Author: elirab

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Australia Not Recognising West Jerusalem As The Capital Of Israel

From Norm and Barbara Miller – in the spirit and the footsteps of our great Australian upstander, Uncle William Cooper!
PRESS RELEASE RE AUSTRALIA NOT RECOGNISING WEST JERUSALEM AS THE CAPITAL OF ISRAEL
By Norman and Barbara Miller, Indigenous Friends of Israel
Jihadi Bob Carr has been pushing the terrorist organization Hamas’ position for some years. So now we have Penny Wong, Anthony Albanese, Tony Burke, and the ALP cabinet reversing the previous government’s decision that West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. Who is Australia to be telling another nation where its capital is? How insulting! No wonder Hamas has congratulated Australia for the decision.
Unsurprisingly, there has been an angry reaction from Israel and the Australian Jewish community who were blindsided by this with no consultation with them. It is the first time Israel has called in the Australian ambassador to explain our actions.
Also, there was no discussion of this pre-election and there has been no public consultation about it or discussion with the Australian parliament or even it appears, with the ALP caucus.
The decision by the Albanese government that West Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel flies in the face of the Abraham Accords with the increasing cooperation of Arab states with Israel. Australian foreign policy needs to be more mature in this area and aware of the new face of the Middle East.
It is also disappointing that the previous Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, did not follow through with his intention to recognise a United Jerusalem and move the Australian embassy there. It is likely that a number of Arab governments will at least move their embassies to West Jerusalem in the future as this is where the Knesset or parliament is and many national institutions.
As Indigenous Australians, we do not agree that Israel is a colonial settler apartheid state as the propaganda of Hamas asserts. There has always been a Jewish presence in Israel which became a nation about 3,000 years ago and reformed in 1948. The Arab presence is relatively recent. We believe the Jews are the Indigenous people of Israel. Israel respects human rights and does not practice apartheid with Arabs in the Knesset and many occupations. Arab Israelis have the same rights as other citizens.
Re a two-state solution, Israel has come to the table and been prepared to accept peace plans a number of times over the years. However, the Palestinians want Israel, the only Jewish state, wiped off the map so it is hard to get a two-state solution in this atmosphere, particularly with terrorist attacks against Israel occurring regularly.
In a double-whammy, this decision was announced on a Jewish sacred holiday and follows Labor’s pledge on the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana of $20 million to the UNRWA for Palestinian Arabs as well as Labor’s refusal to sign up for a Pro-Israel Motion at the UN. Australia and some other nations had reduced their funding of UNRWA because of its funding of terrorism.
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Jewish Museum Kaliningrad Exhibition

Dear friends, relatives and contributors to the project

In March 2021 we were able to inform you that our association has received the grant notification from the German Foreign Office for a project funding of the permanent exhibition “Museum New Synagogue Kaliningrad/Königsberg”. Since then, under pandemic conditions, planning was carried out, tendering procedures were held and with the help of a special carpentry workshop, a model maker and many media technicians, an exhibition was created that is precisely tailored to the hall in the synagogue in Kaliningrad. The completion of the production on February 24, 2022, with the international crisis that began on that day, made the transportation to Kaliningrad a major challenge.

But on September 16, we got the last digital object of the exhibition up and running on site. On Sunday, September 18, the exhibition was presented to the Jewish Congregation and went live.

The exhibition, as well as the accompanying museum website, are multilingual throughout. More details can be found on the Internet and social media.

The entire process was accompanied by the local managing director, Mrs. Julia Oisboit, who continues to be the contact person in Kaliningrad for all matters concerning the museum.

We thank you very much for your contribution to our work and remain with many greetings

Ruth and Michael Leiserowitz

https://jmkaliningrad.org/en/

Facebook: DE @judeninostpreussen EN @jewsineastprussia

Juden in Ostpreussen e.V.

Postkasten 48
Friedrichstr. 95

10117 Berlin, Germany
info@judeninostpreussen.de

www.judeninostpreussen.de

www.facebook.com/Jewsineastprussia

Vereinsregister Amtsgericht Charlottenburg

Eintrag Nr. 24883 Nz

Wir sind wegen Förderung gemeinnütziger Zwecke insbesondere der Förderung kultureller Zwecke durch Bescheinigung des Finanzamtes für Körperschaften I Berlin, Steuernummer 27/669/53052, nach § 5 Abs- 1 Nr. 9 des Körperschaftssteuergesetzes von der Körperschaftssteuer befreit.

Wir sind berechtigt für Spenden Zuwendungsbestätigungen auszustellen.

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Upcoming CHOL Zoom

CHOL update meeting Wed 21 September 2022

Please join us for a meeting to review the year’s CHOL – Community History On-Line activity where 6 speakers will give (and show)  us a short update on their work.

Programme: (subject to change)

  1. Introduction to the new CHOL website www.chol.website
  2. Gail Lustig on the successful launch of ‘Share your Stories’
  3. Gavin Beinart-Smollan on his South African Jewish Cookbook website
  4. Eli Rabinowitz – on the development of his South African kehilalinks
  5. David Lewin to talk about the publication of UNION the magazine of German Refugees in South Africa
  6. Ivan Kapelus on Jewish / Afrikaner relations

They will each speak and show you their work for 10 minutes, and they will be happy to answer questions

The meeting starts at  NY 7:00  UK 12:00  SA 13:00  Israel 14:00                Perth 19:00 & Sydney  21:00

Join Zoom Meeting Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81155765871?pwd=YmZCVUNKY0FCNWdRemJTdTRNUFVhdz09

Meeting ID: 811 5576 5871

Passcode: 880423

One tap mobile

+16699006833,,81155765871#,,,,*880423# US (San Jose)

+17193594580,,81155765871#,,,,*880423# US

Eli Rabinowitz

eli@elirab.com

https://wah.foundation

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A Little Bit of Luck for Alon


Shalom everybody !
I know many people are frustrated when hitting a wall in their research. I wanted to share my story of finding my mom’s relatives to encourage people to keep trying. There is so much information online and with a little bit of luck too you can find what you are looking for.
This is my story: 4 years ago, I was visiting Poland. Before travelling there, I did some research in JRI-Poland website and found the location of my mom’s grandfather’s grave. With the help of my wonderful Polish friend Isia Stybel, I went to the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw and found the grave.
My mom never met her grandfather Binyamin Zeev Petersilie who passed away in Poland in 1920. My 2nd name is also Binyamin, because I was named after him.
After this discovery, I decided to try searching for living lost relatives of my mom. My mom was born in Israel and never met her uncles or aunts. Her father’s sister Miriam immigrated from Warsaw to the USA. Her father’s brother Avraham immigrated from Warsaw to Russia.
The connection was lost 50 years ago, and I was searching for their descendants with the big help of my friend Isia. Luckily the family name of my grandfather Petersilie is unique. Avraham Petersilie had a son named Joseph and a grandson named Victor.
By searching on Google, we found that Victor Petersilie is working in the Russian Research Geological Oil Institute. We called there using a Russian speaker and got Victor’s phone number, but it was the wrong number. We wanted to call again to get the right number and, in the meantime, I was trying to find other information on Facebook. I looked for Petersilie people with Russian first names and found Polina Petersilie. I wrote to her and she was Victor’s granddaughter living in the USA She gave me everybody’s contact info.
Finding my mom’s Aunt Miriam’s descendants was harder. Miriam had one daughter Ann Rosenthal (which is a very common name), who visited here in Israel and met my mom in 1969. Ann’s children’s Hebrew names are Miriam and Mordechai, and I was looking for them.
I started by searching the old address of Ann Rosenthal in Brooklyn my mom has. I found many phone numbers online, but no one is connected anymore.
My mom found a picture of her aunt’s grave and found out Ann Rosenthal’s maiden name was Halbfish.
By searching on Google for Ann Rosenthal and Halbfish we found an obituary from 2014 for Ann’s death and condolences for her half-brother Murray Halbfish. We found Murray’s phone number on Google and through him we found Ann’s children Leslie (Miriam) and Marc (Mordechai). Unfortunately, Murray passed away 2 years ago. Also, it’s sad that we found my mom’s cousin’s children because of her obituary.
Only a few months later, Victor’s family surprised us and came for a visit in Israel. Victor and his wife Helena came from Moscow. Victor’s son Denis and his wife Katia and their kids Egor, Varvara and Zahar came from Holland. My mom Shoshana was super happy about this family reunion. Victor told me he was very happy I found him because besides his children and grandchildren he didn’t have any other family.
Because of the family meeting, there was a demand for a family tree. This is why I created my family tree in MyHeritage.
A year later there was another family meeting in Israel (with more Israeli relatives), this time in Eilat. In the same week my brother Elad (who lives in the USA) met with Victor’s daughter Yulia in Washington. Two family meetings in two different continents in the same week ! We also hope to meet Ann Rosenthal’s children too in Israel or the USA.
Never Give up with your research.
Alon Tsur
Tel Aviv
August 2022

Images:

At Alon’s mother’s grandfather’s grave at the Jewish cemetery in Warsaw
Same grave 100 years ago. My grandfather Pinhas is sitting below the grave. Also in the picture was his brother Yitzhak, his sister Miriam and his mom Rachel
Denis and his family (Katia, Egor, Varvara, Zahar) and Alon meeting in Tel Aviv
Victor and Alon meeting in Tel Aviv
Victor and Alon’s mother Shoshana meeting in Tel Aviv
Meeting in a restaurant in Tel Aviv: Victor, Alon’s mother, Katia, Egor and Denis
Family meeting in Eilat a year later. from left to right: Katia, Zahar, Varvara, Denis, Egor, Helena, Victor, Alon’s mother, Henanit and Eli
Family meeting in Washington. Alon’s brother Elad and his family with Yulia, Victor’s daughter

The history of Petersilie family

Alon:

My mother’s father was Pinchas Petersilie, who was born in 1901 and passed away in Israel in 1977.
He came to Israel in 1924 and later again to bring his mom in 1934.

His father was Rabbi Binyamin Zeev (Wolf) Petersilie, who passed away in 1921 in Warsaw.

In 2018 I was in Warsaw and found his grave in the Jewish cemetery !

He lived in Nalewki 38, and was the son of Avarham Tsvi Petersilie.

Binyamin Zeev was an important man, a Rabbi and a teacher. Many people came to seek his advice.

On his grave I found out it is written he is from Trisk (I found out it is a Hasidic dynasty).

Binyamin Zeev Petersilie was married to Rachel (Ruchla) Chaja, daughter of Yitzhak Isaiah and was born in 1861.
She came to Israel in 1934, and passed away on 19 April 1946 in Israel.

Besides my grandfather Pinhas, their other children were:

1. Bentzion Petersilie, who passed away on 13 January 1938 in Poland

His address in Warsaw was Wilcza 5. His daughter Fradla (Frani in Polish) was born in 1901, and was married in 1920 to Matityahu Hochgleben.
She came to Israel in 1936. She had 2 children: Chawa (Hava in Hebrew) and Zeev (probably named after his grandfather)
Zeev was married to Yulia and had 2 children: Mathew and Jessica.

Chawa had 2 children: Henanit and Maoz.

2. Yitzhak Petersilie, was married to Frida Berzinski. Their daughters were Pesia and Hannah (died at age 8 and 6).
Unfortunately, he was killed in Równe in 1941 with his wife and 2 daughters.

3. Avraham Binyaminov Petersilie, was married to Anna Michailovna.
He was a writer, and arrested (from 1950 until 1955) for teaching Hebrew. He passed away in Moscow in 1970.
His son Joseph was born in 1914 in Warsaw, and moved with his parents later to Moscow.
He was a geologist and passed away in Moscow in 1987.
Joseph’s son is Viktor, who was born in Russia in 1941. He is also a geologist and lives in Moscow.
Viktor has a son Denis who was born in 1975 in Moscow. Denis is a mathematician and lives in Haag, Holland.
Denis is married to Katerina and they have 3 children: Igor, Varvara (Barbara) and Zahar (Zachary).
Viktor has a daughter Yulia, who was born in Moscow in 1965. She lives now in Maryland, USA.
Yulia has a daughter Polina, who was born in Moscow in 1995. Polina studied psychology in Maryland.

In 2018 found Victor and his children.

4. Miriam Petersilie, born in Warsaw in 1895 and passed away in the USA on 1 April 1927.  She was a professor of languages at the University in Warsaw. She was married to Max Halbfish, son of Zisel.
Her daughter was Ann Rosenthal, who was born in Warsaw on 23 April 1923 but moved and lived in Brooklyn. The address was 2132 Stuart street, Brooklyn, New York. She was married on 28 November 1946 and passed away on 12 April 2014.
Her children’s names were: Leslie (Hebrew name Miriam), who was born on 20 February  1952 and Marc (Hebrew name Mordechai), who was born on 2 July  1948.

In 2018 I found Leslie and Marc. I also found Murray Halbfish (and his wife Gayle), who is the half-brother of Ann Rosenthal.

Avraham was the oldest son. Then Yitzhak,  Bentzion, Miriam and Pinhas.

Images

Alon’s great grandfather Binyamin Zeev Petersilie
Invitation to Fradla’s Petersilie with Matityahu Hochgleben wedding
Passover Hagada belonged to Alon’s grandfather Pinhas Petersilie (printed in Warsaw in 1880)
Bentzion Petersilie
Bentzion Petersilie with the writer Joseph Lichtenbaum (a family relative, probably a cousin)
Miriam Petersilie (Halbfish)
Max Halbfish (Miriam’s husband) and his daughter Ann
Yitzhak Petersilie with his wife Frida and their daughters Pesia and Hannah
Yitzhak Petersilie with his mom Rachel and his daughter Hannah
Alon’s grandfather Pinhas Petersilie in the Polish army
Alon’s grandfather Pinhas in Warsaw
Alon’s grandfather Pinhas with Ann Rosenthal when she visited Israel in 1969
Alon’s grandfather Pihas with his mom Rachel and friends (probably picture was taken in Israel)

Family Tree

Avraham Tzvi Petersilie – Descendant Chart

About Alon Tsur

My name is Alon Tsur. I was born on 11 May 1975. My parents are Haim and Shoshana. I’m the youngest son.
My brothers are Elad and Dekel. Elad is married to Nurit Haspel, and they have a son Adam.
I served in the Israeli army from 1994 until 1997. After that, I studied Computer Science at Tel Aviv University from 1997 until 2001. Since 1997 I have been working as a programmer.
In 1998 I became interested in genealogy and found my mother’s relatives.
I volunteer as an English to Hebrew translator in MyHeritage website since 2020
After that I joined Jewish Genealogy Portal Facebook Group (and also Tracing the Tribe – Jewish Genealogy on Facebook). I’m trying to help people there (finding relatives in Israel, or helping with translating Hebrew to English)
For example:

https://www.facebook.com/groups/tracingthetribe/permalink/10159240625470747

I also found my wife as a result of a post in Genealogy Portal Facebook Group 🙂
Her name is Azka Daulia, from Indonesia. She wrote a curious post about possible connection between Judaism and Indonesia.
She came to Israel in October 2021 and we married in February 2022.

Images

Alon’s family – brother Dekel, dad Haim, brother Elad, mother Shoshana & Alon
Wife Azka and Alon
Wife Azka and Alon celebrating Channukah
Wife Azka and Alon at home
Wife Azka and Alon at the beach

Posted by Eli Rabinowitz

eli@elirab.com

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SA Country Communities

By Gwynne Robins

Unlike the Gauteng branch of the SA Jewish Board of Deputies, which transferred responsibility of their country communities to a separate body, the Cape SA Jewish Board of Deputies had maintained its involvement with its Western Cape country communities, most of which are now defunct. The professionals visit the towns, repair cemeteries – sometimes the damage is the result of antisemitic desecration –   when necessary contact councils  to remind them of their own commitments regarding the graveyards, provide access to Pesach food or kosher meat when requested.

When Stuart Diamond was the executive director, he asked me to write short articles about some of the towns for our monthly Cape Jewish Chronicle. The articles turned out to be a minefield of vereibbles, with frequent complaints because I had left out a great grandfather or a grandmother’s sister-in-law’s nephew’s shop. When I replied that most of the material had come from the invaluable and  thoroughly researched volumes   Jewish life in the South African country communities published by the  South African Friends of Beth Hatefutsoth – which even listed  names of Jewish families  who had lived there – the complainant replied that they knew the volume was wrong but I should have known better and should insist that the volume  be reprinted with the omission corrected. When I offered to publish an article in the Chronicle with information on the missing ancestor, the angry woman replied that she was not prepared to waste her time doing so.

Vereibbles aside, these articles resulted in much positive comments and interest and provided a potted history to people who had come from those towns. Much credit and gratitude must go to Eli Rabinowitz whose dedicated work with  https://elirab.me/kehila/ has enabled many far flung descendants to keep in touch with their old friends  and learn about their community and its history.

Kind regards

Gwynne

With Albie Sachs

Desrae Saacks Acting Editor – Cape Jewish Chronicle

We are very happy to share these articles in the Cape Jewish Chronicle written by Gwynne Robins

Click on links below to read the full article:

https://cjc.org.za/2021/02/01/caledons-springs-attracted-jewish-settlers-in-the-19th-century/

https://cjc.org.za/2021/10/01/the-chronicle-of-ceres-jews/

https://cjc.org.za/2021/11/01/the-history-of-durbanvilles-jewish-community/

https://cjc.org.za/2021/08/01/ladismiths-jewish-community/

https://cjc.org.za/2021/09/01/the-jews-of-laingsburg/

https://cjc.org.za/2020/12/01/a-history-of-the-malmesbury-jewish-community/

https://cjc.org.za/2021/06/01/the-jews-of-okiep/

https://cjc.org.za/2020/11/01/robertson-a-jewish-history/

https://cjc.org.za/2010/11/01/history-of-robertson/

https://cjc.org.za/2020/12/01/an-update-on-country-communities-uniondale/

https://cjc.org.za/2021/12/01/keepsakes-from-our-country-communities/

https://cjc.org.za/2021/09/01/where-are-our-synagogues/

A tribute to Gwynne Robins on her retirement from the Cape SAJBD

With thanks to Desrae Saacks and the Cape Jewish Chronicle

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JPEF Yom Hashoah

JPEF – Jewish Partisans Educational Foundation
Yom Hashoah Commemoration
San Francisco USA
27 April 2022
The introduction:   https://youtu.be/WsXfJitDnrY
featuring: Carmel School & Ellenbrook Secondary College, Perth Australia 
JDS Seattle WA USA 
Herzlia School Cape Town South Africa 
The introduction featuring the school choirs is taken from the initiative of the WE ARE HERE! Foundation
JPEF:
Eli Rabinowitz
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Western Cape Synagogues

Jewish Journeys in the Western Cape

https://wcapeshuls.wordpress.com/

By Steven Albert

Steven travelled through most of the Western Cape, researching, writing, and documenting the synagogues and Jewish communities in the small dorps and towns. He photographed the synagogues, cemeteries (i.e. headstones),  the sections of the town museums on the local Jewish communities, and gathered information from local sources.

This includes a new photo gallery:

Steven: The shuls around the Western Cape that I photographed; where possible, I photographed the interiors, the foundation stones, and the sections of the town museums detailing the Jewish community. I also found some old archival photos of some of the shuls.

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Steven managed to find some old photographs in the Cape Town library (Roeland str, Schoonders Str and an old leaflet of Marais Road). In the case of the Vredehoek shul, he was given some old photos by the then owner.

Here is the list of shuls in Cape Town that Steven photographed:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Steven also photographed all the stones in Maitland/Gate 8 and 7th Street cemeteries.

For further information WC shuls, there is an earlier publication by Amy Bach, which I bought several years ago from the bookshop at Cafe Rieteve, Cape Town .

Eli Rabinowitz

Perth Australia

eli@elirab.com

 

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Annual Gathering of Remembrance, presented by @MuseumofJewishHeritage

Every year, thousands come together to say with one voice, “never forget.” WE ARE HERE! Foundation is proud to be a partner for this year’s Annual Gathering of Remembrance, presented by @MuseumofJewishHeritage in New York City. We remember those we’ve lost in observance of Yom HaShoah, or Holocaust Remembrance Day.
Steven Skybell sings Zog Nit Keynmol on MJHNYC Annual Gathering of Remembrance, 24 April 2022.
Full program: