The Weekly News Nosh – August 16, 2026 About The Weekly News Nosh The Weekly News Nosh (NewsNosh) is the L’Dor V’Dor Foundation’s weekly Jewish heritage news digest—a curated set of links for anyone interested in Jewish family history, Jewish history, and Jewish heritage. NewsNosh is published on Sundays and shared on our website and social media platforms. “A Family Without The Understanding Of Their Past History, Foundation And Ethnicity Is Like A Tree Without Roots.” Subscribe to receive NewsNosh every Sunday, directly in your inbox. Browse past issues of our Jewish heritage news digest in the NewsNosh archive. CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEWS NOSH Headlines August 16, 2026

IAJGS Call for Proposals Now Open (deadline Sept 15) IGRA Updates its Database Search Tool with Results Counters from JewishGen and Gesher Galicia A new database and map that document Holocaust monuments and memorials throughout the Czech Republic has been launched Family Search: New Free Historical Records from 22 Countries | August 2026 Update How the Jews Changed the World The Surprising History of Bar/Bat Mitzvah and Confirmation Montenegro’s tiny Jewish community navigates uncertain territory as hostility toward Israel increases The Jews of Kaifeng: China’s Only Native Jewish Community How the Kefalonia killings led to the World War II massacre of Greece’s Jews Holocaust hero’s documentary wins best short film prize at US festival The Very Jewish History of the Teddy Bear History of Jewish Prayer Jewish Clothing Israel-Lebanon talks said to include request to relocate Jewish graves to Israel Poland: Inmates from the Czerwony Bór Prison will help maintain Jewish cemeteries thanks to a new agreement between the prison and FODŻ The Oldest Jewish Summer Camp in the U.S. Has a Surprising Number of Famous Alumni Nigeria has more than 100 synagogues — but no local rabbis. This summer camp wants to change that How a monument to a Jewish Confederate ended up in a storage unit, next to a vacuum cleaner A Jewish philanthropist funded this pioneering school for Black students. Now it’s getting a second life Lithuania’s Lost Shtetl Museum ranked among seven most beautiful museums worldwide ‘Annihilation through work’: London exhibit highlights overlooked story of slave labor in WWII The most Jewish room in Fremont, Ohio, is in a county history museum Chabad is breathing new life into a mortuary in San Francisco’s Mission District There’s a new Judaism in town — or maybe it’s very, very old 1,300-year-old industrial, commercial complex uncovered in Ramat Gan The Lynching of Leo Frank The 5 Best Jewish Moments on ‘Life, Larry, and the Pursuit of Unhappiness’

DISCOVER YOUR ROOTS - TELL YOUR STORY

 

 

The Weekly News Nosh – August 9, 2026 Aug 9, 2026 | Nosh CLICK HERE TO READ THE NEWS NOSH Headlines August 9, 2026

Ancestry’s New AI “Fill in Timeline Gaps” Feature: A First Look SWIGGI Italy (Simon Wiesenthal Genealogy Geolocation Initiative) is now live Jewish Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) Database Adds 214,000 Records and Grows to More Than 7.2 Million Records How to Find a Jewish Grave Archaeologists uncover treasures of Vilnius’ Great Synagogue as Jews dispute its future Jewish Immigrants in the Garment Industry New museum opens at UK mansion where captive Nazi officers were spied on to glean secrets George Mantello: How One Man Saved 100,000 Hungarian Jews Saudi Arabia’s Forgotten Jewish History After centuries in India, the last Cochin Jews try to keep their history alive The real Jewish story of Ceuta, Spain’s migrant-magnet neighbor to Morocco The Kurdish Jews Who Never Stopped Speaking Aramaic History of Conversion Masada AI rabbis? Some NY Hasidic groups see new technology as a challenge, others as a tool What Does a Cantor Do? Long-lost Byzantine-era vines are again cultivated on ancient Negev terraces Who Are the Semites? This Jewish museum is lending art across America — with one condition Klezmer Music Is Having a Revival Orthodox Jews are scootering to synagogue. Will Shabbat ever be the same? The First Official Barbra Streisand Documentary Is Coming About The Weekly News Nosh The Weekly News Nosh (NewsNosh) is the L’Dor V’Dor Foundation’s weekly Jewish heritage news digest—a curated set of links for anyone interested in Jewish family history, Jewish history, and Jewish heritage. NewsNosh is published on Sundays and shared on our website and social media platforms. “A Family Without The Understanding Of Their Past History, Foundation And Ethnicity Is Like A Tree Without Roots.” Subscribe to receive NewsNosh every Sunday, directly in your inbox. Browse past issues of our Jewish heritage news digest in the NewsNosh archive.

GENEALOGY RESEARCH CLASS AT THE MICHAEL-ANN RUSSELL JCC TO BEGIN IN OCTOBER 2026

 Family history has been one of the most rewarding journeys of my life. Every document, photograph, and forgotten record has added another piece to the story of those who came before us.

I'd love to help you experience that same sense of discovery. If you've ever wanted to learn more about your family's journey—or help preserve it for your children and grandchildren—I hope you'll join me.

Please share this announcement with anyone who enjoys history, family stories, or solving mysteries. I look forward to meeting many new family historians!

If you have any questions about the class or genealogy research in general, please feel free to contact me at jgsgm.president@gmail.com. I'd be happy to hear from you.

 CLICK HERE TO READ THE WEEKLY NEWS NOSH

The Weekly News Nosh – August 2, 2026

Aug 2, 2026 | Nosh

This Jewish heritage news digest is this week’s NewsNosh (The Weekly News Nosh) from L’Dor V’Dor Foundation—a curated set of links for anyone interested in Jewish family history, Jewish history, and Jewish heritage. This week’s NewsNosh Jewish heritage news digest includes Jewish genealogy conferences, Sephardic children’s literature, Holocaust remembrance, archaeology discoveries, and more.

Editor: Phil Goldfarb, Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA

This week’s news links:

1. Save the date. The 46th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy will be held virtually, April 4–6, 2027. Live sessions will run from 5:30 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. ET, with 90 days of on-demand access to every recorded session, so you can join live or catch up on your own time. More information to come.
2. The House that helped win the war. Beneath a Hertfordshire stately home, Jewish refugees gathered Nazi secrets and changed the course of World War II. Learn more from Jewish News UK: The House that helped win the war – Jewish News
3. Polygamy in Judaism. Once a tolerated and regulated practice, polygamy is virtually unheard of in Jewish life today. Read more from My Jewish Learning: Polygamy in Judaism | My Jewish Learning
4. First Temple-period figurine mold uncovered in Jerusalem excavation. The find will be housed in an archaeology, art and innovation wing of the Tower of David Museum slated to open in late 2028. Explore more from JNS: First Temple-period figurine mold uncovered in Jerusalem excavation – Israel & Jewish News – JNS
5. Extensive preservation, restoration, and improvement work carried out at Belgrade’s Jewish cemeteries. Work has been going on in both the large Sephardic cemetery as well as in the smaller Ashkenazic cemetery across the street. Read more and see the pictures from Jewish Heritage Europe: https://jewish-heritage-europe.eu/2026/07/28/serbia-belgrade-cemetery/
6. Liturgy, Rituals and Customs of Jewish Weddings. The Jewish wedding is rich with ceremony, beginning with the announcement of intent to marry and ending with seven days of celebration. Discover more from My Jewish Learning: Liturgy, Rituals and Customs of Jewish Weddings | My Jewish Learning
7. Our greatest folksinger wrote about America, Dust Bowl refugees and Jewish identity. Steven Pressman’s documentary ‘Dust Bowls and Jewish Souls’ explores the Jewish side of Woody Guthrie. Read more from The Forward: The Jewish side of Woody Guthrie – The Forward. Editor’s Note: The Woody Guthrie Center: Woody Guthrie Center | Tulsa, OK as well as the Bob Dylan Center: Bob Dylan Center | Tulsa, OK are great Museums to visit! Also, soon to come in 2027 is the Miriam Weiner Jewish Genealogy Archive Collection which will be located at the Sherwin Miller Museum of Jewish Art in Tulsa, rated as one of the top 10 Jewish Museums in North America.
8. Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization. From its founding in 1912, Hadassah advocated a program of social feminism that addresses women of all backgrounds. Read more from My Jewish Learning: Hadassah: The Women’s Zionist Organization | My Jewish Learning
9. Holocaust Museum LA to open $70 million cultural center. The museum CEO told JNS that she hopes it will be a place for learning, contemplation as well as hope and optimism. Learn more from JNS: Holocaust Museum LA to open $70 million cultural center – Israel & Jewish News – JNS
10. Historic drought reveals Nazi-era shipwrecks in Danube River near Serbia. The wrecks, deliberately sunk during Nazi Germany’s retreat from the Soviet advance in 1944, have been exposed by the unusually low water levels. Read more from JNS: Historic drought reveals Nazi-era shipwrecks in Danube River near Serbia – Israel & Jewish News – JNS
11. Their art was whimsical, elegant, ‘scandalous,’ and colorful. It was also revolutionary. The Jewish Museum’s new exhibit showcases the groundbreaking women of the Wiener Werkstätte. Learn more from The Forward: How the women of the Wiener Werkstätte changed the world – The Forward
12. Who Was the Baal Shem Tov? The Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Hasidism is shrouded in legend and mystery. Read about him from My Jewish Learning: The Baal Shem Tov | My Jewish Learning
13. One of the most significant figures in the history of philosophy, Spinoza was excommunicated by the Jewish community. Read more about him from My Jewish Learning: Spinoza | My Jewish Learning
14. A Yiddish theater troupe condemned U.S. racism — then the Nazis came. The 1935 Yiddish play ‘Mississippi,’ inspired by the Scottsboro Boys, is available to English readers for the first time. Learn more from The Forward: When a Yiddish theater troupe spoke out against American racism – The Forward
15. The most Jewish room in Fremont, Ohio, is in a county history museum. A vanished Jewish congregation survives in fragments, kept alive by those who refused to let it disappear. Read its history from The Forward: Decades after this Ohio synagogue closed, its story lives on – The Forward
16. An Illinois farmer thought he knew how his family survived the Nazis. Then he went to the town that saved them. Nik Jakobs, a farmer building a synagogue in an Illinois cornfield, traveled to the Netherlands — where nearly 100 villagers kept the secret that saved his family, and where their descendants are reenacting the saga today. Read the story from The Forward: Holocaust story inspired farmer to build synagogue in cornfield – The Forward
17. Ladino-speaking pirates, genies and grumpy demon cats: PJ Library expands bookshelves with Sephardic stories. The iconic Jewish children’s book publisher is boosting authors who want to publish Sephardic, Mizrahi and Ethiopian tales for kids. Learn more from the Forward: PJ Library’s new Sephardic Stories Initiative wants to change Jewish children’s literature
18. Helena Rubinstein: How a Poor Girl from Kraków’s Jewish Quarter Built a Beauty Empire. A penniless Jewish girl from Kraków turned her own persona into a global marketing engine decades ahead of her time. Read her story from Aish: Helena Rubinstein: How a Poor Girl from Kraków’s Jewish Quarter Built a Beauty Empire | Aish
19. Parents buy out Brazilian Jewish school to keep it open, determined to preserve Jewish education in their region. The unusual move by a group of entrepreneurs has led to a sudden increase in enrollment in the Rio de Janeiro school. View the article from JNS: Parents buy out Brazilian Jewish school to keep it open – Israel & Jewish News – JNS
20. While not genealogy, history or culture…an important potential Israeli contribution to science. First human trial supports Israeli immune therapy for Alzheimer’s. Rather than target amyloid plaques, the potential new treatment aims to restore immune functions that naturally decline with age. Learn more from JNS: First human trial supports Israeli immune therapy for Alzheimer’s – Israel & Jewish News – JNS

###

About The Weekly News Nosh

The Weekly News Nosh (NewsNosh) is the L’Dor V’Dor Foundation’s weekly Jewish heritage news digest—a curated set of links for anyone interested in Jewish family history, Jewish history, and Jewish heritage. NewsNosh is published on Sundays and shared on our website and social media platforms. “A Family Without The Understanding Of Their Past History, Foundation And Ethnicity Is Like A Tree Without Roots.” Subscribe to receive NewsNosh every Sunday, directly in your inbox. Browse past issues of our Jewish heritage news digest in the NewsNosh archive.

Why Every Jewish Genealogist Should Join the JewishGen Discussion Group

 

One Question…One Discovery: Why Every Jewish Genealogist Should Join the JewishGen Discussion Group

One of the greatest benefits of belonging to the worldwide Jewish genealogy community is the willingness of researchers to help one another. Every day, the JewishGen Discussion Group features questions from researchers seeking answers about family history, immigration, Holocaust survivors, ancestral towns, and historical records. Often, a single question leads to discoveries that would have taken weeks—or even months—to uncover independently.

A recent discussion is a perfect example.

A researcher asked whether anyone knew the name of the ship that sailed from Marseille, France, on January 25, 1939, arriving in Mollendo, Peru, on February 19, 1939. The voyage was believed to have carried Jewish refugees escaping Nazi Germany just months before the outbreak of World War II.

Within a short time, JewishGen member Oren Kaplan responded with remarkable information. He identified the ship as the SS Colombo, an Italian ocean liner, and discovered that passage for many Jewish refugees was arranged through the Palestine & Orient Lloyd travel agency.

Even more exciting was his discovery of a German historical website documenting the experience of the Homburger family, one of the many Jewish families desperately trying to escape Nazi persecution.

According to the article, Emil Homburger, his wife, and their young son received a letter in January 1939 informing them that berths had been reserved aboard the SS Colombo, departing Marseille on January 25, 1939, bound for Mollendo, Peru, with onward travel to Bolivia.

The letter reveals both the urgency of their situation and the tremendous financial sacrifice required to escape. The family was instructed to pay 3,300 Reichsmarks for passage and was strongly advised to accept the reservation immediately because opportunities to leave Europe were rapidly disappearing.

Reading this correspondence is a powerful reminder that every passenger list tells a much larger story. Behind every name was a family facing impossible decisions, hoping to escape persecution and begin a new life.

What makes this discovery especially valuable is that it extends beyond one family's journey. The German website preserves the history of Nauen, the town where the Homburger family lived before fleeing Germany. Local history websites like this often contain photographs, historical documents, and community stories that help genealogists better understand the lives of their ancestors.

If you visit the website, you can easily translate it into English by using your browser's "Translate to English" feature.

You can also explore the town through an excellent YouTube video that showcases Nauen, Germany, allowing viewers to see the streets and surroundings connected to the Homburger family's story.

German Historical Article (translate to English in your browser):

The Homburger Family's Escape from Nazi Germany

YouTube Video – Discover the Historic Town of Nauen, Germany:

Watch the Nauen, Germany video on YouTube

This story demonstrates why the JewishGen Discussion Group is such an invaluable resource. A single question from one researcher led to the identification of a ship, a travel agency, a refugee family's remarkable story, and historical resources that will benefit researchers around the world.

Whether you are researching immigration, Holocaust survivors, ancestral towns, passenger lists, or family names, the JewishGen Discussion Group connects you with thousands of experienced genealogists who are eager to share their knowledge and help solve research mysteries.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami encourages all of our members to subscribe to the JewishGen Discussion Group. Ask questions, share your discoveries, and become part of a worldwide community dedicated to preserving Jewish family history—one discovery at a time.