Jourcnahl orf thoe Jenwisihc Gelneealos gical Society of Greater Philadelphia דברי הימים Chronicles - Volume 33-4 Winter 2016 - 2017 Journal of the Jewicsh Ghenrealogicnal iSoccieltye ofs Greater Philadelphia JGSGP Membership Editorial Board Membership dues and contributions are tax-deductible Editor - Evan Fishman - editor@ jgsgp. org to the full extent of the law. Please make checks Graphics & Design - Ed Flax - ejflax@ gmail.com payable to JGSGP and mail to the address below. Associate Editors: Please include your email address and zip+4 / postal Felicia Mode Alexander - fmode@ verizon.net code address. Elaine Ellison - ekellison@ navpoint.com Annual Dues (January 1 - Dec. 31) Marge Farbman - margefarb@ aol.com Individual............................................................. $25 Stewart Feinberg - stewfein@ gmail.com Family of two, per household...............................$35 Ann Kauffman - kauffmanj982@ aol.com Membership Applications / Renewals and Payments Cindy Meyer - cfrogs@ aol.com to: JGSGP • 1657 The Fairway, #145 Officers Jenkintown, PA 19046 President: Fred Blum president@ jgsgp. org Questions about membership status should be Vice President - Programs: directed to membership@ jgsgp. org Mark Halpern - programs@ jgsgp. org Vice President - Membership: Editorial Contributions Susan Neidich - membership@ jgsgp. org Submission of articles on genealogy for publication in Vice President: chronicles is enthusiastically encouraged. The Walter Spector - educonser@ comcast.net editorial board reserves the right to decide whether to Treasurer: publish an article and to edit all submissions. Please Barry Wagner - barryswagner@ comcast.net keep a copy of your material. Anything you want re - turned should be accompanied by a self-addressed Immediate Past President: stamped envelope. Mark Halpern - mark@ halpern.com Trustee: Joel Spector - jlspector@ aol.com While email and other electronic files are highly pre - Trustee: Harry D. Boonin - harryboonin@ gmail.com ferred, the editors will be happy to work with you and Committee Chairs your material in any form. If you have an idea, please Hospitality: Judy Becker - jbecker209@ gmail.com contact Evan Fishman of the Editorial Board by email: New Member Orientation editor@ jgsgp. org or by phone at 856-667-2077. Lois Sernoff - jglois@ verizon.net Subscriptions - Address Change Publicity: Jack Weinstein - jwtv@ juno.com chronicles (ISSN 0893-2921) is the quarterly Russian Special Interest Group publication of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater David Brill - brilldr@ comcast.net Philadelphia. It is free to JGSGP members and to JGS’s South Jersey Affiliate: in the newsletter courtesy-exchange program. Printed and Bernard Cedar - [email protected] mailed back issues are available at $4.00 each in the US Speakers Bureau: and $7.00 outside the US. Chronicles is published quar - Shelda & Stan Sandler - stanshel@ msn.com terly and distributed electronically in PDF format. Please Webmaster: supply the Vice President - Membership with your up - Jim Meyer - webmaster@ jgsgp. org dated email address to ensure on-time delivery. e m a F f o l l a H s t r o p S h s i w e J l a n o i t a n r e t n I e h t f o r e Copyright © 2017 All Rights Reserved. b - m e m d n a r e x o b t h g i e w t h g i l , r e l d n e T w e L n a h t r e h t o e n o n s i e No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or H transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, photocopying, recording : r e w s n a 2 1 # z i u or otherwise without the prior written permission of The Jewish Genealogical Q Society of Greater Philadelphia. http:// www. jgsp. org/ Chronicles - Volume 33-4 Winter 2016 - 2017 2 Table of Contents Reflections from Commentary Your Chronicles Team 2 JGSGP Contact Information 3 Reflections from Your Chronicles Team achel was the mother of a close 5 Welcome to New Members friend of my brother and sister-in- 6 President’s Message law’s. I attended her burial during Reminiscing the week before Thanksgiving. She was 6 Bacon Fat & Ration Books R Harry D. Boonin ninety-five years and nine months young and Visit to Ancestral Town was survived by a loving son and daughter, 8 My Trip to Nemesszalok their respective spouses, five grandchildren, Donald Wittenberg and three great grandchildren. Over the years I saw Rachel Tips, Techniques & Tools when I attended services at my brother and sister-in-law’s 10 Mystery Soved - How Jerry B. and I Are Related shul (synagogue) and had the pleasure of walking home with Evan Fishman her. She was a spunky, vibrant, engaging woman who 12 The 1924 New York City List of Registered Voters clearly enjoyed the company of anyone who was in her James Gross 14 My Family Books - The Purpose They Serve and the orbit. Satisfaction They Provide Merle Kastner Although she lived in Baltimore, Rachel was buried in a 16 New York, Southern District, U.S. District Court cemetery in central New Jersey, alongside her husband and Naturalization Records her parents, near the town where she grew up. That fact itself JGS of Brooklyn provides some insight into her life. Many Jews visit the 20 Foster Home Admission (and Discharge) Registers graves of their loved ones during the High Holiday season, Temple University Libraries (SCRC) and every year Rachel and her family followed suit, travel - Discoveries 21 How I Found My Birth Family (The Hard Way) ing from Maryland to central Jersey and back. Prior to the Internet Carol Robins This annual pilgrimage began in 1996 when Rachel’s 25 Searching for Carrie Fisher & Other Celebrities beloved husband’s gravestone was unveiled. As family ma - Evan Fishman triarch she spearheaded what became a very meaningful Brick Wall gathering. In addition to the above family members, various 26 Same Surnames, Towns & Journey - But No Connection cousins and friends were also in attendance. Each year Renée Fishman Rachel created a special memorial booklet with cover art Miscellaneous 27 What’s in a Name? that she designed. She selected a theme, found readings that Gregory Uzelac reflected that theme, and assigned specific passages for fam - 29 A Last Look at Seattle ily members to read aloud. During the “service,” Rachel Meeting Summaries would stand under the large tree behind the family head - 30 October Meeting Summary stone, which she used as a lectern, and delivered her Linda Ewall-Krocker thoughts and message. Then she’d call upon each designated 31 November Meeting Summary attendee to read his/her assigned passage. They would con - Marilyn Mazer Golden clude by reciting the kaddish [a hymn of praises to G-d, 32 December Meeting Summary Linda Ewall-Krocker which magnifies and sanctifies G-d ‘s name] and, as is the 34 JGSGP Quiz #12 - David Brill Jewish custom, gather stones to place on the various graves, 34 JGSGP Speakers Bureau all the while sharing stories about the deceased family mem - 35 2017 Membership Application & Renewal bers. 36 JGSGP Calendar & Reminders Cover Photo: Courtesy Merle Kastner. See article on p. 14. While this annual visit entailed twelve hours from start to finish, including three and a half hours of driving each way, 3 Chronicles - Volume 33-4 Winter 2016 - 2017 thirty minutes or so at the cemetery, and lunch with the family, nobody ever complained because they knew how important it was to Rachel, and everyone instinctively realized this tradi - tion served to bind them as a family. I was intrigued by the presence of Rachel’s three, very young, great grandchildren at the burial. Her daughter explained that death is part of life, and it was ridiculous to shield these chil - dren from that reality. I thoroughly agreed with that philoso - phy which contrasted with my upbringing when I was excluded from family funerals until I was eighteen, when I at - Selection from Rachel’s 1996 Memorial Book tended my maternal grandmother’s unveiling. (I was in Israel when she died the year before). Jewish law requires that the grave must be filled at the time of burial and the casket fully covered with earth. When Rachel’s great grandsons, aged seven and five, shoveled some dirt onto their great grandmother’s coffin, I muttered to myself that this simple act demonstrated the concept of “from generation to generation.” These two young boys will always remember saying “good-bye” to their “G-ma” with whom they definitely had a relationship. She was the one who encouraged their musical interests by exposing them to their first taste of opera. I’m sure they were aware of the graves of other family members—their great grandfather and their great great grandparents (their “G-ma’s” parents). I imagine Rachel talked to these young boys about them, and in their own way they developed a sense of family history, legacy, and continuity. She organically transmitted her family’s history in the most direct fashion, which probably was how many (if not all) of us initially developed our own interests in genealogy. Serendipitously I recently discovered a PBS series entitled Our American Family. The particular episode I watched show - cased the Mays, a Jewish family with roots in Hoechst, Germany (near Frankfurt) who ultimately settled in Nashville, Tennessee and established a major hosiery manufacturing company that continued for several generations. Various mem - bers of the family shared their stories and perspectives on the earlier generations that had lived in Germany and then im - migrated to the U.S., settling for a period in Laconia, New Hampshire, and then in Nashville. The family was instrumental in rescuing over 200 Jews from Nazi Germany. The tenor of the conver - sation during the program was quiet, informative, and without fanfare.