One of the people that match a little of my DNA is Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull. DNA shows that we are 3rd to 5th cousins. We match on my father's side of the family, the Goldfus/Goldfoot side.
Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull is a genealogist, author and writer, with an avid interest in Jewish history and genetic genealogy. He has a public health and environmental science background, having earned his Doctorate and Master of Public Health degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and his MS and BS from the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Paull has authored numerous pioneering autosomal and Y-DNA studies of rabbinical lineages. His book, A Noble Heritage: The History and Legacy of the Polonsky and Paull Family in America, traces his family’s ancestry over a millennium of history, to the famed biblical commentator, Rashi (1050-1105). That he also traces back to Rashi is important to me as I belong to the Halpern & Branches group on Family Tree DNA that has ancestors such as Rashi as well. This is something pretty exciting as Rashi had a pedigree going back to King David.
My heritage comes from Telsiai, Lithuania and Lazdijai, Suwalki, Lithuania/Poland. We haven't got a tree that shows our actual connection, but know this through DNA testing.
“The History, Adoption, and Regulation of Jewish Surnames in the Russian Empire” (Sun-125), 3:00-4:15 P.M.
The history of the adoption, regulation, and use of Jewish surnames in the Russian Empire is quite complex. There were a myriad number of ways by which Jewish surnames were created, assigned, or adopted, while tight restrictions were placed on changing or altering surnames. As a result of Russian laws and mandates, many non-related Jewish individuals acquired the same surname, while many related family members acquired different surnames. This situation has created many challenges for genealogists who try to trace the ancestry or locate descendants of a particular Jewish lineage, many of whom have different surnames, as well as for interpreting the results of DNA tests for Jewish descendants.
The purpose of this presentation is to explain the various laws and mandates pertaining to Jewish surnames in the Russian Empire, so that those who are interested in Jewish genealogy will better understand the complexities of Jewish surname adoption and use.
Topics: Ashkenazic research, Beginning genealogists, Cemetery research, Immigration and migration over the ages, Jewish history and culture, Jewish surname adoption and naming patterns, Rabbinic research, Sephardic research
“When Y-DNA and Yichus Tell Different Stories” (Mon-114), 9:00-10:15 A.M.
As valuable a tool in the genealogical research of Jewish paternal lineages as Y-DNA analysis has proven to be, such testing has often produced confounding and unexpected results. Y-DNA results for Jewish descendants who share the same surname, and having paper trails which show descent from the same common ancestor, quite often do not match. Sometimes Y-DNA results are at odds with yichus claims, which leave descendants of that lineage searching for answers.
The purpose of this presentation is to explain some of the major reasons for these unexpected results, including:
Men who married into prestigious lineages often took their wives’ surnames.
Jewish surname laws required all heads of households to have unique surnames.
Some yichus claims and oral histories are known to have been exaggerated.
Lineage mistakes are common in rabbinical texts, family trees, and online sources.
Several examples from Y-DNA case studies, which illustrate these points, are presented.
Topics: Ashkenazic research, Beginning genealogists, Cemetery research, DNA research and genetics, Ethical considerations in genealogy, Jewish history and culture, Jewish surname adoption and naming patterns, Rabbinic research, Sephardic research
Ukraine, As It Faces Down a Hundred Thousand Russian Soldiers in 2021
Nadene Goldfoot
The fate of Ukraine is hanging today at a Tuesday meeting. Russian President Vladimir Putin and the US President Joe Biden will have a videoconference on Tuesday, RIA Novosti news agency has reported, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Can they hold out without shooting until tomorrow's meeting? President of Ukraiane, Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zelenskyy, is a Ukrainian comedian and politician who is the 6th and current president of Ukraine since 20 May 2019.
Tens of thousands of Russian troops have reportedly gathered at the border with Ukraine. Russia invaded and annexed Crimea, a part of Ukraine, in 2014.
At this moment, Russian troops massing at Ukraine's border
Crimea also had a Jewish history. From the 7th century to 1117, easter Crimea was controlled by the KHAZARS. A large Karaite population lived there from the 12th century. Many Jews had to become Moslemss under Tatar rule. The Genoese, rulers in 15th century, protested Jews. Turks ruled from 1475 to 1783 and Chufut-Kale was the Jewish center. Russians conquered Crimea in 1783. In late 1920's, thousands of jews were settled in Crimea so as to have an autonomous Jewish agricultural center. blky 1939, the Jewish population numbered 50,000 including 40,000 Ashkeneazim, 6,000 Krimchaks, and 4,000 Karaiatees. They were mostly wiped out by the Germans by 1941. In 1980, the Jewish population was 25,614.
Service members of the Russian airborne forces line up before boarding Ilyushin Il-76 transport planes during drills at a military aerodrome in the Azov Sea port of Taganrog, Russia April 22, 2021. Picture taken with a drone. REUTERS/Stringer
Orthodox Jewish pilgrims prayed near the tomb of Rabbi Nachman while celebrating Rosh Hashanah in Uman, about 200 km South of Kyiv, Ukraine, on 5 October 2016. Every year, thousands of Orthodox Bratslav Hasidic Jews from different countries gather in Uman to mark Rosh Hashanah, Jewish New Year, near the tomb of Rabbi Nachman, a great grandson of the founder of Hasidism. (Photo by Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto)(Maxym Marusenko / Maxym Marusenko/NurPhoto/Sipa USA)
According to the World Jewish Congress, the Jewish community in Ukraine constitutes the third-largest Jewish community in Europe and the fifth-largest in the world.
As of 2012, Ukraine had the fifth-largest Jewish community in Europe and the
twelfth-largest Jewish community in the world, behind South Africa and ahead of
Mexico. The majority of Ukrainian Jews live in four large cities: Kyiv (about
half of all Jews living in Ukraine), Dnipro, Kharkiv and Odessa.
There is a growing trend among
some Israelis to visit Ukraine on a "roots trip" to follow the footsteps of
Jewish life there. Among the places of interest Kyiv is usually mentioned,
where it is possible to trace the paths of Sholem Aleichem and Golda Meir;
Zhytomyr and Korostyshiv, where one can follow the steps of Haim Nahman Bialik;
Berdychiv, where one can trace the life of Mendele Mocher Sforim; Rivne, where
one can follow the course of Amos Oz; Buchach – the path of S.Y. Agnon;
Drohobych – the place of Maurycy Gottlieb and Bruno Schulz.
In 1989, a Soviet
census counted 487,000 Jews living in Ukraine. Although discrimination
by the state all but halted very soon after Ukrainian independence in 1991, Jews
were still discriminated against in Ukraine during the 1990s. For instance,
Jews were not allowed to attend some educational institutions. Antisemitism has
since declined. According to the European Jewish Congress, as of 2014, there
are 360,000–400,000 Jews in Ukraine.
During the 1990s, some 266,300 Ukrainian
Jews emigrated to Israel as part of a wave of mass emigration of Jews from the
former Soviet Union to Israel in the 1990s. The 2001 Ukrainian Census
counted 106,600 Jews living in Ukraine (the number of Jews also dropped due
to a negative birthrate. According to the Public Diplomacy and Diaspora
Affairs Minister of Israel, early 2012 there were 250,000 Jews in Ukraine, half
of them living in Kyiv.
In the westernmost area of Ukraine, Jews were mentioned for the first time in 1030. During the Khmelnytsky Uprising between 1648 and 1657, an army of Cossacks and Crimean Tatars massacred and took into captivity large numbers of Jews, Roman Catholics and Uniate Christians. Recent estimates range from 15,000 to 30,000 Jews killed or taken captive, and 300 Jewish communities completely destroyed. During the 1821 anti-Jewish riots in Odessa following the death of the Greek Orthodox patriarch in Constantinople, 14 Jews were killed. Some sources claim this episode as the first pogrom. At the start of 20th century, anti-Jewish pogroms continued to occur. When part of the Russian Empire, antisemitic attitudes can be seen in the number of blood libel cases between 1911 and 1913. In 1915, the government expelled thousands of Jews from the Empire's border areas.
Many of my DNA matches have ancestors from Ukraine. It was in time of war that Jews were pushed into Ukraine from Poland and Lithuania. Ukraine was not the religious center of Jewry like Lithuania was.
KYIV, Nov 13 (Reuters) - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Jewish, has said there are nearly 100,000 Russian soldiers near Ukraine's border and that Western countries had shared information about active Russian troop movements with Kyiv. - Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said there are nearly 100,000 Russian soldiers near Ukraine's border and that Western countries had shared information about active Russian troop movements with Kyiv.
Three days ago it was reported that Russia is planning massive military offensive against Ukraine involving 175,000 troops, U.S. intelligence warns. They have observed military planning, personnel movements, artillery and equipment all at the ready.
The Kremlin has been moving troops toward the border with Ukraine while demanding Washington guarantee that Ukraine will not join NATOand that the alliance will refrain from certain military activities in and around Ukrainian territory. The crisis has provoked fears of a renewed war on European soil and comes ahead of a planned virtual meeting next week between President Biden and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
His grandfather, Semyon (Simon) Ivanovych Zelensky, served in the Red Army (in the 57th Guards Motor Rifle Division) during World War II; Semyon's father and three brothers were killed in the Holocaust. Semyon was lucky to live through it.
Volodymyr's father, Oleksandr Zelensky [uk], is a professor and head of Department of Cybernetics and Computing Hardware at the Kryvyi Rih Institute of Economics; his mother, Rymma Zelenska, used to work as an engineer. Prior to starting elementary school, he lived for four years in Mongolia in the city of Erdenet where his father worked. At age 16, he passed the TOEFL and received an education grant to study in Israel, but his father did not allow him to study there.
“The Russian plans call for a military offensive against Ukraine as soon as early 2022 with a scale of forces twice what we saw this past spring during Russia’s snap exercise near Ukraine’s borders,” said an administration official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive information. “The plans involve extensive movement of 100 battalion tactical groups with an estimated 175,000 personnel, along with armor, artillery and equipment.” It seems they're ahead of schedule.
The head of Nato has urged Russia to be transparent about its military plans after an increase in the numbers of troops on its border with Ukraine.
Jens Stoltenberg said a "large and unusual" build-up of Russian forces had been spotted on the border in recent weeks.
"He spoke amid speculation Russia could be planning to invade Ukraine". Do you think?
Moscow has dismissed such fears as "alarmist" and complained of increasing Nato activities in the region. Of course, they are the one alarming everyone !
Speaking after talks with Ukraine's foreign minister in Brussels, Mr Stoltenberg said the important thing was to stop tensions from spiralling out of control. He warned Russia against taking any "aggressive actions". All those men with arms, everything they need to act aggressively...are they tense besides?
Mr Stoltenberg said: "We see an unusual concentration of troops, and we know that Russia has been willing to use these types of military capabilities before to conduct aggressive actions against Ukraine." Are NATO's troops ready?
Moving to Israel in 1980 was a big decision, and one I'm so glad I made. As a 22 year teacher of Elementary education, I became a junior high teacher of Engish as a 2nd language in Safed after a 10 month educational experience in Haifa of which I completed and became a certified Israeli teacher, even passing the Hebrew test by the skin of my teeth actually after breaking my elbow and arm bone just as the 1982 war was about to start. I've written 2 true books and now have been working in 6 blogs; 3 about Israel and 3 about family genealogy. It's all enough to keep me very busy. I've met the best of people this way that I dearly love, while in my home my time is spent with my female Llasa apso, my age in dog years and as spoiled as can be. I swear she understands too much.
Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull is a genealogist, author and writer, with an avid interest in Jewish history and genetic genealogy. He has a public health and environmental science background, having earned his Doctorate and Master of Public Health degrees from Johns Hopkins University, and his MS and BS from the University of Pittsburgh.
