It might also have been William. I know someone born and living in France named William rather than the French equivalent Gillaume. In many countries English has the same prestige that French has or h

#names #austria-czech

My father was born in Tomashpol, Ukraine in 1885 but when he was 3 years old his parents moved 200 kilometers away to Kishinev, Bessarabia, presumably by train, in what is now Moldava. He was saved in

#belarus #lithuania

A cohen who marries a convert does not lose his cohen status but his male children are "damaged" cohanim (Hebrew plural of cohen). In Hebrew the status is known as a "cohen khalal". He cannot stand wi

#translation #general

My parents were married in Detroit in 1931 in my mother's older brother's home (my parents were both orphans) on a Friday afternoon. In 192_ my wife's paternal uncle was married in his father's home i

#unitedkingdom

Our ancestors used the mostly lunar Jewish calendar - the "week before Pesach" is a good example. My mother was born on Hoshana Rabba (the seventh day of the holiday of Sukkot/Sukkos). But when she wa

#general

Good luck on your search. The documents may also show whether you are Jewish by Jewish law (halacha), regardless of whether she renounced Israeli citizenship. According to Jewish law you are Jewish if

#israel #general

How do you know that you had Israeli citizenship? If your parent/s was/were Israeli citizens at the time of your birth, you are automatically an Israeli citizen and your ID appears on your Israeli bir

#israel #general

My father was an only son (he had two sisters) and therefore was entitled to a draft exemption . However, in 1905 when he was 20 his divorced/abandoned (?) mother suddenly died and he lost his exempti

#russia #general

As far as I know, the Spanish law giving descendants of Spanish Jews citizenship also demands that they prove a connection to Spanish culture, for example speaking Spanish (or Judeo-Spanish) or some o

#sephardic

None of my immediate relatives were born in the US so I cannot comment directly. But on the early 20th century census form of my uncle (whose skin color was light brown) his "race" (sic) was listed as

#records

Weddings are not usually performed in synagogues. My European-born parents were married in America, in the early 1930's, in my mother's brother's living room, on a Friday afternoon. My wife's grandpar

#lithuania #warsaw #general #hungary

I was named Idel Berl in Yiddish after both my grandmothers - Esther and Basya. Idel and Esther both begin with an aleph in Yiddish. When I became bar-mitzvah my Cheider teacher said that Idel was act

#names

There is a Hebrew name pronounced Catriel in modern Hebrew and Cosriel [Kosriel] in Ashekenzic Hebrew. Kos could be a nickname for Cosriel. If you know where he is buried, you might be able to see if

#poland #names

I think you mean records of Jewish conversion to Catholicism, not of conversion to Judaism. And if your grandfather adopted an orphaned Jewish child (for example, a baby orphaned in the wake of a pogr

#dna #poland #galicia

Have you searched for baptismal records of your mother in her town of birth? It seems unlikely that before the Second World War Jewish parents would have given up their child for adoption to non-Jews.

#dna #poland #galicia

There is the official name, the one on all the documents, there is the Jewish name, the one their parents gave them and used to be called up to the torah if male and on their ketuba (aka kesiba) [=Jew

#ukraine #yiddish #russia #names

In 1925 my 21 year-old mother, Zelda (Zena) ECHTMAN, came from Odessa (then Russia, now Ukraine) to her brother in Detroit (who spelled his name ACHTMAN). She then worked for a year in New York, while

#russia #usa

I don't know the translation charge from Polish to English but I should imagine that a lot depends on how long it takes to translate a page, and what the cost of living is in a given country. I'm a se

#translation

As far as I know, in Jewish law it is forbidden to name a child after a living parent because it violates the Fourth Commandment, to honor your parents - somebody might mix up a child with their paren

#general

The word is "napach" and it means tinsmith, someone who works with metal (sheet metal worker)