With this Issue we have reached a watershed. Your current Editor and Publisher are retiring and invite applications from our readership to take their place.
From a defunct Community of around a dozen members has sprung a worldwide Virtual Kehila of more than 300. Many of us have learned more about the Kehila from these Newsletters than all the time they were in M’bro. To take just a few examples, many knew nothing of the early beginnings from 1874; of the Kindertransport; of the families with ten children and more; of the three ministers (Epstein, Miller, Kersh) over seventy years; that virtually the entire adult male population fought for King and Country in WWll; of the 1998 Closure; that 60 Boro expatriates now live in Israel, etc.
We know of no other Jewish Community in the world which has undergone such a metamorphosis. Suddenly, we are now all proud of our roots. M’bro is firmly on the map; our parents and grandparents have become famous and we have something to share with our children and grandchildren.
But for the present, this Newsletter team is stepping down. We will of course answer enquiries arising out of the Page 4 list and indeed any other matters relating to this Issue.
We will continue to expand the website and if for whatever reason there are no enthusiasts ready, willing and able to bring out issue number 8 in October, we will continue the Newsletters from time to time electronically on the website.
We thank our financial contributors, our many active correspondents and—perhaps above all—our avid readers, without whom it would not have been possible to become such an impressive Virtual Community.
Shalom, David Saville Donald Wiseman
KM Website As many of you already know, our website has been considerably expanded. There is far more material than in the Newsletters. In the Photo Gallery you can now see many images of interest, one going back to Suwalki, Russia, 1885.
M’bro family sagas find a place on the website, such as Cynthia Hefetz’s history of the Taylor family and Michael Bharier’s family tree of the Galewskis. Along with many other contributions there is Rabbi Epstein’s farewell sermon in 1930 and other documents of historical interest.
Anyone wishing to add photographs, or any other material, please contact Donald Wiseman.
Page 4 List of Readers If there is anyone you wish to contact, please write to us and we will give you their addresses. The website version of the Newsletter will also contain this list - but without addresses.
We shall endeavour to keep the electronic list up to date, as we find more people from our Missing Persons list - which we are continuing to do even as this Issue goes to press. This list of 300 ex-M’bro survivors is in itself living proof of our Kehila.
For Your Diary First Reunion of North-Easteners in Israel will take place Hol Hamoed Succot, 16 October 2000. For further details contact Yitz Greenwald, tel 03-678 1133
Boro Reunion Estelle (Levy) Waterman was in Jerusalem to open an Intensive Care Unit at Shaarei Zedek Hospital in memory of her son Paul. There she met up with her old friend Ruth (Saville)Posner