house, with many rooms.
Let me introduce you to a wonderful woman. Her name is Chanale Kraut Kislowicz. She is pictured here at 92 in (where else?) Miami Beach, with her friend of many years, Lillian Scheiner Kramer.
Chanale was born in 1902 in New York City. Her mother, Tessie Seidman, had married but was not happy here; so in 1910 Tessie packed up her 3 children and returned to her parents in Strzyzow, where her father, Alter Ezra Seidman, was Dayan (Judge, Assistant Rabbi), and her mother, the daughter of Reb Avrohom Itzhok, ran the family's Bar and Grill. They lived in a large solid
house, with many rooms.
Tessie's father was Alter Ezra "Yicheal" Seidman. Whoever was alive knew him. In the Strzyzow Yizkor Book it is noted that Assistant Rabbi Alter Ezra Seidman "was acute and clever...he chanted the prayers during the High Holidays". Life was easier, more familiar in Strzyzow.
Chanale told us the story of her wedding to Itcher Kislowicz: "all of Strzyzow's Jewish population came. We had a Chuppa near the shul, in the open air. Then everyone returned to the house for a party. The in-laws came and stayed for a week to celebrate the wedding. Music played a whole week, Klezmer music". The newly weds moved to Rzeszow, (pronounced "Rayshe" in Yiddish). It wasn't until 1932, when, at the age of 30, she returned to ensure her citizenship, as Itcher was not a US citizen.
Chanale's daughter, Sally, grew up in Rzeszow; and she remembers 3 synagogues. Sally attended public school in Strzyzow; she told us ... "I was a little girl; extremely sensitive; I was from a special family but I wasn't treated that way. I hated the Poles with a passion. We learned to read and write Polish, but I always felt anti-Semitism from the teacher. During the prayer, at the start of the school day, the teacher would look to see who bowed and who did not. Even today that is probably why I am so against in-school prayer. The teachers cautioned girls not to go to Hebrew School, that they would fail in public school. But I went anyway and even starred in a Purim play. My teacher found out and everyone went to look at my report card to see if I would fail, but I received A's".
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The Census of 1900 showed Strzyzow with a total population of 2008, composed of 992 Jews (Israelisch), 7 Griech. Katholisch and 1007 Rom. Katholisch. Neighboring towns with a large Jewish population included Czudec with a total population of 1214 (410 Jews), Niebylec 687 (343 Jews).
There are few Galician Jewish records still available for Strzyzow.......there are some birth records in the Rzeszow USC (the town hall) covering the years from 1861 to 1927.
Has anyone ever gotton anything relating to these records from Poland ???
The following list of current Galician records was taken from "Jewish Roots in Poland: the wonderful guidebook which includes "Past and Archival Inventories" by Miriam Weiner:
And lastly, if you are searching for Galician Records, don't neglect the wonderful resources of the Jewish Records In Poland! JRIP on JewishGen. The Rzeszow index records are available online already, and someday the smaller towns in the area may be added. Click here to link to the database
Thanks to Stephen Morse's wonderful Ellis Island Front End, where one can query the Hebrew immigrants by town, It is easy to assemble a list of Hebrew immigrants to Strzyzow. Please remember that there were thousands of other Hebrew immigrants from Strzyzow, at different times, and to different ports of entry; and many names may not appear if the passenger list did not contain "Strzyzow" and "Hebrew" recognizable to the interpreter.
It is fascinating to observe the different spellings of the town and the surnames.
Just as a reminder, Strzyzow was part of the Austrian Empire (imperial crownland of Galicia)
from 1776 to 1919; then it became part of Poland where it remains today. This might explain
some of the different 
nationalities we find below. (I wouldn't take the ages at their listed value either.
Keep in mind that there were different tariffs for children).
Ellis Island has requested that we do not post any material from their website; thus if you wish to see the list, please email me, and i will send it to you. Phyllis Kramer
It is relatively easy to query Ellis Island passengers, but I suggest you use the Steve Morse’s query at www.jewishgen.org/databases/EIDB . Here are the steps:
The 1891 Galician Business Directory contains only a few listings for Strzyzow. They are:
1880 and settled in her shtetl, Strzyzow.
---- Frieda Kandel, b. Nov, 1860 Strzyzow, Galicia, d. Oct 15, 1931 NY, NY
---- +Josef Scheiner, b. 1858 Dubiecko, Galicia, m. 1880 Strzyzow, Galicia, d. Jul 02, 1930 224 E 4th St; NYC. The Scheiners settled in NYC where Josef indeed became a schochet. They raised 3 children, Abe, Sam and Sarah.
The story of the Glatt family began with Eliezer (Leiser-Lejzor) Glatt, who was born in Ulanow, Poland in
1869. Eliezer moved to Strzyzow to marry Sara Fuerst, daughter of Mendel and Devojre Fuerst, bakers in Strzyzow. The couple were married on April 18, 1894. From this union evolved six children, all born in Strzyzow. They were
Max; Lotte; Fanny; Bertha; Sally; Sophie; and Moritz Glatt. The whole family moved to Cologne, Germany after the end of World War I. All the children, married or unmarried at the time, eventually moved to Palestine, England or the United States due to the Nazi persecution of the Jews in Germany during the Hitler period.
As an aside, Eliezer Glatt died in Germany in 1932 and was buried in the Jewish Cemetery of Cologne, Germany. His wife, Sara died in Hadera, Israel in 1948. On or about 1956, their son Moritz had Eliezer's body transferred from Germany to Israel, where it was re-interred next to his wife Sara. They are now together in Kfar Haroe, Israel.
Last last year I received an email from Shimon Nitzan. Shimon said that his mother, Shoshana Shefler was born in Strzyzow in 1912 and emigrated to Israel in 1932. Shimon recognized her in two photographs on our web page which were taken from the Sefer Strzizhuv. Shimon began his genealogical research recently, but was fortunate enough so many relatives that he was able to hold a reunion for most of the Sheflers who live in Israel. Most of his family came from Strzizhuv, but others came from Jedlicze, Jaslo, Dukla etc. He wrote that Sheflers are found all over the world today: Israel-160; Brazil-30 and Canada, Swiss, Sweden, and Austrian.
Shimon said "during my research I met Simcha Langsam and I talked with his brother Harry Langsam about my family. I created a booklet for the March 2001 "reunion"in Kibutz Sdot Yam.
For additional information, please email
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The photograph is of the Uiberall Family. It was taken in Rzeszow, Galicia. My great-great-grandparents Leib and Sarah Uiberall, along with their 4 children and spouses on the wedding day of Armin and Henryka in 1891, as I recall:
Left to Right; Henryka Rosenbaum nee Uiberall (sitting) - born Rzeszow 1869; Armin Rosenbaum, originally from Ladomir (Ladomirova); Edward (Elias) Uiberall from Rzeszow; Sarah Uiberall (sitting), originally from Jaroslaw - born 1834; Regina Cohn nee Uiberall (standing centre) born Rzeszow 1857; Leib Uiberall (sitting) from Rzeszow - a leading local businessman/figure, the "paterfamilias", my great-great-grandfather; Hugo Cohn born 1847 Schoffschuetz, Kreis Rosenberg, near Breslau (Wroclaw) - another successful businessman (egg import-export) - my great-grandfather; Dr Jakob Uiberall (Advokat) - lawyer, born 1859 in Rzeszow.
Jakob Uiberall lived in Strzyzow with his family from September 1915. He was a lawyer ("Advokat"). I just realised today why he felt safe in moving his family from the security of Vienna out to Galicia in the middle of the First World War. The Austrian and German Armies had beaten the Russians at the Battle of Gorlice 4 months earlier and forced them 300km eastwards.
For more information, email Ashwin A. Maini, London, England
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