Beth El Genealogy Club
Sunday, February 21, 2010
7:30 PM
Beth El Synagogue
50 Maple Stream Road
E. Windsor, NJ 08520
Free – Open to the Public.

Back to a Southern Shtetl

Most immigrants in 19th-century America wanted to assimilate as fast as possible. Not so the Litvaks who set out to create this prosperous, Orthodox enclave. Norm Katz will bring us back to the town called Berkley (Virginia), situated across the Elizabeth River from Norfolk, in a spot George Washington had once considered for the nation’s capital.

The Jewish community in Berkley grew to over 400 people. The independent town of Berkley is gone, incorporated into Norfolk in 1909. Gone, too, are the Jews, who scattered across the country by the late 1940s. In October 2007, there was a family gathering of the descendents of the original settlers of this town from which Katz’s wife's ancestors immigrated. The reunion was the subject of an article in the February 2008 issue of Hadassah Magazine under the title of “Back to a Southern Shtetl.” Norm Katz’s father in law is in the photo above in the front on the left.

The importance of this settlement was attested to by the attendance of Mayors from 3 different towns and a proclamation from the Virginia House of Delegates. Norm will discuss the history of the Jews who settled in the area, describe the events of the weekend, talk a little about his wife's family that lived in Berkley and show a DVD. The story of how the area was settled promises to be a fascinating program.