[Cz-L] Bukovina Ya'avetzs in the news

I have been following this interesting story on Haaretz about an
Israeli girl who was a 'pen pal' to King George V. I am sharing it with the
list because they have discovered that her family is from Bukovina. I guess
royalist (not only to the Hapsburgs) tendencies are in our blood.

Also of relevance to me, the article mentions that the Ya'avetzs are
descendants of Rabbi Jacob Emdin. I have Jawitz family and we also claim to
be descended from Rabbi Emdin.

So does anyone know anything about the Bukovina Ya'avetzs? Can you put me
in touch with them?

Thanks for the help

Michael

Identity of King George V's penpal discovered
Haaretz published a letter that Yehudit Ya'avetz, 12, of Haifa wrote
to King George V of England in 1935, after it was discovered in
Israel's State Archives. Our readers were called upon to help trace
Ya'avetz's footsteps, and lead to the revelation of a moving,
historical tale.

http://www.haaretz.com/jewish-world/jewish-world-features/identity-of-king-george-v-s-penpal-discovered.premium-1.502283

Thanks to our readers efforts, the identity of the girl who wrote the
congratulatory letter to the British King was brought to light, after
it was published last week.

Yehudit Ya'avetz wrote the letter in 1935, while she was 12, in
Hebrew. She sent it from Haifa, to where she had emigrated two years
previously from Germany. On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of
his coronation, Ya'avetz thanked the king for helping the Jewish
people "to establish their national home and to repair the ruins of
our Holy Land under the patronage of His Majesty."

Haaretz published the letter after it was revealed on a State Archives
blog commemorating the 80th anniversary of the Nazis rise to power and
the subsequent immigration of the Yekkes, the German Jews, to Israel.

Many readers answered Haaretz's call to assist in locating Yehudit,
and the details provided by one of them, genealogist Eli Melitz -
helped find her. The details he provided Haaretz led to contact with
Yehudit's daughter, Dr. Nira Reiss. Yehudit, it turns out, is no
longer alive. She passed away in 1981, while in her late 50s.

Yehudit Ya'avetz was born in Manheim, Germany, in 1923. Her father,
Meir, was a descendant of Rabbi Jacob Emden, who was known as the
Ya'avetz and was one of the greatest rabbis of the 18th century.

Meir grew up in Bukovina, Romania. He was sent to Manheim to recover
from a gunshot wound in his leg while he was serving in Italy as an
officer of the Austro-Hungarian army during World War One.

Meir met Yehudit's mother, Esther, in Germany. Esther was born in
Poland and came to Manheim as a youth to help her brother, who was a
watchmaker, in his shop. The two married and had two daughters:
Yehudit and Devora.

When Yehudit was 10, in 1933, the family immigrated to the Land of
Israel and settled in Haifa. The father, who was a Zionist, chose
Israel even though his father, his brother and his sister immigrated
to the United States. He found work as a court translator, thanks to
his command of several languages.

Meir taught his daughter Yehudit Hebrew from an early age. And so, by
the time she was 12, Yehudit was able to write King George V a letter
in eloquent, beautiful language. "We are hereby contented in the land
of our forefathers, and we feel ourselves safe, under the patronage of
His Majesty," she wrote in a formal style. "I apologize dearly that my
knowledge of the English language is still insufficient to express my
feelings in this language, but I hope that the lilt of the Hebrew
language will intermingle in the ears of His Majesty."

Why did the refugee girl from Germany decide to write King George V?
Her daughter Nira speculates that the letter was not Yehudit's
initiative, but rather was written as part of a project at her school.
Haaretz received documents from additional archives attesting that in
the same year, which was the occasion of the king's Silver Jubilee,
several letters of congratulations were sent to him from the Land of
Israel.

It was in the same year that the name King George V was given to the
street in Tel Aviv formerly known as Hacarmel Street.

Upon completing her studies, Yehudit worked as a secretary in the
offices of the British Navy in the German Colony neighborhood at
Haifa, and married Shlomo Reiss in 1945. "Since then she was a
full-time mother," says her daughter. The two had four children:
Yaakov, Talia, Michal and Nira.

Yehudit was buried in 1981 in the old Carmel beach cemetery alongside
her husband Shlomo, her parents Meir and Esther and her husband's
parents - Yaakov and Sarah. Her descendants include grandchildren and
great-grandchildren.

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Received on 2013-02-09 05:40:53