Lost & Found: The Amazing Family Tree

By Irene Kaminsky Ph.D.

This book is full of love of history and family. There are 8 contributors from many cities and countries, whose stories reflect the social and political upheavals of the previous century. There are snapshot portraits painted of people going back 16 generations. The first is David Mitzkun, circa 1580 from Lithuania. The family tree was translated from Hebrew by a genealogist who created a descendants report with most of the names and dates of these 16 generations. The youngest is a toddler in the newest generation.
There are photos from the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries as well as historical documents. Included in the book is the story of recovery of the tree drawn by the authors great grandfather and family members who found one and other as result. This wonderful story has been televised as well as printed as a front page article of a New Jersey newspaper in 2014.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Nov 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781514422045

Irene Kaminsky Ph.D.

The author is a psychologist who has published 3 research articles in professional journals prior to this personal journey. The author discovered many relatives in several countries because of a family tree that her great grandfather drew. It had been lost and then resurfaced in an antique store, bought by what turned out to be her 5th cousin. She had reconciled herself to having a small family, because many of her parents’ generation had perished in the holocaust or fled to parts unknown. It was a happy surprise to actually find cousins, who were enthusiastic to contribute to this book. The author lives in New York City with her husband and dog, Kasha.

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Copyright © 2015 by Irene Kaminsky, Ph.D.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models, and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

Rev. date: 01/19/2015

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Contents

Contributors

1600

This story has many beginnings…

Yaakov son of David (Mitzkun)

David Moses Mitzkun - Vilna, Lithuania

Joseph Judey – Riga Latvia, 1849 – 1931 Berlin

Lolya (Elinor) Kagan, née Kohn, Varsovie, Poland

Lucya, daughter of Rebecka née Judey,

Shayna Shull – Radom, Poland

The Discovery of The Amazing Tree

Rabbi Ben Shull, Rockville, Maryland

Irene Kaminsky, Ph.D., New York City

Lydia (nee Judey) Kaminsky – Riga, Latvia & NYC

Anatole Semyonovich Kaminsky, M.D.

Semyon Davidovich Kaminsky, M.D.

Arkady Koltun, M.D., Ph.D.

Chicago, Illinois

Alex Sedlis, M.D.

Moshe Zeev Mitzkun, Vilna, Lithuania

Wulf Mitzkun – Vilna, Lithuania

Hani Katz, née Jacobs

The Shull Family in South Africa

Jeanie Judey Dubnau– New York City

Miriam Judey Mangold - Berlin

Jacob Judey Barosin Ph.D. – Berlin

Rabbi Joshua Snyder, Pikesville, Maryland

Celia Shull Fine - South Africa & San Diego, California

Luciana Mitzkun Cramer - Brazil & Santa Barbara, California

Rabbi Shmuel Mohilever – Vilna, Lithuania

Sarah Mileikovsky Mohilever – Radom, Poland

Mia Mohilever – Jerusalem, Israel

Zvi Shindel, Jerusalem, Israel

Leo Baeck Institute

Media

Genealogy

Acknowledgements

Genealogy of Descendants 1580 - 2015

Dedicated to the memory of my parents

Charts created by Dr. Janette Silverman

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Contributors

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1600

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The Age of Exploration had waned. The Renaissance was giving way to the Age of Enlightenment. It was a time of cultural and scientific development. French, English, Portuguese, Dutch and Spanish colonies had been established in the New World and the Far East. The Magna Carta established the rights of some landowning men in England, creating the beginnings of democracy that lead to the writing of the Constitution in 1776 for the 13 colonies in America.

But in Russia, there was no democracy. Our family fled pogroms, traveling to many far-flung countries. The next generation faced annihilation during the SHOAH, a German inspired nightmare. However, we are flourishing again in many countries.

This is our story.

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This story has many beginnings…

Riga, Latvia, in 1901; Vilna, Lithuania, in 1600; Riverdale, New Jersey, in 1993 and 2013; Jerusalem, the 9th of Av in the year 70 CE…. This is a story across the ages, spread out in a whirling circle with multiple entry points. This story is about our family tree, the people and events, travels and travails of our relatives and those they married. It is a splendid work of Jewish folk art, crafted by Ben’s third cousin twice removed and Irene’s great grandfather, Joseph Judey, who spent eleven years creating the painting masterpiece from which our story has grown and spread.

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Yaakov son of David (Mitzkun)

Vilna, Lithuania 1600

Yaakov was born into a large family living in the new frontier of Jewish life. Lithuania/Poland is the destination for Jewish refugees from Central Europe and other parts of the Jewish Diaspora. The Polish kings welcomed Jews