My grandfather Salomon Gerstmann

Some years I have been researching my family's history. My father's ancestors came from Lemberg - Lwow - Lviv. As my father's maternal aunt Elka Flach survived the Holocaust I know more about my grandmother's family. About my paternal grandfather Salomon Gerstmann I had no information. Luckily, I could find his birth certificate and learned that he was born in a small village near Komarno and Rudki on September 10th 1894. His parents were Eisig Klinghofer and Ryfka Gerstmann. In the days of Austrian rule many Jewish couples didn't have a civil marriage at the local authorities, but only a religious one. Children born from such couples would have the mother's surname, so Salomon was a Gerstmann. His younger siblings Mariem and Sender Josef were already Klinghofers as the parents had a civil marriage before they were born. I was lucky enough to find details about him on a list of the Polish census of 1937 in Lwow. The Details were: Salomon Gerstman born in 1984, a merchant who lived on Bernadynsky 2, which was the family's address. The year 1984 was obviously a typo and should be 1894. The surname was written with one N at the end and not a double N like in the German spelling. The professional merchant was correct as my father told me that his father Salomon who was a medical doctor could not work as a MD and imported Kosher wine from Tokaj in Hungaria together with one of his cousins of the Czortkover family. He would travel to Hungary by train some 350 kilometers. In order to be able to eat according to the Kashrut (Kosher) rules he kept a silver spoon in his pocket and so he could eat a soft-boiled egg with a slice of bread. My father told me that his father Salomon was a senior medical officer in the Polish army, but sadly I didn't find documents about that. Last month I found a new document about Salomon, stating that he got wounded on May 25th 1916 in WWI, his rank was Gefreiter and he served in the Imperial and Royal Austro-Hungarian army. His unit was LSTIR 25 5th company K. Salomon was married to Paulina - Pnina my grandmother, they had 2 daughters and a son, my father. The whole family was killed during the Shoah and only my father survived. My grandfather got wounded during WW1 in May 1916 and I myself 51 years later under similar circumstances.

Visiting Yad Washem with tourists

Almost all tourists I guide, visit Yad Washem the Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem.

We try to understand what happened then and how 6 million innocent people were killed by an industrial system of hate.

Both my parents were active members of the Dutch resistance and I remember that even as a young kid I was aware of the history of the Sho'ah which wiped out almost my entire family.

Many questions are asked during those visits and it is hard to find answers, but some time ago one of the tourists asked me a question that left me speechless.

The person was extremely shocked by the sights shown in the memorial and than I heard a question I as a non-christian couldn't answer.

"Could it be that Jesus came back to earth before the Holocaust and was killed together with the 6.000.000?'

What could I answer?

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Jabel - Tourism in Druze and Circassian Villages

Well-hidden jewels of tourism in Israel are the Druze and Circassian Villages in Galilee.

Many tourists may pay a short visit at the Druse villages on Mount Carmel near Haifa, but very few take their time to see the authentic life of the  Druze and the Circassians.

On your next visit in Israel it is worth to include an in depth visit to one or more of their villages. For details please visit the Jabel website

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Massada the last stronghold of the Great Revolt

Herod the Great (or rather the Cruel) built near the Dead Sea a fortress where he could hide in case of a revolution.

In the year 73 CE, three years after the Temple and Jerusalem were ruined, fought here 960 Zealots under Elazar ben Jair against the Tenth Legion led by Lucius Flavius Silva.

Flavius Josephus tells us that at the end of the battle 10 of the defenders of Massada were chosen to kill the others and one of them to kill the other nine ones. The last survivor took his own life. 

Flavius tells us that they preferred to die as free ones rather than living as slaves.

Nazareth the village of Maria and Joseph

In Galilee in Northern Israel Nazareth was 2000 years ago a poor little village.

Nathanael spoke with Philip about Nazareth (John 1:46):

45.	Philip found Nathanael, and said to him, "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, wrote: Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."
46.	Nathanael said to him, "Can any good thing come out of Nazareth?" Philip said to him, "Come and see."

It became the cradle of Christianity.

Here Maria, Joseph and Jesus lived.

Here according to the tradition Gabriel announced Maria that she was pregnant.

Nowadays it is a centre of pilgrimage and tourism.

The following video can also be viewed in HD

Gamla - "Massada on the Golan"

Flavius Josephus wrote about the Great Revolt and told the story of Gamla, that was conquered and destroyed in the year 67 CE when the Temple and Jerusalem were ruined too.

Three years later in 70 CE also Massada fell .

This is the story of thousands of men, women and children who were killed during the Great Revolt.

Have a look at this great site on the Golan.

The great menorah - המנורה הגדולה

The great Menorah was made from gold and stood in the temple in Jerusalem.

About 2000 years later the British House of Lords gave the people of Israel a menorah made by the German-born British sculptor Benno Elkan (1877-1960)
The monument shows the history of the Jewish people in a nutshell.
It is located near the Israeli parliament - the Knesset


The following video can be seen in HD 




The legend of the menorah is on the following picture:

Actually the original menorah had three little legs like shown in the following picture:

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Winter is ending - the Cranes and Storks are leaving to Europe

After we had a dry winter again in our hectic place under the sun, the Cranes are leaving Israel and return to Europe once more. Thousands of them stayed in Israel for winter.

This elegant bird was chosen by Lufthansa to be the company's logo.

The Agamon Hula nature park is chosen by many Cranes as their winter home and  they get there a free meal to reduce the damage they cause to the fishponds and crops.

The Storks too are going back to Europe now and soon the Pelicans will follow.

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