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Family Reunion
Sparked By Remark

JILL DAVIDSON SKLAR STAFF WRITER

W

hat started as a game
of "Jewish geography'?
during a Rosh
Hashanah dinner has
led to a globe-trotting family re-
union, bringing together parts of
a family separated by miles,
years and wars.
This past weekend, Judy
Poger of Livonia introduced
Michael Perper of Kishinev,
Moldova, to the members of the
family who left the former Sovi-
et Union before the devastation
of two world wars took place.
It all began around the dining-
room table of Linda Nack of West

with the government. With no
known surname, the family
named themselves after a small
coin. Because the family had reg-
istered, all with that name were
allowed to stay when the Soviets
and then Romanians evicted all
Jews in the area who were not
able to prove lengthy residence.
After the evening was over,
Mr. Tenenboym called Michael's
mother in Moldova to tell her of
his chance meeting with mem-
bers of her family. Mrs. Perper
immediately began assembling
a family history with the help of
Soviet archives.

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Judy Poger, Paul Perper, Sophie Barkman, Michael Perper and Alex Tenenboym
visit outside the Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.

Bloomfield where the Tenen-
boyms of Rochester met the
Pogers of Livonia.
The Tenenboyms — Alex,
Tanya and their son, Dennis —
immigrated from Moldova four
years ago to escape a crumbling
economy and mounting anti-
Semitism.
Over some potato kugel,
"Judy's mother, Sophie Perper
Barkman of Flint, was trying to
engage the Tenenboyms in con-
versation. She started out by say-
ing that her father had come
from an area in the former Sovi-
et Union then known as Bessara-
bia but now called Moldova.
Alex Tenenboym said he came
from the same area and asked
what her father's last name was.
"When I said, Terper; his eyes
opened up like saucers," recalled
Ms. Barkman. "He said, `My best
friend is Michael Perper.'"
Ms. Barkman knew she had
to be related. The family had cho-
sen the last name decades ago
when they, like other Jews, were
forced to register their residency

"At first, I couldn't believe it,"
Mr. Perper said. "My mother and
I are the last Perpers in Moldo-
va."
Judy Poger received the his-
tory in the mail about seven
weeks later. Using a family tree
that her uncle had constructed
years before and photographs of
both families, she compared the
two histories and was able to find
remarkable similarities.
"It was kind of eerie," she said.
"Michael looks just like an uncle
I had."
The two families began to com-
municate through the mail, hav-
ing friends translate the
correspondence. Eventually an
invitation to Mrs. Barkman's
80th birthday party in Westland
was issued to the Russian por-
tion of the Perper family. Mr.
Perper accepted.
But a visitor's visa is difficult
to obtain in the Commonwealth
of Independent States, in part be-
cause many of the people who
leave do not return. With the
help of a letter from Ms. Poger to

