NOVEMBER 4 • 2021 | 9

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genealogy websites, social 
media and DNA testing, 
which is all continuing to 
advance and change how we 
conduct research and make 
genealogical connections.

HUGE FAMILY TREE
My connection was made by 
accident, only after I’
d posted 
a tongue-in-cheek question on 
Facebook about the possibility 
of Zimmerman’s surname 
originally being Zemerman. It 
was a cute midrash, perhaps 
designating a singer instead of 
a carpenter. 
 One of my cousins reading 
my post insisted I immediately 
get in touch with Ian Levine, 
a renowned British DJ and 
record producer who has 
researched his Kuklya family 
obsessively for 26 years, 
organized family reunions 
with thousands of confirmed 
Kuklya descendants, 
and is about to publish a 
massive 2016-page Kuklya 
Encyclopedia.
My cousin believed that 
we were related to Ian. After 
Ian and I analyzed our DNA 
and confirmed our blood 
relationship — and checked 
to be certain it corresponded 
with the work he and I had 
done separately on our trees 
— he welcomed me warmly as 
family. 
In Ian’s work, I was 
absolutely astonished to see 
my great-grandfather and 
many tens of thousands of 
other ancestors.
There, just one generation 
beyond the reach of my 
own research, I learned that 
my second and third great-
grandfathers had married 
Karanovich daughters, and 
I discovered the same Girsh 
Shabsel Karanovich is also 

my sixth great-grandfather. 
Bob Dylan, Morrie Arnovich, 
the Singers — we are all 
cousins descended from the 
same Karanovich and Kuklya 
families in a long lineage of 
rabbis going back to Rashi and 
beyond. 

DETROIT ROOTS
My father, Barry Singer, 
was born in Detroit in 1936 
and was an only child. His 
father had died when he 
was 2 years old, and he was 
raised by his mother’s cousins 
of the Oppenheim family. 
He graduated Wayne State 
University before making 
aliyah prior to 1967’s Six-Day 
War. He married in Israel and 
eventually returned to the U.S. 
and settled in Superior. 
 His father’s brothers and 
sisters and their descendants 
who had remained behind 
in Lithuania were brutally 
murdered by Lithuanian 
Gen. Jonas Noreika and his 
followers during World War II.
My father had searched 
for his family his entire life. 
Now, I’ve discovered he was 
never alone. Superior had 
mysteriously beckoned to him 
just as it did his ancestors.
Maybe that’s why it bothered 
me so much when the press 
snubbed Morrie. And maybe 
that’s why I care so much 
about the preservation of 
Superior’s history. 
Turns out: Morrie is family, 
after all. And Superior’s history 
is my history. 

Originally from Superior, Wis., Daniel 

Singer, a graduate of the University of 

Michigan, is the cantor of the Stephen 

Wise Free Synagogue in New York 

City. To read Cantor Singer’s previous 

article, visit forward.com/scribe/473521. 

Cantor Singer can be reached at 

dsinger@swfs.org.

CORRECTION
In “‘EPIC’ Changes for NEXTGen Detroit’s Annual Big Event” 
(Oct. 28, page 28), the co-chair of the EPIC event should have 
been identified as Andrew Sherman. 

C
l
i
c
k. C
a
ll. Give. appl
y. 

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@HFLDetroit

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STORY
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STORY
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