Challah Slices | KalbHistory.info | Robert Rose

Mt. Lebanon Cemetery

Wed, 06 Sep 2017 08:24:31 -0700

I am back working on the Kalb tree and I have found some clues for the Kalb tree in Mt. Lebanon cemetery in Glendale, N.Y. This is in Queens, as this map shows:

There we find the stones for Jennie Kalb, grandmother and wife of grandfather Samuel Kalb. She died after sunset January 11, 1932, corresponding to 4 Shvat 5692, and her Hebrew name was Chaya Yehudes bas Chaim, according to her stone.

Two of the Kalb children, Morris and Isadore, changed their surname to Kall after arrival in America, and they are also at Mt. Lebanon. Morris, Moshe ben Zanvel h’Levi, died January 9, 1967, corresponding to 27 Teyves 5727:

We also find the stone for Morris’ first wife Fannie, mother of Bernard and Sylvia. From Fannie’s stone we are told that her Hebrew name was Feiga Tserna bas Zvi Chirash, and that she died March 29, 1958, corresponding to 8 Nisn 5718. Her age is given as 58, giving her birth year as abt 1900.

Here we also find Isadore Kall, son of Samuel and Jennie, and husband of Rose. Isadore was born December 1, 1899, and died March 24, 1981 according to the stone. His corresponding Hebrew date for Yarzeit would be 18 Oder Beys (Adar II), 5741. Unfortunately his stone doesn’t give us his Hebrew name, which from other sources I have as Iruish ben Zanvel h’Levi

Pinkas Hakehillot Polin

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 16:16:43 -0700

Yad Vashem has published an "Encyclopedia of Jewish Communities, Poland" and a complete chapter (Volume VII) is devoted to the history of the Jewish community in Tomaszow Lubelski. A translation of that chapter by Morris Gradel appears on the JewishGen website, click here. It is a compelling account, beginning with the promise at the end of the 16th century of personal and economic freedom by Baron Tomasz Zamojski to the Jews who settled there. The story explains how the town achieved a reputation for its Chassidic scholars, and by the beginning of the 20th century, even Zionist and Bund groups had formed.

Although there were few in the area who were were friendly towards the Jews (Yad Vashem has honored one citizen of TL as a Righteous Gentile, and the chapter reports that the local priest Julian Bogatek gave safe haven in his home to Jews), Samuel Kalb must have foreseen the nightmare that was coming. The summer of 1914 as Jennie Kalb left for America with her children, we are told "fierce battles raged around TL and a fire broke out there, destroying many houses. In the summer of 1915 the area was conquered by the Austrians and the Germans. The new authorities appointed a new Town Council under the leadership of a Jew, Yehoshua Fiszelson. The inhabitants bore a heavy tax burden, the authorities confiscated some of their property, and there was hunger in the town."

Crossing Delancy

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 16:14:18 -0700

The ship's manifest for Samuel Kalb shows that he was traveling with Moische Goldstein, age 17, also a laborer. Goldstein's last residence was Bilgoraj (which is near Tomaszow), and he was born in Tomaszow. Both of them were going to stay with Moische's brother, Abram, at 300 Delancey St. (Moische's father was Josef Goldstein, which might be useful for further research.) By July, 1914, Samuel must have arranged for an apartment for the family. The ship's manifest shows that they were going to 62-64 Colombe St., which I take to be Columbia Street, around the corner from Goldstein's Delancey Street apartment. The map above shows the approximate location in present day New York of the two locations (A) Goldstein's apartment and (B) Kalb's apartment. Of course, the neighborhood has changed.

Uprising of 1648

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 15:49:43 -0700

There is some very interesting history to be learned from the YIVO archive. On the left is martyr's grave in front of a fence, a victim of Chmielnicki's Cossacks, murdered in the uprising of 1648, and buried along the road by the synagogue in Tomaszow Lubelski. The center photo is the grave of an engaged couple, also murdered in the uprising, beneath a window of the synagogue, photo credit to Swarcbier, S. The photo on the right shows part of the exterior of a brick building with the inscription in Yiddish, "A structure built over the mass grave of a 'melamed' and 400 children, murdered by B. Chmielnicki's Cossacks in the uprising of 1648.

The Jewish Encyclopedia entry explains that semi-military bands of Cossacks organized themselves into armed bands and roamed the country-side. Over 500,000 Jews were murdered or died of the plague, and over 300 Jewish communiites were massacred and sacked. Jewish women were forcibly baptized and given to Cossack husbands. In one town, the article relates "[t]hree rabbis, Eliezer, Solomon, and Ḥayyim, urged their brethren not to change their religion; and about 1,000 Jews who remained steadfast were tortured and executed before the eyes of the Polish nobles (June 24, 1648). Ten rabbis were spared by the Cossacks in order to extort large ransoms from their communities."

Synagogue in Tomaszow Lubelski

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 15:36:01 -0700

I was able to find some comparison photos of the town square from Tomaszow Lubelski on the Internet, at the link here. The top photo shows what I think is the synagogue (red arrow) in 1938, and it appears to be a very large building in the town center. The bottom photo is circa 2003. The synagogue is gone. As detailed in a later post, on September 6, 1939, Germans bombarded the town, and the main synagogue and other prayer-houses went up in flames. So, it is likely that this happened around a year after the first photo above was taken.

YIVO

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 15:30:29 -0700

A new, Internet edition of YIVO's People Of A Thousand Towns, consisting of 17,000 photographs of Jewish life in Eastern Europe, is available here. I found photos of the synagogue in Tomaszow Lubelski circa the 1920's. This is after the family left, but it gives an idea of what their life was like, and what they left behind. The “bes medresh" was built in the 18th century.

Yad Vashem

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 14:43:14 -0700

Sometimes this research hits a wrong turn. I thought that I might have uncovered a link to the Farber family, when I found a record for Hirsch Farber, born 1916 to Shimon and Rivka, in Tomaszow Lubelski. Hirsch was murdered in Treblinka, אַ‭ ‬דײַטש‭ ‬האָט‭ ‬אין‭ ‬טרעבלינקע‭ ‬ער‭ ‬פֿאַרברענט

Inspection of the original page of testimony suggested to me, however, that Hirsch was from Tomaszow Mazowiecki, which is closer to central Poland. Perhaps the Farber family moved there after the emigration of 1914? Don't know, but I contacted Yad Vashem in 2008, and they agreed that the record should be changed. So, remain skeptical of everything.

Thank you for your letter.

We have made the correction you submitted. (Correcting Tomaszow L. to Tomaszow M.)

We appreciate your assistance in improving our database.

Please note that the Internet version of our database is updated only once every three months, so it may take some time for your correction to appear online.

Sincerely,

Zvi Bernhardt

Reference & Information Services

Urish A Seamstress?

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 14:39:30 -0700

If you look closely at the original manifest shown in the earlier post, you may notice that Urish is a 16 year old female seamstress. I think Isidore would be surprised! Just goes to show that the records are often unreliable, or that the immigration authorities were not that vigilent in ccreating accurate records.

Kalb Family Arrives in America

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:52:04 -0700

This is the ship's manifest for the ship Potsdam, which arrive July 1, 1914, from Rotterdam, with the rest of the Kalb family. As you can see it lists Judes (Jennie), Moische (Morris), Urisch (Isidore), Itze (William), Schlojme (Charles), Ettel (Anne) and Jente (Greta). The names in parenthesis are my understanding who was who. This confirms that they all came from Tomaszow.

Ellis Island Corrects Records

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:47:55 -0700

In 2008. while working in the Ellis Island records, I noticed that there was a transcription error on the ship's manifest for the arrival of my grandmother, Jennie Kalb. She was listed as "Juder" Kalb, but I thought the manifest showed "Judes" Kalb, although that flourish on the final "s" could be confusing. Take a look at the photo clip from a portion of the manifest. I wrote to Ellis Island, and this is their response:

Email Passenger Record Correction

Thank you for contacting us regarding your interest in having a correction made to a Passenger Record.

We have reviewed the original ship passenger manifest entry and agree that an apparent error was made in the transcription of the data. We are therefore pleased to report that Passenger ID# 100486120256 has been corrected.

Tomaszow Lubelski

Fri, 20 Mar 2015 13:30:07 -0700

Tomaszow Lubelski is a town in south-eastern Poland with 20,261 inhabitants (2004). The Nazi murder of the Jews during World War II killed half of the population of the city. For a history of the city (in Polish) click here. The Wikipedia entry (in English) is here.

Samuel Kalb Arrives in America

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 22:16:14 -0700

Samuel Kalb traveled from Tomaszow Lubelski (then Russia, now Poland) to America, and arrived on May 4, 1914. He came on the ship Noordam, sailing from Rotterdam. He was traveling with Moische Goldstein, age 17. Goldstein's last residence was Bilgoraj (which is near Tomaszow), and he was also born in Tomaszow. Both of them were going to stay with Moische's brother, Abram, at 300 Delancey St., NY, NY.

The Noordam was built for the Holland-America Line, in 1902. It carried 2,278 passengers, primarily immigrants to the US. It was laid up in 1927, and scrapped in 1928.