Tuesday, December 04, 2018

Re: Hi from great great granddaughter of Rabbi Noam Elimelech

First of all, I am happy to hear that you are learning more about Judaism and trying to get in touch with your roots. I would like to warn you though, that Noam Elimelech is not an easy book to read, and it is definitely not for beginners. It is quite esoteric and Kabbalisitc, and without the requiste Talmudic/Rabbinic knowledge, you can very easily misunderstand or not understand at all what he is saying. I would not suggest studying Noam Elimelech at this stage in life, I would tell you to stick to more basic texts until you have mastered them.
My father's first cousin told me about a tradition in our family that we are descendants of the Noam Elimelech, but I have not been able to track it down exactly. He said that my great-great-grandmother was known to be a descendant of the Noam Elimelech, but I could not find the exact line between her and him (as you saw last night when you visited my genealogy webpage).
Now I'm trying to get down to the nitty-gritty of your story, but some things don't add up. You mentioned that your grandmother was the daughter of Rav Elimelech's seventh son who died in the Holocaust. This of course is simply impossible. Rabbi Elimelech of Lizhensk himself died in 1787, so for his seventh son to have died in the Holocaust (let's say in 1939), he must have been at least 152 years old! Are you perhaps confusing the Noam Elimelech himself with one of his descendants who may have been named after him?
Also, you wrote that your great-grandmother was named Esther Elimelech and her maiden name was Schiff). Was Elimelech her married family name? I never heard of a last name Elimelech, but then again, I don't know everything.
I looked a bit into this for you, and I consulted with a book that lists the first seven generations of descendants of the Noam Elimelech. In that book, there is a woman named Esther Schiff: The Noam Elimelech had a son named Elazar of Lizhensk, who had a son named Naftali Weissbloom, who had a daughter named Hadas Weissbloom. She married somebody named Rabbi Chaim Schiff (from Tarnow). One of their daughters was named Esther Schiff, and she married somebody named Aharon Zilberman (in a place called Ratzfert/Újfehértó, Hungary) and she died around 1920. She apparently had two sons: Henrik Zilberman (born 1890) and Shmuel Zilberman (born 1894). Does any of this sound familiar? Do you think this is might be your family? In this book, Esther Schiff is listed as having a sister named Tuna who married into the Halberstam/Rubin family of Vishnitza. I would suggest getting in touch with Rabbi Chaim Baruch Rubin from Los Angeles (the current Vishnitza Rebbe) for more information about that. His phone number is (323) 934-6016. As opposed to whatt I found, the Esther Schiff you mentioned was not a descendant of the Noam Elimelech, rather her husband was a descendant, so I'm not sure if it's a match.
I hope I have been some help to you, because at this point I myself am utterly confused.

Sincerely,


On Tue, Dec 4, 2018 at 2:32 AM Alina Demeter <demeterlaw@gmail.com> wrote:
Dear Rabbi Klein:

Thank you for accepting my unusual request.  

My name is Alina Demeter.  I live in Seal Beach, Orange County, California having immigrated to the US in the 1970's from Bucharest Romania, where I was born.   I have always felt a bit of a fish out of water.  I did not know I was Jewish until my teens.  I then started to identify more with Judaism, and I have made it a part of my normal life and routine.  

Recently, I have just learned more about Rabbi Elimelech and how I am related to him, and I wanted to reach out to any other family members out there to find out what happened to the rest of our family.  

My father is Peter Demeter.  He lives here near me in Rossmoor, California, Orange County.  

This is what we know from our grandmother:  My father's mother, Reghina Schiff (Elimelech) (married name Reghina Demeter), was one of the daughters of Rabbi Elimelech's seventh and youngest son, and his wife, Esther Elimelech (Schiff maiden name).  
They lived in Hungary and Northern Transylvania /Romania having migrated from Poland and prior to that Spain.  

My grandmother's parents separated during WWII and her Father (Elimelech's 7th son) perished along with his oldest son in the Holocaust.  His wife, Esther Elimelech (who divorced him and used subsequently her maiden name Schiff ) established herself with the children in Transylvania.  Esther Schiff as she called herself survived along with the 4 children, one of which was my grandmother, Reghina Demeter.    Reghina Demeter my grandmother also survived the Holocaust, having been imprisoned in a work camp for over 1 year during WWII.   She wrote her memoirs about her experiences, and I am planning of re-reading them again now that I am older and wiser, and in light of this information about Elimelech of Lisansk Poland. 

My grandmother, Reghina Schiff - Elimelech lived most of her life in Bucharest, Romania and in Jerusalem.  Her sister Haddash Moisescu and Tibor Schiff also lived in Jerusalem.  Tibor is still alive.  My grandmother Reghina Demeter (nee Schiff/Elimelech) passed away this year.  Although she lost touch with her Jewish roots after the Holocaust, and I was not raised religiously for 3 generations, I am now for the past 20 years have become more religious, and am interested in my heritage.

I recently became friends with a fellow woman here in LA whom I met by happenstance, and we have been doing Torah study together weekly for a year.  When I mentioned casually after a year that I am the great great granddaughter of Rabbi Elimelech of Lisansk Poland, she was so excited, and I was very curious what was the big deal about?  At Shabbat dinner last week, her brother Joseph told me all about Rabbi Elimelech.  I was in awe.  Then my Father, Peter told me more the next day and I just had to reach out to learn more about my heritage, and about what happened to the rest of the 6 sons families and their descendants.  Baruch Hashem we now have the Internet. 

Anyway, thank you for your time.  If you could find it in your schedule to tell me about your connection to Rabbi Elimelech (are you related to him?  If so, we are related!) , I would very much appreciate it.  I have purchased Noam Elimelech's book on Amazon.com, and will be learning from it during our weekly Torah study.  

Warm regards to you and your family and Baruch Hashem, I look forward to hearing from you. 
Cordially:
Alina Demeter Esq.
Seal Beach California 90740
Direct: 562-342-9925

This communication, together with any attachments hereto or links contained herein, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain information that is confidential or legally protected. If you are not the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any review, disclosure, copying, dissemination, distribution or use of this communication is STRICTLY PROHIBITED.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender immediately by return e-mail message and delete the original and all copies of the communication, along with any attachments hereto or links herein, from your system.   Ex Parte Notice is NOT accepted via Electronic Mail at this address.  Ex Parte Notice is NOT accepted via telephone. 
Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)