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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

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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.