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o fte` Families Trace Names To Inquisition Era
By Betty Provizer Starkman
Henriques/Henriquesz is a
noted Sephardic (Spanish-
Portuguese) family found in the
United States, England, Holland and
Jamaica. They are all related to
some degree and originated in
Spain, where some had intermarried
with the Spanish royal family.
During the Spanish Inquisition,
which began in 1492, many
members of the family fled to other
countries. Others were burned and
tortured to death, while some
became secret or crypto-Jews
(Marranos) and continued to live in
Spain. As late as 1646 Manuel
Henriquez, was burned to death by
the Inquisition (which had followed
the crypto-Jews to the new world) in
Lima, Peru. 'A History of the
Marranos" by Cecil Roth has much
information about this family who is
related to: Costa, Mendes, Warburg,
De Sola, Gomez, Lopez, Levy,
Judah and Nathan families. The Leo
Baeck Institute, 129 E. 73rd St., N.Y.
10021, has an Henriques family tree.
It is believed that the 15th Century
Marrano family, Enriques, are the
ancestors of the Henriques.
Magnus/Magnes is a surname
derived from a physical
characteristic. It means tall in
Hungarian. In Hebrew, a tall man
adopted Tamir as a family name. In
Italian/Spanish it became
Grande/Grandes. Langer, Grosser
and Hoch were adopted by tall
people in the Yiddish/German.
Asch/Ash is another name for
geographic origin. It is an acronym
for Eisenstadt, Austria, which had a
large Jewish population prior to
World War Two. Sholom Asch, the
famous Yiddish-English author, was
born in Kutno, Poland, and was a
childhood friend of my late
grandfather. Upon a recent visit to
Kutna we found an Asch Street and
a plaque upon Asch's place of birth.
Sachar as a family name came
Soviet Jewish Family
Needs Letter of Support
One way to learn about Jewish
life around the world is to write to a
Jewish family in another country.
What is daily life like in the pen
pal's country? What is Jewish life
like? How are the holidays
celebrated? To help our readers
learn about Jews around the world,
L'Chayim is making available
addresses of Jewish families in
communities abroad.
Cost of an international air mail
letter is 45 cents per half ounce.
This month, the address of a
Russian Jewish refusenik has been
made available by the Soviet Jewry
Committee of the Jewish
Community Council. Before writing,
please read these special rules for
corresponding with Russian Jews:
Letters should be personal,
warm, sympathetic and should ask
about birthdays, anniversaries and
family events. Cards should be
exchanged on these occasions and
on the Jewish holidays as well.
Avoid any anti-Soviet material and
refrain from mentioning names of
Soviet Jewry rescue organizations.
Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew or
English may be used. The standard
way of addressing a letter to the
Soviet Union is the reverse of the
American way:USSR, Name of
from the Slavonic noun "sugar."
Sachars had an ancestor who was a
dealer in sugar.
Feldbaum as a surname was
adopted from a Yiddish landscape
description — field of trees.
Reichman/Reich was a much
coveted Ashkenazic surname
meaning rich or rich man. Some of
the Reich/Reichman families
changed their names in the United
States to Rich/Richman/Richards.
The Hebrew biblical matronymic,
Rachel, ws another source of these
names. Other variations include:
Reichelson (son of Rachel),
Reichstein and Reichenheim. The
Genealogical Computerized Family
Finder (available at the Midrasha
Library) lists persons seeking
Reichman family.
According to Benzion Kaganoff,
the source of the name Brandeis
was a geographical location —
Brandeis in Bohemia. German Jews
first settled there in 1440. This was
The Nadgornyis have a son,
Boris, 30. The family received its
first visa refusal in 1982. No reason
was given for the refusal.
Letters of support may be sent
as follows: USSR, RSFSR, Moscow
129010, Bol. Spasskaya 32-171,
Nadgornyi, Eduard.
Next Month
The single-parent Jewish
family will be the focus of what
promises to be a very special
September L'Chayim. Also
included will be your favorite
features, including the Yiddish
and Hebrew lessons, What's In
A Name, The Market Bag and
— of course — Sefer Safari
and an array of puzzles and
games.
Betty Starkman is the past president
and founder of the Jewish
Genealogical Society of Michigan.
Answers To Puzzle, Matching Quiz
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Republic, Name of City, Address,
Addressee (last name first).
This month's pen pals are
Eduard and Nina Nadgornyi of
Moscow. Nadgornyi is a physicist.
As a result of his 1981 application to
emigrate, he was dismissed as a
department head at the Solid State
Physics Institute of the Academy of
Sciences, where he was a co-
founder of a laboratory. In addition,
he was expelled from four scientific
councils and relegated to work as a
laboratory technician. Other
measures include the denial of his
right to publish, the stripping of his
title as Soviet Scientist and
exclusion from his own research
facilities.
In response to Western protest,
Nadgornyi was temporarily assigned
the post of acting senior researcher,
but he is still barred from research
facilities as well as contact with his
colleagues.
a family who lived in Poland and
descended from the famous
Maharal of Prague, Rabbi Judah
Lowe (1529-1609). Among the
famous physicians, rabbis and
soldiers of this clan was United
States Supreme Court Justice Louis
D. Brandeis.
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Answers to Matching Quiz
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This quiz was created by Patricia A. Milner, assistant administrator,
Jewish Federation Apartments.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
L-7