Contacting orthodox Jewish communities

[doodleysquat]

 I don't wish to cause offence, so please forgive me if anything here is expressed badly.

Just wondering if there are any orthodox Jewish posters/people with Jewish ancestry who can help me with this. I'm trying to get a broader picture of the Jewish immigrant communities some of my ancestors came from. I've been told that orthodox Jewish communities do not welcome such enquiries. I did write to one......almost a year ago....asking very politely if they knew of any material available & offering to pay for any help/information (I don't know if that caused offence, but I wanted to stress that I didn't want something for nothing) I haven't received a reply.

Was that "just one of those things" or is it likely that such a request will cause offence ? I can understand that people might not have time to help. I don't want to upset anyone or waste my own time.

[JustinL]

Hello,

I am not Jewish, but do have a lot of Jewish ancestry which I have researched extensively.

The communities from whence our ancestors came were eliminated during the Holocaust. However, written accounts of life in these shtetlach are often available online.

I cannot comment on your experience as I have not tried to contact such a community. Tell us what your areas of interest are and I will willingly pass on any advice that I can.

Justin

[doodleysquat]

Thanks for your reply, Justin.

I wasn't thinking about contacting Jewish communities in Germany/Eastern Europe.....what I meant was the areas where eighteenth/nineteenth century Jewish immigrants to England settled....the history of the Jewish communities there.

[JustinL]

Can you tell me which British communities rae of interest to you?

[doodleysquat]

Everything seems to lead me back to Portsea in Hampshire.

[JustinL]

This page and the associated links should be a good starting point.

http://www.jewishgen.org/jcr-uk/Community/ports/index.htm

In the bibliography section, JHSE stands for the Jewish Historical Society of England; JGSGB stands for Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain.

You might like to investigate joining the British-Jewry mailing list (see www.british-jewry.org.uk), where you might be able to contact other people interested in the Portsea/Portsmouth community.

Buying or borrowing a couple of good books on the subject would be a good idea too.

The current existing communities will have little idea (or interest) in how their members lived 100 or more years ago; that is the realm of the historian (or genealogist).

What have you managed to piece together about your Portsea ancestors?

Justin

[doodleysquat]

Again, thank you very much Justin. I appreciate that the current Jewish  communities (whether orthodox or not) may not be interested in this, but I thought that maybe enough would to be able to point me in a certain direction.

The fact of the matter is (silly though it sounds) that I haven't got any evidence of ancestors having lived in Portsea. What I have got are  Jewish ancestors in the Midlands who had been born in Germany/Eastern Europe. Obviously, they couldn't have just landed there. Of the people that I can find they associated with/married etc, there seems to be a relatively large number born in Portsea. I've looked at their families & the same towns keep turning up;Portsea/Chatham/Canterbury/Gillingham/Gravesend. There seem to have been strong connections, which seems a bit silly when they're on opposite coasts. Only yesterday, I started looking for a family with the surname of Samuel. I wasn't looking for a particular family, but I had heard from a family member that there was supposed to be a link somewhere along the line around then. If you look at the Surname Search here, you will see that there are 2 posters with interests in the name Samuels  specifically in those towns. From what I can gather, the pattern seems to be that they started from Portsea & then spread to Kent (sometimes by way of a short stop in London)

So I was wondering if my ancestors came in that way, too

[Redroger]

Having been down something of this route with my mother's family who on the basis of a Star of David memorial stone I thought were Jewish, seems they were more likely to have been of gypsy stock, I can recommend the Jewish Gen link. I found them to be helpful when I was in contact some time ago.

[doodleysquat]

Thanks very much, redroger