TrentonJewishHS: 2018

Friday, December 14, 2018

Cemeteries

How Does your Family Cemetery Plot Appear?

Other Communities Face Desecration

Tuesday, October 2, 2018

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 13 (Impress friends and family)

SHADKHEN: a professional matchmaker.

SHANDA: A shame, a scandal. The expression "a shanda fur die goy" means to do something embarrassing to Jews where non-Jews can observe it.

SHAYGETS: A gentile boy and man, also means a clever lad or rascal.

SHAYNER: Pretty, wholesomely attractive, as in shayner maidel (woman.)

SHIKSA: A gentile girl or woman.

SHLEMIEL: A dummy; someone who is taken advantage of, a born loser.

SHLEP: To carry or to move about. Can refer to a person, a "shlepper," who is unkempt and has no ambition.

Saturday, September 15, 2018

Shavuot

Shavuot

Shavuot originally was one of the three pilgrimage festivals during the year. (The others: Passover and Sukot). The Rabbi’s later religiously transformed these agricultural festivals.

In the Second Temple, on Shavuot, the High Priest acted on behalf of the people, presenting a special Shavuot wave-offering, two loaves of bread made of wheat, the first products of the spring wheat harvest that begins just as the barley harvest comes to an end on the holy altar on Passover. Thus, Shavuot in Second Temple times celebrated the bounty of the spring harvest season.

The Festival is Transformed

In rabbinic times, a remarkable transformation of the festival took place. Based on the verse "In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai," [Exodus 19:1] the festival of Shavuot became the anniversary of the giving of the Torah at Sinai.

Although Shavuot was known in the Bible by several names, including the Feast of the Harvest, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of the First Fruits, the sages added the name "Atzeret"-- withdrawal. In the Torah, the last days of the two other pilgrim festivals (Passover and Sukkot) are referred to as Atzeret to indicate on the seventh day of Passover and on the eighth day after the beginning of Sukkot, there must be a withdrawal from all menial labor.

Shavuot aka as Atzeret by the Rabbi's to emphasize the necessity of abstaining from menial labor on this holiday as well. They refused to adopt the theme of "Giving the Torah" because they thought it would be sacrilegious to limit the celebration of the giving of the Torah to a single day. To them, every day of the year should be considered as a day of receiving the Torah anew.

In traditional settings, the Book of Ruth is read on the second day of Shavuot.

Ruth, a widowed Moabite, married to a Jew follows her Israelite mother-in-law, Naomi, into the Jewish people with the famous words “whither you go, I will go, wherever you lodge, I will lodge, your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”

She asserts the right of the poor to glean the leftovers of the barley harvest, breaks the normal rules of behavior to confront her kinsman Boaz, is redeemed by him for marriage, and becomes the ancestor of King David.

Read the full text of the Book of Ruth in Hebrew and English on Sefaria.org. (https://www.sefaria.org/search?q=book%20of%20ruth&var=1&sort=r)

The Talmudic tractate Soferim (14:16) cites the Midrash of Ruth with the giving of the Torah, establishing this practice by the time this Midrash was compiled. (Tractate Soferim is one of the latest books of the Talmud, probably dating no earlier than the eighth century.)

There are many explanations given for the reading of Ruth on Shavuot. The most quoted reason is that Ruth’s coming to Israel took place around the time of Shavuot, and her acceptance into the Jewish faith was analogous of the acceptance of the Jewish people of God’s Torah.

A second explanation relates to genealogy. Since the Book of Ruth ends with the genealogy of David, whose genealogical line began with Ruth, it is the Book of Ruth be read on Shavuot because there is a legend that David died on Shavuot.

Another reason for the reading of Ruth on Shavuot is that its story takes place at wheat harvest time (50 days after Pesach - Pentacost)

Customary Foods - Dairy

Blintzes

Bareakes

Cheesecake

Every Jewish festival has special associated foods.

Although everyone agrees that the food of choice for is cheese, most typically blintzes, or a Sephardic equivalent such as bourekas, there are differences of opinion (some quite charming) as to why it is a custom.

Some derive the practice directly from scripture, saying we eat dairy to symbolize the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8) promised to the Israelites, or that “milk and honey are under your tongue” (Song of Songs 4:11). These passages, along with “The precepts of the Lord are… sweeter than honey” (Psalm 19:9-11) also indicate we should eat honey, which is customary in some communities.

A sage discovered that the initials of the four Hebrew words in Numbers 28:26, which describe the sacrificial meal offering on Shavuot, spell mei halav (from milk), suggesting that dairy food is the acceptable dinner for the festival. At Sinai, the Israelites were considered to be as innocent as newborns, whose food is milk.

Those of kabbalistic [mystical] bent equate the numerical value of the word halav (milk) = 40 (‘het’=8, ‘lamed’=30, ‘vet’=2), with the number of days Moses spent on Mount Sinai receiving the Ten Commandments and other teachings (Exodus 24:18). Others look to the mountain itself, which is termed in Psalms mount of gavnunim (68:15), meaning many peaks. They connect that description with the Hebrew word gevinah, meaning cheese.

Scholars who trace all Jewish customs and rituals to practices common among various ethnic groups claim that spring harvest festivals characteristically featured dairy dishes, perhaps because cheese was produced during that season.

Along with blintzes and bourekas, cheesecake is a widely popular Shavuot item. Some eat kreplach, three-cornered dumplings that are often filled with meat but can be cheese filled or even vegetable filled. They are supposed to remind us of the Bible, which is comprised of three sections (Torah, Nevi’im and Ketuvim / Torah, Prophets and Writings), which was given to Israel through Moses, who was the third child of Amran (after Aaron and Miriam), following three days of preparation (Exodus 19:11) in the third month of the year (Exodus 19:1).

Excerpted with permission from Every Person’s Guide to Shavuot (Jason Aronson, Inc).

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/why-do-we-read-the-book-of-ruth-on-shavuot/?utm_source=MyJewishLearning+Newsletter&utm_campaign=3439b96317-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2017_03_24&; Rabbi Ronald H. Isaacs,

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Shavuot/History/Rabbinic.shtml; Lesli Koppelman Ross. https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/why-dairy-on-shavuot/

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Selected Yiddish Words and Phrases 11 (Impress friends and family)

ONGEPOTCHKET: Messed up, slapped together without form, excessively and unesthetically decorated.

OY-YOY-YOY: An exclamation of sorrow and lamentation.

OY VEY: "Oh, how terrible things are". OH VEZ MEAR means "Oh, woe is me".

PISHER: A bed-wetter, a young inexperienced person, a person of no consequence.

PLOTZ: To burst, to explode, "I can't laugh anymore or I'll "plotz." To be aggravated beyond bearing.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

Comments June 2018

Art Frank

May 1, 2018

I did not know how to put this in. The computer said " choose a profile". I opened that and no idea what the choices meant, so I am sending you my comments as follows.

My Aunt, Honey Frank, was the bookkeeper, by title, but a multi-tasker who was part of the triumvirate that ran the original GWH. Amazing how George Blacker, Ruth Felton and Honey ran the whole shebang. So many Frank relatives have been residents of GWH over the years. It is a remarkable place to which we are all dedicated. Warmly, Art Frank

Arthur Finkle

10:03am May 13

Market St 1900 (formerly Greene St)

Derry Rosebud

10:38am May 13

Thanks for posting! This is actually North Broad St. Somewhere up on the right was where my husbands' g-grandfather had his shoe and boot store, 1855-1865. It must have been a vibrant time for the growing city. The market was demolished in 1870, but there were several other street markets in the city. The photo below (1869) is from Harry Podmore's book, "Trenton, Old and New". Published in 1927.

Original Post

Maureen Wells Maybe it’s time for someone to revive a weekly downtown farmers market for people who live downtown and may not have cars..after all that’s why they had them in the first place..it could start small then ..who knows??

Arthur Finkle You are absolutely correct. In my haste, when I saw market, I wrote market St. The main market was on Green St.

Maureen Wells My grandfather sold at the market that was down by the river decades ago.. he had a farm in Skillman and then in Colts Neck.. not sure which he sold from...both were a long distance!

Karl J. Flesch

Trenton Hist Soc Calendar 2018

12/01/2014 6:02PM

Karl Picked it up at Lawrence Pharm. Great stuff. a

8:04AM

Hi Art, I saw your 3/9/1951 Sports Nite article. Can you send me a better copy? The verbiage on the right is cut off. I want to do an exhibit on sports nite at the Trenton City Museum. Do you think the public would have a lot of mementoes from sports nite to loan us? Photos, films, uniforms, pins, etc? Thanks Karl Flesch

Derry Rosebud Thanks for posting! This is actually North Broad St. Somewhere up on the right was where my husbands' g-grandfather had his shoe and boot store, 1855-1865. It must have been a vibrant time for the growing city. The market was demolished in 1870, but there were several other street markets in the city. The photo below (1869) is from Harry Podmore's book, "Trenton, Old and New". Published in 1927.Manage

I read your great article in NJJN written by Michele Alperin that mentions you, and he gave me your email:

http://njjewishnews.com/article/32125/exploring-trentons-jewtown#.WtyrPtP48SI

I am visiting Trenton this week and I would like to talk to you and ask you some questions.

Best regards,

Emanuel Goldszmidt
Miami, Florida, USA
Mobile 305-992-4247

טראכט גוט וועט זיין גוט

thomas glover

4:34 PM (18 hours ago)

to me

Hi Art: You have an EXCELLENT SITE! I see a number of posts are those that I found and digitized for the Hamilton Township Public Library Local History Collection. I would appreciate it if you cited us the source. As you might imagine, it takes quite a bit of time and effort to find and tweak these historic photos and documents. Thanks so much.

Tom Glover,

Hamilton Township Public Library Local History Collection.

On Fri, May 11, 2018 at 09:38 AM, Arthur L. Finkle wrote:

Arthur Finkle

20 hrs

People of Truth Purchase Church Building to Build Shul
Ham Twp Lib
Tom Glover

Comments

Karl J. Flesch Where was the location? Union Street

Arthur Finkle

20 hrs

Har Sinai Outgrows Quarters
Ham. Twp Lib.
Tom Glover

Seen by 45

4Vicki DaBronzo, Thomas Tighue and 2 others

Har Sinai Temple Relocates, 1902

I grew up in Yardley PA. I am doing some ancestry research. My great grandfather Stephen F Arata, had a candy store in Trenton NJ in 1908. I am hoping someone may have some very old photos or other information about this candy store. The store was located at17 North Broad Street. I do not know the name of the candy store. Thank you in advance,

David Arata, Moorpark California

Arthur Finkle

April 14

Let's welcome our new members:
Diane T Auletto,
Judi Abrams Buch,
Sheila Nancy Kalman,
Talmica Coates,
Jane M Cox,
Patricia E. Gross,
Allison Santos

I grew up in Yardley PA. I am doing some ancestry research. My great grandfather Stephen F Arata, had a candy store in Trenton NJ in 1908. I am hoping someone may have some very old photos or other information about this candy store. The store was located at 17 North Broad Street. I do not know the name of the candy store. Thank you in advance,

David Arata, Moorpark California

Friday, April 20, 2018

Trenton's Clubs

Fraternal Order of Eagles

Caledonian Club

Elk's Club 1912, N. Warren St.

Elk's Club 1912

Elk's Tooth

Liederkranz Hall (later Hadden Hall) S. Broad St.

Moose Home

Polish Falcons, 1000 N. Olden Ave

The (I.O.O.F) Odd Fellows Home, Trenton NJ 1908 was located on the intersection of Parkway Ave. and Pennington Rd

Trenton Genealogy Connected Surnames

Trenton Genealogy

Connected Surnames

These family trees (Kohn, Urken, Vine, etc.) - which interlock with each other through marriage - also draw in many other Trenton families. In Geni.com, there are about 2,000 Trenton Jews so far. The surnames (including non-Trenton surnames) are:

Abelow, Abrahamson, Abramsohn, Adler, Albert, Alexander, Allison, Alves, Anderson, Anmuth, Archer, Aroniss, Armony, Aronson, Azarchi, Azorsky

Baches, Bakol, Bar, Barone, Bartoo, Bash, Basile, Baum, Belets, Bellick, Benson, Berger, Bergman, Berkman, Berkowitz, Bernfield, Bernstein, Besselate, Binder, Blaise, Blenheim, Block, Blumberg, Bock, Bojecka, Bolan, Bosses, Bowie, Bowling, Bowton, Brock, Brod, Brody, Brodner, Brooks, Brown, Budik, Bunks, Burke, Burnett, Byer, Bynum

Cantor, Caplan, Chester, Chrysler, Clark, Cohen

Dana, Danzig, Davidovitz, Davis, DeClerq, Delvanthal, Dershowitz, Derweiler, Desey, Devine, Dobin, Donahue, Downey, Dreyer, Drucker, Dubin, Dutrow

Eckhaus, Edwards, Eisenstadt, Englander, Epstein, Estes

Faber, Fabricant, Falkin, Farber, Feigenbaum, Feldman, Fielding, Fieman, Finkle, Finn, Fischoff, Frank, Frankel, Frankfort, Fried, Friedlander, Friedman, Fromkin

Gamce, Gansky, Garb, Garfing, Gass, Gelfand, Gellard, Gerber, Geronemus, Gershonowitz, Gilinsky, Gillman, Glasser, Glauser, Gleason, Glick, Gluck, Glickman, Goldberg, Golden, Goldfarb, Goldin, Goldman, Goldsmith, Goldstein, Gorson, Gould, Granite, Green, Greenberg, Grossweiner, Gruber, Gunches, Gurney, Gwertsman

Haas, Habas, Hafer, Halperin, Hannah, Haranoff, Herlick, Harnick, Herring, Harris, Herst, Hesselson, Heyman, Hinckley, Hirsch, Hitt, Holender, Holland, Homesy, Horwitz, Hume

Ingall, Iserson

Jacobs, Jacobson, Jacoby, Jeffreys, Jenkins, Johnson, Jones, Josephson, Jucha

Kadesh, Kahr, Kalapas, Kalfin, Kallen, Kamenetzky, Kaminsky, Kamoroff, Kane, Kaplan, Kasher, Katz, Kaufman, Kazen, Kennedy, Kent, Kessler, Kimmelman, Kaltzkin, Klempner, Knop, Kody, Koenig, Kohn, Komaroff, Koplin, Koslow, Kritzer, Kronick, Kruger, Kuchka

Lang, Laster, Lavine, Lefkowitz, Leibowitz, Leonard, Lester, Levene, Leventhal, Levi, Levin, Levine, Levinson, Levy, Lewinter, Lichtenfeld, Lidsky, Liebeskind, Linefsky, Lipkin, Lipkowitz, Lipshutz, Litoff, Litowitz, Litvak, Loeb, London, Lowenstein, Lowman, Luben, Lurie

Mallizia, Manes, Maniewicz, Marcus, Markowitz, Marrow, Marshall, Martindale, Matthews, Medved, Meltzer, Mertz, Meselsohn, Meyer, Michaels, Michal, Miller, Millner, Mittleman, Morowitz, Moshnich

Neiman, Nelson, Newman, Nitzberg, Nochumson, Nusblatt

Olden, Ogram, Oreland, Orsborne, Oxhandler

Pace, Palay, Passoff, Patinkin, Patricof, Peitzman, Pepper, Pilus, Plotnik, Podlish, Poffenberger, Pollard, Popkin, Porecca, Press, Price, Pristoop

Rabinowitz, Ragsdale, Randelman, Rappaport, Rauch, Reed, Reichal, Reichbart, Rifkin, Ringler, Ritter, Robinson, Rogowsky, Roitman, Rose, Rosen, Rosenberg, Rosenblum, Rosenthal, Ross, Rosenfield, Rossman, Rounds, Ruttenberg

Sable, Sachsman, Salkofsky, Salway, Samuelson, Sanders, Saperstein, Satterwhite, Saul, Saunders, Sawyer, Scheel, Schenkel, Scherr, Schiff, Schinkel, Schriber, Schultz, Schwartz, Scildhorn , Scott, Selesnick, Selsman, Senderov, Shafer, Shapiro, Sharlin, Sheehy, Shelton, Sherby, Shevelove, Shields, Sholin, Short, Shupe, Siegel, Siegle, Silverlieb, Silverstein, Simon, Singer, Sklar, Slack, Slotnick, Smith, Smock, Sollod, Solomon, Spence, Spiegel, Stailer, Star, Steinglass, Steinmetz, Stern, Stiefel, Stolar, Stoldolsky, Stone, Studley, Stutzer,

Tanker, Tanzer, Tercy, Tietjens, Toll, Toltzis, Troll, Tucker, Twist

Ullman, Unger, Urken

Vandroff, Veghte, Vegotsky, Vine

Wagner, Wallstein, Walov, Watson, Wedeen, Weihe, Wein, Weinberg, Weinstein, Weisberg, Weiss, Weitz, Weney, Werksman, Weston, Whitman, Wiener, Willner, Wineberg, Winkler, Winnard, Wish, Wishnow, Wollin, Wollner, Wones, Worth, Wray

Yamaguchi

Zankel, Zimmerman, Zimmett

All of these families are related through marriage

1.To view or modify the Urken Tree (Shlomo Zalman) (299 people), go to:

http://www.geni.com/family-tree#6000000014677454786

2. To view or modify the Kohn Tree (Tzvi Mordechai Kohn) (129 People), go to

http://www.geni.com/family-tree#6000000017000955701

Abraham Urken

"Avraham"

Trenton, New Jersey, United States

(1864 - 1958)

Son of Joseph L. Urken and NN Urken
Husband of Fannie Urken
Father of Rose Kasher; Samuel Urken; Solomon Urken; Morris Urken and 4 others

Pauline Ruth Kody Media, PA, United States (1916 - 2001)	Daughter of Paul Urken and Jennie Urken Wife of David Kody Mother of <private> Gansky (Kody) and <private> Kody Sister of Karl M. Urken	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	<private> Urken	Child of <private> Urken and <private> Urken (Litvak) Sibling of <private> Urken	Judith Litvak	· View Profile
	Riva Urken "Reba" Trenton, New Jersey, United States (c.1899 - 1950)	Wife of Samuel Urken Mother of Selma Litowitz	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	<private> Urken	Child of <private> Urken and Ida Urken Spouse of <private> Urken (Palay) Parent of <private> Urken and <private> Urken Sibling of Elinor Nusblatt	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Rose Urken "Tanta Razela", "Rosia", "Rosie" Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States of America (1875 - 1965)	Daughter of Tuvia Kohn and Touby Rachel Kohn Wife of Solomon Urken Mother of Matthew Urken; Harry Jacob Urken; Maurice Urken; Florence Urken Worth and 2 others Sister of Matilda Cohen; Ida Robinson; Israel Kohn; Freda Sutnick and 1 other	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Rose Kasher Kovno, Lithuania (c.1900 - c.1930)	Daughter of Abraham Urken and Fannie Urken Wife of NN Kasher Mother of <private> Kasher; <private> Kasher; <private> Kasher; <private> Kasher and 1 other Sister of Samuel Urken; Solomon Urken; Morris Urken; Harry Urken and 3 others	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Rosie Urken Riga, Latvija Birth: estimated between 1771 and 1829	Wife of Shlomo Zalman Urken Mother of Joseph L. Urken and Simon Urken	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	<private> Urken	Child of <private> Urken and <private> Urken (Passoff) Sibling of <private> Urken	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Samuel Urken "Shmuel" Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States (1891 - 1958)	Son of Abraham Urken and Fannie Urken Husband of Riva Urken Father of Selma Litowitz Brother of Rose Kasher; Solomon Urken; Morris Urken; Harry Urken and 3 others	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Sarah Lefkowitz "Sally", "Sara" Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States (1906 - 1990)	Daughter of Solomon Urken and Rose Urken Wife of <private> Lefkowitz Mother of <private> Lefkowitz; Zalman King and <private> Lowenstein (Lefkowitz) Sister of Matthew Urken; Harry Jacob Urken; Maurice Urken; Florence Urken Worth and 1 other	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Sarah Abelow United States (c.1907 - d.)	Daughter of Abraham Urken and Fannie Urken Wife of Max Abelow Mother of <private> Abelow and <private> Abelow Sister of Rose Kasher; Samuel Urken; Solomon Urken; Morris Urken and 3 others	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Sarah Abelow Trenton, Mercer County, New Jersey, United States (1906 - 1970)	Wife of Max Abelow Abelow Mother of Gerald Abelow	Gerald Abelow	· View Profile
	Selma Litowitz New Jersey, United States (1928 - 2005)	Daughter of Samuel Urken and Riva Urken Wife of <private> Litowitz Mother of <private> Litowitz; <private> Frank (Litowitz) and <private> Golden (Litowitz)	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Shirley Miller Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States (c.1920 - d.)	Daughter of Harry Jacob Urken and Gertrude Urken Wife of <private> Miller Sister of <private> Urken	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Shlomo Zalman Urken Riga, Latvija Birth: estimated between 1771 and 1829	Husband of Rosie Urken Father of Joseph L. Urken and Simon Urken	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Simon Urken "Shimon", "Yoshu" Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States (1843 - 1918)	Son of Shlomo Zalman Urken and Rosie Urken Husband of NN Urken Father of Mary Kohn; Paul Urken; Solomon Urken; Morris Albert Urkenand 4 others Brother of Joseph L. Urken	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Solomon Urken Trenton, Mercer, New Jersey, United States (1872 - 1938)	Son of Simon Urken and NN Urken Husband of Rose Urken Father of Matthew Urken; Harry Jacob Urken; Maurice Urken; Florence Urken Worth and 2 others Brother of Mary Kohn; Paul Urken; Morris Albert Urken; <private> Urkenand 3 others	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	Solomon Urken Trenton, New Jersey, United States (1885 - 1948)	Son of Abraham Urken and Fannie Urken Husband of Anna Urken Father of Esther Weisberg and Katherine Urken Brother of Rose Kasher; Samuel Urken; Morris Urken; Harry Urken and 3 others	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	<private> Urken	Child of <private> Urken and <private> Urken (Palay) Sibling of <private> Urken	Mark Harold Melmed	· View Profile
	<private> Troll (Urken)	Child of Karl M. Urken and Edythe H Urken Spouse of <private> Troll Parent of <private> Troll and <private> Troll Sibling of <private> Herst (Urken) and <private> Urken