Data from the 1950 census was unsealed this morning. Here's why it's important to American Jews.

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Chicago synagogue declares itself anti-Zionist, eBay criticized for selling property of Holocaust victims, donor giving away 50,000 boxes of matzah, and Russ & Daughters getting a TV show.

OUR LEAD STORY

Erna Cromwell, a census taker, interviews Albert Einstein at his Princeton home on April 13, 1950. (Einstein Archives)

What the 1950 census can tell us about Jewish life in America

As the clock struck midnight a few hours ago, the U.S. government unsealed the records from the 1950 census. According to federal law, such data is kept secret for 72 years, to protect personal information about individuals (like how much money they earn). Our contributor Andrew Silverstein explores why Jewish genealogists are so excited about the release.

Why it’s important: This census paints a portrait of life here in the years after the Holocaust and the establishment of the state of Israel. It captures recently arrived Jewish refugees from Europe’s displaced-persons camps, as well as upwardly mobile Jews moving to the suburbs and building new communities in places like California and Florida.

Psychic trauma: Synagogues and other Jewish groups urged their members to participate in the census, but some Jewish Americans were hesitant. For Holocaust survivors, the count could have brought up memories of the minority census of Nazi Germany. For others, recalling the 1897 Russian Imperial census may also have given them pause.

Passover polling: The surveying began on Passover. So some Jewish Americans may have opened the doors to let in the Prophet Elijah during their Seder to find a census taker with pen and paper. “My father would have thrown them out,” said Mona Freedman Morris, founder of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach. Orthodox households may have refused to participate on the holiday.

Finding your roots: Leading up to today’s release, Jewish genealogical groups have been holding workshops over Zoom on how to best sift through the data. Helen Tannenbaum, a longtime volunteer at the Center for Jewish History and active member of the Central Synagogue genealogical group, has a specific interest in finding her toddler self in the census. “I want to see if they spelled my surname correctly,” she said.

Read the story ➤

ALSO FROM THE FORWARD

Arek Hirsch (left) and Rachel Levy are two of the Holocaust survivors featured in a new exhibit. (Royal Trust)

Painting a Holocaust survivor yields feeling of privilege: “Seven Portraits: Surviving the Holocaust,” a new exhibition commissioned by the British monarchy, presents a series of paintings of survivors now living in the United Kingdom. Our Benjamin Ivry sat down with one of the artists, Stuart Pearson Wright, to discuss his depiction of Rachel Levy, who survived Auschwitz and Bergen-Belsen. “I feel she did 90% of the work by existing in the room where I met her,” Pearson recalled. “The stories that are manifest in her features did the work for me. I almost felt like a vessel.” Read the story ➤

A progressive synagogue officially becomes ‘anti-Zionist’:Tzedek Chicago, an independent congregation of about 200 families, appears to have become the nation’s first to officially oppose modern Israel’s existence as a core principle. Nearly three quarters of the members voted this week to decry the Jewish state as “an injustice to the Palestinian people – an injustice that continues to this day.” The synagogue, like a handful of others across the country, had previously considered itself non-Zionist and emphasized its support for Palestinian rights, but this was a step further. Read the story ➤

But wait, there’s more…

WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY

🐟 Hollywood is developing a scripted series about Russ & Daughters, the iconic Lower East Side appetizing store opened by Polish-Jewish immigrants in 1914. The eatery is world-famous for its smoked fish, caviar, bagels, bialys, babka and other delicacies. The show will be about four “generations of family members with their trials and tribulations set against the backdrop of dozens of critical moments in our society,” according to one of its producers. (JTA)

⚖️ Two leaders of the Lev Tahor cult were sentenced to 12 years in prison for kidnapping and sex trafficking crimes – including marrying off child brides. The group, an extremist ultra-Orthodox sect, has been on the run since 2014, popping up in Canada, Guatemala and the Balkans. (Times of Israel)

💻 Facing criticism for loopholes that have allowed users to sell property that belonged to victims of the Holocaust, eBay is reviewing its policy. Users have found letters, photographs, yellow star armbands and other remnants of the Holocaust on the site. “These artifacts should go back to the families first,” said Chelsey Brown, a self-proclaimed “heirloom hunter” and social media influencer. “And if that’s not an option, then to historians or a museum.” (Jewish Insider)

😮 The number of gun-license requests in Israel has spiked over the last 10 days amid a wave of fatal terror attacks. Last Monday, the day before an Arab Israeli killed four Jewish Israelis in Be’er Sheva, the Defense Ministry received 44 requests; on Thursday, more than 24 hours after a Palestinian man fatally shot five people in Bnei Brak, the number was 1,773. (Haaretz)

💼 Dozens of objects that belonged to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg have been donated to the Smithsonian’s permanent collection. They include: her black robe, her “dissent” collar, her briefcase and an RBG bobblehead. (JTA)

🌍 An Australian donor is giving away 50,000 boxes of matzah and thousands of bottles of kosher wine to Jews across the globe for Passover. The parcels will be distributed in Tanzania, Rwanda, Namibia, China, Japan, Nicaragua, Laos, and Ethiopia, among other places, with the help of Chabad and the Jewish Agency. (Jewish Chronicle)

Long weekend reads ➤ The surprising, fraught history of the Texan Jewish experience … Sex, strikes and Nazis: a film director is making Austria spill its secrets … How two Babylonian sages started the great collective conversation that became the Talmud.

What we’re watching this weekend ➤ “Death on the Nile,” based on a popular novel by Agatha Christie and starring Gal Gadot, has arrived on both HBO and Hulu. Kenneth Branagh, the film’s director, “gives the actors a lot of freedom to try and do whatever they want to do,” Gadot said. “He has this ability to make everyone feel special, and his charisma and charm go a long way.”

YOUR WEEKEND READS

In this week’s edition of our print magazine: During his week along the Ukrainian border, Larry Cohler-Esses found that, perhaps for the first time in history, being Jewish was an advantage. Our culture reporter, PJ Grisar, examines one of the stranger Oscar ceremonies of recent memory. And we remember the life of a Jewish disability advocate who matched fierce with funny. Download your copy now ➤

ON THE CALENDAR

On this day in history: William James Sidis, mathematics protegé described as the “smartest guy alive” by NPR, was born on April 1, 1898. Sidis’ parents immigrated to the U.S. because of pogroms and increasing antisemitism in Ukraine in the late 1880s. He was conversant in 25 languages, and wrote his second book, at age 8, about a language he invented called “Vendergood.” Sidis remains the youngest student to attend Harvard University, where he enrolled at 11.

Last year on this day, with Easter on the horizon, we explored the secret Jewish history of Peeps.

On the Hebrew calendar, it’s the 29th of Adar when, in the Bible, God commanded Moses and the Jewish people to sanctify the new moon each month.

PHOTO OF THE DAY

Archaeologists in Israel unearthed shattered wine jugs that contained something surprising: residue of vanilla. The researchers believe this is proof that 2,600 years ago nobles in Jerusalem drank wine flavored with vanilla, an exotic and valuable spice. Among the questions: Was it kosher for Passover?

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Play today’s Vertl puzzle (aka the Yiddish Wordle)

Thanks to Kayla Cohen, Arno Rosenfeld, Eliya Smith and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected].

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