I am totally blown away by this snippet I received, and I wanted to share it with you. Obviously, check the cites and the references, because the article is a cut-and-paste from a larger answer which also posits the answer that she is not Jewish. -Zoe
10/27/08 5:40pm UPDATE: Ahuva has shown the statements in the article below to be incorrect. Her comments and research can be found here.
Is Sarah Palin Jewish?
Source: Wiki Answers - Sarah Palin
Yes, based on Jewish tradition that makes one "Jewish" if born to a mother of Jewish ethnic decent, although touting at least a mask of evangelical Christianity. IsraelNews.com was most upset about her relationship with Jews for Jesus, see link: IsraelNews.com.
Sarah Palin's mother (Sally Sheigam) was of Lithuanian Jewish heritage and so were both of her mothers parents (Louise Sheigam and Shmuel Sheigam). Her father Chuck Heath can also be considered of Jewish blood because his mother, Beatrice Coleman, was of Jewish decent. Further information on Governor Palin's ancestors can easily be found in the vital records in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius. link: www.archyvai.lt The Archives holds birth, marriage, divorce, and death records for the Lithuanian Jewish community from 1851 until 1915 when the Jews were required to leave the country because of World War I. They are in 18th Century Cyrillic script and Yiddish Many of these records include the mother's maiden name and town of registration.
Palin has three flags in her office: the flag of Alaska, the flag of the United States, and the flag of Israel. Two of Palin's prominent Alaska Jewish allies, Rabbi Joseph Greenberg and businessman Terry Gorlick, told Politico they consider her a friend of the Jews...see link: IsraelNews.com
In addition, when she ran for governor, the Republican Jewish Coalition Executive Director Matt Brooks issued the following statement today: "By choosing Governor Sarah Palin as the vice-presidential candidate, John McCain once again demonstrates good judgment and a commitment to challenging politics-as-usual. As governor of Alaska, Palin has enjoyed a strong working relationship with Alaska's Jewish community.
Palin’s Maternal Grandfather And Grandmother
Her maternal grandfather, Schmuel Sheigam, was a Lithuanian Jew, born in 1912 in Vilkaviskis, Lithuania, The Sheigam’s The grandmother was a Jewess named Gower.
The Names Are Altered. At Ellis Island Immigration Centre, the name was entered as Sheeran, a standard practice when immigration officers were unable to understand the pronunciation of non-English speaking immigrants. They are buried in the Jewish cemetery at Budezeriai.
Additional Links:
Link 1: OzaukeeCountyRepublicans.com
Link 2: FreeRepublic.com
Link 3: vosizneias.com
Link 4: Jewish Press
4 comments:
At least a couple of things here are not correct:
"Further information on Governor Palin's ancestors can easily be found in the vital records in the Lithuanian State Historical Archives in Vilnius."
I wish! Actually, the only known surviving birth/marriage/death records for Vilkavisis that are for birth: 1810-1811; 1876; 1922-1939
for marriage: 1810-1811; 1904/1925 (RECONSTRUCTED RECORDS); 1922-1939
for death: 1810-1811; 1877; 1880; 1922-1923; 1925-1939
Anyone who says that a Lithuanian genealogy can be "easily" found in the vital records is lying. We've (LitvakSIG of JewishGen) been working on pulling these records out for years.
Note that the critical year (1912) is not known to exist (source, record search on http://rtrfoundation.org/). The gaps make it difficult to prove parentage with any certainty. Most of the Marijampole District records that can be obtained have been translated by LitvakSIG. Note that the records of interest can no longer be obtained as they fall within the EU 100-year privacy blackout. LitvakSIG has some of these records (since the blackout was just instated within the past couple of years), but not all. An interested party can check out what is available on LitvakSIGs All Lithuanian Database and see just how difficult this would be to prove with any certainty.
"The Names Are Altered. At Ellis Island Immigration Centre, the name was entered as Sheeran, a standard practice when immigration officers were unable to understand the pronunciation of non-English speaking immigrants."
This is also less than true. The Ellis Island records were translated directly from the ship manifest. Transcription mistakes did happen, but this "standard practice" nonsense is a bubemeiser. You would need to carefully trace the family tree to see if you could map it back to the Ellis Island records. That story didn't offer ANY evidence that there is a shred of reason for this story beyond "wouldn't it be cool if."
As for the cemetery, this is what seems to be popping up on Google:
"members of the Sheigam family are buried in the Jewish cemetery Budezeriai"
There may indeed be Sheigams buried in a Jewish cemetery at Budezeriai, but this is NOT proof that they are related in any way shape or form to Sarah Palin.
Sorry, I left out some links:
http://jewishgen.org/
http://www.jewishgen.org/Litvak/
Ahuva,
I am very impressed with your research. Thank you for clarifying that up. I posted the link to this article on digg.com, so there should be a bunch of people checking out this web page and they will see your research.
I'll also put a note at the top of the article that the information I posted is incorrect and that they should refer to your comments for clarification of the facts.
-Zoe
Thanks, Zoe. All of the credit goes to LitvakSIG, JewishGen, and the amazing work Miriam Winer has done with her Routes To Roots site. My people are from Lithuania, so I became aware of their work as I progressed with my own genealogy research (and eventually became a member of LitvakSIG).
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