and Jewish Life
Memories of Muizenberg is coming to San Diego!
After successful runs in South Africa, Israel, the UK, Australia and Canada, the exhibition is about to hit the USA.
Visit the KehilaLink for more on Muizenberg:
kehilalinks.jewishgen.org/muizenberg
A quick visit with our 2 ½ year grand daughter. What we saw:
Mostly Egyptian art, sculpture & arms and armour.
| The Metropolitan Museum of Art | |
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| Established | April 13, 1870[1][2][3] |
| Location | 1000 5th Avenue, New York City, NY 10028 |
| Coordinates | 40.779447°N 73.96311°W |
| Visitors | 5.2 million (2008)[2] 4.9 million (2009)[4] 5.24 million (2010)
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| Director | Thomas P. Campbell |
| Public transit access | Subway:     to 86th StreetBus: M1, M2, M3, M4, M79, and M86 |
| Website | www |
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The Metropolitan Museum of Art
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Elevation by Simon Fieldhouse
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| Built | 1874 |
| Architect | Richard Morris Hunt; also Calvert Vaux; Jacob Wrey Mould |
| Architectural style | Beaux-Arts |
| Governing body | Local |
| NRHP Reference # | 86003556 |
| Significant dates | |
| Added to NRHP | January 29, 1972[5] |
| Designated NHL | June 24, 1986[6] |
The Metropolitan Museum of Art (colloquially The Met), located in New York City, is the largest art museum in the United States and one of the ten largest in the world.[7] Its permanent collection contains more than two million works, divided among seventeen curatorial departments.[8] The main building, located on the eastern edge of Central Park along Manhattan’s Museum Mile, is by area one of the world’s largest art galleries. There is also a much smaller second location at The Cloisters in Upper Manhattan that features medieval art.[9]
Represented in the permanent collection are works of art from classical antiquity and Ancient Egypt, paintings and sculptures from nearly all the European masters, and an extensive collection of American and modern art. The Met also maintains extensive holdings of African, Asian, Oceanic, Byzantine, and Islamic art.[10] The museum is also home to encyclopedic collections of musical instruments, costumes and accessories, and antique weapons and armor from around the world.[11] Several notable interiors, ranging from first-century Rome through modern American design, are permanently installed in the Met’s galleries.[12]
The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870. The founders included businessmen and financiers, as well as leading artists and thinkers of the day, who wanted to open a museum to bring art and art education to the American people.[3] It opened on February 20, 1872, and was originally located at 681 Fifth Avenue.[13]
As of 2012, the Met occupies about 2,000,000 square feet (190,000 m2).[14] Admission is pay what you wish with a recommendation of $25.[15]
Ohab Zedek Synagogue
Charlie’s presentation
Website:
http://www.charliebernhaut.com
Inside the Ohab Zedek synagogue
Ohab Zedek, sometimes abbreviated as OZ, is an Orthodox Jewish synagogue in Manhattan, New York City noted for its lively, youthful congregation.[1] Founded in 1873, it moved to it current location on West 95th Street in 1926. The current clergy are: Rabbi Allen Schwartz, Senior Rabbi; and Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Farber, Cantor.
Congregation Ohab Zedek (abbreviated O.Z., and formally known as the First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek), was founded in 1873 on the Lower East Side. The congregation built a synagogue building at 70 Columbia Street in 1881. In 1886 the congregation sold the Columbia Street building to Congregation Ahavath Acheim Anshe Ungarn and moved into the gothic-style synagogue building 172 Norfolk Street that is now the Angel Orensanz Center, the oldest surviving synagogue building in New York and the fourth-oldest in the United States.[2]
| General information | |
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| Architectural style | Vernacular Gothic on the interface of Moorish Revival |
| Construction started | 1906 |
| Completed | 1907 |
| Demolished | 2009–2010 |
| Client | Congregation Ohab Zedek |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Masonry |
In 1906–07 the congregation built and moved into a “monumental” building on 116th Street, in the newly fashionable neighborhood of Harlem. The “monumental” design was influenced by the Gothic character of the previous Norfolk Street home. The street-facing gable prominently featured a large four-centered arch-headed window over a large pedimented doorcase, appearing styled in loose or Vernacular Gothic on the interface of Moorish Revival architecture.
The famous singer Yossele Rosenblatt was a cantor there from 1911 to 1926, and again in 1929.[3]
In 1926 O.Z. moved to its present building at 118 West 95th Street; the 116th Street property was sold, eventually becoming the Baptist Temple Church, which occupied the location for over five decades. Conversion into a church removed the Jewish-themed terracotta ornaments.
Costly structural damage necessitated the building’s demolition, which occurred slowly throughout late 2009 and early 2010.
The current synagogue building at 118 West 95th Street (constructed in 1926) is noted for its Moorish Revival architecture. Designed by architect Charles B. Myers, the interior features magnificent Mudéjar style plasterwork.
Early in the 21st century, the congregation became known for attracting large numbers of orthodox Jewish singles to its services and programs.[1] The congregation published a book in 2005 about its history, First Hungarian Congregation Ohab Zedek, written by O.Z. member Chaim Steinberger.
As of 2013, the senior rabbi was Allen Schwartz and the cantor was Rabbi Avrohom Moshe Farber.
The cafe with Jill Rabinowitz of Perth, Australia, Cliff Marks of Seattle and Michael Rabinowitz of New York
The Deli in Houston St
Storefront on Houston Street
Russ & Daughters is an appetizing store[1] opened in 1914. It is located at 179 East Houston Street, on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City. A family-operated store, it has been at the same location since 1914.
Joel Russ, a Polish immigrant who arrived in Manhattan around 1905, started the business to cater to the Jewish immigrants settling in the Lower East Side of New York.[2] He began by carrying Polish Mushrooms on his shoulders, and saved enough money to purchase a pushcart. He then expanded his operation and sold pickled herring as well as Polish Mushrooms. Then in 1914, Joel Russ opened J Russ International Appetizers, a storefront around the corner from the current location.
In 1920, Joel Russ opened his store at the current location of 179 East Houston Street. In 1933, he renamed the business “Russ and Daughters” after making his three daughters, Hattie, Anne, and Ida, partners in the store. Historically, businesses typically took on the name “and sons”, but since Russ and his wife Bella only had daughters, his business became Russ & Daughters. However, Joel Russ was not a feminist ahead of his time. For him, getting his daughters into the business was not a matter of women’s rights, but a matter of parnosa, or surviving to make a business. As he put it, he was concerned with Vi nemptmen parnosa, meaning ‘From where do we take our living.’ [3] According to Hattie, she and the other daughters had all worked in the store “since they were 8 years old” on weekends, fishing out the herring fillets from the pickle barrels. Once each one of them finished high school, they all worked full-time. Moreover, Joel Russ kept the store open seven days a week.
Calvin Trillin wrote about Russ & Daughters in the 1970s in his New Yorker food pieces.[4]
In 2008 The Jews of New York documentary premiered on PBS, featuring three generations of the Russ & Daughters family (Anne Russ Federman and Hattie Russ Gold, the two surviving Russ daughters; Mark Russ Federman, then the proprietor; Niki Russ Federman; and Josh Russ Tupper.) [5] The documentary tells, among other things, the story of Russ & Daughters from the early 1900s to the (then) present.[6][7][8]
Russ & Daughters: Reflections and Recipes from the House That Herring Built, by Mark Russ Federman (grandson of Joel Russ), with an introduction by Calvin Trillin, was published in 2013.[9]
Russ & Daughters received the 2013 Jewish Cultural Achievement Award, making it the first restaurant to receive a Jewish Cultural Achievement Award.[10]
In 2014, The Sturgeon Queens, a documentary about Russ & Daughters, premiered. It features, among others, Anne Russ Federman, 92 years old at the time, and Hattie Russ Gold, 100 years old at the time, who were the two surviving Russ daughters; the third daughter, Ida, had died.[11][12] The Sturgeon Queens was Joel Russ’ affectionate nickname for his daughters.[13]
Josh Russ Tupper and Niki Russ Federman, cousins, now run Russ & Daughters, the 4th generation of Russes to do so.[14] In 2014 they opened the restaurant Russ & Daughters Café on Orchard Street.[15]
In 2015 the New York state Senate honored Russ & Daughters with a resolution marking its 100th anniversary; the resolution had been drafted in June 2014 but was presented to the Russ & Daughters staff on January 7, 2015.[16]
Josh Russ Tupper appeared on The Martha Stewart Show to make Chopped Liver, the Oy Vey Schmear sandwich, Whitefish & Baked Salmon Salad and the Super Heebster sandwich.[17]
The Leonard Lopate Show on NPR discussed Russ & Daughters.[18] WNYC featured Russ & Daughters when Amy Eddings reported on “Last Change Foods”, in a segment called “A Palatable Passover: Russ & Daughters explains matzo, gefilte fish and charoset.” [19]
Russ & Daughters was also featured on two episodes of the TV series Louie and in the theatrical movie Lola Versus.
Our first time here. Stunning and most interesting. Here are a selection of my photos
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Brooklyn Botanic Garden
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| Date opened | Founded in 1910 |
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| Location | 990 Washington Avenue, within Prospect Park, Brooklyn, New York 11225 United States |
| Coordinates | 40°40′7.32″N 73°57′52.92″WCoordinates: 40°40′7.32″N 73°57′52.92″W |
| Land area | 52 acres (21 ha) |
| Number of species | 12,000 [1] |
| Annual visitors | 725,000 [2] |
| Website | http://www.bbg.org/ |
Brooklyn Botanic Garden (BBG) is a botanical garden in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Founded in 1910 and located in the Prospect Park neighborhood, the 52-acre (21 ha) garden includes a number of specialty “gardens within the Garden,” plant collections, and the Steinhardt Conservatory, which houses the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum, three climate-themed plant pavilions, a white cast-iron and glass aquatic plant house, and an art gallery. The Garden holds over 10,000 taxa of plants and each year welcomes over 900,000 visitors from around the world.
Early plans for Prospect Park originally called for the park to straddle Flatbush Avenue. The City of Brooklyn purchased the land for this purpose in 1864.[1] When Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux brought their final plans to the city for approval in the 1860s, they had eliminated the problematic division along Flatbush. The northeast portion went unused, serving as an ash dump. Legislation in 1897 as the city moved toward consolidation reserved 39 acres (16 ha) for a botanic garden, and the garden itself was founded in 1910.[2] The garden was initially known as the Institute Park. It was run under the auspices of the Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences, which included (until the 1970s) the Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Children’s Museum, and Brooklyn Academy of Music.[3] It opened as the Brooklyn Botanic Garden on May 13, 1911, with the Native Flora Garden being the first established section.[1]
Harold Caparn was appointed as the landscape architect in 1912. Caparn designed most of the rest of the grounds over the next three decades, including the Osborne Garden, Cranford Rose Garden, Magnolia Plaza, and Plant Collection.[4] Construction of the Laboratory Building and Conservatory began in 1912, and the building was dedicated in 1917.[1]The building—now simply the Administration Building—was designed in the Tuscan Revival style by William Kendall for McKim, Mead & White, the architectural firm that built the Brooklyn Museum, Manhattan Municipal Building, and many other prominent New York City buildings. It was designated a New York City Landmark in 2007.[5]
Cherry Esplanade
The Garden has more than 200 cherry trees of forty-two Asian species and cultivated varieties, making it one of the foremost cherry-viewing sites outside of Japan. The first cherries were planted at the garden after World War I, a gift from the Japanese government. Each spring at BBG, when the trees are in bloom, a month-long cherry blossom viewing festival called Hanami is held at the Cherry Esplanade, culminating in a weekend celebration called Sakura Matsuri. The Esplanade features two rows of cherry trees with trails and sitting areas on the side. Visitors are also welcome to sit on the field of grass between the rows of cherry trees. Cherry trees are found on the Cherry Esplanade and Cherry Walk, in the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden, and in many other locations in the Garden. Depending on weather conditions, the Asian flowering cherries bloom from late March or early April to mid-May. The many different species bloom at slightly different times, and the sequence is tracked online at Cherry Watch, on the BBG website.
Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden
BBG’s Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden was the first Japanese garden to be created in an American public garden. It was constructed in 1914 and 1915 at a cost of $13,000, a gift of early BBG benefactor and trustee Alfred T. White, and it first opened to the public in June 1915. Widely considered by numerous landscape architects, to be the masterpiece of its creator, Japanese landscape designer Takeo Shiota (1881–1943). Shiota was born in a small Japanese village about 40 miles (64 km) from Tokyo, and in his youth spent years traversing Japan on foot to explore its natural landscape. He emigrated to the United States in 1907.
The garden is a blend of the ancient hill-and-pond style and the more modern stroll-garden style, in which various landscape features are gradually revealed along winding paths. Its 3 acres (1.2 ha) contain hills, a waterfall, a pond, and an island, all artificially constructed. Carefully placed rocks also play leading roles. Among the architectural elements of the garden are wooden bridges, stone lanterns, a viewing pavilion, a torii or gateway, and a Shinto shrine. The pond is filled with hundreds of Japanese koi fish that visitors can enjoy viewing on the tori or along the trail of the garden. Another element that can be discovered walking through the trail is a Japanese temple dedicated to the wolf spirits. A restoration of the garden in 2000 was recognized with the New York Landmark Conservancy’s 2001 Preservation Award.[citation needed]
Cranford Rose Garden
In 1927, Walter V. Cranford, a construction engineer whose firm built many of Brooklyn’s subway tunnels, donated $15,000 to BBG for a rose garden. Excavation revealed an old cobblestone road two feet below the surface and tons of glacial rock, which had to be carted away on horse-drawn barges.
The Cranford Rose Garden opened in June 1928. It was designed by Harold Caparn, a landscape architect, and Montague Free, the Garden’s horticulturist. Many of the original plants are still in the garden today. There are over 5,000 bushes of nearly 1,400 kinds of roses, including wild species, old garden roses, hybrid tea roses, grandifloras, floribundas, polyanthas, hybrid perpetuals, climbers, ramblers, and miniature roses. The garden also features a stone statue.
Native Flora Garden
Native Flora Garden Expansion
The Native Flora Garden was the first section of the garden to be established and opened in 1911.[1] It was the first of its kind in North America. Originally a wildflower planting, it was redesigned in 1931 as a woodland habitat featuring plants native to the New York metropolitan area.[6]The Native Flora Garden closed from 1963 to 1983 due to a lack of funding.
The Native Flora Garden was expanded in 2013 with a new landscape designed by Darrel Morrison. The expansion provides new habitats for local plants that would be shaded out by the mature canopy in the original two-acre garden. The expansion features a tallgrass prairie, dry meadow, pine barrens, kettle pond, and wooden bridge that allows visitors to cross over to the different habitats.[7]
A donation from Henry Clay Folger, founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C. paved the way for the construction of BBG’s original Shakespeare Garden in 1925. Since moved to a different location in the Garden, this English cottage garden exhibits more than 80 plants mentioned in William Shakespeare‘s plays and poems. Plant labels give the plants’ common or Shakespearean names, their botanical names, relevant quotations, and, in some cases, a graphic representation of the plant.
Next to the Shakespeare Garden is the Fragrance Garden, complete with braille information signs for visitors with vision disabilities. Created in 1955 by landscape architect Alice Recknagel Ireys, this was the first garden in the country designed for the vision-impaired. All visitors are encouraged to rub the fragrant or pleasingly textured leaves of the plants between their fingers. There are four sections in the garden, each with a theme: (1) plants to touch, (2) plants with scented leaves, (3) plants with fragrant flowers, and (4) kitchen herbs. The garden is wheelchair-accessible, and all planting beds are at an appropriate height for people in wheelchairs. A fountain provides a calming sound and a place to wash one’s hands after touching the various plants.
The BBG Children’s Garden is the oldest continually operating children’s garden within a botanic garden in the world.[citation needed] It was opened in 1914 under the direction of BBG educator Ellen Eddy Shaw and operates as a community garden for children, with hundreds of children registering each year for plots on the 1-acre (0.40 ha) site. This Children’s Garden is also open for GAP interns who get an allocated plot in which they can grow all kinds of vegetables and flowers to harvest later on in the year. The Children’s Garden also has a compost area which is maintained by the GAP interns and staff. The BBG Children’s Garden has served as a model for similar gardens around the world.[citation needed]
A Nymphaea ‘Peach Glow’ water-lily in one of the lily pools
Other specialty gardens at BBG include: the Discovery Garden, designed for young children; the Herb Garden; the Lily Pool Terrace, which includes two large display pools of lilies and koi fish and surrounded by annual and perennial borders; the Osborne Garden, a 3-acre (1.2 ha), Italian-style garden that features pergolas and a stone fountain, and the Rock Garden, built around 18 boulders left behind by the glacier during the Ice Age. A Celebrity Path honors famous Brooklynites past and present, such as Barbra Streisand, Woody Allen, and Walt Whitman, with a trail of engraved paving stones. Following along that path leads to the Alfred T. White Amphitheater that hosts mini concerts and performances.
The Plant Family Collection, which takes about a third of BBG’s total area, includes plants and trees arranged by family to show their evolutionary progression from most primitive to most recently evolved. Although recent studies of plant genetics have changed classification of individual plants, the groupings are still an excellent introduction to the many different plant families and their constituent species. The groupings include primitive plants (ferns and conifers) and composite plants.
Steinhardt Conservatory desert collection
Bonsaï Carissa macrocarpa var. Horizontalis – BBG
The Steinhardt Conservatory houses BBG’s extensive indoor plant collection in three climate-controlled pavilions for tropical, warm temperate, and desert floras. Also located here are: the C.V. Starr Bonsai Museum, one of the oldest collections of dwarfed, potted trees in the country; an art gallery for changing art exhibitions; the Robert W. Wilson Aquatic House, with its collections of tropical water plants, insect-eating plants, and orchids; and the Stephen K-M. Tim Trail of Evolution, which traces the history of plant evolution and the effects of climate change over 3½ billion years.
The Garden also has an Overlook above the Cherry Esplanade that allows visitors to get a holistic view to of the Cherry Esplanade and Garden. The Overlook is also a great place for bird watching or observing other wildlife at the Garden.
The Monocot Border in early July at Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Less apparent to the casual visitor are BBG’s diverse programs in youth education, conservation, and community horticulture.
The Garden’s Education department runs a full range of adult and children’s classes and events, and also educates thousands of school and camp groups throughout the year.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden is a founding partner of the Brooklyn Academy of Science and the Environment (BASE), a small public high school dedicated to science, environmental studies, and urban ecology that was launched in 2003. A Field Studies course is offered adjunct Living Environment for incoming freshmen where students spend two hours out of one day in the week at BBG developing scientific skills and immersed in outdoor scientific study. The school is operated by a partnership between BBG, Prospect Park Alliance, and the New York City Department of Education. Students are also connected with scientists and horticulturists who serve as mentors for advanced research studies students develop. BASE graduated its first class in 2007 and has attained its fourth Gates Millennium Scholar in 2013.
BBG’s Garden Apprentice Program (GAP) provides internships for students in grades 8 through 12 in gardening, science education, and environmental issues. The program offers students training and volunteer placements with increasing levels of responsibility for up to four years. Many interns are hired for employment after completing the four year program.
The Discovery Garden hosts weekly hands-on workshops for kids of all ages. The Garden features many interactive exhibits along with a mini plot that has a variety of vegetables that kids can pick and enjoy the fresh treats available. The Garden is currently under construction for expansion.
Project Green Reach is a science-focused school outreach program which annually reaches nearly 2,500 students and teachers in public and nonpublic schools in underserved neighborhoods.
Between 1990 and 2010, Scientists at Brooklyn Botanic Garden made a comprehensive study of the plants of metropolitan New York, called the New York Metropolitan Flora project, or NYMF. The purpose of NYMF is to catalog and describe all vascular plants growing in the region.
The BBG Herbarium collection comprises over 300,000 specimens of preserved plants, particularly plants from the New York metropolitan area. These specimens, some from as early as 1818, create a historical record and aid scientists in tracking species, analyzing the spread of invasive plants, and modeling changes in the metro region’s vegetation. There are also holdings from the western United States, the Galapagos Islands, Bolivia, and Mauritius.
Housed in the McKim, Mead & White Administration Building, the BBG Library provides a collection of books on horticulture and botany that is available to home gardeners, professionals and staff. This building houses a Rare Book Room which holds valuable and historic botanical literature. This building also features classrooms, auditorium, a rotunda and offices.
GreenBridge, the community horticulture program of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, shares BBG’s knowledge and resources with Brooklyn neighborhoods by offering residential and commercial gardening programs to block associations, community gardens, community centers, and other groups.
The annual Greenest Block in Brooklyn contest encourages neighborhood beautification by offering classes in planting window boxes, planters, and tree pits and recognizing outstanding efforts.
The Urban Composting Project, supported by the New York City Department of Sanitation, offers composting assistance and resources to community gardens and institutions and information on composting in residential backyards to individuals.
BBG has been producing publications since 1945, when it launched America’s first series of popular gardening handbooks. Today, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Guides to a Greener Planet continue to provide home gardeners with practical information on subjects such as garden design, great plants, and gardening techniques. BBG’s website showcases the Garden and its programs and offers information for the home gardener in popular features such as Garden Botany and Environmental Gardening. New features are added every week, including seasonal interactive guides such as “ID Your Holiday Tree” and “Cherry Watch,” and online resources like the Metropolitan Plant Encyclopedia. BBG’s collection of historic photographs and lantern slides was recently made available online. The website was one of the first to be fully compliant with federal laws requiring information technology to be equally accessible to the disabled.[citation needed]
Osborne Garden
BBG has two gift shops, a Visitor Center,[8] and a Gardener’s Resource Center which provides reference services to home gardeners, staff, and the professional horticultural community. The Visitor Center and Gardener’s Resource Center are both located in the McKim, Mead and WhiteAdministration Building.
A new Visitor Center at the BBG designed by Weiss/Manfredi opened on May 16, 2012,.[9][10] The Center has a LEED Gold certification for its sustainable and environmental features. The Center features a green roof, geothermal wells, rainwater harvesting and recycled wooden panel in its event space.
The Palm House, a Beaux Arts-style conservatory, is a wedding and events venue offering catering for up to 300 guests. Group tours are also available. Adjacent to the Palm House is the Terrace cafe that offers fresh, daily selections of meals and treats for visitors. During the winter month the cafe is relocated indoors at the lower level of the Steinhardt Conservatory.
BBG has about 165 full-time and 90 part-time employees along with 600 volunteers. Its annual operating budget is $16.2 million.
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In just under 12 hours, Jill & I will be jetting across Australia, the Pacific & the USA.
30 hours after leaving Perth, we should be in Long Island City with its magnificent views of Manhattan.
Click on this interactive Google map below showing my planned stops.
Here is a more detailed map of my Lithuanian leg, where I will be driving around as I did last year.
These are my planned stops:
New York
Toronto
London
Warsaw
Vilnius
Utena
Daugavpils (Dvinsk)
Rokiskis
Kupiskis
Birzai
Bauska
Rundale
Salaspils
Riga
Siauliai
Plunge
Rietavas
Kelme
Kedainiai
Seduva
Kaunas
Marijampole
Kalvarija
Alytus
Vilnius
Warsaw
If you have any questions about these places, please fill out this contact form.
I am pleased to advise that I have been selected to give a presentation at the 35th IAJGS International Jewish Genealogical Conference in Jerusalem in July.
The title of my talk is:
“A TRAGIC ROMANCE AND ITS CONSEQUENCES:
FROM ONE PHOTO TO JOURNEYS OF RESEARCH AND DISCOVERY!”
The narrative about Moshe and Paula starts in Orla, Poland and ends suddenly in South Africa.
However, the research starts 80 years later in Australia and takes me to Poland, Belarus, Israel, the UK, Germany, South Africa, the US and Canada.
More to follow in upcoming blogs.
Where is Orla:
Facebook page just started for Moshe and Paula:
https://www.facebook.com/mosheandpaula?ref=hl
chairman@iajgs2015.org
35 th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy
| Conference Keynote Speaker Announcement | |
From: Michael Goldstein, Chairman IAJGS 2015 (chairman iajgs2015.org) |
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| Date: Sun, 29 Mar 2015 09:17:21 -0700 (PDT) | |
Rabbi Israel Meir Lau, former Chief Rabbi of Israel and Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council, will deliver the keynote address at the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) 35th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy to be held in Jerusalem from July 6-10, 2015. Rabbi Lau will speak on the topic, ?Connecting to Jewish Heritage through Jewish Genealogy.? Israel Meir Lau, who was one of the youngest survivors of the Holocaust, was liberated from the Buchenwald concentration camp at the age of eight in 1945. Throughout his life, he has continually championed the preservation of the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust, gaining prominence as an outstanding orator and activist. Rabbi Lau has participated in every March of the Living commemoration held in Poland, bringing together thousands of students and adults from around the world. He brings an important message to focus on the individuals who comprise the millions murdered. Israel Meir Lau was born in the Polish town of Piotrków Trybunalski, and is the 38th generation in an unbroken family chain of rabbis. On Independence Day 2005 Rabbi Lau received the Israel Prize generally regarded as the State of Israel?s highest honor, for lifetime achievement and special contributions to society and the State. In 2011 he was awarded “Legion of Honor” (France?s highest accolade) by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. In announcing Rabbi Lau as the keynote speaker, Conference Chairman Michael Goldstein put forth that the message that Rabbi Lau brings to us at the conference and in all his related talks a message that reinforces how vital our research is so that we learn of those members of our family who were displaced and murdered and how important our research is in bringing together families which were torn apart.
| Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau ישראל מאיר לאו |
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| Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv Chairman of Yad Vashem |
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| Other | former Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel |
| Personal details | |
| Birth name | Yisrael Meir Lau |
| Born | 1 June 1937 Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland |
| Nationality | Israeli |
| Denomination | Orthodox |
| Residence | Tel Aviv |
| Parents | Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau |
| Children | 8 children including David Lau |
Yisrael (Israel) Meir Lau (Hebrew: ישראל מאיר לאו; born 1 June 1937 in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland) is an Israeli and the Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv, Israel, and Chairman of Yad Vashem. He previously served as the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003.
Yisrael Meir Lau (8 years old) in the arms of Elazar Schiff, Buchenwald survivors at their arrival at Haifa on 15 July 1945.
Lau was born on 1 June 1937, in the Polish town of Piotrków Trybunalski. His father, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Lau (Polish: Mojżesz Chaim Lau), was the last Chief Rabbi of the town; he died in the Treblinka extermination camp. Yisrael Meir is the 38th generation in an unbroken family chain of rabbis.[1]
Lau was freed from the Buchenwald concentration camp in 1945, after Rabbi Herschel Schacter detected him hiding under a heap of corpses when the camp was liberated.[2] Lau has credited a teen prisoner with protecting him in the camp (later determined by historian Kenneth Waltzer to be Fyodor Michajlitschenko).[3] His entire family was murdered, with the exception of his older brother, Naphtali Lau-Lavie, his half brother, Yehoshua Lau-Hager, and his uncle already living in Mandate Palestine.
Lau immigrated to Mandate Palestine with his brother Naphtali in July 1945, where he studied in the famous yeshiva Kol Torahunder Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach[4] as well as in Ponevezh and Knesses Chizkiyahu. He was ordained as a rabbi in 1961. He married the daughter of Rabbi Yitzchok Yedidya Frankel, the Rabbi of South Tel Aviv.[1] He served as Chief Rabbi in Netanya(1978–1988), and at that time developed his reputation as a popular orator.
Lau is the father of three sons and five daughters. His eldest son, Moshe Chaim, took his place as Rabbi in Netanya in 1989; his son David became the Chief Rabbi of Modi’in, and later Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel; and his youngest, Tzvi Yehuda, is the Rabbi of North Tel Aviv.[1]Lau is the uncle of Rabbi Binyamin (Benny) Lau, an educator and activist in the Religious Zionist movement, and Amichai Lau-Lavie, the founder and artistic director of the Jewish ritual theater company Storahtelling.
In 2008, Lau was appointed Chairman of Yad Vashem, succeeding Tommy Lapid.
Rabbi Lau addresses
the United Nations
Lau was ordained as a rabbi in 1961. His first rabbinic position was at the Ohr Torah synagogue in North Tel Aviv. In 1965 he was appointed as rabbi of the Tiferet Tzvi Synagogue in Tel Aviv, a position he held until 1971 when he was appointed rabbi of North Tel Aviv.
In 1978 Lau was appointed as chief rabbi of the city of Netanya. In 1983 Lau was appointed to serve on the Mo’etzet of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. In 1988, after the death of his father-in-law, Lau was appointed to serve as chief rabbi of Tel Aviv, a position he held until 1993. When Lau met the Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem M. Schneerson in 1992, the Rebbe told Lau to finish his work in Tel Aviv, as he would soon be chosen to become the Chief Rabbi of Israel.[5] In 1993, Lau was elected Chief Rabbi of Israel.
On 9 June 2005, Lau was reinstalled as Chief Rabbi of Tel Aviv after serving in this position from 1985 until 1993, when he was appointed Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel, a position which he held until 2003.
Lau has often been characterized as the “consensus rabbi”, and has close ties to both Haredi and Modern Orthodox Judaism, particularly in regard to his politics, which have been characterized as moderate Zionist.[6] One report described him as “too Zionist to be considered Haredi.”
He is respected internationally by Jews and non-Jews alike, and is one of the few figures in the Haredi world who has managed to gain the trust and admiration of both the Sephardic and Ashkenazic population.[7][8] Lau has received some negative attention for his stances and remarks on non-Orthodox denominations of Judaism. When Lau was awarded the Israel Prize in May 2005, there were protests from the Masorti and Reformmovements in Israel. Non-Orthodox leaders noted that it was ironic that Lau was being honored for “bridging rifts in Israeli society”. Lau’s spokespeople said that the fact that he had been approved by the (presumably heterogeneous) Prize Committee spoke for itself.3
In 1993, Rav Lau had an hour-long meeting with John Paul II at the Pope’s summer residence of Castel Gandolfo near Rome sought to offer the Vatican’s moral support to the latest peace moves in the Middle East. The visit was the first between a Pope and one of Israel’s chief rabbis since the founding of the Jewish state in 1948.[9] In 2009, he was critical of a speech given by Pope Benedict XVI during a visit to Israel.[10] He later applauded a new papal statement which gave more emphasis to the suffering of Jews during the Holocaust.[11]
In the spring of 2006, the Israeli media reported that Lau was being considered for presidency of the State of Israel. Some critics in the Israeli media wrote that Lau was more focused on maintaining his image as a progressive than in implementing such positions in the rabbinate’s policies, specifically major issues such as agunot, civil marriage, the status of Shabbat, and other divisive topics that continue to be relevant to many in the secular community vis-a-vis the Chief Rabbinate, which under Lau’s leadership usually sided with the Orthodox perspective.
Another criticism was that a rabbi as president could further blur the line between religion and the state, and push Israel closer to becoming a theocracy, both in fact and public perception. Israel’s gay community also opposed Lau’s possible candidacy due to his criticism of the Gay Pride parade in Tel Aviv and views on same sex couples. The Reform and Conservative movements in Israel also regarded Lau’s candidacy as “unsuitable.” A Reform activist accused Lau of being more concerned with fulfilling Judaism’s ritual requirements than focusing on pressing ethical questions such as discrimination in Israel or genocide in Darfur.
In 2005, Lau was awarded the Israel Prize for his lifetime achievements and special contribution to society and the State of Israel.[12]
On 14 April 2011, he was awarded the Legion of Honor (France’s highest accolade) by French President Nicolas Sarkozy, in recognition of his efforts to promote interfaith dialogue.[13]
“Let’s sit down together and let’s live together. We always knew how to die together. The time has come for us to know also how to live together, said Lau, calling for co-operation and dialogue between all Jews (Jerusalem, 14 February 1999).
At the 2006 commemoration of the massacre of Babi Yar, Lau pointed out that if the world had reacted, perhaps the Holocaust might never have happened. Implying that Hitlerwas emboldened by this impunity, Lau speculated:
“Maybe, say, this Babi Yar was also a test for Hitler. If on 29 September and 30 September 1941 Babi Yar may happen and the world did not react seriously, dramatically, abnormally, maybe this was a good test for him. So a few weeks later in January 1942, near Berlin in Wannsee, a convention can be held with a decision, a final solution to the Jewish problem. Maybe if the very action had been a serious one, a dramatic one, in September 1941 here in Ukraine, the Wannsee Conference would have come to a different end, maybe“.[14]
