Clay in My Boots: A Romp Through My Genealogical Past

On Tisha B'Av my thoughts turned to my family that perished in the Shoah. My goal for the year is to prepare a more structured list of lost family that I hope to be able to read in Temple on Yom HaShoah, next April 27th 2023. I started by making sure that all my Genealogical records were up-to-date and included a reference to the Yad Vashem "Page of Testimony". I then added all my Shoah victim, family members to Geni.com and started a project with all of them: Michael Snyder's Family that Perished in the Shoah . During the process, I discovered 20 additional names in Yad Vashem to add to my family members list : (May their lives be for a blessing) Aaron Bas Gita Bas Taube Reiza Bas nee Khait Yehudah Bas Ester Bavarsky nee Kriger Eyda Feyga Bavarsky nee Khashes Leizer Bavarsky Movsha Yankel Bavarsky Rokha Bavarsky Dobke Carshinsky nee Sandler Maurice Moche Carshinsky Meyer Chait Shaia Feldman Gitl Gordon Malka Gordon nee Etsman Leizer Katz Mer...

I responded to the following post on facebook: “ Through family trees that I found on Ancestry.com, I am related to many famous Rabbinic families from the 15th and 16th centuries: for example, Shaul "King for a Day" Wahl Katzenelenbogen is my 14th great grandfather; Rabbi Meir Katzenelenbogen Maharama of Padua is my 16th great grandfather; Rabbi Yechiel-Michel "Martyr of Nemirov" is my first cousin 13 x removed; etc.  My concern is that nobody has actual documentation on Ancestry.com of how they are related to these ancestors, so how can I know that I am related?  I can't even find my paternal grandmother's ancestors a few generations back, so how can I know these are my ancestors? ” I too am interested in better documentation of these relationships, but …. I’ve been giving this a lot of thought since I discovered this post. 7, 8, 9 generations are the best you can do with documentation available through JewishGen, LitvakSIG, and JRI Poland. This takes you b...

Cantor Dan Singer     is my 5th cousin, confirmed by DNA and a bunch of research. We’ve been collaborating on research over the last 4 years, including family Zoom meetings. We are related by an ancestor named Khaim Khazen (b 1779 Varnai, Lithuania). Apparently, Dan comes from a long line of Cantors.  Thanks to some connections made by my cousin Dan he’s found Khiam’s wife comes from a rabbinical family. As an Ashkenazi Jew, the wonderful thing about making a connection to a rabbinical family is you can suddenly go back many generations.  If this research is confirmed I’ll have a possible family tree that extends back to the 13th century. It just goes to show you don’t have to do all the research yourself. Working with your cousins makes “Genealogy a Team Sport.” Chag Shavuot Sumach! 

Wednesday night begins the internationally recognized date for Holocaust Remembrance Day that corresponds to the 27th day of Nisan on the Hebrew calendar. It marks the anniversary of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. In Hebrew, Holocaust Remembrance Day is called Yom HaShoah. Here are the names of the 68 relatives I've traced so far while doing my Genealogy, who were murdered in the Holocaust.  (May their lives be for a blessing)  Aaron Bas Gita Bas Yehudah Bas Khaia Zisla Bavarsky Leizer Bavarsky Movsha Yankel Bavarsky Rokha Bavarsky Mere Tsipe Chait Meyer Chait Malka Etsman Shaya (Ovsei) Feldman Gitl Gordon Leizer Katz Minna Katz Sholom Vulf Katz Yerachmiel Israel Katz Zelick Katz Chaim Leyb Khaet Mendel Peysakh Khaet Feige Freide Khait Khaie Rivke Khait Leib Ariyeh Abel Khait Libe Pese Khait Nayer Bek (Bok) Khait Sheina Rivka Khait Sheine Kreinde Khait Shore Khait Sore Khait Taube Reiza Khait Eyda Feyga Khashes Chane Yettie Knobler Leib (Leo) Kreiger Rivka Kreiger Dina Beila Krig...

Direct Help to Ukrainian Individuals and Families When I visited Ukraine in 2018, one of my best resources was the secretary (Victoria Chymshyt) of the local Synagogue in Rivno. Gratefully, she and her son have escaped to Warsaw. She continues to stay connected and help out her congregational friends and families both inside Ukraine and refuges outside, like herself. I reached out to her to find out how we could help her community directly. She and the head of her community responded with 2 projects:   One of the biggest challenges is staying connected to family and friends and using their other cell phone apps. Believe it or not, communication and other services available on cell phones can be more important to them than food. "We will choose the numbers of those who need it the most. That would be great help.", Vik.   <<READ THIS RELAVANT ARTICLE> https://www.treehugger.com/people-are-outraged-see-refugees-smartphones-they-shouldnt-be-4867591 One of the congregants...

Chaya Shnayder - A new 3rd great-grandmother  Beyla Shnayder - A new 5th great-grandmother  David Shnayder - A new 6th great-grandfather

Happy New Year Family, This past year, I found 4 new ancestors on the Snyder branch, thanks in part to a cousin Sherry Meyer reaching out to me about a David Shnayder in my tree. I believe he is the brother of my 4th great-grandfather. The new additions are all from Vilijampole is a town just east of Kaunas along the Nemenus river that had a Jewish population of about 3000 people at its greatest. Sadly, the Matzeva from the cemetery were all removed and all that remains is a single memorial marker. Carol and I visited here in 2018. The additions are: Chaya Shnayder - A new 3rd great-grandmother  Beyla Shnayder - A new 5th great-grandmother  David Shnayder - A new 6th great-grandfather My paternal line now goes out 8 generations to the mid-1700’s. My paternal-line now staying with myself reads as Yitzhak Zelik ben Yashua ben Yitzhak ben Yashua ben Shmuel ben Zelik David ben Mortkhel ben Gershon ben David. All of whom are in the Y-haplogroup G-M201 as my Y-DNA indicates. I had ...