Hello all,
I am interested in hiring a private researcher in Poland.
I would be interested in hearing >from you regarding any experiences that you
had with a private researcher,as well as,recommendations.
I would be grateful for your assistance.
Please respond privately.

Gary Gershfield
New York

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Just a reminder that -- as Gary has requested -- all
references or recommendations about private researchers must be sent
privately.

Hello all,
I am interested in hiring a private researcher in Poland.
I would be interested in hearing >from you regarding any experiences that you
had with a private researcher,as well as,recommendations.
I would be grateful for your assistance.
Please respond privately.

Gary Gershfield
New York

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Just a reminder that -- as Gary has requested -- all
references or recommendations about private researchers must be sent
privately.

I have a Polish document >from the 1940s
which is too large for Viewmate (two pages of
typewritten text). Is there a researcher who would be
able to translate it for me please. I can either send
it by snail mail or by e-mail.

My e-mail address is obrienguk@...

With thanks,

Patricia O'Brien

London UK & Sydney, Australia

Researching: ZYLBERBERG, FISHMAN, MERDER, SINGER from
SANDOMIERZ.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Please respond privately.

I have a Polish document >from the 1940s
which is too large for Viewmate (two pages of
typewritten text). Is there a researcher who would be
able to translate it for me please. I can either send
it by snail mail or by e-mail.

My e-mail address is obrienguk@...

With thanks,

Patricia O'Brien

London UK & Sydney, Australia

Researching: ZYLBERBERG, FISHMAN, MERDER, SINGER from
SANDOMIERZ.

MODERATOR'S NOTE: Please respond privately.

re Subject: Yizkor Book Project August 2007 report
From: Joyce Field <jfield@...>
Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 12:25:56 -0400

I checked a few names on the database <http://www.jewishgen.org/
databases/yizkor/> for the town of Dzialoszyce and must alert
researchers that the names are not spelled the same way they appeared
in actual documents in Poland, as seen in the JRI-Poland database.
Instead, the names seem to be a transliteration >from Hebrew or
Yiddish. Thus Wdowinski appears as Vedovinsky, and Kolatacz appears
as Koltatz.

By all means, use the soundex search and not the exact spelling search.

Fay Bussgang
Lexington, MA

re Subject: Yizkor Book Project August 2007 report
From: Joyce Field <jfield@...>
Date: Sat, 1 Sep 2007 12:25:56 -0400

I checked a few names on the database <http://www.jewishgen.org/
databases/yizkor/> for the town of Dzialoszyce and must alert
researchers that the names are not spelled the same way they appeared
in actual documents in Poland, as seen in the JRI-Poland database.
Instead, the names seem to be a transliteration >from Hebrew or
Yiddish. Thus Wdowinski appears as Vedovinsky, and Kolatacz appears
as Koltatz.

By all means, use the soundex search and not the exact spelling search.

Fay Bussgang
Lexington, MA

Sorry - but your premise is in error!

When passengers left their home port , they were given ID tags which they
wore around their necks.
Upon arrival, their names were copied >from these tags by Immigration
officials.
Most errors were made later, in transliteration of Immigration Arrival and
Passenger documents by volunteers.

My Grandmother's name was actually Soulia, so your Sara may have, in fact,
been Sure.

"The if, when, and how of immigrant name-changing on ship passenger lists is
a matter of unending controversy. But there were simple rules." [as noted in
various info-files in JewishGen]

Sylvia
Sylvia Furshman Nusinov
President Emerita
JGSPBCI, FL
USA
Searching:
ABELMAN, ARONSON, DOROGOI, FRUCHT/FURSHMAN, FURSTMAN, GORDON, MELC,
SHEINKEROVICH, SHIMENOVITZ, Kaunas,Vilnius, Moletai,Ukmerge, Lithuania
AVNER, AWNER,WECHSLER, EHRENPREIS,FRIEDHOFFER, Ukraine
NOUSSINOFF/NUSINOV, LENTOTCHNIK/LENT, Ukraine

Sorry - but your premise is in error!

When passengers left their home port , they were given ID tags which they
wore around their necks.
Upon arrival, their names were copied >from these tags by Immigration
officials.
Most errors were made later, in transliteration of Immigration Arrival and
Passenger documents by volunteers.

My Grandmother's name was actually Soulia, so your Sara may have, in fact,
been Sure.

"The if, when, and how of immigrant name-changing on ship passenger lists is
a matter of unending controversy. But there were simple rules." [as noted in
various info-files in JewishGen]

Sylvia
Sylvia Furshman Nusinov
President Emerita
JGSPBCI, FL
USA
Searching:
ABELMAN, ARONSON, DOROGOI, FRUCHT/FURSHMAN, FURSTMAN, GORDON, MELC,
SHEINKEROVICH, SHIMENOVITZ, Kaunas,Vilnius, Moletai,Ukmerge, Lithuania
AVNER, AWNER,WECHSLER, EHRENPREIS,FRIEDHOFFER, Ukraine
NOUSSINOFF/NUSINOV, LENTOTCHNIK/LENT, Ukraine

Following are some remarks that may be helpful to people seeking name
equivalents.
1. Some people post questions regarding a "Hebrew" name. Not all "old
country" names, or names that are considered Jewish, are Hebrew names. Some
are in Yiddish or in other languages. That means that knowing a person's new
name [for example LOUIS] and old name [LEIB] is not always enough. That
person may appear in some documents as ARYEH, that being his Hebrew name.
2. Sometimes the name change upon immigration is slight . It involves using
the English [or Spanish] version of the original biblical name. If Yosele
was called Joe in the U.S., he still retained his original name
YOSEF=JOSEPH. Other examples: Hannah, Anna and Anne are all versions of
the biblical Khana; Samuel=Shmuel; Moses= Moshe; Rebbeca = Rivka.
3. Some changes involve a translation , or a near translation, of the
meaning of the original name. For examle: Vivian / Chayim ["life] , or
Theodore / Nethanel [="God given"].
4. Many [most?] name changes involve choosing a totally new name, one that
starts as the old one . Morris is common for Moshe, but it is not an
"official" equivalent. The same is true for adopting the name Rose for
Rachel, or Isidore or Irving for Yitzkhak [ Isaac]. This is especially
common when naming a baby after someone. Often the original name is not
used, either because the parents don't like it or because they don't want
the baby to have it for emotional reasons.
5. In a few cases an old Hebrew name was changed to another Hebrew name.
Examples in my family are Shevakh who became Sam and Nakhum who became
Nathan. In both cases the Hebrew letter KHET in the original could not be
pronounced in English. This kind of change means that even if people had
Hebrew names in America, you cannot always assume these were their original
names.

Tamar Dothan
Jerusalem, Israel

Following are some remarks that may be helpful to people seeking name
equivalents.
1. Some people post questions regarding a "Hebrew" name. Not all "old
country" names, or names that are considered Jewish, are Hebrew names. Some
are in Yiddish or in other languages. That means that knowing a person's new
name [for example LOUIS] and old name [LEIB] is not always enough. That
person may appear in some documents as ARYEH, that being his Hebrew name.
2. Sometimes the name change upon immigration is slight . It involves using
the English [or Spanish] version of the original biblical name. If Yosele
was called Joe in the U.S., he still retained his original name
YOSEF=JOSEPH. Other examples: Hannah, Anna and Anne are all versions of
the biblical Khana; Samuel=Shmuel; Moses= Moshe; Rebbeca = Rivka.
3. Some changes involve a translation , or a near translation, of the
meaning of the original name. For examle: Vivian / Chayim ["life] , or
Theodore / Nethanel [="God given"].
4. Many [most?] name changes involve choosing a totally new name, one that
starts as the old one . Morris is common for Moshe, but it is not an
"official" equivalent. The same is true for adopting the name Rose for
Rachel, or Isidore or Irving for Yitzkhak [ Isaac]. This is especially
common when naming a baby after someone. Often the original name is not
used, either because the parents don't like it or because they don't want
the baby to have it for emotional reasons.
5. In a few cases an old Hebrew name was changed to another Hebrew name.
Examples in my family are Shevakh who became Sam and Nakhum who became
Nathan. In both cases the Hebrew letter KHET in the original could not be
pronounced in English. This kind of change means that even if people had
Hebrew names in America, you cannot always assume these were their original
names.

Tamar Dothan
Jerusalem, Israel

On 2007.08.29, I wrote:

Rabbi Meir of Premishlan's surname is absent in all rabbinical
genealogical sources I have read. Some imply he had none, others,
that it was LAUFER / LEIFER.

Recently, I came across two pieces of evidence in quick succession,
one >from JRI-PL, one >from a facsimile of what I believe is an
unpublished letter by Rabbi Meir himself.

In case I have merely rediscovered a known fact, I will allow anyone
with pertinent knowledge to come forth and present it to the group.
Otherwise, I will present my discovery in detail.

My discovery will probably be news to most, as I only received one
reply close to the true answer.

1. >from the JRI-Poland database:
Meniche KOPPEL, born REDLICH, died 1899, 61 years old, in Kolomyya,
daughter of Chaim Abraham REDLICH and Chane, born MOHR, of
Mikolajow.

This record obviously refers to Rabbi Chaim Avraham REDLICH of
Mikolajow, son-in-law of Rabbi Meir'l of Premishlan, who married the
latter's daughter Chane. Her maiden name is given as MOHR.

2. A letter by Rabbi Meir'l, signed, following the usual elaborate
rabbinic signature (Meir son of the departed saintly etc.): "Meir
M-A-H-I-R, Shlomtze M-A-H-I-R"

It is clear that the spelling MAHIR should be read MOHR. The 'H' is
probably in imitation of German spelling and the 'I', the Galician
Yiddish pronunciation, roughly "Mower" (the name MOHR is frequently
spelled in records MAUER, perhaps for the same reason).

There are countless other examples where the JRI-Poland database is
useful for rabbinic genealogy, and I hope my case will teach others
to use this valuable resource.

P. Y. Mund

I've been reading the comments on Chaya with interest. My mother, Irene, is
also a Chaya. My mother had an aunt Ida who came to the US with the Hebrew
name of Chaya. I am named Vivian and my Hebrew name is Chava. I and many
other cousins (Eva, Evie, Evelyn, etc.) were named after the mother of Ida,
my great grandmother named Eva or Chava. (Another GGG was an Eva also but
her Hebrew equivalent was Chane).

In reading the recent comments, it now seems that my mother and I have the
same root Hebrew name relating to the English, "life." It may well be that
the mother of my GGG might have also been a Chava and that my mother was
named after her. We always thought that Chaya meant "animal" as my mother
was often referred to in Yiddish as "vilda chaya" or "wild animal."

Vivian LINDERMAN
Searching: LINDERMAN-PLOTINSKY-MARGOLOFF (Stavisht, Ukraine);
POSMANICK-KUDLER (Mykolaiv or Odessa, Ukraine); JAFFE-LAFFER/LAPPER
(Anixsht, Lithuania)

Leslie Beaudry posted as follows:

My Grandfather's sister-in-law came over on a ship >from Odessa (via
England) in 1912.
Her name was Rebecca, but the ship manifest listed her as Broche. I've
seen this name for other passengers. Does anyone know what it means?

It is possible that the name on the manifest was actually Brokhe, where the
two letters "kh" together have the same sound as the Hebrew letter
"chet". Some people transliterate this Yiddish name into English as
"Broche". If that is so, then the name is related to the Hebrew name
"Bracha", which means "prayer". This Yiddish version of the Hebrew given
name was in fact quite common in Ukraine.

These and other given names related to the Hebrew name Bracha can be found
by visiting the JewishGen Given Names Data Bases web site at:

< http://www.jewishgen.ord/databases/GivenNames/ >

and using Global Text Search to seek words related to "Brakha". It is
possible that she also used one or more of these other names, and that they
would be found in archival documents.

Professor G. L. Esterson, Ra'anana, Israel

--
Professor G. L. Esterson, Ra'anana, Israel
jerry@...

On 2007.08.29, I wrote:

Rabbi Meir of Premishlan's surname is absent in all rabbinical
genealogical sources I have read. Some imply he had none, others,
that it was LAUFER / LEIFER.

Recently, I came across two pieces of evidence in quick succession,
one >from JRI-PL, one >from a facsimile of what I believe is an
unpublished letter by Rabbi Meir himself.

In case I have merely rediscovered a known fact, I will allow anyone
with pertinent knowledge to come forth and present it to the group.
Otherwise, I will present my discovery in detail.

My discovery will probably be news to most, as I only received one
reply close to the true answer.

1. >from the JRI-Poland database:
Meniche KOPPEL, born REDLICH, died 1899, 61 years old, in Kolomyya,
daughter of Chaim Abraham REDLICH and Chane, born MOHR, of
Mikolajow.

This record obviously refers to Rabbi Chaim Avraham REDLICH of
Mikolajow, son-in-law of Rabbi Meir'l of Premishlan, who married the
latter's daughter Chane. Her maiden name is given as MOHR.

2. A letter by Rabbi Meir'l, signed, following the usual elaborate
rabbinic signature (Meir son of the departed saintly etc.): "Meir
M-A-H-I-R, Shlomtze M-A-H-I-R"

It is clear that the spelling MAHIR should be read MOHR. The 'H' is
probably in imitation of German spelling and the 'I', the Galician
Yiddish pronunciation, roughly "Mower" (the name MOHR is frequently
spelled in records MAUER, perhaps for the same reason).

There are countless other examples where the JRI-Poland database is
useful for rabbinic genealogy, and I hope my case will teach others
to use this valuable resource.

P. Y. Mund

I've been reading the comments on Chaya with interest. My mother, Irene, is
also a Chaya. My mother had an aunt Ida who came to the US with the Hebrew
name of Chaya. I am named Vivian and my Hebrew name is Chava. I and many
other cousins (Eva, Evie, Evelyn, etc.) were named after the mother of Ida,
my great grandmother named Eva or Chava. (Another GGG was an Eva also but
her Hebrew equivalent was Chane).

In reading the recent comments, it now seems that my mother and I have the
same root Hebrew name relating to the English, "life." It may well be that
the mother of my GGG might have also been a Chava and that my mother was
named after her. We always thought that Chaya meant "animal" as my mother
was often referred to in Yiddish as "vilda chaya" or "wild animal."

Vivian LINDERMAN
Searching: LINDERMAN-PLOTINSKY-MARGOLOFF (Stavisht, Ukraine);
POSMANICK-KUDLER (Mykolaiv or Odessa, Ukraine); JAFFE-LAFFER/LAPPER
(Anixsht, Lithuania)

Leslie Beaudry posted as follows:

My Grandfather's sister-in-law came over on a ship >from Odessa (via
England) in 1912.
Her name was Rebecca, but the ship manifest listed her as Broche. I've
seen this name for other passengers. Does anyone know what it means?

It is possible that the name on the manifest was actually Brokhe, where the
two letters "kh" together have the same sound as the Hebrew letter
"chet". Some people transliterate this Yiddish name into English as
"Broche". If that is so, then the name is related to the Hebrew name
"Bracha", which means "prayer". This Yiddish version of the Hebrew given
name was in fact quite common in Ukraine.

These and other given names related to the Hebrew name Bracha can be found
by visiting the JewishGen Given Names Data Bases web site at:

< http://www.jewishgen.ord/databases/GivenNames/ >

and using Global Text Search to seek words related to "Brakha". It is
possible that she also used one or more of these other names, and that they
would be found in archival documents.

Professor G. L. Esterson, Ra'anana, Israel

--
Professor G. L. Esterson, Ra'anana, Israel
jerry@...

Dear Genners,

In our previous discussion with Roger Lustig, we have been trying to
establish number of the Ashkenazim's that have returned to the West
following Chmielnicki massacre in Ukraine in 1648.
Unfortunately, there was known no me source available during our discussion
as to the returning numbers, also as know that it was not small at all.

As the dust of the discussion has settled down, I have found the source that
actually confirms my observation that the number of Jews returning or
repopulating West was large indeed.

This source is Cecil Roth " Life of Mansseh ben Israel", London 1934.

For the Genners, unfamiliar with Mannaseh ben Israel (1604-1657) - he was a
distinguished Jewish scholar >from Amsterdam, born as "marrano" in Madeira
and baptized as Manoel Dias Soeiro. His family after escape >from Spain have
settled in Netherlands, where they have resumed their Jewish identity.

Some of the Mannaseh works written for the Christian readers are known as
the presentation of a favorable image of Judaism to the gentile world and
winning the acceptance.

Mananseh ben Israel has demonstrated that Christianity and Judaism had more
in common than the most supposed, and he achieved a high reputation amongst
the Christian fundamentalists. One can actually notice that the seeds
planted by this great scholar were carried by the Protestants immigrating
to the New World, and by today's supports of Israel and the Jewish cause by
their offspring's.

Even the consideration of using Hebrew as the instruction language in the
earliest US universities demonstrates effectiveness of Menasseh ben Israel
contribution.

There is another aspect of Mannaseh enormous contribution to the Jewry- with
his publications: "An Apology for the Honourable Nation of the Jews" written
in 1648-9 and the "Hope of Israel" (1650), he has started campaign for
readmission Jews to England that have been expelled >from the country in
1290.

I'd like to point your attention that the both works by Manasseh and his
petition to Cromwell for readmission Jews to England have taken place
immediately after the massacres of Jews by the Cossacks.

As the first refugees >from the 1648 massacres began to reach western Europe,
Mannaseh and other Amsterdam Sephardim Jews feared the consequences for the
community of a large influx of distressed Ashkenazim, since their own
position in Holland was ambiguous

Cecil Roth writes in his book that in Hamburg the arrival of large number of
Ashkenazim led to the temporary expulsion of all Jews in 1649. I was not
previously aware of the Hamburg's expulsion, and it certainly contributes to
my earlier observations that the number of the Ashkenazi refugees >from the
East has been large indeed.

Ashkenazi refugees were admitted to England thanks to the Mannaseh campaign
where their arrival arose discrimination amongst the members of the dominant
Sephardi element still felt insecure and deplored any influx of poor
Ashkenazim, especially if the community had to support them. But this is
another story.

Alexander Sharon
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Dear Genners,

In our previous discussion with Roger Lustig, we have been trying to
establish number of the Ashkenazim's that have returned to the West
following Chmielnicki massacre in Ukraine in 1648.
Unfortunately, there was known no me source available during our discussion
as to the returning numbers, also as know that it was not small at all.

As the dust of the discussion has settled down, I have found the source that
actually confirms my observation that the number of Jews returning or
repopulating West was large indeed.

This source is Cecil Roth " Life of Mansseh ben Israel", London 1934.

For the Genners, unfamiliar with Mannaseh ben Israel (1604-1657) - he was a
distinguished Jewish scholar >from Amsterdam, born as "marrano" in Madeira
and baptized as Manoel Dias Soeiro. His family after escape >from Spain have
settled in Netherlands, where they have resumed their Jewish identity.

Some of the Mannaseh works written for the Christian readers are known as
the presentation of a favorable image of Judaism to the gentile world and
winning the acceptance.

Mananseh ben Israel has demonstrated that Christianity and Judaism had more
in common than the most supposed, and he achieved a high reputation amongst
the Christian fundamentalists. One can actually notice that the seeds
planted by this great scholar were carried by the Protestants immigrating
to the New World, and by today's supports of Israel and the Jewish cause by
their offspring's.

Even the consideration of using Hebrew as the instruction language in the
earliest US universities demonstrates effectiveness of Menasseh ben Israel
contribution.

There is another aspect of Mannaseh enormous contribution to the Jewry- with
his publications: "An Apology for the Honourable Nation of the Jews" written
in 1648-9 and the "Hope of Israel" (1650), he has started campaign for
readmission Jews to England that have been expelled >from the country in
1290.

I'd like to point your attention that the both works by Manasseh and his
petition to Cromwell for readmission Jews to England have taken place
immediately after the massacres of Jews by the Cossacks.

As the first refugees >from the 1648 massacres began to reach western Europe,
Mannaseh and other Amsterdam Sephardim Jews feared the consequences for the
community of a large influx of distressed Ashkenazim, since their own
position in Holland was ambiguous

Cecil Roth writes in his book that in Hamburg the arrival of large number of
Ashkenazim led to the temporary expulsion of all Jews in 1649. I was not
previously aware of the Hamburg's expulsion, and it certainly contributes to
my earlier observations that the number of the Ashkenazi refugees >from the
East has been large indeed.

Ashkenazi refugees were admitted to England thanks to the Mannaseh campaign
where their arrival arose discrimination amongst the members of the dominant
Sephardi element still felt insecure and deplored any influx of poor
Ashkenazim, especially if the community had to support them. But this is
another story.

Alexander Sharon
Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Dear Scand-genners!

I have noticed that many have subscribed to this list recently
and I want to welcome all!

However, very few *USE* this list:
----------------------------------
1. Very few write about their research or ask for information
2. Almost none of the new subscribers write and introductory
message about the names and places they are researching.

In that way we are all sitting in a little hole without a
view to the greater world or research. If we want to help
each other and/or get in contact with others who are researching
the same areas or names we *must* communicate.

I have seen subscribers come and go without ever writing one
single message. And when I have contacted them some say that
there is no point in being subscribed to list where there is
nothing going on - that can't help them!

I know very well that the situation is different in some other
(large) mailing lists where there are several messages each day,
so you can just lean back and learn a lot >from just reading what
others write. But that is not the case when subscribed to small
mailing lists (or rather mailing lists for small areas).

Another thing: Even though you might have sent your "Intro" when
you subscribed, you should re-send it at intervals, because some
unsubscribe and new subscribers join the list. And very few use
the archive to see if anything has been written there of interest.

It would be advisable to search the archive
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~sigspop
to see if some messages
of interest are "hidden" there.

So send an introductory message about your research and let's get
this mailing list go live!

P.S.
I've sent a similar message >from time to time in order to
alert newcomers and remind old subscribers.

Best regards

Elsebeth Paikin, President
Jewish Genealogical Society of Denmark:
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgs-denmark/
&
SIG Coordinator and webmaster:
JewishGen's Scandinavia SIG
http://www.jewishgen.org/scandinavia/
mailto:elsebeth@...

Dear Scand-genners!

I have noticed that many have subscribed to this list recently
and I want to welcome all!

However, very few *USE* this list:
----------------------------------
1. Very few write about their research or ask for information
2. Almost none of the new subscribers write and introductory
message about the names and places they are researching.

In that way we are all sitting in a little hole without a
view to the greater world or research. If we want to help
each other and/or get in contact with others who are researching
the same areas or names we *must* communicate.

I have seen subscribers come and go without ever writing one
single message. And when I have contacted them some say that
there is no point in being subscribed to list where there is
nothing going on - that can't help them!

I know very well that the situation is different in some other
(large) mailing lists where there are several messages each day,
so you can just lean back and learn a lot >from just reading what
others write. But that is not the case when subscribed to small
mailing lists (or rather mailing lists for small areas).

Another thing: Even though you might have sent your "Intro" when
you subscribed, you should re-send it at intervals, because some
unsubscribe and new subscribers join the list. And very few use
the archive to see if anything has been written there of interest.

It would be advisable to search the archive
http://data.jewishgen.org/wconnect/wc.dll?jg~jgsys~sigspop
to see if some messages
of interest are "hidden" there.

So send an introductory message about your research and let's get
this mailing list go live!

P.S.
I've sent a similar message >from time to time in order to
alert newcomers and remind old subscribers.

Best regards

Elsebeth Paikin, President
Jewish Genealogical Society of Denmark:
http://www.jewishgen.org/jgs-denmark/
&
SIG Coordinator and webmaster:
JewishGen's Scandinavia SIG
http://www.jewishgen.org/scandinavia/
mailto:elsebeth@...