed wire, and armed guards in watchtowers, the men were sent to one side and the women to the other. They were then sprayed with DDT and told
to undress and enter the showers. Terrified, they were certain they had escaped death in Europe only to find it in
Palestine. A
database containing the names and photos of the illegal immigrants and those who helped bring them is
open to the public from Sunday through Thursday 9 to 5. Friday and holiday evenings 9 to 1 and Saturday and
Holidays from 10 to 3. English tours are available by appointment 984 1980.
Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center
83 Mordechai Ben Porat Avenue, Or Yehuda, Israel. Dr. Zvi Yehuda, director of the Babylonian Jewish Heritage
Center; Mr. Mordechai Ben Porat, Chairman of the Babylonian Jewish Heritage Center
Email:
babylon@babylonjewry.org.il http://www.babylonjewry.org.il/
Museum Shop - offers
Jewish Genealogy Software, Exhibition Catalogues/Books and more on-line http://www.bh.org.il/shop.htm
Bureau of Missing Persons, The Jewish Agency
PO Box 92, Jerusalem, Israel. Contact: Ms. Batya Undershatz HaSochnoot HaYehudi P O Box 92 Jerusalem, Israel Telephone: +2 6202652 Fax: +2 6202893
The
KKL listcontains the names of missing persons from the World War II period whose property Keren Kayemeth
LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) administers http://www.claimsinfo.org/article.asp?article_id=344
Caesarea
Built by King Herod the Great in the first century BC.
It is located about halfway
between Tel Aviv and Haifa.
It dates from the fifth or fourth centuries B.C.E. and
was
first named Strato's Tower, probably after its founder, a
Phoenician ruler.
Alexander Yannai captured it soon
after he became king of Judea in 103 B.C.E. and
it remained
part of the Hasmonean kingdom for nearly 40 years, until the
Romans
declared it an autonomous city. There is an
informative article, written by Esther
Hecht in the May 2008
issue of Hadassah Magazine about Caesarea where much of the
information about this city was
obtained with permission
from the Editor.
It was to become
the largest port in the ancient world and an amazing feat of
engineering - using a Roman invented
cement that
hardened in water. About 50% of the population were
Jews and though under Roman rule, Herod allowed mikves in
the Roman bathhouses he introduced into the region under his
rule. It remained the capital of Palestine
through the
Roman and Byzantine periods. After the
Jewish revolt against Rome (66-70 C.E.in which
20,000 Jews in Caesarea
were killed) the city became the
most important city in the province.
The Jewish
community dwindled and until the third century, when
Jews were farmers, textile manufactures and
traders.
By 1170, only 20 Jews lived in the city. The Crusaders held
Caesarea from 1218 to 1265. In 1265, the
Mameluke conqueror Baybars destroyed the city and it
remained in ruins until 1884 when Bosnian Muslim refugees
established a fishing village there. At the end of the
19th century and beginning of the 20th, Baron Edmond de
Rothschild and the Jewish Colonization Association bought
large tracts in the area. After 1948, the Rothschilds
transferred the land to the state.
There are two
synagogues in the area: one is on Rothschild Boulevard
opposite a small commercial enter and the
newer one, a
circular beige building with an ultramodern interior, is on
Shemesh Street. For information, call
Rabbi Kaplan 972
57 426 5104.
"King Herod's
Dream: Caesarea on the Sea" - (W. W. Norton)
Kenneth Holum and others tells the history of the city
through archaeologists' eyes.
Census of Ottoman Controlled Eretz Yisrael of 1839 CE
(Montefiore) for the following cities:
Acre Haifa Hebron Jaffa Jerusalem Nebulous Safed Shefaram Tiberius Sidon (now in Lebanon) http://sephardichouse.org/
"Does anyone have access to this Montefiore census of the Jews in Jerusalem of 1916?"
"First I would suggest to read the excellent article by Attorney Shmuel Shamir that was published in Sharsheret
Hadorot (Quarterly of the Israel genealogical Society), Vol.. 18, 1, Feb. 2004. This article entitled "Censuses in Eretz
Israel: End of the 19th Century-20th century" is so basic and important that the editor has decided to put it on the IGS website." http://www.isragen.org.il/NROS/BIB/SHD/Shamir/18-1-ShamirCens-editE.pdf
"As you'll read it there was no census in 1916 but in 1915. Then Eretz Israel was still under the Ottoman rule, the
census is in Osmanli script (very close to Arabic). All the Ottoman material the various censuses and the Nefous books
are kept at the Israel State Archives. From a posting by Mathilde Tagger Israel Genealogical Society" www.isragen.org.il
Translating of the
1922-3 census of Tel Avivfrom Hebrew to English is in
the works. If you are interested in
volunteering please contact rosef@post.tau.ac.il
The Central Archives For The Jewish People
Located at the Hebrew University in Ramat Gan. It is in the basement of the
Sprinzak Building on the old Givat Ram
campus. The Archives was founded in 1938, and reorganized in 1969. The Archive has already assembled, and is
preserving, millions of documents, both originals and microfilms, reflecting Jewish history in scattered lands, including
housing the records of
Jewish Colonization Association from Argentina.
Six million frames of microfilm and an index of existing archives in
Russia provide only a small indication of the scope
of the Archive's collection, which continues to increase daily. The Director is Hadassah Assouline, who was formerly of
New York.
http://www.isragen.org.il/ROS/ARCHIVES/archive-CAHJP-2.html
TheCentral Archives in Jerusalem, is holds 3 lists of Births,Marriages and Deaths for Schnlanke for 1817-1847
and Birth, Marriage and Death lists for
Tirschtiegelfor 1848.
Marriage Records Before May 1948 are to be found in the
Rabanut offices in each locality. One has to know the
exact date, at least the year.
After 1948, all the details are computerized from 1956 at the Misrad le'inianei datot [Ministry of Religion] Mahleket Rabanut, Nisui'n veGerushin [Department of Marriage and Divorce] 7 Kanfei Nesharim Street Tel: 02- 531 1131
The Central Zionist Archives
The official historical archives of the
World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency, the Jewish National Fund, Keren
Hayesod and the World Jewish Congress. It also holds the personal papers of individuals involved in the Zionist
movement or active in Palestine/Israel.
http://www.zionistarchives.org.il/ZA/pMainE.aspx
Chief Rabbi of
Israel
The first chief rabbi of
British run Palestine was Abraham Isaac Kook.
Chevra Kadisha
Located in
Jerusalem. There are at least two: one for the Litvaks(Lithuanian Jews aka Chevra Kadisha of the Prushim
on Rechov Pines) Telephone: +972-2-538-4144 and one for the
Galitzianers (Chasidim) The vast majority of Litvaks
used the General Hevra Kadish of the Ashkenazi Community; the
Perushim (the name used to describe the students of the Gaon of Vilna who settled in Eretz Yisrael in the beginning of the 19th century). It was founded in 1856 and a good portion
of the records are computerized. Contact at the later Society is Natan Torem, an Englishman. List of Chevra Kadisha
Societies in Israel in English http://www.isragen.org.il/ROS/ARCHIVES/Hevra%20Kadish.html
The Hevrot Kadish of Jerusalem are divided along ethnic lines and a list follows:
Habad - Ein Ya'akov 13, Phone 627 3498
Hevre Kadisha of the Hasidim - Mahabit 17, Phone 538 4518
Hevre Kadisha of the Iraqi Community - Sha'arey Zedek 1, Phone 625 2842
Hevre Kadisha of the Kurdish Community - Beit Ya'akov 11, Phone 623 4797
Hevre Kadisha of the Moroccan Community - Mesilsat Yesharim 1, Phone 625 5504
Hevre Kadisha of the Persian Community - David Yellin 38, Phone 538 4589
United Hevre Kadisha of the Sefardic & Oriental Communities, Havatzelet 12A, Phones 625 4371, 622 1073;
Fax 623 1827
Counselor Records Database
U.S. Dept of State,
Jerusalem, Jaffaand Haifa Consular Post Records Database includes more than 9,000 entries, and
was compiled from U.S. National Archives RG 84 (Record Group) Foreign Service Post Records of the U.S. Department of State for Consular Posts:
Jerusalem (1857-1935), Jaffa(1867-1917), and
Haifa (1872-1917) http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/group84.htm
Credit Records
Israelis' credit histories will be recorded for the first time as of August, 2004. All Israelis will begin building a credit
history. Until the Credit Law was passed, it was considered a violation of privacy to provide credit records, though top
banks collected and used their clients' credit history.
Dead Sea
Scrolls
Over 2,000 year old writings
that include the earliest known version of the Hebrew Bible
and illuminate, the Jewish
roots of Christianity, will be
available on the internet
www.antiquities.org.il
Death Certificates
Death Certificatesfrom
the British era are available and include these
titles: Serial Number in Register; Place of Death; Date of
Death; Name of Deceased; Address of Deceased; Age: Sex;
Nationality; Religion; Occupation; Cause of Death;
Duration
of Illness; Name of Person Notifying Death; Description &
Address of Person Notifying Death; Date of
Registration;
Signature & Designation of Official registering Death.
Unfortunately, the do not include the names of
the
decedent's parents or when and where the decedent was born.
Israeli death certificates do not include place of burial, however all burials require a permit from the Ministry of Health
and they include that information. I inquired recently about the availability of old burial permits and was informed
that the law (Archives Law, 5745, 1985, paragraphs 11.15 and 11.20) requires that the District Health Office hold
death notices for fifteen years and burial permits for ten years."
This does not preclude the possibility that they may have older records and in fact, they forwarded my specific request
for a 1960s document to the appropriate district office."
A burial permit has space for the following information: serial number, name, address, birth date, gender, death date,
religion, cause of death, place of burial, informing physician, investigator (I assume this is only for special cases - IP).
The form is in Hebrew and Arabic." From a posting by Israel Pickholtz on JewishGen
Ministry of Interior Department of Population Administration P O Box 2420 Jerusalem 91023 Israel
TheDinur Center for Research in Jewish History
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Mount Scopus Jerusalem, Israel 91905 Tel. 972-2-5881894 Tel. 972-2-5881592 Fax. 972-2-5883894 Email -dinur@h2.hum.huji.ac.il
Once in awhile, I get carried away as I work on my
Jewishwebindex.com web site and this is one of those moments
that
I would like to share with you. Enjoy! Be sure
your sound is on. If the link doesn't work, try doing
a cut and paste.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNqosHRbWog
DOROT
Diana Sommer, Director of the Douglas E. Goldman Jewish Genealogy Center stated that the name DOROT has
been removed from the official name of the Center and that the official name is now 'The Douglas E. Goldman Jewish
Genealogy Center'.
There is a charge to receive information from the database of the Douglas E. Goldman Genealogy Center which holds
the Freud genealogy (and many others). Their website says, "The price for each search (up to four family names) is
US $5.00, 5.50 or NIS 22.00".
The city of Eilat lies at the
southernmost tip of Israel at it's southernmost tip. It also lies at the
northern edge of the
Red Sea and at the crossroad of Africa,
Asia and Europe. A Jewish community existed nearby until at
least the middle
of the 10th century. A kibbutz,
Kibbutz Eilot was established on the shore in December 1949
and is located two miles
north. In 1959, it was
declared a city, though it had only 3,500 inhabitants.
Residents of the area worked in the port, the Timna copper
mines, fishing, light industry, construction and tourism.
Located in Emeq Yizre'el (Valley of Jezreel) and was established about 80 years ago as part of the
Kibbutz Me'uhad ("United Kibbutz") movement. About 1952, there was a split in the
Kibbutz Me'uhad movement, and the original Ein
Harod stayed in
Me'uhad, but some of its members split off and established another Ein Harod as part of the Ihud
Kibbutzim movement.
The main Kibbutz Ein Harod
used to be a large and thriving community, involved in both agriculture and manufacturing. There was/is a steel works and a beehive factory (in 1970)
but unknown about situation today.
http://www.gemsinisrael.com/e_article000002628.htm
An informal, socially related group of olim and old-timers from around the world who live in
Ashdod http://www.esca.org.il/
English Speaking Residents Association
(ESRA)
ESRA is a group of volunteers in Israel
who help those needing help, when and where help is needed -- and who
themselves grow and have fun with the experience. The Genealogy in Israel site should be of value as should the
many
linksthis site offers.
Their aim is to assist the absorption of immigrants from distressed countries and to help the functioning of
special-needs groups on personal and community levels in the fields of employment, education, health and subsistence, according to need.
Links to Holocaust, Israel, and Judaic-oriented sites http://www.esra.org.il
ETSI
Sephardi Genealogical and Historical Society - The purpose of "ETSI" is to help people interested in Jewish
Genealogical and Historical Research in the Sephardi World. "ETSI's" field of study covers the
Ottoman Empire
(Turkey, Greece, Palestine, Syria, Libya, Egypt); North Africa (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia); Spain, Portugal, Italy and
Gibraltar. The study of every Sephardi community or family who lived in other regions is equally within the society's
aim. Email laurphil@wanadoo.fr http://www.geocities.com/EnchantedForest/1321
The famed illegal immigrant
ship was the Exodus 1947, which carries some 4,500 Holocaust
survivors to Palestine in
July 1947. British destroyers intercept it, ramming it
and boarding it violently.
Galilean Stone Structure
The University of Pittsburgh house the
Israel Heritage Classroom that is modeled after the Galilee dwelling. You can
take a visual tour http://www.pitt.edu/~natrooms/
Gaza
The following copy of an e-mail was sent to me by an old friend of mine and I thought it to be of interest:
From: Beth El Synagogue, Minneapolis (St. Louis Park) MN ETorah List [mailto: BE-MPLS-ETORAH@USCJ.ORG] On
Behalf Of Alexander Davis Sent: Thursday, August 05, 2004 6:04 PM To: BE-MPLS-ETORAH@USCJ.ORG Subject: eTorah Aug. 5, 2004 19 Av 5764
Shalom Haverim, I was intrigued by Bertinoro’s travel journal and so decided to do a little more research on the history of
the Jewish presence in
Gaza. We hear a lot about Gazain the news these days. PM Ariel Sharon, of course, is trying
to pull Jewish settlements out of the
Gaza strip. He is supported by a majority of Israelis but not by his own party nor
by a vocal (violent?) segment of the Israeli population.
Probably if I had thought about it, I would have guessed that the Jewish presence in Gaza goes back many
centuries. But listening to the current news, my thoughts never seem to stretch much before 1967.
For many,
Gaza does not hold the same place in our hearts as Jerusalem. Still, it has a history of Jewish
settlement for almost 2000 years. Exploring its ancient Jewish population is interesting. As you will see, it is a history
with many ups and downs.
The following is not meant to be a political statement for or against removing the settlements. Instead my
point is simply the following: whether or not you agree with the Sharon government, knowing the rich history of the
area should rightly make the idea of uprooting Jewish settlements quite painful.
Here is what I found: In the 13th century BCE,
Gazawas under Egyptian rule. A few hundred years later, at the time of the Israelite
conquest, it was allotted to the Israelite’s tribe of Judah but remained in the possession of the Canaanites. In the 12th
century BCE it was occupied by the Philistines. (It was there that the story of Samson and Delilah takes place according
to the Bible.) LaterGaza was taken over by the Persians, by Alexander the Great, the Maccabees, and by the
Romans
under whom it flourished.
Technically,
Gazais outside of the boundaries of the Holy Land according to Jewish law. Nevertheless, Jews have lived
in
Gaza since the Talmudic period (200-500 CE). Evidence of its sizeable Jewish population was uncovered in the
1960s by archaeologists who discovered synagogues, elaborate mosaic floors and a relief with Hebrew and Greek
inscriptions.
Gaza was eventually conquered by the Byzantines but
in 635 it was taken over by the Arabs. Under Arab rule,
Jewish
life flourished. Rabbi Moses, one of the masoretes
(who put the punctuation in the Torah) was among the city’s
famous inhabitants. The Jewish community continued in Gaza
until the 12th century when it was wiped out by the
Crusaders.
In the 14th century (when Bertinoro visited),
there were 60 families living there. In the 16-17th
centuries, under
Ottoman rule, Jewish life again flourished
in Gaza. We know of a yeshiva and have writings of some of
its well-known
rabbis. Israel Najara, for example, was the
chief rabbi of Gaza. He is the author of many popular
Shabbat songs such
as Ya Ribbon.
In the 17th century,
Gazawas a center of Shabbatai
Zevi’s messianic movement. It was briefly conquered by
Napoleon in 1799. But by the 19th century, Gaza city
was in decline. Jews living there were mostly in the barley
business. They traded
with Bedouins for barley which they
then exported to Europe for beer breweries.
In WWI,
Gaza was a Turkish stronghold. After
fierce battles, it was taken by the British. The last
Jews left Gazain
1929 as a result of anti-Jewish
riots. Jews began returning to Gazaafter the 1967 war.
Unfortunately, in the near future, there is little hope of gathering more hard evidence about the early history of
Jewish life in
Gaza. Black and white pictures of the mosaics may
be all that remain of the ancient synagogue. Rabbi Alexander Davis Beth El Synagogue 5224 West 26th Street St. Louis Park, MN 55416
I came across an interesting site for Rehav Rubin who is the Chairman of the Department of Geography at the Hebrew University. I was impressed with his credentials! I have no idea whether he would consider responding to any
questions you might have about the geography of Israel, but if you have a moment, look at his site and drool. http://atar.mscc.huji.ac.il/~geo/personal/rubin/cv=bunni.htm
Ghetto Fighter's House Museum
Mr. Yossi Shavit, Archives Director at this address:
Beit Lohamei Haghetaot D.N. Western Galilee, 25220 Israel, just
outside of
Nahariyain the north of Israel. The kibbutz was founded by Ghetto fighters and partisans from
Poland and
Lithuania.
An ancient fishing village and now a major city of Israel's north - home to 268,000 Jews, Christians, Muslims and
Druze. There is an excellent article by Esther Hecht in the February 2003 issue of Hadassah Magazine. http://hadassah.com/
In 1912 there were only 1,400 Jews, but under the
British Mandate, Haifa grew rapidly and had 130,000 resident just
before the War of Independence in 1948. Haifa is also the home of Technion - Israel's first university established in
1924. It has 13,000 students in 19 facilities. www.technion.ac.il/english/index.html
In July 1947, the Exodus 1947 steamed intoHaifa portwith 4,515 Jewish refugees on board.
The captain of the ship
was Yossi Harel, who died in 2008 at
age 90. Harel sailed four times on clandestine
journeys between 1945 and 1948, bringing over 24,000
Holocaust survivors to the shores of soon-to-be Israel. The British refused to let them disembark, and the
ensuing fight left three dead and 28 wounded. The British then deported the refugees, who ended up in an internment
camp. You can see a series of photos on this subject at theHaifa City Museum www.haifamuseums.org.il
"Exodus" - authored by Leon Uris - a wonderful, must
read book
Clandestine Immigration and Naval Museum 204 Allenby Road English tours by appointment (853-6249)
On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the establishment of the first agricultural settlement on the Judean Hills --
the settlement which was destroyed in the War of Independence, a small booklet ("Zichronnot Hartuv") was published
and translated into English. It is a description of the 'before' and 'after' of this kibbutz and can be obtained from The
Afikomen Company, 1503 East Baltimore Street, Baltimore, MD 21231 bookthingbaltimore@hotmail.com
http://travelingluck.com/Asia/Israel/Yerushalayim/_294857_Hartuv.html#invest
Hava Nagila
"Let us rejoice and be happy/Awaken, brothers, with glad
hearts"
The song was created about 100 years ago by a 12 year old
boy in Jerusalem. Moshe Nathanson composed the famous
words in response to a teacher's challenge to create a new
song from an old niggun, (a wordless Hasidic
melody).
If you want to read Ivrit (Hebrew) text on your web browser, download free fonts together with an easy installation
explanation, provided by Brijnet (British Jewish Network) http://www.brijnet.org/ivrit/webheb.htm
DoroTree "The Jewish Family Tree" software by Zvi Wolicki
Hebrew Lettering - A source to give you the ability to read Hebrew letters without translating them is available for
a free download http://www.sabra.net
'Family Roots' is a genealogy forum (in Hebrew) that is not related to any association/organization and deals with all
aspects of Jewish genealogy. The Forum is free-to-use and the subjects discussed in it are not moderated The Forum
includes a: Table with all the surnames researched by its members; a Gallery for translation and recognizing requests;
Links to sites mentioned and Articles originally written and translated. This is a place to talk about genealogy research,
ask questions, help others, share your success or failures and meet other people of like interest http://www.tapuz.co.il/tapuzforum/main/forumpage.asp?id=325
" Regarding research at Hebrew U. in Jerusalem: There are several reading rooms on the second floor. The Judaica
reading room has on hand a number of worthwhile books. As you enter the room, go through the turnstile and turn
right following the counter. At the end of the counter, before it turns to the right, on your left are encyclopedias.
These include Otzar Harabanim and Morei Galicia."
"If you go to far end of the room, after the encyclopedias, there is a staircase that takes you to a second half floor. At the top of the stairs, on the right is a genealogy section. Included
here are "The Golden Chain" (second, revised edition), Eleph Margoluot (On the Margolit family), Toldot Mishpachat
Ginzburg (of little value to anyone not from Lithuania) and Eliyahu's Branches." "In all there are thousands of books in
this reading room."
"For the remainder of Hebrew U.' s vast collection, you can order books to read in the reading room. You must specify
which reading room, but most likely the most convenient one will be the Judaica reading room. The catalogue is only
accessible by computer, online or at the library." The website is http://ram1.huji.ac.il/ALEPH/eng/NNL/NNL//SCAN
"Click on browse and you get the page to begin searching for books. Books written in Hebrew must be searched in
Hebrew, so if you don't have Hebrew capability on your computer, you'll have to wait until you get to the library.
Otherwise, it's a good idea to have the call numbers when you get there. That way you can fill out the form request.
It can take an hour or two until the books are sent to the reading room. As you enter the library, instead of going
straight to the staircase that leads up to the reading rooms, go to the right and then left into what was once the
catalogue room. At the end of the room are computers (that can handle Hebrew, English and Russian) and a help desk
with the request forms. Ask where you give them in, as it will be easier than my trying to explain that you put them in
a slot in a desk elsewhere in the room." From a posting by Nachum Tuchman, Tekoa, Israel
The
Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Index of Jewish Art, publishes a booklet in
English and Hebrew on Hebrew
abbreviations as well as other subjects. It is known as
"Hebrew Inscriptions and their Translations" in 1988".
The booklet contains a
list of frequently used inscriptions with their
English translations as well as assistance in
deciphering
abbreviations and initials and the listing of literary sources. Their address is: POB 4262, Jerusalem
The University was founded by leading statesmen and scholars, including Chaim Weitzmann, Sigmund Freud, Martin
Buber, Albert Einstein, Judah Magnes and Lord Rothschild in 1925 It was founded by American philanthropist Felix
M. Warburg.
An interactive experience through the Central Zionist Archives. The pages correspond with the Student Department's
course "Blueprint of a Nation: A Survey of Modern Zionism". You can register for the course and use the lectures as a
guide or the button bar at the bottom of the screen will take you to different categories or to different places of
possible interest. You can search the database from the years 1881 to 1921. I suggest you look at the Table of
Contents first, though I found the 'Immigration & Settlement' hyperlink of great interest http://www.iea.org.il/blueprint/
Information Division of the Israeli Foreign Ministry
International Tracing Service (ITS) Arolsen, Germany
Holds records that include data on murdered, missing, displaced, emigrated and survived Jews throughout Europe.
The lists, compiled by the Red Cross, using Nazi documentation, includes: Names; Birthdate and place, next of kin, Death date and cause of Death, Grave location, and more.
http://www.its-arolsen.org/en/homepage/index.html
Some of the maps available are: Ancient Maps; Kingdoms of
David & Solomon; Herodian Period; Jews in the Land of
Israel
under Islamic & Christian rule; Maps of the changing borders
1949-67; Jewish Communities Lost; Pre-State
Maps and more.
Type in the word maps and scroll down a bit to get to the
maps.
http://tinyurl.com/6xj56d
Israel
(Map of) - you can find places in Israel right down to street address level. It is only available in Hebrew http://www.emap.co.il/viewer.htm
Located in Jerusalem, has a book entitled "Chelkat Michokek" by Rabbi Brisk. His book lists the inscriptions of all the
tombstones that were on the Mount of Olives cemetery during his lifetime. http://jnul.huji.ac.il/
Much material is available here in the
Prime Minister's Office including Citizenship papers and
photos during the British
Mandate. You must notify the office before your arrival and they will have the material ready for you. You will be
asked for identification and a letter granting you permission because of security being very strict.
http://www.isragen.org.il/ROS/ARCHIVES/archive-state-2.html
Israeli Phone Directory
On-line by BEZEK (Israeli Telecomm Co.) This is a very fast search engine and can even do reverse searches, but you
need to be able to read Hebrew. http://www.144.bezek.com/
The name Jaffa is also an
ancient name as it appears four times in the Bible - as the
port to which the prophet Jonah
came in order to flee from
God and overwhelming responsibility according to an article
in the June/July 2009 issue of
Hadassah Magazine. In the
19th century, Jaffa grew from a village to city, due largely
to trade. In 1948 there were
only 30,000 Jews, Today
it has less than 50,000 residents, only one-third of them
Arab. After 1950, when the two
cities merged into one
as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, Tel Aviv went on to become one of
the richest urban areas in Israel, while
Jaffa
became one of the poorest.
Old Jaffa, including
the port area, lies to the west of the square, and the flea
market lies to the east. Jaffa's main
residential areas extend to the south. For more
information, see the June/July 2009 issue of Hadassah
Magazine.
http://hadassahmagazine.com
Old Jewish Cemetery
is located on Yehuda Hayamit Street and Sha'arei Nicanor
Street, both of which run west from Yefet to the sea.
JDC
They have a microfilm made from registration cards of people seeking help during World War II through Joint offices
in
Munich, Vienna and Barcelona. This comprises some 80,000 names with family details. After the war, the Joint had
a location office in
Istanbul which tried to locate refugees and lost families. These records are also available. And
finally, there is a list of survivors, which, alas, does not have a search engine. This list is arranged according to
location, and then by family names arranged alphabetically. The JDC lists include additional information that is not
available at Yad Vashem. archives@jdc.org.il
http://www.jdc.org/programs.html
Jerusalem
The capital and largest city of
Israel. Its status as capital has been claimed by Israel since 1949. The city's eastern
half lies in the contested West Bank.
Jerusalem has 680,000 residents: its population grew by 1.7% during 2002.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Jerusalem1.html
Jerusalem Cemetery
Until 1948, there was only one main cemetery,
Mount of Olives. It was under
Jordanian rule from 1948 & 1967. A
road was built right through the cemetery and they used the tombstones for the paving base. The cemetery, actually
has been used from before the reign of King David ... more than 3,000 years ago. Since there are 5 or 6 different
Chevra Kadisha who bury on the mountain, a search could prove to be difficult.
Cemetery's guide 011 972 52 380
6208
http://jerusalempedia.com/Jerusalem_Cemeteries.html
Jerusalem Report
Bills itself as the Jewish world's leading news magazine
is on-line offers excellent book review and an archive service http://www.jrep.com/
(Ha-Gdud Ha Ivri - Gdud in Hebrew is "regiment", a military
formation) the only all-Jewish fighting unit, composed of
5,000 men from then Palestine and England. "It seems that the terms "Palestine Brigade" and "Jewish Brigade" have
been used interchangeably, not only on the Internet but also in books." http://www.rafweb.org/GrpO3.htm#PB
The Palestine Brigade was formed in 1917 to control all Royal Flying Corps training units west of Suez.
The first all Jewish battalion was formed in 1915. It was responsible for transport as part of the preparation for the
attack on
Gallipoli.
Zion Mule Corps and the
Palestine Regiment of WW I. There is a great deal of literature and a museum. The
Museum is near to Netanya. Three is also a memorial book (not very complete) which lists all the soldiers and their
military numbers. Beit Hagdudim Museum Moshav Avichayil 42910 Israel
The Jewish Brigade was also known as the "Zion Mule Corps", whose commander was Joseph Trumpledor. It was also
known as the "Judean Battalions" and the "Palestine Jewish Legion". Jewish Brigade of WW II Israel War Veterans League 11 Manne Street Tel-Aviv, 61161, Israel
"The Jewish Legion" - authored by Zeev Jabotinsky has a Hebrew title of "Megilat ha-Gedud: sipur ha-gedudim
ha-Ivriyim be-milhemet ha-olam ha-rishonah". It is out of print. Gdud means "regiment", a military formation in
Hebrew.
A film,
"In Our Own Hands: The Hidden Story of the Jewish
Brigade in World War II" is a 90 minute documentary about these volunteers is being shown on various PBS TV stations. The film makers gathered testimony from more than 40
surviving Jewish Brigade soldiers. Copies of this riveting documentary is available from the producer: Chuck Olin
Jewish Colonial Trust
"I have been aware for some time that shares in the upcoming state of Palestine (now Israel) were offered for sale many years ago, and that many Jews in Europe and many other countries around the world purchased these shares in the first third of the 20th century, for three reasons: 1. As a good investment, 2. To export their money to a safe haven, or 3. As Zionists, to show their support for Hertzl's new country-to-be -- Palestine.
So I searched for and found the web site and an on-line data base of Jewish Colonial Trust shareholders. This Trust, based on an old company established about 100 years ago, still exists today. The Trust is searching for the original shareholders or their valid descendants in order for these people to receive a cash settlement. I have searched the data base and found a number of relatives or persons of whom I know, and perhaps you will be able to do this too. Read on.
The Jewish Colonial Trust Ltd was the parent company of the Anglo Palestine Bank, the predecessor of Bank Leumi of Israel. It was founded in 1899 by Theodore Hertzl to serve as a financial instrument for the Zionist Movement.
Early in the 20th century, the company issued approximately 250,000 shares at par value one pound Sterling. The company's activities in the diplomatic field focused on the purchase from the Ottoman Government of the right to settle in the Land of Israel, and in the financial field, to grant credit for the establishment of Zionist activities in the Land of Israel. The company established a number of subsidiaries which subsequently became well known, including the Anglo-Palestine Bank which later evolved into today's Bank Leumi of Israel.
In the 1950s the company's activities were transferred to an Israeli corporation, The Jewish Colonial Trust Ltd., and most of its share rights were converted into interests in the Israeli company.
Share holders or their descendants are entitled to contact the company and to receive a cash settlement or other benefit. The web site http://www.jct.co.il/contact.html
has a form which can be filled in and sent via e-mail to the company to make such a claim.
I do recommend that you visit this page and search for your ancestors.
The search name you use should be either the exact name of which you are aware, or the first syllable or two if you are uncertain of the exact spelling -- their search engine finds the exact text which you submit, but also finds other names which continue on with extensions of your text for the name, e.g., Ester and Esterson. Their search engine allows you to search for either an exact surname, forename, or city of residence, or some combination of these three items of information, or to input the first part of a person's name or city name in order to get variations of what you are looking for, and/or to get around a lack of knowledge of exactly how the name was spelled in the data base (no Soundex).
The data base would also be useful for those seeking to collect a large number of the residents of a given European country (or non-European country, for that matter) or city, for genealogical purposes. The company can be contacted at:
JCT - Jewish Colonial Trust, Ltd. 17 Kaplan Street Tel Aviv 64734, Israel
I was able to find an Esterson in
Edinburgh (a member of a tree which I set up for an English Esterson family that may be related to me), several persons named
Mirvis and Mervisfrom Baltimoreand other cities (whose names I recognized from my work with the Mirvis Research Group), and two persons named
Gell who my wife Leah thinks are her paternal uncles from
Riga. I also checked some surnames of genealogy friends of mine, and found names for them to research. When I searched for only "Baltimore" (where I was born and grew up), I obtained a long list of share purchasers whose names I recognized from my days in
Baltimore over fifty years ago. Same success for
Riga and other European cities.
So it is well worthwhile checking this list, either to redeem the money invested all those years ago by your ancestors, or to obtain additional genealogical information about them." From a posting by Professor Gerald Esterson
jerry@vms.huji.ac.il
Schelly Talalay Dardashti discusses the
Jewish Colonial Trust Ltd database of thousands of turn of the century names from Jewish communities around the world in her City Lights column. The article can be found on the
Jerusalem Postweb site http://www.jpost.com
and then use their built-in search engine. From a
posting by Schelly Talalay Dardashti e-mail address: schelly@allrelative.net
Still distributes the familiar Blue Boxes and plants trees all over Israel. My box, dating from the 1930s, sits on top of
my desk to remind me of this organization. Learn about its history at http://www.jnf.org
The Jewish National and University Library
Located on the
Hebrew University campus in Givat Ram, Jerusalem. There you will find a permanent exhibition
dedicated to the life and work of Albert Einstein which includes the personal papers, manuscripts, correspondence,
photographs, cartoons and newspaper clippings. The Library is opposite the main gate and may be reached by bus
lines 9, 24 and 28 http://sites.huji.ac.il/jnul/contents.html
Founded in 1943 and was called the Anglo-Balti Kibbutz because along with the many residents from Latviathere was a sizeable group of British Jews formerly members of
Habonim, who were among the founders.
http://www.net-travel.org/kibbutz/kibbutzhotels/kfarblum.htm
Kibbutz Nir - David (Tel-Amal)
Home page to the first tower and wall kibbutz settled on December 1936 in the Beit-Shan valley http://www.nir-david.org.il/
Located about 10 kilometers south ofAshkelon, and a few kilometers north of the Gaza Strip. It was founded by
Polish
Jews. It is named in honor of Mordechai Anielewicz, the leader of the
Warsaw Ghetto uprising. This should be a
must see on anyone's visit to Israel. There is a museum maintained on the premises and the original hand dug
trenches that were dug for protection in the 1948 war. Mail can be addressed to:
Kibbutz Yad Mordechai, D. N.
Ashkelon, Israel.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vie/Ashkelon.html
Kiryat Bialik
Located north of
Haifaand is named after the famous Jewish writer/poet Bialik.
http://en.qbialik.org.il/
This is a Hebrew website which collects the best on-line and off-line articles from Israel's newspapers, magazines and
journals and provides a directory of links to a variety of resources http://www.kria.co.il/
Leo Baeck Institute
The institute is a research, study and lecture center whose library and archives offer the most comprehensive
documentation for the study of German Jewish history. Located at the Center for Jewish History at 15 West 16th St.,
New York, NY 10011lbaeck@lbi.cjh.org Telephone: 212 744 6400 Fax 212 988 1305. There is also two Branches:
LBI, London at 4 Devonshire Street, London and LBI, Jerusalem at 33 Bustanai Street 91082 Jerusalem. http://www.lbi.org/
An "online intelligent retrieval tool for the 40,000 pages of the "Palestine Post" daily newspaper published in Israel in the English language between December 1932 and April 1950. Fully searchable. http://kipp.tau.ac.il/Archive/skins/Palestine/navigator.asp
This project is the initiative of The Laura Schwarz-Kipp Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities in Tel Aviv University. I find it as a very useful tool to learn about day by day life in Mandatory Palestine and later on Israel in
general and in particular to us the roots searchers. For example: Almost any vessel that entered the ports of Palestine
and Israel during those years will have it recorded in the newspaper." Information obtained from a posting on
JewishGen by Eyal Ziffer Tel Aviv, Israel
There is a list of the tombstones inscriptions in the old cemetery of Rishon Lezion (and other moshavot) which was
published by Pinchas Grayevsky in the mid-1930s. The book is available in several libraries including The National
Library at Hebrew University, Rambam Library and Achad Haam Library in Beit Ariella, Tel Aviv.
The city has a nice museum and an archive about the first settlers which can be used for genealogical purposes. It
covers the first 40 years, starting in 1882. The museum is open without charge from 10 am to 2 pm on the first
Saturday of each month in Hebrew http://www.teva.org.il/
Click on
tarbut (culture) and omanut(art) in the bottom left yellow box, scroll down with the arrows to the right of
the box until you see 'archion history' and click on it.
Historical Museum of Rishon
L'Zion
This museum has a Family Albums
Archive that contains historical-genealogical information about the
early settlers
of Rishon L'Zion. The address is:
The Historical Museum of Rishon L'Zion
4 Ahad Ha'am Street
Rishon L'Zion, Israel
Telephone: 972 3 9641621
Safed
Much information about this old Jewish community including a list of tombstones found in the ancient Jewish cemetery www.safedfound.org.il
Samaritan
The Samaritan community has existed for millennia in the region known under the
British mandate as Palestine. They
observe Jewish traditions, claim to have a Torah that is 3500 years old (written by a grandchild or great-grandchild of
the High Priest Aaron). Depending on whether they live inside or outside the 'Green Line', they consider themselves
either Israeli or Palestinian.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samaritan
Search Bureau for Information about Immigrants (The Central Zionist Archives)
The Search Bureau for Missing Relatives - Batya Undershatz, Director, PO Box 92 91000 Jerusalem, Israel
Phone: 972 2 5612 471 Fax: 972 2 6202 516 Allow at least two weeks for a mail response.
Radio Searching Relatives in Israel -
Reshet bet has a new email address which is: radio2@iba.org.il They
broadcast a program for people searching for relatives or friends several days a week at 4.45 pm Israel time.
Anyone who would like to speak in the program about finding relatives, may leave a message with his / her Phone.
No. on the answering machine of the program, telephone number (it is definitely not a private telephone):
972-3-7652034 and the editor of that program will call back and get the person on air in the right time (don't forget
the time difference between you and Israel!). The Searching Relatives Program re-opened in Israel on Reshet Bet at
15:45. Telephone to contact the organizers: 00-972-3-7652034.
A simple
one input-form search engine for surnames and "cross-border" emigration
research including a global version
for 45 countries. The databases
include:
LDS (Mormons) Israel, All Databases
Geneanet Israel
Google Jewish Genealogy
Google News Jewish Genealogy
RootsWeb Message Board Israel
RootsWeb Surname List Israel
Jewish passengers New York, 1892-1924
Genforum Jewish
Lezecher, Dutch Holocaust Victims
Yad Vashem Names Database
RootsWeb Jewish
Email Finder Israel
Jewish Community England
The Poor Jews' temporary Shelter Database
Irwin I. Cohn Michigan Jewish Cemetery Index
http://www.kuijsten.de/navigator/israel
Tel
Aviv
What began as a suburb of
Jaffa, quickly became a city. A few dozen families
gathered on April 11, 1909 on the sand
dunes of the beach
outside Jaffa to allocate land for a new settlement.
The families couldn't decide on how to assign
the plots, so
they held a lottery. Sixty grey seashells and 60 white
seashells were gathered and on the gray seashells
they wrote
the plot numbers and on the white seashells they wrote the
family names. Pairing the shells, each family
was
assigned a plot. Thus, Tel-Aviv was born. The
city's name is a literary translation o Altneuland, the
title of
Theodor Herzl's utopian novel with tel (in Hebrew,
a mound of ancient ruins) representing the past. There
is a real
tel, dug-up ruins of a Philistine city on the
grounds of the municipal Eretz Israel Museum. Tel
Aviv is still the center of
the country, psychologically
as well as physically. In
2009 it celebrated its 100th birthday
http://www.eretzmuseum.org.il/
The population grew quite
rapidly as Jews fleeing interethnic riots in nearby Jaffa
looked for another place to live as
well as immigrants from
Poland and Russia arrive to further propel the
population's growth. By the early 1930s,
there were
42,000 and by 1936, they saw a population soar to 130,000.
It is estimated that in 2009, the city houses
390,000 people
and hosts no less than 50,000 business according to
registration records..
The first head of the local council was Meir Dizengoff who
gave his name to the main shopping street in Tel-Aviv.
He
later became the city's first Mayor when the city became
a city in 1934.
In 1949, Jaffa was formally
merged with the Tel-Aviv municipality, and the city of
Tel-Aviv-Jaffa was established.
In 1940, the Italian Air Force
bombed Tel Aviv killing dozens of its residents.
An article by Gerhom
Gorenberg was published in the June/July 2009 issue of
Hadassah Magazine
http://hadassahmagazine.com
BEZEK,
the Israel Phone Company - The phone book is in Hebrew, but there is a keypad which allows you to write the
surname you are looking for in Hebrew by clicking on the letter. Let the first box checked in the keypad window
because it represents the name. Then by checking the other, you can fill the first name, the street and the city. But
only a surname is required for a search.
Return to the main window and search: the search button is the green one (bottom right). Before searching, choose
the zone (the menu with the prefix. "00" is for the whole country but it doesn't find a name though it may exist.
This is why you need to make them all 03, 02, 04, 08 and 09.
The results are in Hebrew, so you need to know some aleph beys! From a posting on JewishGen by Nicolas Trokiner trokiner@orange.frhttp://144.bezeq.com (put in area code 00 to get a Hebrew listing), has stated that to their knowledge there is no English language phone
books in Israel.
Bezeq's Telephone book site offers 'Dapey Zahav' lookup phone and addresses of Israeli businesses; White page of
Israel; University of Jerusalem People Search and more http://www.iguide.co.il/english/people-find.htm
If you are
familiar with the Hebrew alphabet, open www.144.bezeq.com
and there
will be brief instructions in Hebrew. Thee is a typewriter bar in
the lower left of the screen where you can
input the surname, first
name, street and town. I also has a helpful Soundex feature that's
built in. If you are not
sure what area of the country, set the
area to 00 -- the entire country -- and set it to return 20
listings per screen.
From Jeffrey Blustein
On Jerusalem's Emek
Refaim Street, between the shop windows and cafe tables,
stands a wall and hidden behind it
are some of the most
interesting stories in Israel's history. Near the
eastern doors is a metal plaque stating: "Templer
Cemetery, since 1878" Here lie Christian
visionaries from Germany who first came to Palestine
in the 1860s. The
Templers are the reason that this
neighborhood is called the German Colony.
Throughout Palestine, the Templers
build roads, founded
modern industries and introduced new farming technology,
which made them a welcome
presence. An article in the
April/May 2010 issue of Hadassah Magazine details more
information about the Templers
and their accomplishments.
http://jerusalempedia.com/Jerusalem_Cemeteries.html
Tiberius
In November, 1564, Joseph
Nasi, a renowned financier and gifted politician, found
sanctuary in the Ottoman Empire
(Turkey) after the
Spanish and Portuguese expulsions, and soon
became a close friend of the future Sultan Selim II.
Using his wealth and influence at court, Nasi obtained title
in 1563 to the town of Tiberius which had lain in
ruins for
centuries. Here he hoped to re-settle
persecuted Jews and help them become self-sufficient.
He had the settlers plant hundreds of Mulberry trees, hoping
these trees would sustain the silk worms necessary to
develop a thriving silk industry. He
also ordered
shipments of Spanish wool for future colonists to make
clothing that he hoped would eventually rival the
garments
produced in Venice. For reasons unknown by historians,
the colony Nasi so envisioned failed to take hold.
It
would take more than 250 years later to become a reality.
Translations
TES - a commercial service that offers CD translations and learning Hebrew services at http://jewishsoftware.com
Translation Service - a commercial site offering many language translating programs http://www.worldlanguage.com
Nestled in the hills of the Galilee, this 'city of 25,000' remains unchanged since the Middle Ages. Many of the old city
streets remain much as they were during Turkish rule.
Tzefat has the restored Yosef Caro synagogue and is
considered one of the Jews' four holy cities.
http://www.stateofisrael.com/tourism/tzefat/
U.S. Department of State, Jerusalem, Jaffa, and Haifa Consular Post Records Database
Includes more than 9,000 entries and was compiled from U.S. National Archives Record Group 84, Foreign Service
Post Records of the U.S. Department of State for Consular Posts: Jerusalem (1857-1935) Jaffa (1867-1917), and
Haifa (1872-1917). Few of the original records were indexed, and many were disposed of in 1950.
http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Israel/group84.htm
Yad Vashem, which means
a memorial, is located in
Jerusalem at a place called the 'Mount of Remembrance', and
stands as the memorial erected by the Jewish people to the victims of the Shoah. It is a memorial to over 5,000
destroyed Jewish communities and more than one million murdered Jewish children. It is the official repository of the
State of Israel for all materials relating to the Shoah and it holds over 50,000,000 pages of documentation on the Nazi crime of genocide against the Jewish people
and about 1,700 Pages of Testimony.
Yad Vashem has, and is, examining more than 32 million entries of
Swiss Bank accounts, trying to identify and sort
out the information they contain and identified 54,000 dormant accounts owned by Jews - a far cry from the mere
800 that the Swiss Banks had claimed to have been able to find. Over 4.3 million records of Holocaust victims have
been completed and examined. http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/
Yad Vashem in
Jerusalem, houses the Red Cross/Arolsen records on microfiches. These are the
lists of surnames,
alphabetized lists of concentration camps inmates. Both
victims and survivors are included. http://www.yad-vashem.org.il/
Using Nazi documents and allied forces documents, the Red Cross compiled these lists. At this time, they are not
available on the Internet, but you can make inquiry via snail mail. The cost at this time (12/99) is $10 for searching
one name - $50 to join the Association.
Note that anyone can submit a
Memorial Testimony page, Daf Ed to Yad Vashem's Hall of Names. The documents
submitted are voluntary submissions by people who are motivated to enter and fill out the forms. There are 14
Questions to be answered and a full explanation of the procedure is available. JewishGen Archives for 2/15/99
page 21 http://www.jewishgen.org
Yad Vashem Archive www.yadvashem.org.il has an enormous set of microfilm copies of the entire
ITS card index, microfilmed in the 1960s. It is open to all, at no
charge, with no restrictions and can be read and photocopied freely.
The reading room is at the rear of the
Yad Vashem campus Cliffside in the basement. English speaking assistants are
rare and the search engines are in
Hebrew.
There is a new archive building which now houses the largest collection of Holocaust material in the world.
Givataiim Branch Volhynia House 10 Korazin St. PO Box 804 Givataiim 53108 Israel
American Society for Yad Vashem 500 Fifth Avenue, 42nd Floor New York, NY 101110-1699 212 220 4304 Fax: 212 220 4308 E-mail: yadvashem@aol.com
Righteous Among the Nations Yad Vashem PO Box 3477 Jerusalem Israel 91034 Tel: 972 2 6751 - 611 fax: 972 2 6443443
The Time Machine: 1882-1948 - links to various founders and participants in the Zionist Organization from the very
beginning onward
http://www.wzo.org.il/home/time.htm
Zip codes in Israel
Any Israel zip code, including
Jerusalem zip codes resemble the zip codes of California because they begin with the
number "9".
Write the zip code information before the word Jerusalem or other cities (In all CAPS) (
rather than after it ) to avoid
confusing the sorting machines in the
US and causing delay. Example: Holon (near Tel Aviv) is Zip Code 58495
There is a website that lets you enter a city and street and then will tell you what postal code (zip code) the address
is in, however, it is only in Hebrew and requires that you have a Hebrew keyboard http://www.postil.com/newmail.nsf/homepage?Openform
This too is inHebrew, but is easy to use. It contains a single dropdown list which contains all the cities inIsrael.
Select the city you wish and click on the circular button (the one with the left-pointing arrow) to the left of the
dropdown list. Of course, the list of cities are written inHebrew, so if you can't read Hebrew, you'll have to
"pattern-match" the characters in the drop-down list with theHebrewcharacters for the city name appearing in the
phone directory."
"After you click on the circular button, you'll be presented with the postal code (surrounded by a lot of Hebrew text) if
there is only one postal code for that city. For larger cities, you'll next see a dropdown list containing all the streets in
that city. Select the street that you want (again "pattern-matching" it with the street name appearing in the phone
directory) and click on the circular button to the left of the dropdown list. Now you'll get to a screen that will give you
either a unique postal code for that street, or a list of postal codes depending on the house number." From a page of
Steven Morse web site.
The exalted rabbi (Gaon or any rabbi held in great esteem)
Hagr'a
The Gaon R' Eliahu (of Vilna)
Kehillot Kodesh
Holy community
Moreynu haRav
Our teacher the Rabbi
Poh nikbar/nikberah
Here lies buried ...
Poh Nitman
Here is interred
Rabbeinu, Rav
Our Master, Rabbi ___
Reb
Mr. ben Reb - the son of Mr. ....
Yad
Hand and also means memorial or monument.
Zecher Ztadik Livracha
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JewishWeb Index
and the Hebrew Language
Books
Map of Israel from Haaretz
Hadassah Magazine
June/July 2009 issue
