Family Ashmele
| Eastern Europe | Yiddish | Hebrew Names | Jewish Forenames | Jewish Surnames |
"The Jews are like everyone else - only more so"..(Anon).
As a result of Russia's westward expansion between 1772 and 1815, more than 1.2 million Polish, Lithuanian and other Jews were incorporated under Russian rule. Ironically, these included several thousand Jews who had been expelled from Russia in 1727 and 1747 and who had fled to Poland for safety. In 1772, following the first partition of Poland, the western frontier of Russia extended from Riga through White Russia and the Ukraine to Bessarabia and the Black Sea. In 1793, following the second partition of Poland, the frontier moved further west. In 1795, following the third partition of Poland, the frontier again moved further west incorporating Lithuania. Following the defeat of Napoleon in 1885, the Russian empire was extended to include Augustow, Warsaw and Lodz.
Joke... A Jew living in Augustow was visited by a government official. "The border between Poland and Russia has been moved east; you are now living in Poland" he told the Jew. Two years later the Jew was visited by another government official who told him "The border between Poland and Russia has been moved west; you are now living in Russia". Three years later the Jew was visited by another government official who told him "The border between Poland and Russia has been moved east again; you are now living in Poland". "Thank G-d" said the Jew, "I couldn't stand another Russian winter.".
By the end of the 19th century, Russian Jews were compelled by law to live in the Pale of Settlement, an area including the former Poland. By 1897, over 5 million Jews were living in the Pale, with 500,000 Jews forced from their homes into shtetls (small towns). After the assassination of Czar Alexander II in 1881, officially instigated pogroms (Russian for "violent mass attack") intensified against the Jews. During this period, over 2 million Jews fled to USA and 200,000 to Britain.
Yiddish...
Around the 10th century, Jews from what is now northern France, who spoke Old French and of course Hebrew, migrated to towns along the Rhine, where they began to use the local German dialect. Hebrew remained untouched for prayer and religious purposes. In the Rhineland, Jews wrote German phonetically, using the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Yiddish developed as a mixture of Middle High German, Old German, remnants of Old French and Old Italian, Hebrew names and phrases, and local dialects. But Yiddish did not become of age until the Jews migrated to eastern Europe where it became the Jewish lingua franca through the Jewish mother, who, not being male, was denied a Hebrew education. When the Jews migrated from eastern Europe, they entered Britain and elsewhere often speaking nothing but Yiddish.
Joke... On a bus in Tel Aviv, a grandmother was talking in Yiddish to her grandson who kept answering her in Hebrew. "Speak Yiddish!" admonished the grandmother. An impatient Israeli, overhearing this, exclaimed "Lady, why do you insist the boy talks Yiddish instead of Hebrew?". Replied the grandmother, "I don't want him to forget he's a Jew.".
Hebrew Names...
The Hebrew name of a Jew includes {..ben..} meaning "..son of.." or {..bat..} meaning "..daughter of.." followed by the Hebrew name of his or her father. The name of a Jewish male might also be appended by the name of the tribe of Israel from which he is descended. Headstone inscriptions and documents for the ASHMELE male line include {..h'Levi} indicating descendants of the tribe of Levi, who were attendants to the priests. Thus, the full Hebrew name of John Ashmele is Yosef ben Shimon h'Levi.
Amongst the Ashkenazim Jews of Europe, a child would not normally be named after a living ancestor, although this practice was not strictly adhered to amongst Sephardim Jews of the Mediterranean. A son would often be named after a deceased grandparent or other relative. Whilst retaining their Hebrew name for religious purposes, Jews often used a secular version - Yacov would become Jacob - and a German custom was to use the father's forename as a son's second forename.
Many Jewish families in eastern Europe did not have surnames. Occasionally, residents of a Jewish quarter became known by the name of the house in which they lived, and if they moved house would be known by another name. During the years of occupation of Warsaw by the Prussians, German surnames were imposed upon Polish Jews. Some Jews took the name of the town in which they lived. Jewish immigrants often acquired new names upon arriving in a new country; a name may be misheard or misspelled by an immigration officer, or a name would be deliberately anglicised. Brothers did not always change their name to the same surname, and one could find a father with sons of different surnames.
Page last updated .. 14 September, 2001
