Volume 10 Number 2 September 2001
A Virtual
Shtetl
in the Making 
A Virtual
Shtetl
in the Making
The globalizing power of the internet is a remarkable thing to observe. As we have come to rely more increasingly on electronic delivery, awareness of this initiative spreads in wonderful ways. It has certainly slashed my mailing costs, since more than half of you now read the online edition of this Newsletter, but that is really a side-show. What is dramatic, is our ability to reach out and find one another in a satisfying way, that helps us celebrate the commonality of our roots, regardless of how far-flung we may be from one another. The story, in this issue, of how we established a relationship with Gutka Salutsky-Boyarsky, is but a beginning.
As I approach the completion of translating the Trilogy of
Volkovysk Yizkor books,
this experience has yielded further cases in point. We
discovered a pocket of interest in Houston, TX, thanks to
Lissa Streusand, a scion
of Volkovysk whose father
also came from the nearby shtetl of
Svislucz. She has harbored
a desire for over fifty years to see this work rendered in English.
Kindly, she has also supplied me with all of the book reviews that
were published when Dr. Moses
Einhorn’s landmark two-volume work appeared in
1948.
Through this endeavor, I became aware that the father of the last
Rabbi of Zelva,
Rabbi Mikhl Kossowsky, was
the next-to-last Rabbi of
Volkovysk, prior to his
emigration to South Africa. That was
Rabbi Yitzhak Kossowsky.
To my delight, I have found a son and grandson of these men,
Rabbi Zalman Kossowsky, as
the spiritual leader of the Jewish community of Zurich, Switzerland
&endash; and he likes using e-mail too! For those of you who can read
a little German, his biography can be seen by visiting:
http://www.icz.org/rabbinat/kossowsky.shtml,
or just click on his picture to the right.
It will get better. Meanwhile, I’m coming down the home stretch on the third volume of the Volkovysk trilogy. With luck, I’ll be ready for the printer by year-end. You’ll be hearing from me accordingly.
Gaya, a daughter, in the winter of 2001, sister of Saphir, & Daniel, to Tamar (Tami) Freidin, and her husband, Asaf Vishnia. Granddaughter of Dr. Nahum Freidin
Lia, a daughter, in August 2001, to Keren & Yaniv Kimchi, Granddaughter to Rachel Sha’anani.
Mazel-Tov to the parents, grandparents, and a special Mazel-Tov to Miriam Freidin on the birth of two great-granddaughters.
Jonathan, a son, in
August 2001, brother to Yaela &
Gilead, to
Ophrah & Chaim
Waxman.
Mazel-Tov to the parents, and
grandparents, Ammihud &
Orah Gilony.
In Memoriam
Sidney Bloom, father of Connie Fried, passed away on 21Mar01
Yigal Zomer, age 34, was killed in an aircraft accident near Tel Aviv beach. Son of Riva & Yehuda Zomer, grandson of the late Chaim Jonah Gilony, He was unmarried. The funeral took place on Sunday, May 13 in the Yarkon burial-ground near Tel Aviv.
Molly Moskowitz, age 90, 11July01 in Florida. Pre-deceased by her husband, Irving, she is survived by children, Donald Philip, & Amy Schoenfeld, several grandchildren, and a great-grandchild.
We are saddened to report a double loss to the Borodovsky family in Argentina:
Leibeh Borodovsky passed away in Buenos Aires at age 64 in early July.
His mother, Rosa Borodovsky died,
nine days later, at age 92. She was the sole surviving sister
of Faygel Garber York. The
picture of Rosa, to the right, was taken in Buenos Aires in 1997,
during one of my trips to Argentina.
We extend the
sincerest condolences of our entire family of readers to those who
have been bereaved.
|
Family members remain on the go. Rabbi David Cantor has left Winnipeg to take the position of Rabbi of Congregation Beth Israel of Bangor, Maine, starting on July 1, 2001. We also extend Mazel-Tov to David & Christine on the birth of Avniel Koly on 26May01, weighing in at 8lbs 14 oz, 21 inches long, a baby brother for Joash. The proud grandparents, Allen & Gloria Cantor also report that daughter Diana completed a Diploma course in Education in “Visual and Performing Arts,” graduating in Vancouver. ... Dr. Benjamin Z.
& Rose Anne Freed,
have moved into a new home in Marietta, Georgia, as he
continues to teach Anthropology at nearby Emory
University... Ammihud
Gilony reports moving the offices of his law
practice to new, expanded quarters in Tel-Aviv
Simultaneously, older brother,
Dr. Daniel Andrew Berger
successfully completed his residency in
Obstetrics & Gynecology. He and his family have moved
from Pensacola, Florida, to Scranton, PA, where he has
joined an OB/Gyn practice... We also hear from David Frum that he has joined President Bush’s staff as his speech writer... Ronit Ritz
has graduated from Beersheba University with a degree
in Industrial Engineering this July. She and her
‘steady’ (also a school classmate) are of to
Spain, for several months, to study Spanish...
We joyfully report the Bar Mitzvah of Daniel Brickman, in May, son of Bruce & Judy Brickman, and grandson of Bea Melnick and the late Dr. Jacob Melnick. A goodly turnout of family attended. Daniel had created a fascinating ‘wall of pictures,’ that traced his family tree, and I was afforded an opportunity to give a summary of the Freidin family immigrant experience in coming to America. Equally heartwarming, was a meeting with Iris Sitkin, a Zelva scion of the Lev Family, whose husband, we discovered, is a cousin to the late Dr. Melnick... |
Wedding bells continue to ring across the continents...Linda Frum, daughter of Dr. Murray Frum, was married to Mr. Howard Sokolowski on 22Apr01 in Toronto... ...and in Israel, Nir Sabarov, son of Zipporah and the late Roni Sabarov, grandson of Shmuel and the late Michlah Sabarov, married Adi Cohen... Adding to the festive air are some new arrivals to the
family of landsleit... Great-aunt
Mae-Lee Billet-Ziskin
advises that a young lady,
Bailey Rose Billet was
born 20February01 &endash; 8 pounds 6 ounces, 21inches to
Matthew & Ellen
Billet. Proud first-time grandparents are
Jerry & Monica Billet
(as semi-official record keeper, I can note that
Bailey shares this
birthday, one year later, with the Muffin of San Mateo:
Zachary Evan
Berger, my oldest grandson...)...
Our families have a tight-lipped way of marking the passage of time in Israel. We were pleased to hear that Roy Fisher had completed his military service, but now it is the turn of his younger brother, Itai to enter service. And, on 20May01, Shlomi Wasserzier entered the IDF, while Shiri Freidin joins older sister Shani in Kheyl Nashim .... |
We add our congratulations and best wished to Manya Ritz on the occasion of her 95th birthday.
On 4Apr01, the Ritz and Neutra families celebrated this event at her new apartment in the assisted living complex at Bayit Bakfar in Kfar Saba near Ra’anana.
Odded Ritz notes how
much his late sister, Maxima Neutra
was missed at this event, which was attended by all
her grandchildren and great-grandchildren (except
Ronen Neutra who is now
working in the USA). It is suitable to note at this point, that this
past spring, the Neutra
family published a wonderful memorial book in honor of
Maxima, which chronicles
her life in words and pictures...
Leah Ray Lambert
advises that her mother, Yetta
Rubin, has not been well. While past 90 years of age, she
is still very sharp mentally, but heart problems and blindness
make these very sad times for her. She is in the hospital
again, but Leah is
planning to visit her in Pittsburgh after Rosh Hashana...
Gutka Finds Her Family & Landsleit
It was Mike Friedman who first thought to consult the records of the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, and discovered in April, that they had a list of living Holocaust survivors in the USA. Among those names, he found Gertrude, ‘Gutka’ Salutsky-Boyarsky, from Dereczin, living in West Palm Beach, FL. After calling her, he arranged to visit her when he was in Florida visiting his father, Abe Friedman.
When
he told me about this, I instantly recognized her name, as a fighting
partisan who had written a memoir for the
Dereczin Memorial Book. It was
not long afterward that we had our first telephone conversation,
which warmed up very quickly. Her greatest lament to me, was that she
felt that she was without an extended family, though she was
fortunate in having raised both a son and daughter in this country.
It was my great pleasure to disabuse her of that idea, and I
immediately put her in touch with Dr. Robert
Marshall of Selkirk, NY, the
Salutsky Family Genealogist, and
Philip & Elaine Shapiro in
Encino, CA. Philip is descended from Salutskys on his
mother’s side.
Since Gutka summers in Monticello, NY, the outreach to embrace accelerated. In addition to meeting with Bob Marshall, after she arrived in June, the Shapiro Family asked her to be a special guest at their family reunion in Toronto, July 5-8.
I was pleased to attend, and play a role as a speaker in a very warm get-together. The host, Lorne Shapiro gave an overview of Eastern European shtetl life, with emphasis on Zelva, and I gave an anecdotal account of my ‘journey’ in doing genealogical work. Lee Feldscher, the Shapiro Family Genealogist presented his work on computerizing the extensive Shapiro Family tree, and Gloria Cantor regaled us with the recollection of her journey from the wilds of Saskatchewan to Philadelphia, as a young girl.
Gutka gave a moving account of her trials in the Naliboki Forest, as a partisan in Bulak’s Pobeda Battalion. It was there that she met her Zelva cousins, Moshe and Casrael Salutsky (Philip Shapiro’s uncles), but even in the ensuing years, she never fully explored the extent of her family’s presence in the New World.
Hardly a week goes by now, that one or another of us doesn’t
talk to Gutka. We arranged
for her to meet Faygel Garber
York, and that afternoon in Monticello was inspiring,
as these two wonderful ladies explored the vicissitudes of their
early lives, and sought for points of commonality in their past.
Helen & Jerry Feldscher were
there, along with their son
Lee and his family. Another find
was revealed, when Helen
determined that Gutka was
also related directly to the
Shapiro family. And it turned
out, that one of Gutka’s
classmates from Dereczin is a neighbor and
friend to Faygel in
Monsey, NY.
Being in Monticello conjured up the name of the Milechman family, in which the late Helene Milechman is the daughter of Rae Salutsky Menikoff-Winehouse. Gutka recalled meeting Rae in Florida, after Moshe Salutsky connected the two of them, and it was Gutka herself who then unearthed the record of that meeting, in Rae’s memoir in the Shapiro Book of Remembrances.
There is no way we can put a price on the emotional satisfaction that this ‘re-discovery’ and bringing together of family members has given to those directly &endash; and indirectly &endash; affected. This is but one small facet of why those who actively pursue an interest in family origins, and the preservation of folklore and history, do not do so in vain.
The
Freidins of Zelva
Family NewsletterEditor-Publisher............................. Jack S. Berger Web Host............................................. Randi Ostro Publisher Emeritus.................... Samuel K. Rubin
The Family Newsletter of the Freidins of Zelva is published periodically to foster communications between the descendants of TANHUM YITZHAK FREIDIN ritual slaughterer of the town of Zelva in the Grodno Province of Belarus. For further information, the Editor-Publisher may be reached as follows:
Jack S. Berger
12 Janice Court
Mahwah, NJ 07430-1515 USA
Telephone: 201-529-3391E-mail: JSBerger@Sigmaxi.org
© Copyright 2001
All rights reserved
We
had a ‘double-header’ over the summer in our
family: our youngest son, Robert
Ian Berger, graduated High School, and became
the sixth and final
Berger sibling to
matriculate as a freshman at Rutgers University. 
