Micaela Feldman y Etchebéhère, hija de Moisés Ville

June 13, 2020June 14, 2020 / merrieblocker / Leave a comment

1902-1992

Clicque aqui para português

Con esta publicación, sobre Micaela Feldman y Etchebéhère, hija de la colonia agrícola judía de Moisés Ville en Argentina, y veterana de la guerra civil española, comienza a hacerse realidad el proyecto de que thebaronhirschcommunity.org sea un blog trilingüe. Nuestro fin es presentar información en los tres idiomas que llegaron ser las lenguas madres de los descendientes de inmigrantes ayudados por el Barón Hirsch: inglés, portugués y español.

Comenzamos nuestro proyecto trilingüe compartiendo este enlace al artículo, Identidad, género, y prácticas anarquistas en las memorias de Micaela Feldman y Etchebéhère de la investigadora en estudios culturales, Cynthia Gabbay. El artículo analiza el campo intelectual de esta autora franco-argentina, hija de inmigrantes ruso-ucranianos, colonos originales de la comunidad agrícola Moisés Ville en la provincia de Santa Fé, Argentina.

Esta comunidad, donde nació Micaela, fue fundada en 1889. Fue el primer intento del barón Hirsch de establecer a los judíos de Europa del Este como agricultores en el Nuevo Mundo. Basado en esa experiencia, el barón Hirsch fundó la Asociación de Colonización Judía (JCA) que financió otros proyectos similares con mil millones de dólares durante los siguientes 75 años.

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On a Clear April Morning Highlights

May 17, 2020May 30, 2020 / merrieblocker / 1 Comment

Preface and Chapter 1

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Academic Studies Press

Series: Jewish Latin American Studies June 2020 | 146 pp.

9781644692981 | $22.95 | Paperback

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SUMMARY

On a Clear April Morning, by Marcos Iolovitch, is a lyrical and riveting coming of age story set among early twentieth-century settlers brought to an almost unknown Jewish farming experiment in an isolated corner of Brazil. This autobiographical novel is filled with drama, joy, disasters, romance, and humor. It travels from farms where the crops won’t grow to towns where the Yiddish-speaking protagonist falls in love, befriends sons of German immigrants, studies philosophy with the Jesuits, and becomes an important member of Brazil’s literary world. This first English edition includes elucidating historical notes on the origin of Jewish farming communities in the U.S., Canada and South America by the translator, Merrie Blocker, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer.

About the author and translator

Born in a small Ukrainian village, Marcos Iolovitch was raised in southern Brazil among poor Jewish farmers and peddlers. He became a noted poet and essayist and practiced law. A fighter for social justice, he dedicated his autobiographical novel to “all those who suffer and dream of a better world.”

Merrie Blocker is a former U.S. diplomat who served as Cultural Attaché in Porto Alegre, Brazil, the setting for On a Clear April Morning, as well as in Central Asia, Romania and throughout Latin America.

Translator’s Preface

Marcos Iolovitch, author of On a Clear April Morning, was an avid student of the great philosophers. But he believed that to reach “true wisdom” we need to open our windows and observe the “subtle shades of reality that envelope” us. In this autobiographical novel, in which a young man seeks to find a righteous and fulfilling path, we watch this charming and caring protagonist discover his own wisdom through the realities that envelop him, the realities of Jewish immigrants in southern Brazil during the first decades of the twentieth century.

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Baron De Hirsch Agricultural School

April 15, 2020April 6, 2022 / merrieblocker / 4 Comments

Woodbine, New Jersey, 1894-1917

archival records at

Center for Jewish History, NY, NY. inquiries@cjh.org

Philadelphia Jewish Archives scrc@temple.edu

Following article by Paul Batesel https://www.lostcolleges.com/baron-de-hirsch-agricultural-school

History

From *The Jewish Farmer,* published by the Baron Hirsch Fund

Baron Maurice de Hirsch, a German financier, created a $2,400,000 fund in 1891 to assist Jewish refugees from Russia and Eastern Europe in achieving economic independence in the United States. With $37,500 of the fund, the settlers purchased land for the colony of Woodbine in southern New Jersey. In 1894 the Baron De Hirsch Agricultural School was founded to teach scientific agriculture and to provide young Jewish people with the practical skills to become successful farmers. It was the first agricultural high school in the nation.

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Merrie Blocker, Creator

March 23, 2020April 7, 2020 / merrieblocker / 5 Comments

I, Merrie Blocker, am the creator of the baronhirschcommunity.org . Relating and finding stories of Jewish Farmers in the New World, and their descendants worldwide, is the purpose of this site.

I am a retired U.S. foreign service officer. You can find my resume here. My grandfather grew up on a Baron Hirsch- supported chicken farm in northwestern Connecticut, USA. But I only learned that recently when I began to research Baron Hirsch’s support for Jewish farmers throughout the Americas.

I also translated to English the first work to feature the Jewish community in Brazil as subject matter. It is On a Clear April Morning, an autobiographical novel by Marcos Iolovitch. In this novel, he relates growing up as a Ukrainian immigrant to the Quatro Irmãos farming colony in southern Brazil. Quatro Irmãos was one of many colonies supported by Baron Hirsch’s donations.

I hope you will send us your ideas to make this a richer online depository.

On a Clear April Morning

February 8, 2020May 17, 2020 / merrieblocker / 1 Comment

A Brazilian Jewish Journey

The first literary work to reflect the Brazilian Jewish community has finally been published in English. It is now available.

Read about it here, check out the preface and first chapter here and book the translator, Merrie Blocker, to speak to your group.

On a Clear April Morning, by Marcos Iolovitch, is a lyrical and riveting coming- of-age story. It is set among early 20^th Century Jewish settlers brought to an unknown farming experiment in an isolated corner of Brazil.

Drama, joy, disaster, romance, and humor fill this autobiographical novel. The young hero travels from a farm, where the crops wouldn’t grow, to towns where this Yiddish-speaking youngster falls in love, studies philosophy with the Jesuits, and becomes an important member of Brazil’s literary world.

This first English edition includes elucidating historical notes by the translator, Merrie Blocker, a retired U.S. Foreign Service officer. They cover the origin of Jewish farming communities in the U.S., Canada, and South America and the contributions of Jews and other immigrants to the development of an avant-garde intellectual center far off the beaten path.

Jewish Farming Today

August 16, 2017March 26, 2020 / merrieblocker / Leave a comment

Baron Hirsch’s Work Lives On

Did you know that today there is a renaissance in Jewish farming? For example, Jewish farms have been sprouting recently in Upstate New York right near many colonies supported by Baron Hirsch. Read all about it in this article by Leah Koenig that appeared in TABLET magazine

http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/75488/farmville

Or follow news of today’s Jewish farmers around the world through the Jewish Farmer Network.

And for more information on today’s Jewish farmers throughout the United States see this article from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Jewish farms are booming. Now the farmers want to grow their community.

A Jewish Egg Farmers’ Community – Toms River, NJ

June 21, 2017May 17, 2020 / merrieblocker / 10 Comments

courtesy tomsriver.org

This is the story of the Toms River Jewish farmers who made Ocean County, New Jersey an egg-producing capital. It was early spring, 1910. Sam Kaufman, owner of the biggest bar in Brooklyn, was worried about his sick daughters. He knew he had to get them out of the stale New York City air. Perhaps he could buy a farm. But the Catskills, where he first looked, lacked schools and he had five daughters to educate. Then he learned of Toms River, near the sea in central New Jersey. It was only 75 miles south of where he lived in Brooklyn. NY. Toms River had reasonably priced farmland, a small town atmosphere, only 800 inhabitants. Most importantly, it had a good high school.

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Brazilian Jewish Farmers Tell Their Stories

April 25, 2017May 18, 2020 / merrieblocker / 1 Comment

This post gives a description of the novels and memoirs left to us by early 20th Century Southern Brazilian farmers. They offer fascinating portrayals of Jewish immigrant life. The post includes visuals, links to more information and a list of references. We also include how to find both the original and secondary works in libraries worldwide.
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Connecticut Jewish Farmers

April 6, 2017December 10, 2021 / merrieblocker / 6 Comments

LisbonCT_AnsheiIsraelSynagogue — Anshei Israel Synagogue in Lisbon, Connecticut, built in 1936

In this post, videos, an interactive map and many references supplement a short history of Jewish farming communities in Connecticut.

Beginning as early as 1891, Baron Hirsch supported the settlement of Jewish farmers in Connecticut. By 1928 there were over 5000 Jewish farm families in the state. The Baron Hirsch Fund and its subsidiary the Jewish Agricultural Society (JAS) sponsored these projects. The projects continued throughout the first half of the 20^th Century. They not only helped the Russian Jews escaping pogroms in the first part of the century but after WWII Holocaust survivors as well.

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The Alliance Jewish Farming Community; Southern New Jersey

April 4, 2017June 23, 2022 / merrieblocker / Leave a comment

Tiferet Israel shul, Alliance, New Jersey alliance-tc-1425816200

The Tifereth Israel Synagogue, Alliance Community, New Jersey , Built 1884-1885. Visit a virtual tour of this synagogue here.

Going to the southern Jersey shore this summer? Take a day trip to nearby Pittsgrove Township, the site of the Baron Hirsch funded Alliance farming community. In May 1882, 42 Russian Jewish families arrived to form this cooperative.

Read more about it about Alliance. and other southern New Jersey farming communities in these references:

http://forward.com/articles/11628/historic-community-historic-community-celebrate-00486/?utm_source=Email%20Article&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Email%20Article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alliance_Colony

Bureau of Statistics of New Jersey, The Jewish Colonies of South Jersey – Historical Sketch of their Establishment and Growth, Camden, NJ: 1901.

The Baron Hirsch Jewish Farmers Community

Finding Stories of Jewish Farmers in the New World and their Descendants Worldwide

Micaela Feldman y Etchebéhère, hija de Moisés Ville

1902-1992

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On a Clear April Morning Highlights

Translator’s Preface

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Baron De Hirsch Agricultural School

History

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Merrie Blocker, Creator

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On a Clear April Morning

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Jewish Farming Today

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A Jewish Egg Farmers’ Community – Toms River, NJ

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Brazilian Jewish Farmers Tell Their Stories

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Connecticut Jewish Farmers

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The Alliance Jewish Farming Community; Southern New Jersey

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1902-1992

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Translator’s Preface

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History

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