Genealogy with Rabbi Scott

Genealogy with Rabbi Scott Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff offers his genealogical expertise in American and European Jewish Genealogy to

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Je...
10/27/2025

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Brian, visiting from Baltimore, MD, wanted to learn more about his grandparents, Meyer and Goldie Schwartz. We found the Schwartz family living in Baltimore in the 1910 US Federal Census. Meyer and Goldie were residing at 302 Exeter Street with their three oldest children, Nathan, Abraham and Morris. According to the census, their two oldest sons, Nathan and Abraham, were born in Russia. According to Brian, his grandfather’s original surname was Chernobulsky, not Schwartz, and his grandmother’s maiden name was Cohen.

We then found pictures of Meyer and Goldie’s graves which taught us that Meyer’s father was Avraham Chernobulsky and Goldie’s father was Mordechai Cohen, Brian’s great grandfather. We then searched JewishGen.org to see if we could find any information about Meyer and Goldie in the old country.

We found a birth record for a baby named Avrum Chernobulsky who was born in Mokra Kalyhirka, Ukraine, on December 8, 1902. This baby’s father was Meyer, the son of Avrum Chernobulsky and the baby’s mother was Golda, the daughter of Mordechai. This was the birth record for Meyer and Golda’s second oldest son, Abraham Schwartz. By finding this birth record, we learned that Brian’s family came from Mokra Kalyhirka, Ukraine. We found Brian’s grandfather in a list of Jewish males living in the town in 1875. According to the list, Meyer’s father was Avrum, which we already knew, and Meyer’s grandfather was Nison Chernobulsky, Brian’s great-great grandfather.

Debra is planning a trip to Budapest and wanted to find information about her grandfather who supposedly lived in Budapest before immigrating to the United States. We learned that Debra’s grandfather, Sigmund Fischer, was born on September 12, 1888 in Vienna, Austria, the son of Arpad Fischer and Roza Popper. He immigrated to the US in 1907, arriving at Ellis Island on February 1. According to his ship’s manifest, Sigmund was living in Szent Endre, Hungary prior to immigrating. Szent Endre is a riverside town 30 minutes north of Budapest.

We were surprised to learn that Sigmund was married prior to marrying her grandmother. Sigmund married his first wife, Elsie Laupheimer Mann, on April 9, 1915 in New York. Unfortunately, Elsie passed away in June of 1926. Sigmund married his second wife, Debra’s grandmother, in October of 1926 and Debra’s mother, Elsie, was born a year later in October 1927. We realized that Debra’s mother must have been named after Sigmund first wife, Elsie Laupheimer Mann Fischer!

We then learned that although Sigmund Fischer was born in Vienna, Austria, his family originally came from Budapest. His parents, Arpad Fischer and Roza Popper were married in Budapest on July 8, 1884. Arpad was born in Budapest on May 10, 1863, the son of Salomon Fischer and Rosalie Reik, Debra’s great-great grandparents.

Eden, visiting from Florida, stumbled upon the center during her visit to the Museum of Jewish Heritage. She asked if we’d be able to conduct research on her grandparents, Morris and Bessie Gelman. We found Morris’ naturalization papers which taught us that he was born in Beltsy, Russia, which we identified as modern-day Balti, Moldova. Morris immigrated to the US in 1914, arriving at the port of Philadelphia on July 16 aboard the SS Prinz Aldabert.

According to his obituary, Morris’ wife’s maiden name was Bessie Reisser. We found Bessie in the 1910 US Federal Census and learned that her parents were Joseph Reisser and Celia (Sima) Braverman. We noticed that the census said that this was the first marriage for Joseph and the second marriage for Celia. We concluded, based on the ages and dates, that Joseph Reisser was not Bessie’s biological father. She had to have been the daughter of Celia’s first husband. We still do not know who Bessie’s biological father was.

We did learn that Sima’s parents, Pinchas Shmuel and Rose Braverman, Eden’s great-great grandparents, immigrated to the US as well. They first settled in Toronto, Canada and then immigrated to the US in 1907, joining their son who had already settled in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. According to Rose’s obituary, she and Pinchas Shmuel, known as Zeda, were the parents of 8 children: Meyer, Max, Joseph, Michael, Irving, Esther, Lena and Celia, Eden’s great grandmother. We even found pictures of Pinchas Shmuel and Rose’s graves which had pictures of them attached to the headstones.

Cheryl’s father was a Holocaust survivor from Tarnow, Poland. Cheryl said that her father never spoke about his experiences during the war or about the family that had been killed. She wanted to see if we could find information about her father’s family. We learned that Cheryl’s grandparents were Mechel Roth and Kreindel Roth, Cheryl’s namesake. Her grandmother’s maiden name was Roth and she married a Roth. Not only did two Roths marry each other, but Mechel’s brother, Sam Roth, and Kreindel’s sister, Rose Roth, married each other.

We found pages of testimony that Cheryl’s father submitted to Yad Vashem in memory of his parents and siblings. We learned that Cheryl’s aunts and uncles were Rose, Bashe, Yossel and Herzig Roth. We also learned that Cheryl’s grandparents came from Ryglice, Poland. Cheryl’s grandfather, Mechel Roth, was the son of Naftali Hersh Roth and Esther Salander, and Cheryl’s grandmother, Kreindel Roth, was the daughter of Manes Roth and Sheindel Gewelber.

Tomorrow, Jews around the world will gather on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to recite Yizkor, the Memorial Prayer.T...
10/01/2025

Tomorrow, Jews around the world will gather on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, to recite Yizkor, the Memorial Prayer.

The Yizkor service did not always exist in Jewish tradition. It grew out of a deep need for remembrance and comfort during some of the darkest moments in Jewish history. Its origins reach back to medieval Europe, around the 11th century, when Jewish communities in Germany were devastated by the violence of the Crusades. Entire communities were destroyed, and countless Jews were killed simply for their faith. In response, special prayers were composed to memorialize the martyrs, those who had given their lives Al Kiddush Hashem, in sanctification of God’s name. Over time, these prayers became woven into the rhythm of Jewish life, said not only for martyrs but also for parents, relatives, and loved ones who had passed away.

For many, Yizkor is among the most meaningful and emotional moments of the Jewish year. It weaves together personal memory and collective history, reminding us that we stand as part of an unbroken chain of generations. By speaking the names of our loved ones in synagogue, we affirm that they continue to live on—in our prayers, in our deeds, and in our hearts.

But beyond its history, Yizkor touches people in profoundly personal ways. For some, it is the place where raw grief surfaces—the emptiness of a chair that will never again be filled, the memory of a hand once held. For others, it is a moment of gratitude, recalling lessons learned, traditions passed down, and love that continues to shape our lives long after a loved one’s passing.

Yizkor is also an act of connection. Though each person recites the prayer with their own memories, the congregation rises together, embodying the truth that mourning and remembrance are not carried alone. This shared ritual transforms private loss into a collective embrace: in remembering our own, we help remember one another’s as well.

In this way, Yizkor is not simply a prayer for the dead—it is a lifeline for the living. It allows Jews everywhere to sit with memory, to sanctify grief, and to turn loss into meaning. In the stillness of the Yizkor service, time collapses: parents and children, grandparents and great-grandparents, friends and mentors all seem to gather once more, their presence felt in the sanctuary of the heart.

This is why, for so many, Yizkor is not only a ritual, but a sacred encounter. It is the moment when memory becomes prayer, when love becomes legacy, and when absence is met with the quiet affirmation that those we have lost are never truly gone.

A reading for Yizkor:
Yizkor is brief. Following a few prayers, we are left with moments of silence to think about those who were closest to us. What should we do during those moments? How should we best remember those who no longer walk this earth?

During these silent moments let’s take a journey into the hearts of our loved ones. Close your eyes, and imagine walking into a room, perhaps a room in the home in which you grew up. Now shut the door and envision your beloved father or mother, husband or wife, sister or brother, son or daughter, other relative or friend. Look into their eyes, touch their hands and feel their skin. Listen to their voices. Let’s speak with our loved ones. What do we want to say that we didn’t when they were alive?

Perhaps we will give them an update about our lives, about all of the moments and milestones they have missed since they left us. Maybe we will say, “Thank you for all you did.” We might apologize for hurting them or grant them forgiveness. Or we might simply say, “I love you and miss you so very, very deeply.” During these moments see them, hear them, touch them. And make peace with yourself, your beloved and with God. Then you will have transformed these ordinary moments into sacred moments.

Tomorrow night, Jews around the world will celebrate Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. Many will eat apples dipped in ...
09/21/2025

Tomorrow night, Jews around the world will celebrate Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year. Many will eat apples dipped in honey, symbolizing our hope for a sweet year. The custom of eating apples on Rosh HaShanah was first mentioned in Machzor Vitry, an 11th-century prayer book that incorporates legal rulings, composed by Rabbi Simcha of Vitry, a French talmudist and student of Rashi. Although eating apples dipped in honey is probably the most widely observed custom among Jews around the world, there are many other symbolic foods that are eaten on Rosh HaShanah.

The pomegranate is one of the seven agricultural products associated with the land of Israel, along with wheat, barley, grapes, figs, olives, and dates. In Jewish tradition, pomegranates are said to contain exactly 613 seeds, each corresponding to one of the 613 mitzvot (commandments) of the Torah. We eat pomegranates on Rosh HaShanah in hopes that our merits and good deeds will be as numerous as the seeds of a pomegranate.

Another custom is to place the head of a fish on the Rosh HaShanah dinner table, symbolizing our hope that we will be fruitful and multiply like fish. Rosh HaShanah literally means "head of the year." The fish head also symbolizes our hope that we may be heads and not tails, a blessing from the book of Deuteronomy.

Many Sephardic Jews partake in a Rosh HaShanah seder on both nights of the holiday, following a specific order of reciting blessings and readings over specific foods including leek, beets, dates, squash, fenugreek. The origin of the Rosh HaShanah seder comes from a passage in the Babylonian Talmud. Rabbi Abaye spoke of squash, fenugreek, leek, beets, dates as foods that should always be seen on the holiday because they grow quickly, serving as positive omens during the coming year.

The Shulchan Aruch, an important code of Jewish law written in the 16th century, instructs Jews to eat foods whose names mean "to increase" in the local language. This is why many Ashkenazi Jews have the custom of eating carrots on Rosh HaShanah. In Yiddish, the word for carrot is mer, which also means "more" or "to multiply." Carrots symbolize our hope that goodness will increase in our lives in the coming year. A popular Ashkenazi dish for Rosh HaShanah is tzimmes, made of carrots and dried fruit.

There is also a custom to eat beets on Rosh HaShanah because the word for beet (selek) sounds similar to the Aramaic word silka which means "to remove." It is our hope, especially in the aftermath of October 7 and the ensuing war, that the enemies of the Jewish People will be removed from the earth and that we will live in peace.

May the coming year be sweet, may goodness increase and may we live in peace . Wishing you and your loved ones a happy and healthy 5786. !שנה טובה ומתוקה

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Je...
09/15/2025

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

According to his WW2 draft registration card, K’s grandfather, Edward Lovinger, was born on May 12, 1905 in Indianapolis, IN and lived in Detroit, MI. Using this information, we found Edward’s marriage record from 1927. Edward married K’s grandmother, Tobie Rosenthal on May 31, 1927 in Rochester, NY. According to their marriage license, Edward’s parents were Joseph Lovinger and Theresa Schwartz, Jewish immigrants from Hungary.

We found Joseph Lovinger’s US passport application which taught us that he was born on November 1, 1879 in Komoro, Hungary and that his father’s name was Abraham Lovinger. He resided in Indianapolis for 13 years before moving to Detroit. Joseph’s passport application included his picture which K saw for the first time. Unfortunately, Joseph died in an automobile accident in Wentworth County, Ontario, Canada on July 4, 1925. According to his death record, his father was Abraham Lovinger and his mother was Borbala Meyer.

We then searched for records for Joseph in Hungary and found his marriage record. He married Theresa Schwartz on August 21, 1904 in Budapest, Hungary. According to the marriage record, Theresa was born in Turo-Tridvori, Hungary and was the daughter of Moric Schwartz and Jozefa Holzman. The newlyweds immediately left for the United States, sailing from Rotterdam, Holland on August 27 and arriving at Ellis Island on September 6.

J and Y, second cousins once removed, visited the center together to learn more about their Horowitz ancestors. J’s grandfather and Y’s great grandfather were brothers. J’s grandfather immigrated to the United States in the early 1900s and Y’s great grandfather stayed in Russia. After the Holocaust, Y’s grandfather tried finding his uncles in the United States, but he was unable to do so because they had changed their surname from Horowitz to Harway, making it impossible for him to find them. A number of years ago, J and Y found each other through Yad Vashem, Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of the Holocaust.

We started by finding J’s grandfather’s naturalization papers which taught us that Joseph Harway served as a soldier in the First World War. He was able to become a United States citizen through the May 9, 1918 Alien Naturalization Act which expedited the naturalization process for foreign-born individuals serving in the U.S. Armed Forces. According to his naturalization papers, he immigrated in April 1915, sailing from Hamburg, Germany on the SS Pretoria and arriving at Ellis Island. This ended up being partially true. We found Joseph’s ship’s manifest which taught us he sailed from Hamburg on January 18, 1914 and arrived at the port of New York on February 1, 1914. Joseph listed his father, Moshe Horowitz, as his point of contact in the old country. According to the manifest, he was born in Kopatkevichi, Belarus.

We then found Joseph’s married record in NYC which listed his parents as Moses Horowitz and Feiga Qwintny. We weren’t sure what the surname Qwintny was, so we found Joseph’s brother’s marriage certificate which said their mother’s name was Feiga Kwitny. We looked up the surname Kwitny in Alexander Beider’s A Dictionary of Jewish Surnames from the Russian Empire and learned that the surname Kwitny comes from the Belarussian word for flower. J knew her great grandmother’s name was Feiga but never knew her maiden name was Kwitny. We then searched Belarussian records and saw that there were many people in Kopatkevichi and the surrounding area with that surname.

N wanted to know if her grandmother, Lillian Nathansohn Fagen, had any siblings and if they came to America. She had been told her grandmother came from Latvia but didn’t know anything else. We found Lillian, her husband and two oldest children in the 1930 census. The census said that she was born in “Russia” and immigrated to the US in 1920. Lena married Philip Fagen on October 24, 1924 in Bay City, MI. The marriage record said her parents were Marvin Nathansohn and Fannie Sussman. We found a picture of Lillian’s headstone which taught us that Marvin was an anglicized version of her father’s real name, Mottel.

Using all of this information, we found N’s grandmother immigrating to the US in 1920 under the name Lena Nathansohn. She arrived at Ellis Island on November 29, 1920. According to her ship’s manifest, Lillian was from Goldingen, Russia which we identified as modern-day Kuldiga, Latvia. She was going to her brother, Benjamin Nathansohn, who was already living in Flint, MI. We learned that Benjamin immigrated in 1914 and on his ship’s manifest, he lists his brother-in-law, Max Weinberg, as his contact in the US which meant that Lillian and Benjamin also had a sister who immigrated to the US. We learned that Max Weinberg was married to Selma Nathansohn.

D, visiting from North Carolina, was the daughter of Joseph “Yossel” Kestenberg, a Jewish immigrant from Slomniki, Poland. According to D, her father was married once before he had her mother and had two children from his older marriage. D didn’t have any relationship with or connection to her half siblings. D wanted to know if I could learn more about them.

According to her father’s naturalization documents, his first wife’s name was Julia. They had a daughter named Sylvia who was born on July 23, 1919 and a son named Arthur who was born on July 11, 1921. We found Joseph, his wife and children living at 554 Pine Street in Brooklyn in the 1925 NY State Census and the 1930 US Federal Census. Through our research, we learned that D’s half siblings, Slyvia and Arthur, both married and had children and grandchildren. Sylvia passed away in 1992 and Arthur passed away in 2002.

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Je...
08/18/2025

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

S and E, sisters visiting from San Francisco, visited the center hoping to learn more about their grandfather, Joseph Ross, and his family. They knew their grandfather was born on November 11, 1915. Using his date of birth, we found Joseph’s WW2 draft registration card which taught us he was born in Brooklyn, that his mother was Minnie Ross and that they resided at 411 East 94th Street in Brooklyn. We then found Joseph and his mother, Minnie, in the 1940 US Census living at that address. Minnie who was 58 years old in 1940 and born in Russia, was already widowed at the time of the census. We then found the Ross family 10 years earlier in the 1930 census. In 1930, Joseph’s father, Louis Ross, was still alive and ran his own grocery store.

We then found Louis Ross’ Declaration of Intention which taught us that he was born in “Lipowitz, Russia” and that he immigrated to the US on the SS Noordam, arriving at Ellis Island on April 11, 1906. We identified Lipowitz as modern-day Lypovets, Ukraine. We then searched for Louis’ ship manifest but found no one with the surname Ross arriving on the SS Noordam on April 11, 1906. We learned that Ross was not the family’s original last name. Louis Ross’ original name was Leib Proskurowsky. Louis’ wife, Minnie, immigrated two years later with their three children, Pinchas, Srul and Gittel. On the ship’s manifest, Minnie’s contact in the old country was her father-in-law who was still living in Lypovets, Hirshel Proskurowsky, S and E’s great-great grandfather.

A, visiting with his family from Massachusetts, wanted to research his grandfather’s family. His grandfather, Shlomo Akerstein, was a Holocaust survivor from Poland. Searching Yad Vashem, we learned that in 1956 A’s grandfather submitted pages of testimony to Yad Vashem in memory of his parents and siblings. According to the pages of testimony, Shlomo’s parents were Mordechai Akerstein and Chaya Friedland, A’s great grandparents. Shlomo had three siblings who were killed in the Holocaust: Chaim, Devorah and Channah.
Mordechai’s parents were Shlomo and Ruchel and Chaya’s parents were Chaim and Sarah, A’s great-great grandparents. The Akserstein family came from Piaski Luterskie, Poland, a town outside of Lublin.

D and S, visiting from Atlanta, visited the center after conducting genealogical research for many years. They hoped we’d be able to answer some of their questions and clarify some of the information they had found. S’s maternal grandfather was Abraham Linetsky. Abraham had a brother named Samuel Linetsky. Both men changed their surname to Lenett after immigrating to the United States. During their visit to NYC, D and S visited multiple Jewish cemeteries in order to locate and visit their relatives’ graves. They visited what they believed were Abraham and Samuel’s graves and photographed the stones.
After quickly viewing the stones, I determined that the Abraham and Samuel that they visited could not have been brothers. According to Abraham’s headstone, his father was Zishe Tzvi Linetsky. According to Samuel’s headstone, his father was Michel Linetsky. Either S and D made a mistake or Abraham and Samuel weren’t actually brothers.

After conducting a bunch of research, I realized that the Abraham Lenett they visited was the wrong person. The Abraham Lennet they visited died in 1931 in NYC and is buried in Queens. S’s grandfather died in Philadelphia in 1942 and is buried in Mount Sharon Cemetery in Springfield, Pennsylvania. By searching FindAGrave.com, we found a picture of his headstone which says that his father was Michel. So Abraham Lenett and Samuel Lenett were brothers, both the sons of Michel Linetsky, but D and S had originally found the wrong Abraham Lenett.

Combining the information that D and S had found over the years with the new information we found together, I searched for records for the Linetsky family back in the old country. We knew the Linetskys came from Yelizavetgrad, Russia which is modern-day Kirovohrad, Ukraine. Using the new information, we found the Linetsky family in family lists from Yelizavetgrad in 1858 and 1874. We learned that S’ great grandfather, Michel Linetsky, was the son of Shmuel and Shprinya Linetsky and the grandson of Avrum Lintesky, S’s great-great-great grandfather.

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Je...
08/11/2025

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

J, visiting from the San Francisco Bay Area, took a DNA test a number of months ago and matched with cousins she had never heard of before. She visited the center to see if we could figure out who these people were and how they were related. Sometimes, genealogy leads to surprising discoveries that we aren’t expecting to find. We learned that J’s grandfather, Harry, was married before marrying her grandmother and had three children with his first wife.

Harry married Rose Herskowitz in Chicago on November 1, 1903. Their children were William, Loretta and Helen. We found J’s grandfather and his first family living together in the 1910 United States Federal Census. Harry is listed as being 28 years old at the time of the census and his occupation was listed as tailor in a tailor shop.

I then found Rose, William, Loretta and Helen ten years later in the 1920 US Federal Census. Harry wasn’t living with them in 1920 and Rose was listed as a widow. In reality, Rose wasn’t a widow. Harry had left his first family and married J’s grandmother in Reno, Nevada in 1918. It was very common at that time for women to say they were widows if their husbands had left or deserted them. We learned that J’s unknown DNA matches were descendants of her father’s half siblings that no one in her family knew about.

J visited the center seeking more information about his paternal grandparents and their families. By conducting a quick search, I found Samuel Bercu and Minnie Greenfield’s marriage record. They were married in NYC on February 24, 1910. J’s grandparents were both Jewish immigrants from Romania who were living on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. We also found Minnie’s sister's marriage certificate. The marriage records taught us that J’s great grandparents were Oscar Greenfield and Bertha Weinstein, names J had never heard before.

We tried finding the Greenfields coming to America but couldn’t find their ship’s manifest. I then found J’s great aunt’s naturalization papers that taught us that Mary Greenfield Rackler was born in Bucharest, Romania. According to her naturalization papers, she arrived at Ellis Island under the name Mali Solomon, sailing from Antwerp, Belgium on the SS Vaderland in 1906.

Using this information, we found J’s grandmother, her siblings and mother coming to the United States. J’s grandmother and great grandmother were listed under the names Mina and Bertha Solomon, arriving at Ellis Island on May 6, 1905. They were going to their father and husband, O. Solomon, who was already living in NYC. We learned that Oscar had immigrated to the US in 1903, arriving as Osias Solomon.

We then searched for records for the Greenfield/Solomon family in Bucharest and found a transcript of Oscar and Bertha’s marriage record. They were married on February 18, 1882. Oscar’s parents were Jacob and Sima and Bertha’s parents were Eli and Perla, J’s great-great grandparents.

E has been visiting the center regularly, working with all of the genealogists to research every branch of her family tree. She asked if I’d be able to help research her maternal grandmother’s father, Barnett Chaskin. According to Barnett’s marriage record, he married Estelle Gold on December 31, 1928 in the Bronx. His parents were Solomon Chaskin and Sarah Fradkin. Using this information, we learned that E’s great-great grandfather, Solomon Chaskin, also immigrated to the United States. Solomon sailed from Liverpool, England on the SS Cedric and arrived at Ellis Island on December 7, 1912. He left his wife and children in Russia, settled in the US and established himself in this country in order to bring his family over.

Unfortunately, Solomon’s wife, Sarah, passed away in Russia. Solomon became a US citizens on May 1, 1922 and immediately applied for a US Passport in order to return to Russia and accompany his children on their journey to America. We found Solomon’s passport application which included a picture of him. Solomon met his children in Riga, Latvia where they boarded the SS Estonia and sailed to America, arriving at Ellis Island on November 8, 1922. Solomon passed away in New York on February 24, 1933. According to his death certificate, his parents were Judah and Slava Chaskin, E’s great-great-great grandparents.

We learned that Judah and Slava also immigrated to the US, arriving in 1913. They are buried in Riverside Cemetery in New Jersey. According to their headstones and death records, Judah’s father was David Chaskin and Slava’s father was Shneur Zalman Biskin, E’s great-great-great-great grandfathers. Using this information, we searched for the Chaskin family and found them in an 1882 and 1888 family list in Svistok, Russia.

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Je...
07/21/2025

Here are a few highlights from my day at the Peter and Mary Kalikow Jewish Genealogy Research Center at the Museum of Jewish Heritage.

Ella and her grandmother, Sarah, visited the museum together. They asked if they’d be able to research Ella’s great grandfather, Rabbi Asher Siev, and his family. By conducting a quick search on Ancestry.com, we found Rabbi Siev’s graduation photo in Yeshiva University’s yearbook from 1937. We then found Rabbi Siev living with his parents and siblings in the 1930 US Census. According to the census, Rabbi Siev’s parents were Joshua and Hanna Siev. The census also taught us that Rabbi Siev, his siblings and his mother were all born in Palestine while his father was born in NYC. We then found the Siev family immigrating to the US in 1929, sailing from Naples, Italy on the SS Roma and arriving at the port of New York on December 9, 1929.

We then learned that Rabbi Siev’s grandfather was Joseph Siev. Joseph became a United States citizen on May 5, 1891 in NYC. He then applied for a US passport the next day in order “to visit Palestine.” The passport was issued to him on May 9, 1891. According to his passport application, Joseph was born in 1869 and immigrated to the US in 1884. We then found Joseph’s US Consular Registration certificate from 1912 which taught us that he immigrated to Jerusalem from the US in 1896. According to the US Reports of Deaths of American Citizens Abroad, Joseph Siev died on July 3, 1924 in Jerusalem and is buried on the Mount of Olives. According to his headstone, Joseph Ziv’s father was Moshe Yitzchak Ziv.

Using this information, we searched JewishGen to see if we can find the Siev family in Russia before they immigrated to the US and Palestine. We found the Sievs in the family lists in Ariogala, Lithuania in 1874 and 1887. The lists show Joseph (Yossel) Siev, his father, Moshe Yitzchak Siev, his grandfather, Ovsey (Joshua) Siev and his great grandfather, Yitzchak Siev. Yitzchak Siev is Ella’s great-great-great-great-great-great (six greats!) grandfather.

Judith visited the center hoping to learn about her paternal grandparents and their families. According to family lore, Judith’s grandfather, Abraham Leib Supoznick, was killed in a pogrom in Shpykiv, Ukraine in 1919. Shortly thereafter, Judith’s father, aunts and grandmother immigrated to the United States. We started our research by finding Judith’s father’s naturalization papers that taught us that he immigrated to the US in 1922, sailing from Antwerp, Belgium on the SS Lapland and arriving at Ellis Island on October 28, 1922. According to his ship’s manifest, Joseph, his mother and his sisters were going to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where his maternal uncle, Jacob Shulman was already living. Another uncle, Gedaliah Shulman, was listed as the point of contact in the old country.

Through our research, we learned that Judith’s grandmother, Rose Shulman Supoznick Schwartz, had three brothers who immigrated to the US: Jacob Shulman, David Shullman and George (Gedaliah) Shullman. Jacob immigrated to Pittsburgh in 1908, David followed in 1911, Judith’s father and grandmother arrived in October 1922 and George arrived last in November of 1922. According to their headstones and death certificates, their father was Shmuel Shulman and their mother was Chaya Taube Krakovsky, Judith’s great grandparents.

We then searched JewishGen to see if we could find any records for Shulmans in Shpykiv, Ukraine. The only result was a burial record for a woman named Chaya Tauba Shulam who died in 1934 and is buried in the Jewish cemetery in Shpykiv. The burial record included a picture of the grave. We found the grave of Judith’s great grandmother, Chaya Taube Krakovsky Shulman which still exists in the Jewish cemetery in Shpykiv Today. According to the headstone, Chaya Taube’s father was Abba Krakovsky, Judith’s great-great grandfather.

Amy’s grandparents became divorced when her mother was young and little was known about her grandfather, Nathaniel H. Schackman. Amy wanted to research her grandfather and learn about him and his family. According to his WW2 draft registration card, Nathaniel H. Schackman was born in Brooklyn, New York on November 20, 1901. We also found his marriage certificate which taught us that his parents were Samuel Schackman and Lena Rattner, Amy’s great grandparents. Using this information, we found Nathaniel’s birth certificate showing that he was born Nathan Schackman at 110 Roebling Street in Brooklyn on November 20, 1901. He was the third child born to Lena and Samuel Schackman. We also found Nathaniel in a number of census records which taught us that he was one of six children. His siblings were Harold, David, Bernard, Ruth and Barney Schackman.

By searching on Jewishdata.com, we found Nathaniel in a book called Who's Who in American Jewry from 1938. According to his entry, Nathaniel studied at the City University of New York, the University of Southern California and Brooklyn Law School and was admitted to the bar in 1927. Nathaniel was the Vice President of the Long Island Branch of the United Synagogue of America and the Co-Chair of the Sunnyside Division of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, also known as Joint or JDC. He also served as the Vice President and President of Sunnyside Jewish Center and President of the Greenpoint Avenue Merchants Association of Sunnyside.

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My Story

Rabbi Scott Kalmikoff was born and raised in Staten Island, NY. He grew up in a two family home where he lived with his parents, younger brother and maternal grandparents. Growing up, Rabbi Scott had a particularly close relationship with his grandparents who shared many stories with him about their lives, relatives and family history. These family stories inspired a curiosity within Scott who wanted to learn more about his family tree. Rabbi Scott began his genealogical research fourteen years ago at the young age of fifteen. Since then, he has traced parts of his family tree as far back as the 1600s and discovered roots in Belarus, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Lithuania and Wales. Rabbi Scott has traveled across the globe, visiting the towns his ancestors emigrated from and meeting distant relatives. Rabbi Scott received a BA in Jewish Studies with a concentration in Jewish History from Yeshiva University. He was a recipient of the university’s Altshul, Pearlman Memorial Award for Highest Ranks in all Jewish Studies. Following graduation from Yeshiva University, Scott began his studies at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical School and was ordained in June 2018. He currently resides on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. In 2020, Rabbi Scott was inspired to offer his genealogical expertise in American and European Jewish Genealogy to those who are interested in connecting with their roots. For Rabbi Scott, genealogy isn't just a hobby or profession. Genealogy is a wonderful journey of personal exploration and self discovery. While learning about our ancestors we learn about ourselves. While learning about our history we connect with and deepen our Jewish identities. Jewish history and our families' stories are our story and deeply influence who we are today in ways we may never fully comprehend. ​Genealogical research provides us with a precious gift we can pass to the next generation, L'Dor VaDor.