Noa Segal

Mrs. Tove Sunshine

Modern Jewish History
19 April 2016
A European Journey: The Many Homelands of Noa Segals Family
Family heritage is what makes us who we are. It informs us about the past, gives meaning
to the present, and helps form bonds for the future. This information consists of many things,
whether it be stories, recipes, or artifacts. Ones homeland, though, is a vital part of ones
identity. The place where a person grew up affects their worldview and their decisions. In a
family heritage, it is vital to recognize where your family came from to be able to analyze
decisions that came about as a result of where they lived. For example, a person living in
Morocco received vastly different customs and experiences than someone living in Poland
during the same time. I am an Ashkenazi Jew with the majority of my family coming from
Europe. This affected and still impacts the way I live my life and the way I practice my Judaism.
Although most of my family is from Europe, most of my maternal great-grandparents
either arrived in America before World War II or were born in America in the early 1900s. In
this project, I will be focusing on my maternal heritage, specifically that of my grandmother and
her mothers story and a few other people from my mothers family.
The first relative I will focus on is my mothers fathers mothers father (my great-greatgrandfather). His name was Shlomo Resnick. He came from Vilnius, Lithuania, also known as
Vilna. After he got married, he moved to Baranovitch, Poland. This is where my greatgrandmother, Ethel, was born. They moved to America in August of 1920.
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Pictured at right is my mother with my

grandparents and my grandfathers mother, Ethel
Graubard.
Although I do not know much about their
specific heritage in Vilna, it is well-known that Jews
were living in Lithuania for many years. To be
exact, Jews have been living in Lithuania since the 14th century, when they were invited by
Grand Dukes Augustus II and Augustus III (David Virtual Vilnius). Vilnius had many
nicknames. One that the city was widely know by was Ir Ha-em. This means mother city and
this was used for the same reason that Vilnius was also called the Jerusalem of Lithuania. The
reason was because of its large Jewish community and atmosphere of learning (Zalkin). These
qualities gave Vilna a reputation of being one of the greatest Jewish European communities.
Vilna was a major center for Jewish learning for many centuries. In the 16th century, a
new method of learning was developed in Vilna. This was named Lithuanian Yeshivot (David
Virtual Vilnius). In the 18th century, one of the greatest Jewish scholars came around, the
Vilna Gaon. Gaon Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Shlomo Zalman was a scholar who, like the other Jews in
Vilna, took a rationalist approach to Judaism. Because of this belief, he helped spearhead the
movement against Hasidism. The Vilna Gaon saw studying to be one of the most important part
of Judaism so he studied not only Jewish texts, but also secular ones like geometry and grammar
(Zalkin).
During the 19th century, Vilna was the epicenter for the labor movement. This movement
was led by the Bund. 1897 The Bund was a socialist party, also called the General Jewish
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Workers Union. The had almost 40,000 members. Their goal was to obtain equal rights and
better living conditions for those working. The also helped teach self-defense to those working
(David Virtual Vilnius).
During the early 20th century, there was a Jewish Renaissance taking place in Vilna and
the cities around it. Secular institutions were created such as does for the arts, sciences, and
humanities. Yiddish became the lingua franca, the common language. This renaissance was seen
as very secular and in regards to traditional Judaism, it was seen as an alternative (David
Virtual Vilnius).
My great-great-grandparents left with my great-grandmother before the holocaust started
and this could have been a result of the problems and situation surrounding them.
My maternal grandmothers parents came from various parts of
Europe but first I will focus on her fathers parents and where they came
from. My great-great-grandparents, Sam and Fannie, came from Lipno,
Poland. They are pictured at right. They were joined by their mother
later on. After moving to America, most of them decided to settle down
in Washington, DC (Sperling 1). Sam was a peddler in New York on the
east side with his brother until 1911. This is when he married Fannie,
who came to America when she as two. They moved to DC where my
great-grandfather, their second child, was born in 1914. They opened a dry goods store in DC.
Another one of their contributions was helping establish the Talmud Torah Synagogue in
Southwest DC (Sperling 2). To be able understand their family heritage, it is necessary to go
back to where it all started, Lipno, Poland.
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Although Lipno was originally founded in 1349 (Skrzypinski), Jews didnt settle there
until later on. Most of the jews there lived in the center of town. Many of them made their living
as peddlers and businessmen. Those who were merchants and peddlers worked in Skarta Square.
A hardship that they encountered was the tax placed on them. A tax was placed on businessmen
to help eliminate unemployment and since many jews were businessmen, this affected a large
part of the Jewish community in Lipno. The Jews in Lipno had a system for making decisions
with leaders in place. These leaders were elected politically, and a chairman was nominated.
Taxes wee collected within the Jewish community to help pay for religious and social services in
the city. The secretary of the committee helped carry out decisions that were decided. Although
the Jews of Lipno experienced some anti-semitism, they were generally tolerated in Lipno
(Gezel).
The next person I am focusing on is my maternal grandmothers mother and her parents.
They came from Riga, Latvia. Before I go into their personal story, I will give some background
information of Riga itself.
During the 13th century, Jews started living in Riga, though not many of them. In the
14th century, they were banned from settling by the Master of the German Order. When the
Polish took over in 1561, Jews started to resettle. During this time though, the 15th and 16th
centuries, the only Jews permitted to live in Riga were prominent, wealthy ones, and even then,
they had to live in specific inns.In 1725, the Jews got permission to build a Jewish cemetery.
Beforehand, they had to take the bodies outside of Riga and bury them somewhere else.

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In the 18th century, the rules on Jews became more relaxed and more Jews started to
populate and settle Riga. While there were successful Jewish craftsmen and intellectuals, most
werent as lucky to have this fortune.
The majority of the Jews lived in Maskavas. In 1824, the Jews were a call group of 513
people. By 1897, they had grown to a substantial 8% of the population of Riga, being over
20,000 people. During the mid-19th century, the housing restrictions were abolished and so Jews
spread out to places other than Maskavas.
In the early 20th century, Jews were charged for provoking riots by the enemies of the
revolutions of 1905 against Tsar Nicholas II, and again during the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917.
Because of this, supporters of the riots blamed the Jews for their
failures. During the late 1920s, Riga became the center of the
Lubavitch movement because Joseph I. Schneersohn was granted
citizenship by the government (David Virtual Riga).
Pictured at right is four generations from me to my mother
to her mother to her mother.
Back to my personal family history though, my great-great-grandparents were Lena and
Moshe Arnovich. My great-grandmother, Helen was born to them in 1917. She was one of seven
children. When they wanted to move to America, they were denied papers. This is why they
changed their last name from Arnovich to Hyatt. When they came to America, my greatgrandmother was five years old and the oldest sister stayed behind with her husband in Poland.
They moved to Superior, Wisconsin when they arrived. This was a popular place for Jews
because since many of them were fur-traders, and Superior was along the water, it was a
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convenient place for them to sell fur. My great-great-grandfather was the local schochet, mohel,
chazzan, you name it, he was it (see business card in artifacts). They lived on 516 John Avenue.
When my great-grandmother was about twenty, she moved to DC. This is where she met
my great-grandfather, Paul Sperling. Pictured
at right is me with my great-grandparents,
Helen and Paul Sperling. They go married and
my grandmother, Rochelle Marcia was born in
DC. When my grandparents, Rochelle and
David Graubard got married, they lived in
New York. Picture at right is me with them at
my Bat Mitzva. My mother, Atara Shifra was born in
Flushing, NY. My mom met my dad, Ari Benjamin, in
the Yeshiva University library, on the fifth floor. My
mom was there because that is where the Jewish
books were, and my dad was there because that was
where the computers were, and he needed to play his fantasy
sports. After my parents got married in August of 1998 (see
picture at right), they lived in an apartment in Manhattan.
Both of my parents worked in Jewish education. November
24, 1999 was the greatest day of their life because I was born.
We lived in New York until 2004, when my dad got a job at
Robert M. Beren Academy and we moved to Houston, TX.
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All three of my sisters were born in Houston. Leave Sara Charna was born September 28, 2005.
Revital Chana was born May 30, 2008. Nile Etel was born January 22, 2011. In the summer of
2011, we moved to sunny Los Angeles where both of my parents continued their careers in
Jewish education. And we have reached today. Only the future knows whats next!

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Works Cited
David, Jono. "Virtual Jewish World: Riga, Latvia." Riga, Latvia Jewish History Tour. Virtual
Jewish Library, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
David, Jono. "Virtual Jewish World: Vilnius (Vilna), Lithuania." Vilnius (Vilna), Lithuania
Jewish History Tour. Virtual Jewish Library, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Gezel, Avigdor. "The Town and the Jewish Community." Sefer Lipno - The Lipno Book. N.p.,
n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
"History of the Jews in Lithuania." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Skrzypinski, Henryk. "History of Lipno, Poland." History of Lipno, Poland. N.p., n.d. Web.
10 Apr. 2016.
Sterling, Abe. "A Two-Generation History." The Shifra Bluma Family Circle. Print.
Zalkin, Modechai. "Vilnius." YIVO. The YIVO Encyclopedia of Jews in Eastern Europe, n.d.
Web. 10 Apr. 2016.

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