Hillel Kuttler RSS

in 2011 launched "Seeking Kin," his now-thrice-monthly column on people searching for long-lost relatives and friends.

Latest

• Meet a Namibian cyclist pedaling for a diverse Israeli team

  July 7, 2016 3:42pm

  PHILADELPHIA (JTA) – Growing up in Namibia, Dan Craven would bicycle long distances upon the only two paved roads in his hometown of Omaruru — 80 miles heading north to Otjiwarongo and 45 miles south to Karibib. Cycling on what he calls the “tar roads” is how he fell in love with the sport; plus…

• Jewish ex-major leaguer trying to get back to baseball’s big show

  June 30, 2016 4:55pm

  HARRISBURG, Pa. (JTA) – Taking a seat on the dugout bench of the Portland Sea Dogs, Nate Freiman politely dismisses the premise that he pines to return to the major leagues. Maybe it’s a defense mechanism now that he’s two seasons and three organizations removed from his last appearance in the bigs. But Freiman, dripping…

• Finding 3 Auschwitz inmates miraculously saved from death

  June 8, 2016 5:09pm

  SEEKING KIN The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost friends and relatives. (JTA) – For over six decades, Chaim Schwimmer has thrown a kiddush every Simchat Torah, but it’s not only to celebrate the joyful holiday. The food and the schnapps also mark the anniversary of Schwimmer’s miraculous rescue in 1944 from certain…

• 3 decades later, remembering some special Sabbaths

  May 10, 2016 2:40pm

  SEEKING KIN The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. JERUSALEM (JTA) – On a pleasant evening in this capital city, through the near darkness, I caught his wave from a half-block away. Soon we were standing together, smiling and clasping hands, two men who hadn’t seen one another for 31…

• Can you help a kibbutznik find his American relatives?

  April 28, 2016 12:47pm

  SEEKING KIN The “Seeking Kin” column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. (JTA) – “If only” – it’s the most common regret expressed by “Seeking Kin” interviewees, and by genealogists generally. David Harel has dug into his family’s history impressively, but second-guesses himself for never asking his late father, Yaakov Halberstadt, key questions…

• Baseball’s back: Here’s a look at 8 Jewish major leaguers and a manager

  April 3, 2016 2:34pm

  (JTA) – Will Joc Pederson rebound from his second-half struggles of last season? Can Kevin Pillar build on his strong 2015 campaign? Will injuries derail one-time MVP Ryan Braun? These are some of the questions to be answered as these Jewish players and others get set for the Major League Baseball season that opens Sunday….

• At an Israeli moshav, filling in the blanks on a WWII rescue effort

  March 20, 2016 5:58pm

  SEEKING KIN The Seeking Kin column aims to help reunite long-lost relatives and friends. NIR GALIM, Israel (JTA) – On a recent afternoon in a museum in this moshav community near the port city of Ashdod, Hodaya Gadba held up a black-and-white photograph of a three-story building and pronounced, “This was the site of a…

• Philly NBA stats legend who invented ‘rebounds’ to be posthumously honored

  March 13, 2016 5:07pm

  (JTA) – Harvey Pollack, a pioneering NBA statistician, will be honored posthumously this spring with a state historical marker in his native Philadelphia. The Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission approved the nomination on Wednesday, on what would have been Pollack’s 94th birthday. Pollack, who was Jewish, died last June. Until being hospitalized five months earlier, he…

• See how teen pals found each other some 50 years later

  February 8, 2016 3:30pm

  A “Seeking Kin” column spurs a Technion librarian to put his research expertise to work.

• David Blatt’s downfall has Israelis losing sleep – but not to watch late-night Cavs games

  January 26, 2016 4:07pm

  His dismissal as coach, after racking up the seventh-best winning percentage in NBA history and leading Cleveland to the Finals, has stunned Israelis.