The modern day village/town of Edinet is located in the country of Moldova at the longitude / lattitude coordinates of 4810 / 2719.

My grandfather Aron/Harry Schwartzman emigrated from Yedinitz in 1908 with his mother Eva (Riwke)to the NYC area.

Other family names from Yedinitz I am interested in are Goldberg, Fuchs, and Abrahams.

I am interested in hearing from anyone with a connection to a Yedinitz landesmacht or burial society. There are Yedinitz burial plots in the NYC area in Brooklyn (Washington Cemetery Complex) and on Long Island (Beth David Cemetery). I am very curious if there are others.

I am also looking for anyone who has an interest in helping with translating the Yizkor Book for Yedinitz published in 1973. A group of us have begun this effort at the current time.

YEDINTSY, BESSARABIA
Coordinates 4810 2719

July 13, 2000

Dear Fellow Researcher:

My name is Eric Schwartzman and I am the grandson of Aron "Harry" Schwartzman who emigrated to the United States from Yedintsy, BESSARABIA in 1908. Yedintsy as many of you know has also been known as Yedinitz (Yedinetz) or Ednita among other names. Today the village is known as Edinet in what is now the country of Moldova.

Purpose and Goals

I am writing to you today for the purpose of updating you on an effort to memorialize Yedintsy as well as to provide a venue for increased knowledge about Yedintsy be it for genealogical or other purposes. One of my short-term goals in writing to you today is also to find out what you want to see regarding further research of Yedintsy.

I am also inviting all those wishing to submit comments or questions regarding their research as it relates to Yedintsy to send an e-mail to me at Yedintsy@aol.com for monthly distribution to what I hope to be a growing discussion group (similar to the current Romanian SIG e-mail discussion group). Please mark any mail intended for general distribution as "DISCUSSION GROUP MESSAGE" in the topic box of your e-mail. To be added to the monthly discussion group distribution list please send an e-mail to the above e-mail address marking the topic box as "JOIN DISCUSSION".

As I stated back in my original March 2000 "mailing" I found many of your names through either the Romanian Special Interest Group Family Finder, the JewishGen Family Finder, or the JewishGen Discussion Archives. According to these websites, many of you have an interest in researching specific surnames with respect to the town of Yedintsy, Moldova. A listing of the surnames you each are researching is attached at the end of this e-mail.


Future Website

A long-term goal is to create a Shtetl website commemorating Yedintsy and all those that died there during WWII as well as those that emigrated from Yedintsy before or after WWII. The website would also provide genealogical information for those wishing to trace their own family roots.

I invite many of you to check out a website dedicated to the memory of the village of Zolynia, Poland. The Zolynia website exemplifies what I hope we can achieve in creating a website for Yedintsy. The Zolynia site is tasteful, educational, and enlightening. It was created by fellow Yedintsy-Researcher Michael Miller and can be found at:
http://www.michaelamiller.com/zolynia.html


Erste Yedinitzer Lodge / First Yedinitzer Association

Within the last few months, contact has been made with the two remaining officers of the landsmanshaft here in New York City. The Association's primary role at this point has been its connection to the two cemetery plots in the New York City area including (1) Beth David Cemetery in Merrick, Long Island and (2) the Washington Cemetery complex located in Brooklyn, New York. The Washington complex actually has two sections associated with First Yedinitzer.

A meeting is being held this Sunday, July 16, 2000, with these two officers to learn more about the Association and what records may exist of genealogical or historical value. Through the daughter of a now deceased former Association Secretary a copy of a 1949 Association Flyer has been obtained which details the names of other officers as well as a Finance Report of the Association. Additionally, a lead has also been developed that indicates that copies of Association incorporation papers may exist within the holdings of the American Jewish Historical Society located here in New York City that may contain references to other original members of the Association.


Cemeteries

An architectural map has been obtained of one of the two Washington Cemetery sections listing the names of deceased buried there. At some point the information presented on this map will be posted on the proposed website discussed above. It is a goal to eventually record all the names of loved ones buried among the three cemetery sections and to make these available to all fellow researchers. Given time the information recorded on each stone could be available memorializing each individual as the family intended.


Yizkor Books

>Original Title: Yad le-Yedinits; sefer zikaron le-yehudei Yedinits-Bessarabia
>English Title: Yad l'Yedinitz; memorial book for the Jewish community of
>Yedintzi, BESSARABIA
>Editor: Mordekhai Reicher, Yosel Magen-Shitz
>Published: Tel Aviv 1973
>Publisher: Yedinitz Society
>Volumes: 1 Pages: 1022 Languages: H,Y

I know that a few of you have a copy of the official Yizkor Book for Yedinitz referred to above. An effort has been started to translate sections of this book and post the translations on the JewishGen Yizkor Book site. As the book has no true table of contents, the translation effort has begun to create a table of contents based on the articles presented within the book. We are close to commissioning a translator to begin this work starting with the Introductory and Aleph sections of the book.

The Yizkor Book is over 510 pages long and is filled with many pictures of Yedintsy as well as pictures of those that lived there with many captions listing the names of those photographed.

Based on the translations of a fellow Yedintsy-Researcher, Charles Krahmalkov, we have determined that the book is segregated into several main sections. Charles is a professor of Ancient and Biblical Languages in the Dept of Near Eastern Studies at the University of Michigan.

If anyone is interested in making a tax deductible contribution to the JewishGen Translation Project (JewishGen is a non-profit 501(c)3 corporation) set up to help translate the Yedinitz Yizkor Book please go to the following site for instructions:

http://www.JewishGen.org/JewishGen-erosity/YizkorTrans.html


Second Yedinitz Yizkor Book ?

>Original Title: Mayn shtetl Yedinets : shteyger roman
>English Title: My Shtetl Yedinets
>Alternate Title: Pueblo de Iedinetz
>Author: Golde Gutman (Krimer)
>Published: Buenos Aries 1943
>Publisher:
>Volumes: 2 Yiddish

A recent trip to the NY Public Library by Michael Miller turned up this additional book on Yedinetz. The entire book is entirely in Yiddish except for one title page. It is unclear as to what the book refers to. According to Mike, some of the pages appeared to be in verse, based on the printing. Much of the book appears to be in essay form. Perhaps because the book was published before the end of the war, it has not been considered a "memorial" book. Based on the fact that the JewishGen Yizkor book database and translations online do contain some personal memoirs it is our belief that this book should be classified as an additional Yedinetz Yizkor Book. We have written to the Yizkor Book database requesting that the book be examined and included in the database. Perhaps someday this book too can be translated and made available for wider review.

Summation

As I stated above the purposes of this "mailing" was to update each of you regarding the research efforts being undertaken regarding the village of Yedintsy and to invite you into this community. If you have any comments or suggestions please let me know. Please note that I have NOT DONE extensive research on Yedintsy and have only recently begun learning about Yedintsy myself.

Sincerely,


Eric Schwartzman
New York, New York
Yedinitz@aol.com
Personal Genealogical Correspondence
Yedintsy@aol.com
Discussion Group Correspondence

I believe my family has or had plots in Beth David. My father, Herman Norman Abrahams, was born in Roman, Romania, August 21, 1894. He and his family (Berish or Barish, b. 1859 was his father; Etta Symond, b. 1860, was his mother) came to the US in 1902 and returned and came again in around 1907. He died in 2001. His siblings: Nathan, Louis, Jacob (Jack), Morris, Rose, Mathilda, Clara, Anna, Isaac, Aaron. His mother died in about 1925; his father in 1939. His father had a tavern in Romania and in the U.S. had a hardware store, B. Abrahams and Sons, on Park Row in Manhattan. Is this of any help to you?