The Forman Family

by

Joel J. Forman

4 December 1998

To Forman and Becker Families:

When we growing up, one of my grandfather's goals was to go to Jerusalem and pray at the Western Wall. At that time, the old city of Jerusalem was in Jordan's hands and Jews were forbidden to go to the old city. The Treaty of Rhodes, which ended Israel's War of Independence, had as one of its provisions the right of all people to visit the holy sites. The ink was barely dry when the Arabs conveniently reneged on the treaty.

At my Bar Mitzvah, after I finished cutting the Challah, grandpa put his hand on my right arm and said to me "Joel, if you ever go to Jerusalem, say a prayer for me at the wall." Thirty Two Years later, almost to the day, I kept that promise to him. What was a dream for my grandfather is a reality for us.

Recently, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) has begun a major reforestation effort. I called JNF with an idea that I have been thinking about for several months: Would it be possible to have a dedicated area in Israel where trees can be planted to honor our grandparents and their descendants? To my surprise and delight, there is. JNF has such a program. Immediately, I opened an account for all the descendants of my grandparents. Here is how it works. I planted 10 trees in honor of Nana, Grandpa, their 4 children Mae, Gene, Sylvia and Bob as well as their spouses Herman, Esther, Ken and Ruth.

Now we are approaching the stages of our lives where our families are growing up, graduating college (about time), getting married (thank goodness), and having children of their own (Mazel Tov).

We can plant trees for any occasion, limited only by your imagination. If you do, can you

put them into the family area, which is identified as follows:

Name: The Forman Project

ID# 009865

How to: Call 1-800-254-TREE

Each tree costs $ 10 and the JNF takes Credit Cards. Mention the Name and ID #. When we reach 100 trees, which shouldn't take us that long, we then officially -become a garden. When that happens, there is some paperwork to be filled out and we become registered in Jerusalem. I believe for 1,000 trees we become a groove, and at 5,000 trees we become the Forman Forest. For every tree you plant, please let me know. My home phone number is (310) 559-7250 and my overworked FAX number is (310) 559-7678. Our grandparents could not go to Jerusalem, but let us honor and remember them by having their dream in the soil of Israel.

Thank you for your cooperation.

VILNA HISTORY

Starting in 1527, the townspeople of Vilna debarred Jewish settlement. The first Known Jewish community dates from 1568, with the payment of a poll tax. In 1592, the first pogrom started. For many years thereafter, pogroms continually reared their ugly head. Whenever Vilna was invaded by Russia, which was often, the Jews fled. In the early 1700's, Sweden, then a major military power, invaded Lithuania and impoverished the Jews with heavy taxes.

Despite on-going hostility, Vilna became a preeminent center for rabbinical studies in the 17th century. Over the decades, the importance of Vilna to the Jewish community gained influence. It became a joyous center to both Halakhah and kabbalah Jews and the arch enemy of Hasidism. Vilna contained the richest public collection of Jewish books of Eastern European Jewry.

During the Napoleonic war with Russia in 1812, the Jews remained loyal to Russia, despite their rough treatment by the Czars. Napoleon, struck by the beauty of the city, called Vilna the Jerusalem of Lithuania. Whatever doubts the Jews might have had in siding with the French disappeared when the French desecrated the Jewish cemetery by turning it into a cattle pen.

Starting in 1881, pogroms started and constantly continued. By this time, there were nearly 64,000 Jews in Vilna, representing 41.5% of the city's total population. From a per capita viewpoint, Vilna had the largest Jewish population of any national capital in the world. As conditions worsened, large numbers of Jews emigrated both to the United States and South Africa

Zionism took a strong root in Vilna. In 1902, the religious Zionist movement held its founding conference in Vilna. During 1903, Theodore Herzl visited the city. Vilna was so prominent in the Zionist movement, it became the seat of the Central office of Russian Zionists.

In WWII, Nazi troops entered Vilna. They were wildly welcomed by the Lithuanian population. Shortly thereafter, the ghetto was established for the city's 80,000 Jews. Since there was continual organized resistance by the Jews, the Germans hesitated at times about wiping out the Jews quickly. By the end of the war, about 100,000 Jews from Vilna and vicinity had perished. Those Jews not executed during the war were sent to Estonia.

Post WWII Soviet pressure stifled Jewish cultural expression. Today, especially after the Six Day war, the remaining Jews strongly identify with Israel.

Preface

Who are we? Where did we come from? Who were our ancestors? What were they like? This family portrait will attempt to answer as many question as possible. On the other hand, many questions will remain unanswered since so many documents and official records have been destroyed. However, whatever is known today will be included in its entirety. Well established historical records will provide some of the answers. Our ancestors, like ourselves, were products of their times. They were influenced by the events taking place within their community as we are by ours. In their lifetimes, they showed the same human strengths and frailties as their descendants. Undoubtedly, they loved, argued and debated.

Except for the previous few generations, starting with the 20th century, they lived their lives in lands of oppression. While the Italians invented the ghetto', the Slavs invented the Pogroms Had our ancestors performed just one act, conversion to Christianity, they would have become the most celebrated people of Europe. Instead, they clung to the faith of their fathers, to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. For this they suffered, far beyond anything we can possibly imagine. Yet, they persevered. In their daily prayers, they spoke with great passion of the return to the Land of Israel. Never in their wildest imagination could they conceive their descendants visiting the Holy Land as easily as we do.

The Forman family history will primarily focus on the last years in Europe and their lives in America. Clearly established will be the immigrant generation. Since there are so many descendants from so many different branches, involving hundreds of people, this family history will give each person a place to start on the family tree, so they can continue with their own families and descendants.

I would like to thank Bernie Forman, of blessed memory, who documented much of what is included in this family history. He wrote hundreds of pages, mostly about his own life and his maternal relatives, but included many details about the immigrant generation from Europe.

Historical Overview

In the year 70 CE on the secular calendar, the Romans destroyed the second commonwealth of Israel. On the 9th of AV of that year, the second temple was burned, while the surviving items, such as the Menorah, were sent to Rome as the spoils of war. In the year 586 BCE, on the 9th of Av, the first temple was burned to the ground by the Babylonians. The trauma in Israel was great. Both temples were destroyed on the same day, 656 years apart.' The Romans proudly proclaimed "Judah Finis", the Jews are finished. Dispersed by the Romans to different lands, the Jews established themselves among the local populations and began to flourish.

For nearly 1,300 years, there was relative harmony between the Jews and their neighbors. About 700 years ago, the bubonic plague devastated Europe. About one-fourth of the non-Jewish population perished.' However, the Jewish population was unscathed. Their strict adherence to the Kosher laws prevented their premature demise by disease. Church leaders were furious that the Jews were not touched by this tragedy, then blamed the Jews for the massive destruction of the local population. Charges that the Jews poisoned the wells were rampant. Anti-Semitism, blaming the Jews for all the problems in society. arose. It remains to this very day.

In the ensuing centuries, our ancestors were driven from city to city and country to country, while their property fell prey to their unrelenting foes. Gradually, more and more Jews were forced into the PALE, the land area what is now Western Russia ranging from the Baltic states in the north to the Black Sea in the south. This was a ghetto without walls. Their daily lives were controlled by a myriad of regulations to make them miserable. Despite all the external pressure, they found joy in Shabbat, celebrating of holidays and a thriving Yiddish theater. Throughout their presence in the PALE, the Jews were considered the fourth estate. The other three estates were Christians: Nobility, Clergy and the Peasants. Despite their lowly status, they were the most literate people of Eastern Europe.

In the early 18th century, Sweden was a formidable military power.' As such, they had expansionist views with Russia as the primary target. Initially, they invaded Estonia where the population adopted the Lutheran religion of Sweden. As the Swedes moved south, they eventually controlled Latvia and Lithuania. Even though the Jews were treated harshly by the Czar, they remained loyal to and fought for Russia, Several Jews displayed considerable skill by stealing the Swedish horses. Their courage resulted in them being given an occupational name Fuhrmann, caretaker of horses. When the Swedes won the initial fighting, the Jews were penalized with crushing taxes and forced into abject poverty. Eventually, the Swedes were defeated, but the name remained.

About a century later, in the early 19th century, the Baltic states were again invaded, this time by Napoleon. Unlike the previous invasion by Sweden, the Jews initially favored the invaders. Whatever doubts the Jews had in siding with or aiding the French instantly disappeared when the French desecrated the Jewish cemetery by turning it into a cattle pen.

For many decades, the Fuhrmann family lived in the PALE. Gradually, life improved for all citizens. Czar Alexander 11, who ruled from 1855 to 1881, became known as the Czar Liberator because he freed the serfs in 186 1. He began judicial reforms of the courts, eased censorship, permitted provincial representative assemblies and started industrialization. The Jews saw the changes in Russia and welcomed them. However, revolutionary leaders demanded more reforms which were slow in coming. In 1881, Alexander 11 was assassinated. His successor, Alexander III (the next to last Czar) reversed the reforms, strengthened the police system and began the persecution of the Jews. Eventually, the Baltic states lost their hard fought for liberties. As the oppression spread west, the Jews realized that they always were and always would be strangers in a strange land. For many, the only alternative was emigration.

The Baltic States

The family tree will start with Joseph and Leba Forman. Joseph's father's name was Moshe (Moses). No known records or documentation of family members prior to Joseph are available. More than likely, Leba Bloom and Joseph Forman were married as a result of a Yenta (matchmaker). Joseph was a big, robust and rotund man with a long blonde beard and golden blonde hair. Leba's maiden name was Bloom. How old they were on their wedding day and their wedding date are forever lost. They lived in Mazeikiai, a small city in Lithuania just south of the Latvian border. Their first child was Katie, who always denied she was the oldest. Next came Yecheskel, Hebrew for Ezekiel. In Yiddish, it translated into Chatzkeh. However, the immigration officials at Ellis Island mutilated both the Hebrew and Yiddish names and named him Casper.

Shortly after Casper was born, the family moved to Vilna, the capital of Lithuania. At that time, Vilna was the center of Jewish life in Eastern Europe. When Napoleon saw the city, he called it the "Jerusalem of the North." He was entranced with the beauty and the charm of Vilna. Unlike the vast majority of Jews of that time, Joseph did not work. It was beneath his dignity to perform any type of manual labor. Instead, he spent his entire waking time praying. He prayed for the entire family, every day, for every occasion.' If the farmers needed rain, he prayed for rain. When the harvest time came, he prayed for good weather to ensure the crops would not spoil. As a professional prayer, he had a Baruch for everyone at moments notice. Perhaps Tenya, the main character in Fiddler On The Roof, whose goal was to sit in the synagogue and pray all day, was based upon Joseph. Since Vilna had the most magnificent synagogue, Joseph was right at home. Day in and day out, he made his trip to the synagogue and performed his daily ritual.

Besides being a professional prayer, Joseph performed one other task exceptionally well. He fathered 14 children. Nine lived to adulthood. Who the remaining 5 children were, the order they were born and why they died so young is unknown. The third child born was Chaim (Hyman). At this point the order of the remaining children born is unclear. Julius, Rose, Malka, Harry and Mae were all born in Vilna.

Joseph was prepared to spend the rest of his life in Vilna. However, at that time, there was a growing animosity between traditional orthodox Jews and the Chassidic movement. The relationship between the Jews got so bad, a Jewish civil war broke out in Vilna. For the first time since the diaspora began after the destruction of the second temple, Jews took up arms against each other. The streets of Vilna were battlegrounds between the Jews. At that time, the prevailing wisdom was: whoever controlled Vilna, controlled the Jews of Eastern Europe. Vilna, midway between Poland and Western Russia, was the center of Eastern European Jewry.

The civil authorities contacted the Czar who sent in troops to quell the Jewish in-fighting. While the bloodshed stopped, the outright enmity between the two groups remained for decades. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be last time Jews took up arms against each other. Apparently, the bloodshed between the Jews tore at Joseph. So much so, the family moved to Riga, Latvia. The last surviving children were born there. Fanny was the last child.

Since Leba was the family wage earner, she opened another bakery in Riga while Joseph continued his practice as a professional prayer. As in Vilna, Leba and Joseph stood out. When I least expected it, I received a confirmation of how much people remembered them. Once, I was at a business social gathering. One of the people I met was a Jewish woman, named Elizabeth, who left Riga. During our discussion, she told me the following story.

Providing the family with income was primarily Leba's responsibility. She owned the family bakery. Wherever they went, people noticed them. Coupled with Joseph's golden blonde hair, Leba's red hair made them a highly visible couple. Joseph and Leba's sons went to a Jewish school. Every day, a group of classmates came into the bakery under the pretext of going to school together with the older sons. Whenever these students came in, Leba gave them each a cookie. This routine continues for years. One of these students was Elizabeth's maternal grandfather, a survivor of Auschwitz. He loved to tell the story of his friend's parents who had the blonde and red hair and managed to get a cookie every time. When I mentioned to Elizabeth she described my great grandparents, she was completely surprised and delighted. This was a confirmation for both of us that the story of the bakery and the blonde and red hair is true.

I have no idea if the following story is true. Joseph supposedly had a thing for Vodka. So much so, he had a distillery in the boondocks. Whatever monies he made, he laundered through Leba's bakery. This helped avoid taxes. Once, he was nearly caught by the Czar's secret service. Obviously unglued with the prospect of being caught and sent to Siberia, the family made quick preparations to leave Riga.

While Joseph was bootlegging, my grandfather (Hyman) and I believe some of his brothers, were "employed" by local nobility as servants. The nobles had plenty of food. After they stuffed themselves, they permitted the dogs to jump on the table to eat whatever they wanted while the servants had to stand silently by and watch. The servants were forbidden to take any food. My father often told me how his father experienced near starvation conditions while the dogs ate everything in sight.

When the time came to leave, my grandfather saw many people, primarily Jews, leaving. He asked them where they were going. They all said America. My grandfather asked them why they were going to a strange land. What did this America have that Latvia did not have. One of my grandfather's friends said they received a letter from a family member who came to the USA and commented that America had all the food you could eat. My grandfather asked his friend how do you get to this place called America. His friend told him to follow the path of the setting sun.

Not all Forman family members left Riga to come to America. Those that stayed behind were caught in the holocaust. I found a brief mention at the Simon Wiesenthal Center about a Freidl Forman who was a social worker in Riga. She perished in the ghetto, dying of dysentery. Most of those who remained behind were taken to the forest, several kilometers from Riga, where they dug their own graves before the Nazis shot them, Some family member left Latvia and went to central Europe, primarily what is now the Czech Republic. At that time, Jews had it good among Czechs and Hungarians. A good friend of mine comes from Prague. She told me that on the wall of remembrance in the great synagogue in Prague, there are about 77,000 names of the Czech Jews who perished in the holocaust. The Forman name is among them. Some family members ended up in Ireland and converted to Catholicism. Somehow, they became involved with James Joyce, the great novelist. In Joyce's classic Ulysses, he mentions a Jewish family named Bloom, some of Leba's relatives. A few family members ended up in Canada. There was some kind of family fight which halted the emigration to Canada and the rerouting of the family to NY

Interestingly, despite the adherence to Judaism, none of the Forman family went to Palestine to help create Herzl's dream to create the reborn Jewish state. It is somewhat ironic that the Forman's who were observant didn't go to the holy land, but my grandmother's (Axelband) family, who were secular in nature, founded Israel. A cousin on that side of my family wrote the partition plan that the UN voted upon in Nov. 1947, He then helped write Israel's Declaration of Independence and is one of the 38 signers of that historic document.

Here in America, most of the family married and raised families. One notable exception was Malka. Her true love was opera. She had tickets to the Metropolitan opera and went frequently. One day, her favorite soprano singer was killed in an accident. Her first name was Amelia. Malka was devastated. To preserve the name of her beloved opera singer, Malka changed her first name to Amelia. That is the name my generation remembers her by.

There are many more stories that need to be told. If anyone has any story that they would like to add concerning the family in Europe or unusual stories of the immigrant generation here in America, they are free to contact me. I will then add these stories to the document.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1 The World Book Encyclopedia 8 (19 7 9):

2. The World Book Encyclopedia 15 (1979):

3. Meyer Levin, The Jewish Heritage Series 20 (1957)

4. The World Book Encyclopedia 2 (1979):

5. The World Book Encyclopedia 18 (1979):

6. Bernie Forman's writeup says that this town was in Latvia. However, today's map shows the town in Lithuania.

7. Bernie Forman's writeup clearly described his grandfather