Joachim Newsletter
Edition 26, March 2010
Dear Family.
This has taken sometime to produce as I have been very busy. What I have done this time is to collect a number of interesting items and then cut and pasted them. Thank you to all who contributed.
In this issue;
· Congratulations
· Catching Up with Our Cousin
· Rabbi Apple Reflects on a Lifetime of Issues
· A Bit of Very Surprising History
· Ambassador’s Search for His Roots
· Vale
Congratulations:
v To Bensi and Ruth Apple a daughter named Temima.
v Marcus Herrick married Harriet Carruthers on Feb. 20th.
Carolyn Herrick (nee Joachim and Mother of the Groom) writes, “The Ceremony was held in the Rose Garden of the St. Kilda Botanic Gardens and the cocktail reception was at The Great Provider. We had people jetting in from all points of the globe. The rehearsal dinner on Friday night was at Mirka's at Tolarno and we completed the weekend with a picnic brunch in the Gardens before people left for home.
It was a lovely happy occasion, bride looked gorgeous, groom handsome and both families thrilled to bits.
Melissa and Lisa came from New York, Mum thoroughly enjoyed the proceedings. She is slowly recovering from her broken hip and still finds distance walking a challenge.”
I have had trouble with the photo here. Have tried every trick, I know to copy one but computer will not. Apologies to Carolyn and Pammie.
Catching Up with Our Cousin
A lovely afternoon was spent in January catching up with our cousin Rabbi Raymond Apple. It was wonderful to hear all the news and see that “retirement” is treating Raymond so well.
Below are photos that Allan took and sent to me. I hope that when you click on them they open. If not, apologies.
Posted on 02 February 2010
Rabbi Raymond Apple. Photo: AJN file
PETER KOHN RABBI Raymond Apple says he is “not a great believer in people writing autobiographies unless they’ve had a very exciting and dramatic life, which I really haven’t”. So, in shaping his memoir, he resisted the idea of writing a standard autobiography. “But to amuse myself, I started writing a series of reflective chapters about the involvements and commitments that have been part of my life. And it ended being around 100 such chapters,” said the emeritus rabbi of Sydney’s The Great Synagogue. Sorted alphabetically, these essays, from Aborigines to Zionism, give a thematic view of the issues that have mattered to him — among them, social justice, Jewish history, the arts, his rabbinic colleagues and sport — rather than a chronology of events.
“If you want to know
what I did in a particular year, you won’t find it, but if you want
to know the sort of person I am, you’ll get the impression by
looking at the book,” the Australian rabbinic doyen, who now makes
his home in Israel, told The AJN. Both Prof Crown and Rabbi Apple are honorary masters of the university’s Mandelbaum House, where the event will take place. Describing his writing style as “light-hearted and almost self-deprecating”, Rabbi Apple declared: “I think it’s important almost to be able to laugh at yourself.” Rabbi Apple was educated in Melbourne, attained his s’micha in London, and took up his post with The Great in 1972. An Australian interfaith pioneer, he was a founding member and joint president of the Australian Council of Christians and Jews, and has spoken out on social justice issues. As suggested by the memoir’s title, Rabbi Apple saw his departure from The Great as a chance for continuity. Living in Jerusalem with his wife Marian, and writing there, has inspired the rabbi, who said he spent a lifetime enhancing others’ religiosity “to work on my own soul”. Rabbi Raymond Apple’s book, To Be Continued, will be launched at Mandelbaum House at The University of Sydney, on Monday, February 8, at 7pm.
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Thanks David for the following;
A bit of very surprising history
Pierre didn't know where it came from, he only knew that it came and it helped in oh-so-many ways.
The money always arrived with a small short note that simply said, "Keep up the great cause, we will prevail," and was simply signed, "Manny.
Pierre didn't know who Manny was - nobody did! Not then anyway, we do now.
But this was during World War II when the Black Horror was sweeping Europe
That's what Manny called it, The Black Horror, and of course he was referring to the Nazi plague that was taking over most of the continent.
Pierre was a leader of the French Resistance, commonly called the underground.
He fought with groups of French citizens in the best way he could, by living within main society and leading bands of armed resistance against the Germans in clandestine activities.
They would ambush German patrols, blow up German installations and sabotage Nazi operations in any way they could.
The Allies were good at providing arms and weapons, but the underground also needed money.
That was a commodity that was very hard to come by during the war, especially when your country is completely occupied by an invading military force.
And that's where Manny came in. He sent money, and he sent a lot of it.
Manny was Emmanuel Goldenberg, born a Romanian Jew, who was now living in America.
Manny had done very well in his life and he knew only too well what kinds of horrors were going on in his native Romania and the rest of Europe. Jews and others were being gassed and killed by the millions and he had to do something.
One thing he could do was use his good fortune to help the war effort. He had tried to join the Armed Forces, but he didn't qualify, so he did what he could. He sent money to where it was needed the most - to the resistance as I said, Pierre was one of the leaders of the resistance. There were many, but Pierre controlled the action around the area of Normandy. He and his people were very instrumental in assisting the Allied invasion on D-Day by sabotaging and redirecting many Nazi forces moments before the actual invasion.
Much of this was possible because of the money that arrived every month.
Month after month for two years money arrived for Pierre and his cause from Manny. It never failed!
It literally saved the day. No, Pierre never knew who Manny was, only that he sent money for food, clothes, gasoline and many other important things.
But years later, we know who Manny was, that silent guardian angel of the French underground. So do you He was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood , and a fine gentleman. It's a Little Known Fact that a very important part of the success of the French underground came from a source they never knew:
Emmanuel Goldenberg, or as you knew him, the very fine actor Edward G. Robinson.
P.S. Not many know that he was a famous actor in the Yiddish theatre before he became a movie star.
Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem. Photo: AJN file.
PETER KOHN
ISRAELI Ambassador Yuval Rotem will describe his search for long-lost relatives in Australia when he addresses the second Australian National Conference on Jewish Genealogy next month.
The 50-year-old diplomat, who took up his Canberra post in 2007, has family members living in Melbourne, and found them via his passion for genealogy.
Rotem discussed his family connections in Australia at the first Jewish genealogy conference in 2008, which, at the envoy’s instigation, the Israeli embassy hosted in Canberra.
During a reception at the event, the ambassador spoke of the research he’d conducted into his family tree, attracting a lot of interest from guests.
His anecdotes led to a request from the Australian Jewish Genealogy Society (AJGS) for him to speak at this year’s event.
AJGS Victorian secretary Lionel Sharpe said the conference’s theme, “Our Jewish Roots”, will look at ways genealogists -– from budding beginners to long-time experts –- can use today’s resources most effectively.
“One particular area [of research] is the Holocaust, where there are new sites coming online all the time, and archives becoming more accessible,” Sharpe said.
“People don’t know this. Those who were doing research 10, 20 or 30 years ago, tell me ‘I’ve already looked and I couldn’t find’. What we’re going to say [at the conference] is ‘start looking again, but through different glasses’.”
Sharpe said four international speakers would add zest to the family-tree talkfest, which is to be held in Melbourne this year.
The guest list includes American genealogist Dr Sallyann Amdur Sack-Pikus, who chairs the International Institute for Jewish Genealogy, and Tel Aviv’s Schelly Talalay Dardashti, who specialises in online searches for family members.
A line-up of 15 speakers also includes writer and lecturer Arnold Zable, who will examine the use of the media as a resource for finding family members, and Melbourne-based researcher Krystyna Duszniak, who will take a close look at locating relatives in Poland.
Journalist and filmmaker Daniela Torsh will address genealogy in the Czech Republic and Austria. Jenni Buch, who has interviewed Holocaust survivors, will speak about Belarus, while Gary Luke will examine the Australian Jewish colonial period.
The Second Australian National Conference on Jewish Genealogy will take place March 7-9 at the Beth Weizmann Centre.
Vale
Dorothea Harvey.
Sincere condolences to Jenny, Alan Harvey and Family.
Don’t Forget
Please forward any items for the Newsletter.
Please pass on Newsletter to anyone I have missed out.
We need a new Editor desperately!
Katrina
