Interviews in Toldot Yisrael begin with the same question: How far back can you trace your family’s history?This question breaks the ice by allowing the interviewee to first speak generally about their family history before telling their own personal story. But it also connects the State of Israel’s founders with the pioneers of previous generations, people like:

• Chaya Bareli, a granddaughter (from both sides) of the Bilu pioneers who founded Gedera in 1884;
• Yehoshua Ben Arieh, an Israel Prize winning Professor of History and the great-grandson of Yehoshua Stampfer, who walked from Hungary to Jerusalem in 1869 at the age of 17; and,
• Ephraim Ben Eliahu, a Company Commander in the War of Independence, whose family in Israel dates back 17 generations – since just after the Spanish Inquisition.

One of our recent interviews took us back several centuries further. Haganah veteran David Oved’s family hails from Peki’in in the Upper Galilee, where Jews have lived continuously since the time of the Second Temple! In his interview, Oved proudly declared “We never went into exile” and that his family had no tradition of saying “Next Year in Jerusalem!”For generations in the Diaspora, Jews around the world longed for the return to Zion. Our prayers linked us to this special place even when we weren’t physically in the Land of Israel. But throughout all our wanderings in exile, the Jewish people’s connection to Israel was anchored by families with deep roots here, families like David Oved’s.

Toldot Yisrael is honored to have been able to record these and other accounts that represent all the links in the chain – from the families who have been in Israel for hundreds of years to those that arrived just prior to the founding of the State.

Thank you for your ongoing support and best wishes for a happy and healthy New Year,

Eric