Lots of interesting responses to your post.  I always learn so much from the helpful insight of Jewish Gen members.  My offering is more directed to my personal approach to brick walls.  I suggest creating a timeline for your mother on a general genealogy site like ancestry focusing on city directories and if appropriate the census about the time of your conception and looking for anyone else living at her address.  If her workplace is listed, google that with the year of your conception and see if you can find her there...if so look for other workers there when she was there.  Any other information about your mother from relatives from this time period should also be explored for a recurring male name, for example where she worked, who were her best friends, did she attend a particular church, any volunteer activities like the Red Cross, or social clubs....all focused around the time of your conception.  Try google to pursue any clues you may find.   Don’t discard recurring female connections that may appear; they may have had brothers or cousins that are important.  I know it sounds tedious but it can yield surprising clues about your mother if not your birth father.  Good luck!

If you are going to Amsterdam, Yizkor-Books-In-Print Project of
Jewishgen can highly recommend the book: "Lotty's Bench", written by
Gerben Post, that contains descriptions of 95 significant sites of
interest to Jews, particularly dealing with the Shoah. Even though
not published by Yizkor-Books-In-Print, we deem it so significant that
we want you to know about it. It wil add another dimension to your
trip.

To learn more, go to https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/ybip/YBIP_LottysBench.html

Joel Alpert, Coordinator of the Yizkor-Books-In-Print Project

hi grandmbc, 
depending on when, in relation to say the potato famine, i suggest that your irish ancestor left ireland, met and married your jewish lady ancestor then returned to ireland? 
more likely than she going to wild west ireland independently. 

your irish and jewish ancestor might then have met in one of the england-irish ports liverpool, swansea etc

food for thought
dick fowler, 

Dear Forum
Thank you to all those who replied on the 'smous' question.
I have another question re the Wissotzky tea company of Moscow.

In subsequent correspondence re the smous question, it seems that in the early
1900s before the Russian Revolution, money could be sent >from South Africa to
family in the Russian Empire, via the Jewish owned and very powerful and extensive
Wissotzky tea company of Moscow.

Does anyone have any other examples of money transfer via this company? Did they
have a bank? Was this unique or was it well known to transmit money in this way
I wonder? How exactly was money transferred >from South Africa to family at home
in Latvia, Lithuania and in Russia itself?

I look forward to hearing >from you.

Best wishes
Geraldine

Geraldine Auerbach MBE
T: 020 8907 1905 M: 07971 818 262
geraldine.auerbach@...

My greatgrandfather and his second wife were sent from Skala Podolski in the Ternopil region of Eastern Galicia (now Western Ukraine) to Siberia in 1939.  He died in 1944 and his second wife, survived and made it to Israel after the war but I do not know more about her other than my great-aunt filled out a form for the Yad Vashem about the two of them.  

Dear friends of JRI-Poland:
=20
On December 7th, we asked you - our researchers and supporters =E2=80=93=20
to remember JRI-Poland in your year-end giving plans.=20

The response has been very generous and we thank you for your=20
continued support to enable JRI-Poland to expand its database=20
with additional record entries for your town(s).=20

Many of you have also supported our General Funds request as=20
well as our Next Generation website and data management=20
development project. Thank you for that vital support as well.

But, my expression of appreciation does not really reflect the
content of the subject line of this post, words we have heard=20
so many times, in one form or another.

In the last weeks, we have received many notes of appreciation

from our fellow genealogists mentioning how JRI-Poland=E2=80=99s=20

database and tireless volunteers have helped them in their=20
research. Those messages are certainly not unusual. =20

But sometimes, these emails and phone calls are so powerful that
you can almost see the tears between the lines and most=20
certainly hear the sobs on the other end of the line. All=20
because of the unknown that was uncovered, the details of family=20
who perished =E2=80=93 hidden by the researcher=E2=80=99s survivor parents=
=E2=80=93=20
come to light and with it the understanding of why their parents=20
thought it better that they never learn the truth. =20

Then there are the screams of joy of finding a close relative=20
when they heard all their lives that everyone had perished. =20

I would like to mention just two of the emotional messages we
have received this month. Please share our nachas.

A few weeks ago, I received this email >from DR in Ontario: =20

=E2=80=9CI awoke at 4 am unable to stop the images in my head.=20
That=E2=80=99s when I found your new message (with the specific details). =
=20
Once again, I=E2=80=99m moved beyond words.=20

from thinking myself a solitary leaf fluttering in the wind,=20

I=E2=80=99m now picturing roots.=20

Thank you >from the bottom of my heart. =E2=80=9C=20

And then days later, as more was revealed, she added:

=E2=80=9COh, my G/d, this is beyond my wildest expectation.=20
I=E2=80=99m in an emotional tailspin. Do you know how I feel=20
going >from nothing to discovering that I can actually=20
be rooted to a living tree? This is earthshaking for me.=E2=80=9D
=20
Five days ago, AF >from Massachusetts wrote:

=E2=80=9CI simply cannot thank you enough for making this=20
unbelievable treasure trove of information available=20
to me and my family.=E2=80=9D

To add to these meaningful messages, in the last few weeks when
making their year-end donations, many of you have sent separate
emails to let us know how important JRI-Poland has been to your=20
research and for some, reminding us as to how in the past=20
JRI-Poland has resulted in life-changing discoveries.=20

As I wrote at the very end of last year, =E2=80=9Cno matter how often we
receive such notes of appreciation, I know I speak for the entire
JRI-Poland leadership when I say we are always touched to know
that we have made a difference.=E2=80=9D

To all of you who have generously supported us this month and=20
in the past, we thank you again. To researchers who have not yet=20
made a donation to JRI-Poland, please take a moment to consider=20
doing so before the year end. No donation is too small.=20

The JRI-Poland online donations page can be found at:=20
www.jri-poland.org/support.htm=20

Please note: Jewish Records Indexing - Poland is an independent=20
non-profit organization with its own administration, volunteers=20
and fundraising. As a courtesy to researchers, JRI-Poland allows
its data search results to be displayed on JewishGen's All=20
Poland Database.

Best wishes for 2020 to all our friends. May it be a year of=20
health for you and your families and continued success in=20
all your endeavors.

Stanley Diamond, M.S.M.
Executive Director
On behalf of the Board of JRI-Poland =20

Dear friends of JRI-Poland:

As the festival of Chanukah is around the corner and we approach the end of=
the secular year, JRI-Poland reflects on the researchers who have recogniz=
ed the invaluable role we play and in so doing, have generously supported o=
ur programs and initiatives.

This year -- more than ever -- we need the support of each and every resear=
cher who utilizes the JRI-Poland website and database...sometimes making li=
fe-changing discoveries along the way.=20

And so, when making your year-end contributions, we ask you to recognize ho=
w we have made a difference for you, your family and countless others and g=
ive serious consideration to the three ways in which your support can be so=
vital to helping JRI-Poland build our database, enhance our initiatives an=
d make our efforts to benefit you even more meaningful.=20

Here is how you can make a difference.

1) Contribute to a Town Project

There is more to do for almost every town in our database, including adding=
more years and supplementing existing indices with additional information.=
Donations of every size are needed to keep each town project moving forwar=
d. Please contact the Town Leaders or Archive Coordinators for your towns t=
o find out what additional indexing or records extraction needs to be done =
or write to questions@.... Please give generously to these worth=
while projects.

2) Give a Gift to our Next Generation Project

JRI-Poland=E2=80=99s ambitious Next Generation project will make our databa=
se even more valuable for researchers in the future. It will also ensure th=
at future leadership will have the tools to best help the research communit=
y. The 'Next Gen' Project requires significant donations. It entails the fi=
rst overhaul haul of our database and website in 25 years. It is our commit=
ment to bring you the optimum ways to access and analyze the information yo=
u need to build your family tree and retrieve the names of your previously =
unknown ancestors and lost relatives.

For more information about Next Gen, please write to nextgen@...=
. Read more at: http://www.jri-poland.org/NextGeneration.pdf

3) Help Strengthen our General Fund

Those of you who know me and my colleagues are surely aware how we have lab=
ored tirelessly to make JRI-Poland what it is, the home of the =E2=80=98lar=
gest collection of Jewish vital records online.=E2=80=99 But, we volunteer=
s can only accomplish so much. As JRI-Poland has grown over the years, we'=
ve experienced increasing Technical and Accounting & Auditing needs that re=
quire professional resources, and since we are a completely independent org=
anization that has never/never charged a membership fee, we need to strengt=
hen our General Fund that supports our underlying structure

No donation is too small and every donation is greatly appreciated! You can=
donate online at: www.jri-poland.org/support.htm

When donating by credit card, under "Town Name' please write in which town =
you wish to support, or under Allocation of Your Contribution, choose 'Next=
Generation Project' or "General Fund" depending on your intention.

Remember, we now also provide a facility to make recurring donations. Small=
donations >from you each month add up and can make a large difference to us=
.

Finally, JRI-Poland has been the recipient of a number of bequests >from res=
earchers remembering our organization in their estate planning. These beque=
sts have given us the flexibility in the past to invest in new indexing/ext=
ractions projects. We hope that those of you who are in position to do so w=
ill consider supporting the JRI-Poland legacy with a bequest of your own.

Note: JRI-Poland is an independent non-profit organization, a registered 50=
1(c)(3) in the United States, with its own administration, volunteers and f=
undraising. As a courtesy to researchers, JRI-Poland enables its data searc=
h results to be displayed on JewishGen's All Poland Database.

Wishing each and every one a healthy and joyous Chanukah.

Stanley Diamond
Executive Director, JRI-Poland.org
On behalf of the board of JRI-Poland=20

Register Now for JewishGen Class January 3 to January 24, 2020

Research Your Roots using JewishGen is designed for researchers who
want to become more efficient in using the JewishGen website.

If you want to learn to use all the JewishGen databases and JewishGen
communication facilities this class is for you.

This three-week, mentored course is designed to match JewishGen
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This is he's grave:
https://he.billiongraves.com/grave/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%96%D7%A0%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%95%D7%99%D7%99%D7%92/25245613

This it the grave:
https://he.billiongraves.com/grave/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%99%D7%A8-%D7%A8%D7%95%D7%96%D7%A0%D7%A6%D7%95%D7%95%D7%99%D7%99%D7%92/25245613

I am interested to hear from people who travelled by train from Novosibirsk [or eastern Russia] to Poland or Germany immediately after WWII.  Conditions on the trains, what food was provided for families, how long the trip might have taken, routes, etc.   Perhaps 750,000 Jewish Poles were given 'free passage' 1945-1947 to return to their homes, as well as thousands of displaced Germans, and Russian soldiers who were sent to Siberian hospitals.  Surely there are accounts 'out there' to aid my research?

TIA,
Shirley Ginzburg

seeking:BOCKSER, SHLUGER [Shepetovka area], DALMATOV/SKY [Minsk Gubernia]

Dear Zora,
From your ethnicity breakdown it is apparent your birth father was Jewish. Since your mother was African American, it should be easy for you to sort out your maternal and paternal dna matches. You’ll need to determine your highest paternal match and from there your research will begin.
Might I suggest that before you reach out and contact any of your matches, that you join the Facebook group called DNA Detectives.
All Best,
Lisa Brahin Weinblatt

Hi Dave, 

Thanks for your interesting post.  Being Jewish is just like everything else in life: complicated.  Names can mislead.  Family stories can mislead.  I know of mixed marriages where the non-Jewish partners, converted or not, have more respect for Judaism than some born Jewish.  We cannot all live in Israel or Crown Heights and insulate ourselves from the non-Jewish world so we make certain accommodations to our own realities.  Does that make us any less Jewish?

DNA.  The data are often pretty convincing.  Endogamy is when things get messy.  When you say you may be cousins of your sisters-in-law, coming up a third or more degree cousin probably means you can add a few more degrees to the relationship.  From a Halachic standpoint, you are probably safe.  Any way, they are sisters-in-law and not a wife.

In Zora's case, I would bet that the ethnicity estimate is right.  She came up 51% European Jewish.  That is possible when one parent is 100% the same.  Unless someone knows otherwise, not a lot of wiggle room there.  Let us all hope Zora finds the answers she is looking for.

I hope you stay safe from the fires.
Bob

Hi David,
I noticed you asked about "Ekaterinburg (Gatrinslove (sp), or Yekaterinoslav)."  I do believe that Ekaterinburg is an entirely different place than Ekaterinoslav.

Also, just FYI, in 2015 or 2016, since you seem to be keeping track of this stuff, Dnep... changed its name to "Dnipro."  Apparently the Petrovsk of "Dnepropetrovsk" was some communist hotshot back in the day, and the city wanted to divest from that relationship completely.  It probably didn't hurt that Dnipro is a whole lot easier to say and spell.... :-)

Your signature block includes Berlins in Detroit - Any links to Henkin?  Were they, by any chance, from Belarus (Mogilev)?

Happy New Year!

Hilary Henkin

My grandfather changed his name officially In Brooklyn about 1925 Where can I get proof for this
Thanks
Cal Ennis