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November 12, 2004
A Personal Journey
My colleague in Hamburg, Germany, Cornelia Kunze, put me in touch with the city managers who intend to build a Museum of Emigration in the old port area. This will be a mirror image of the Ellis Island Museum in New York Harbor. Between 1880-1913, about nine million Europeans sailed from Hamburg and Bremen to the United States. An entire town known as Ballinstadt was constructed for the emigrants, who came by train, boat and cart, to prepare for voyage across the Atlantic. Key buildings in Ballinstadt will be refurbished, with an opening planned for 2006.
I gave the approximate dates of emigration from Europe of my father's parents to the Hamburg officials. Amazingly, they came back with photocopies of the original passenger logs. My grandfather, Selig Edelmanova (note the ova), age 6, left Hamburg on June 4, 1888 with his mother and two older sisters. He came from Minsk, Russia. My grandmother, age 3, left Hamburg on March 6, 1890 with her father, mother and three siblings. She came from Kalisch, Poland. I am even the proud owner of a photo of the ship Warrington, which carried my grandfather to Liverpool and then to New York.
One other interesting Edelman family story needs to be told. My paternal great grandfather, Abraham Isaac Edelman(ova), was a rabbi. He lived in the US from 1887 until 1919. He began to think about his own mortality and decided to move to Palestine (now Israel). He worked there as a rabbi for two years, then died and was buried on the Mount of Olives. My father visited Israel with my mother about three years ago and found the grave of my great grandfather.
I have one more tale to relate which has a very happy ending. I belong to Congregation Habonim on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Last Friday night, a German man named Ralf Rossmeissi attended services. He brought with him two silver Rimonim, which are crowns atop the handles of the Torah, inscribed with the family name Tuchmann. They had decorated the Torah in the main synagogue of Nuremburg, Germany, until its destruction on Kristallnacht, November 9, 1938. Mr. Rossmeissi, who lives in Nuremburg, found the Rimonim and tracked down the 90 year old Mrs. Hella Hammelbacher, member of our congregation and great granddaughter of Salomon Tuchmann, who donated the Rimonim in 1874. She fled Germany in 1939 and helped to found our synagogue. These Rimonim now sit atop the scrolls in Congregation Habonim.
Why does any of this matter? Here is a wonderful passage from Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors. Antipholus of Syracuse, notes, "I to the world am like a drop of water, That in the ocean seeks another drop; Who, failing there to find his fellow forth, Unseen, inquisitive, confounds himself: So I, to find a mother and a brother, In quest of them, unhappy, lose myself." At the end of the play, he finds both and all is well. I believe in the centrality of family and the connections made by exploring family history. As we move into the holiday season, I hope that all of you take the time to value what is really important.
Richard
Posted by Edelman at November 12, 2004 11:37 AM
Comments
My pedantic self can't tell whether you understand the "ova" bit or not. If so, stop reading, if not, keep on. Ova is the feminine ending for names in many Slavic languages. Hence since your grandfather was only with his mother, her name would have been Edelmanova, and he was presumably given the same by the non-Slavic Germans. Your great grandfather would have been simply Edelman. Here in Prague and I suspect elsehwere, even street names come with ova endings, because street is a feminine noun and the names need to be in the feminine adjectival form.
Posted by: Arthur Schankler at November 15, 2004 9:14 AM
Similar story: my father has his grandfather's kiddish cup from when they came to the United States; it's from the early 1880's, and is a short little cup, shaped like a Dixie cup.
It's interesting to me that Hamburg is celebrating it's history as the emigration hub for Europe. It wasn't under the best of times for people to leave, and I am guessing that your grandparents left the Pale for the same reasons my great-grandparents did: to escape the Cossacks and the pograms.
Next time I'm in NYC, I'll have to stop by the congregation to see the Torahs.
Posted by: Jeremy at November 15, 2004 3:36 PM
This is impressing. I'am a local politician from Hamburg who is engaged to this project. At the beginning I was a little bit skeptic about the "Auswandererhalle", but I like the idea behind the whole "link to your roots"-project the city of Hamburg started some time ago.
It is great to see some people oversea who likes the idea of rebuilding the ballinstadt. How small the world is in these times. I read your blog since the first post and now we have something "in common" ;-)
Posted by: Hansjörg Schmidt at November 17, 2004 12:51 PM
Interesting post. Because I am jewish too, I really undestand what you are feeling when looking for the "Edelman history". In fact, history is one of the central concepts of judaism. In the life of jewish people, holidays celebrations commemorate historic events in the history of Israel. There is a paralelism between what we call "History" and our own "History". Every ritual celebrates the life cycle events, and the searching for the roots is an important part of this jewish attitude towards life itself.
Jordi Ballera
Posted by: Jordi Ballera at November 19, 2004 8:36 AM
That was a good post, thank you!
Posted by: Mike Knous at November 23, 2004 3:33 AM
Jordi,
You are right about ritual. In fact it was bat mitzvah of my eldest daughter that brought me home to Judaism and a wonderful rabbi named Robbie Summers. It takes an event and a human face too.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 24, 2004 1:36 PM
Jeremy,
My father has one too...handed down from my great grandfather who emigrated to the US from Russia. Every time I handle the battered old silver piece, I feel I am going back in time.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 24, 2004 1:38 PM
Hansjörg,
I am a real believer in this project. To connect to one's roots is just inspirational. My family was thrilled to know when my grandparents emigrated and the exact path of emigration! So let's get the project started.
Posted by: Richard Edelman at November 24, 2004 2:08 PM
Interesting... that's good info to know.
Posted by: Baxter at November 24, 2004 3:47 PM
These posts are great. I now know why I keep coming back. Thanks!
Posted by: Steve Davis at November 25, 2004 9:29 PM
This is a most interesting family story and it brings to mind the cultural losses so many emigrants' offspring born in America feel when they haven't had someone to teach them their heritage.
Posted by: Barry Moreno from Ellis Island at December 3, 2004 2:51 PM
Barry,
I assume that you work at Ellis Island
This discovery of my family history has been the basis of numerous conversations at the dinner table I am now considering going to Minsk to find out more about my grandfather...where he lived etc. You are right..it is so important to know your roots
Posted by: Richard Edelman at December 6, 2004 10:52 AM
Hello Richard,
I want to thank you. I too was very moved during the ceremony at Congregation Habonim when the Rimonim were returned to Hella Hammelbacher - and then when her grandaughter carried the Torah with the family's Rimonim. My family, like Hella Hammelbacher's, were refugees who came here with nothing but felt having escaped from Nazi Germany, they came with a lot - their lives!
On the weekend of July 4 we will all come together for the first time from; Holland, Italy, South Africa, England Canada and many places in the US. We will be together to share our stories from the past, the present and our hopes for the future. These will be put together in a family journal which each person will get. Just as the Rimonim were returned, so we are coming together to share our stories in order that they will not get lost and be forgotten; and that they may find a home.
Posted by: Ellen Mendel at June 18, 2005 8:50 PM
Ellen,
I will be interested to see what happens at the event on July 4.
Would they like a copy of Margot's film on you and others of the Habonim family?
Richard
Posted by: Richard Edelman at June 21, 2005 11:10 AM