{"id":31643,"date":"2018-05-30T12:40:41","date_gmt":"2018-05-30T16:40:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.genealogybank.com\/?p=31643"},"modified":"2021-04-19T09:50:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-19T13:50:11","slug":"genealogy-tip-find-bar-mitzvah-notices-in-newspapers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/genealogy-tip-find-bar-mitzvah-notices-in-newspapers.html","title":{"rendered":"Genealogy Tip: Find Bar Mitzvah Notices in Newspapers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction<\/em><\/strong>: In this article \u2013 in honor of May being Jewish American Heritage Month \u2013 \u00a0Gena Philibert-Ortega shows how you can learn about your Jewish American ancestors by searching for bar and bat mitzvah notices in the pages of old newspapers. Gena is a genealogist and author of the book \u201cFrom the Family Kitchen.<\/span>\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

One of the reasons I love newspaper research is the level of detail that newspapers provide about our families. Historically, newspapers captured the life of a community and the everyday life of the people who made up that community. A good example of this is the bar (and bat) mitzvah notices you can find in GenealogyBank\u2019s Jewish American Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Searching the newspapers of a specific community is vital. Oftentimes these focused newspapers provide details of your ancestors\u2019 lives that you will not find in larger, general city newspapers. GenealogyBank has several foreign language and ethnic newspapers published in the United States that provide you the information you need for your family history research.<\/p>\n

My younger son is always asking me why my writings focus on finding adult ancestors and not children. Quite simply, children leave a smaller paper trail so it\u2019s easier to search for adults. But the newspaper is an equal opportunity reporter and there are articles that document children\u2019s lives as well.<\/p>\n

Here are a few examples of what you can find in relation to that important rite of passage for Jewish boys: the bar mitzvah.<\/p>\n

\"Illustration:<\/a>
Illustration: \u201cBar Mitzvah in a Synagogue\u201d by Oscar Rex. Credit: Fotografie von Original; Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Family Information and Photos<\/strong><\/p>\n

You can count on newspaper bar mitzvah notices to provide the name of the child and his parents. This 1960 example from the Jewish Journal<\/em> provides great genealogical information including the parents\u2019 names, the mother\u2019s maiden name, and the names and residential address of his maternal grandparents. Since the parents\u2019 out-of-state address is provided, it\u2019s also explained why the bar mitzvah was held in New Jersey rather than where the young man lives, in Illinois. An extra bonus: a photo accompanies the notice.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Jewish Journal (New Brunswick, New Jersey), 21 September 1960, page 12<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This 1934 bar mitzvah notice from the Jewish Chronicle<\/em> provides the standard parents\u2019 names and residence \u2013 but it also includes information about the service itself, including where it was held and who participated. I love this announcement because it includes a relationship outside of the immediate family: \u201cJudge Joseph Siegler, a cousin of the boy\u2019s father, acted as toastmaster.\u201d This article serves as a good reminder that you should look for newspaper articles about all members of the family you are researching, not just the parents. This relationship detail could be important for a researcher who knows little about the family.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Jewish Chronicle (Newark, New Jersey), 2 November 1934, page 8<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don\u2019t forget that a bar mitzvah can also be a good time for a family reunion. Four-generation photos are always a wonderful genealogical find, and this bar mitzvah photo shows the four generations of men celebrating the bar mitzvah of Barry Rockoff \u2013 including Barry\u2019s 90-year-old great-grandfather.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 19 May 1955, page 11<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Social Column<\/strong><\/p>\n

In the newspapers I searched, bar mitzvah announcements were often found in the social columns \u2013 like this 1921 announcement of the bar mitzvah of Frederich Stein of 22 South Fourteenth Street in Newark, New Jersey, that is printed between everything from the announcement of Rose Silberman\u2019s engagement to the marriage of Miss Pearl Dorothy Saslow. Appropriately enough these announcements are in a column titled \u201cSocial and Personal.\u201d Families provided information by phone or mail to the Society Editor, who would then create the column.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Jewish Chronicle (Newark, New Jersey), 16 December 1921, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A later example from 1942 shows a listing of bar mitzvahs with events like confirmations and birthdays in the \u201cWomen\u2019s Club Gossip\u201d column, a type of social column. These announcements are brief but still provide the parents\u2019 names and address.<\/p>\n

\"Bar<\/a>
Jewish Chronicle (Newark, New Jersey), 5 June 1942, page 6<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Don\u2019t Forget the Bat Mitzvah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Everyone who knows me is aware that my focus is researching women\u2019s lives, so I was curious if I would find bat mitzvah notices in the newspaper. The article below explains that the first bat mitzvah celebrated in America happened in 1922, when Rabbi Mordecai Kaplan, the founder of Reconstructionism, arranged a bat mitzvah for his daughter Judith. Obviously, any bat mitzvah notices in the newspaper would be of a more recent origin. However, as we research our ancestry we should also document our most recent family members, not just long-dead ancestors.<\/p>\n

\"An<\/a>
Daily Advocate (Stamford, Connecticut), 19 March 1992, page 2<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As I searched newspapers I did find bat mitzvah notices that provide details about the honoree and her family, like this 1964 announcement listing Lindsey Jane Charlip\u2019s grandmother.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
Trenton Evening Times (Trenton, New Jersey), 10 January 1964, page 12<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month<\/strong><\/p>\n

Celebrate Jewish American Heritage Month by searching for your Jewish American ancestors in the pages of GenealogyBank\u2019s Historical Newspaper Archives<\/a> \u2013 and, in particular, make use of GenealogyBank\u2019s Jewish American Newspaper Archives<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this article, Gena Philibert-Ortega learns about Jewish American ancestors by searching for bar and bat mitzvah notices in old newspapers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":31687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13001],"tags":[4836,31343,2719,24585,2020],"class_list":["post-31643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-jewish-american-history-genealogy","tag-bar-mitzvah","tag-bat-mitzvah","tag-genealogy-search-tips","tag-jewish-american-history-and-genealogy","tag-newspaper-archives"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/photo-0530-2018-featured-graphic-bar-mitzvah.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31643"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31643\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":66679,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31643\/revisions\/66679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.genealogybank.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}