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Channels Inside Chabad-Lubavitch International Conference of Chabad Emissaries Conference of Chabad Emissaries (2019)

Finding Hidden Jews

The stories of Chabad rabbis in Oklahoma, Turkey, and Slovakia

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Finding Hidden Jews: The stories of Chabad rabbis in Oklahoma, Turkey, and Slovakia

Follow the extraordinary stories of three Chabad Shluchim (emissaries), from Tulsa, Oklahoma, Istanbul, Turkey, and Piestany, Slovakia.
Topics: Shelichut, Chabad-Lubavitch, International Conference of Emissaries
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Larry Farkas NY November 30, 2019

The holocaust is still revealing surprises, Rabbi Stiefel's grandfather has my surname....and my mother and aunt used to visit a health spa in Piestany in the 1980's. Reply

Sue Harwood Northwich November 29, 2019

How wonderful. That really made me cry. Reply

Catherine NY November 29, 2019

I was a hidden jew...a descendant of Italians from Sicily...my grandmother in Brooklyn always said her Russo family were from Spain who went to Russia and eventually sicily. However we were brought up catholic...but in actuality were not involved in christianity at all..except baptism, marriage and funerals.
However circumstances of my life led me to catholic school...where i learned Torah stories etc..which later in life led to a situation that encouraged me to seek out the roots of my maternal and paternal heritage. My entire family were once Jewish and i now have names dates and the fate of over thirty people burned at the stake in Palermo Sicily in the 1530s to 1560s. I had been married to a jew for 25 years before doing this investigation.... I started going to Chabad and through their help have returned to Judaism. God promised to bring us back...and so it is happening now. Reply

leemai trang thailand November 29, 2019

This is so touching.....and every time i know about young couple moving to new place to grow up chabad, i feel so so grateful that they do a very important mitzvah and picture of rav Yossi with his family of now 5 kids. Every time i am in chabad of chiangmai thailand, rav Yossi will energetically serves people with smile even sometimes there'll be a little misunderstanding among jewish people there...He manages it nicely...And he happily talks to once a year jews visiting chabad only chagim....As i ve known, he never forced those hidden jews to come over more often... ..That's amazing mitzvah this family does........
B"H Reply

Shoshana GA November 28, 2019

What of the Sephardim lost in the Americas? Who is going for them? Reply

Anonymous Zinn November 29, 2019
in response to Shoshana:


Dear Shoshana : I think the the only one that is coming for the lost Sephardim in America Is Hashem when he comes to claim us,Since we are not of Russian or German heritage,The Rebbe O.B.M.came for what he knew his people. The Inquisition lasted until 1968 in Mexico and other Latin American countries.Our Rebbes that would have looked for us did not survive.The Rebbe of O.B.M.was and is very kind and compassionate His love for Jews knew no bounds, If Hitler had not gone back 5 generation,and collected people that knew nothing about being Jews, Thing might have been different, they where confused in shocked and the ones that survive had P.T.S.D.They only knew German or Russian history,They came to America and they learned about the Pilgrims. They knew nothing of Babylonia Exile or the sages of Spain or the inquisition,and to this day they know little of the rich heritage of the Spanish Jews,The Sephardim's Jews,Some like in my linage survived by only telling the first born grandchild . Reply

Geraldo Sao Paulo - Brazil November 28, 2019

How can I download this video?
You should put a button here so that we could download the videos. Reply

Chabad.org Staff November 28, 2019
in response to Geraldo:

The video cannot be downloaded, I'm sorry! Reply

Tara MO November 28, 2019

This is my family’s story. So scared by what happened they hid. I found the truth and they are angry. I have to walk this path. Every fiber in me cries to walk in my heritage. Reply

Thomas Kenya December 1, 2019
in response to Tara:

Shalom Tara. Kindly share your story.Are you Tara Mizel? Reply

Deana Minchau Canada (BC) November 28, 2019

If only when I reached out someone would hear me, my mother knew nothing of her family only that they came from Ukraine,so I went looking it was like looking for a needle in a haystack so I did some homework on DNA if my mother was Jewish, FTDNA was the best place to go that was in 2014 and my mother's guess was right yes she is Jewish (in her DNA) Ashkenazi,Sephardic,Mizrachi (Bnei Isreal) my mother is 84 but I have 4 sisters and a brother but without papers no one wanted to talk to me I don't even know the year my grandmothers came to Canada and my mother didn't know either. Reply

Anonymous New jersey November 28, 2019
in response to Deana Minchau:

What can I do? I have no DNA only stories passed down to me by my mother who had them from her mother (who came here from Odessa w my maternal great grandparents in 1901). They settled in the Dakotas and hid as Lutherans. One summer when i visited i found papers hidden under the seat of an old wooden chair. On these papers was beautiful writing I could not understand. I now know this writing was Hebrew. When my grandparents died the chair disappeared & papers papers with it and most of their belongings.
Occasionally when speaking my grandmother would include random words no one seemed to understand. Everyone thought it was Russian but now I wonder.
I have not had DNA testing done- I was told it is limited - my mother & her siblings - also dead.
In my soul i have always known I am a Jew. What should i do? A friend of mine who is Lubavitcher said there are several reasons I wouldnt be accepted as a Jew even if I had DNA proof. Reply

S UK November 28, 2019
in response to Deana Minchau:

Judaism is a wonderful way of life. Irrespective of DNA or evidence, your soul will draw you to your inner self, your inheritance and destiny.

Find a Chabad Rabbi locally, attend lessons and if you still feel drawn towards Judaism, you will hopefully feel the joy within to adapt, change, fulfil mitzvahs and with blessings from HaShem convert to Judaism.

At Sinai, there were both Israelites and converts. May you feel much happiness on your journey. Reply

Deana Minchau Canada (BC) November 29, 2019
in response to Anonymous:

I can tell you even if you had DNA that won't help you with your Jewish roots the only reason I did DNA was to try and help my mother answer some of her questions about her grandmother and great grandmother if it was true it will show up at least through FTDNA because he was looking for tribes(lost) I am glad I did it only to see where my family came from and who they were and my grandfather I never knew my mother has a brother so he did a Y test and my grandfather was also Jewish (Levi) Ashkenazi but what I will say is ..yes our family hide who they were but if they didn't we would not be here today and when the day finely comes and our Mashiach is here well he can sort this out. Reply

Laura Cirginia November 26, 2019

My heart cried with joy, while I watched this video. Thank you for sharing it with me. Reply

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