There were sephardic communities in the Austro Hungarian empire for sure. they came up through Italy. Sephardic synagogues were scattered throughout eastern europe. I did not find any history of one in Sokolow Malpolski though, Tugendhafts lived there but also in surrounding towns likeBoryslov, Lvov and others. When you look at records from the area you find them.
I know that Naphtali was a very religious man according to my grandfather. Very strict about all religious law etc. My grandfather, Benjamin Tugendhaft changed his name to Tugg. He moved to Buffalo and later became a US citizen. My mother was raised in Buffalo although the family was in close touch wih all Toronto relatives. They all met in summer at Crystal Beach and had homes there. I myself was raised in Miami,Florida. When I did the Canadian research I was living with my husband and family in California.
If you want to continue to communicate my email address is
ijaloway@yahoo.com. It might be easier than putting everything on this message board which is public.
Do you know about the Tugendhaft web page on yahoo? There are Tugendhaft's all over the world now. Supposedly we are all related. They meet in Israel every passover. I have not had the opportunity to go though. Irene