On Hebrew Names In My Family (A Musing That Became Too Long For Facebook)

One aspect of life for certain: if I don’t know what someone’s Hebrew name is or would’ve been, I go to find out; and in at least some cases, I try to stick to the literal meaning (In my case, I took “Maratovah” as my Hebrew middle name on purpose partly because my first name in both Hebrew and English is already ironic enough in many aspects). One name I absolutely couldn’t justify assigning (“Kayin” is a “lo-lo”); and I stuck with a name that both worked and had already been in our family, anyway. Luckily, Great-Granddad Czarnecki (ע״ה וז״ל) had or would’ve had essentially a duplicate name: Chananyah Yochanan for “Anthony John”. Some could argue “Yosef Yochanan”, although Great-Great-Grandma (ע״ה וז״ל) never used the same first names for siblings. Besides, Josefeh (Joseph)-Susi Paschal (“Peter”) was born in 1917. 

Susi had a complicated relationship with his Yiddishkeit; and one of our cousins was Pesach Yosef “Paschal Joseph” Danilowicz (ז״ל). So, I knew exactly what Susi was doing (Besides, one of his brothers was already “Stanley Peter”, ז״ל, by secular name). Jankie (“John Raymond”/“John Francis”/“John Felix”) pulled similarly (Both Susi and Jankie were actually kapos in many respects; and I don’t say that lightly). Their mother would’ve been unamused, and she probably would’ve been horrified to know that her namesake daughter (as we are Sefardi and Ashkenazi Jews) changed her name to “Alexandria Julia (Asenat Yehudit)” to honor her father (Yehudah “Julian”/“Ludwik Zernetzky/Czerniecki, ע״ה וז״ל) after both of her parents died and when she applied for a marriage license. Great-Grandaunt Asenat (ז״ל) also stepped up to take care of her brother Binyamin Shmarya “Bernard Stanley” (ז״ל וה״י״ד) after he endured a lobotomy due to Schizophrenia and CPTSD. She also took care of her minor siblings after they were fully orphaned (The other siblings were either of age, deceased, or only God knows where—as one sibling was conceived in trauma before  Great-Great-Grandma and Great-Granddad could immigrate to the United States.).

PS I’m not monetizing this. לשבת שלום, and the moon for Tishri 5786 will likely be cited tomorrow (cf. Hebrew In Israel and Deborah’s Date Tree. Also cf. Shemot-Exodus 12:2, e.g.).

Welcome to my ‘80s flashback—and part of my family history!

 My paternal grandparents on July 22, 1989 (on the secular calendar) at my parents’ wedding. 

Technically, I was born on January 23, 1989, as the secular calendar (in the case, the Later Julian Calendar with a little shift by twelve days) used to begin the year in March, and I was born early (I was due on April 22, 1990). I was born on 25 Tevet 5749 (Rabbinic Calendar 26 Tevet 5750). Even by the time that I was old enough to remember him and in his final years, my grandfather (ע״ה) had not really changed significantly. PS Somehow, he was a distant cousin to my grandmother (My dad has mutual DNA matches on both sides, which is common for Ashkenazi and Sefardi Jews)—no wonder that my cousin Greg looks like Mickey Haslin (ז״ל) as well as my grandfather!

Grandma’s paternal grandmother (a daughter of Miriam/Mária Hajzlinszka Uscsanska) had ancestors with connections to the Frankist movement (including Franek/Franik Béla and Eva Pailrová Jassová), and other ancestors of hers ended up in what was then Upper Hungary in other ways. As for Pop-Pop, his maternal grandparents were Michael/Mihály Nagy Trudnyak and Chanah/Anna Munková Trudnyak (originally “Trudnyakov”, later “Trudnak”). Michael Trudnyak was born the “illegitimate” Nagy Mihály, by the way, because his parents refused to marry in a Catholic church (as so-called “Christians” took enough away from them). Michael’s son John first married Valeria Lillian “Lillie” (née Nechama “Nellie”) Czarnecki, by the way; and he as a widower remarried his widowed in-law sister, Anna Mikita Czarnecki (the widow of Yosef/Joseph Czarnecki, a son of Efrayim “Felix” and Yosefa/Josephine “Veronica” Supronowicz Czerniecki)…

As aforementioned, welcome to my ‘80s flashback—and part of my family history! PS Béla left the clue in his surname, and Ya’akov/Jakub Frank’s own daughter forcibly had her name changed to “Ewa” by her father (Why I was not tipped off earlier about a Jewish “Eva” from a kehillah in Ukraine being connected to Frankism stumps me). The Frankist movement was widespread in what are now Poland, Ukraine, Czechia, Slovakia, and vicinities. After the Frankist movement failed, many Frankists became Anusim (with some remaining Catholic like Jakub Frank was), and many moved to or remained in places where they could be relatively out of the way of Anti-Frankist retaliation as well as Antisemitism. 

Commentary: Trump’s DoE Was Brazenly Bragging About Their Boss’ Intent With That Video, and With Multiple Relationships Among Americans Fractured As Is!

One tragic part is knowing just how too late it’ll be when scales fall off of many eyes about many matters. For instance, as Trump once again confirmed Ivana Trump’s warnings on the official DoE Twitter account, many people already irreparably broke relationships in this world. 

“Trump’s not a Nazi!”

“Liberal!”

“You have TDS!” 

Many people have to sit with directing sentiments like that against even loved ones as Donald Trump brazenly trolled and confirmed that he considered a book of Nazi speeches “a gift”. They ignored even when Donald Trump showed them exactly who he is the first time, and after his first wife warned about them. They‘re now blocked on social media and cellphones, unable to receive and send even cards for special occasions, excluded from family events, etc.. Some of them may even die thinking, “I chose Donald Trump over [a child, a best friend, extended family, or whomever else—even God]. No wonder I’m dying without a visit or a call from [whomever], and no wonder I feel abandoned by God.” 

Two of my cousins (with their one ancestor whom was a cousin of mine being a direct survivor of the German and the Russian parts of the Holocaust) are among those people whom chose Donald Trump. One even challenged me to block her. I did. I wonder how she feels now. She chose to believe the kind of man whom would’ve persecuted her ancestor and is already brazenly bragging about trying to persecute all of us. If (God forbid) Donald Trump gets his way and (in any case) I ever meet her in person, I’ll tell her only, “I didn’t take any pleasure in warning you and others about Donald Trump.”

‎לילה טוב.

Commentary: Reflecting On The Tragedies Of The Real-Life “Dreamer”, One of the Real-Life “Sons of Difficulty”

75 secular years ago tomorrow, the man in the picture unfortunately succumbed to injuries from the reckless conduct of a negligent driver. At least he died at an old-enough age (as he was actually 75 on all calendars), from shock within an hour, and after a life of tragedy upon tragedy. His life began tragically as well. 

Born the “illegitimate” Nagy Mihály at 2-2 utca Szövetség in Austrohungarian Budapest, Michael Trudnak would later lie about his birth partly out of shame of being a “mamzer”. Born to hidden-Jewish parents Nagy Mária (מרים בת יוסף אלעזר ומרים) and Trudnyak Mihály (‏מיכאל בן יעקב ומרים), he joined his utca Dohány (i.e., Dohány Street)-born sister Aranka/Aurelia Zsuzsanna. His mother had been from hidden-Jewish families in the Budapest (certainly not Kacwin or “Czechoslovakia”) area for a while (and when her cousin Libich Paulina Szidónia returned openly to traditional Judaism, she divorced the father of Sibalszky Kálmán—the Kalman Sibalszky, whom close to remain Roman Catholic by faith as well as threw himself into Anti-Communism activities to the point of arrest!). As for the older Mihály, his families were also Anusim, though apparently not with as colorful of a history outside of the derogatory surname (“difficult one” or “son of the difficult one”) and potential connections to Frankism, plus one conversion to Augsburger Catholicism (Anusim and B’nei Anusim generally didn’t care about moving interdenominationally just as long as we could stay hidden, etc.—with or without belief in Jesus. Regardless of our individual beliefs, we certainly recalled the traumas of our ancestors as well as of fellow Anusim and B’nei Anusim—including the Jewish Anglican Dr. Roderigo Lopes, the Jewish reformer whom gets Antisemitically eclipsed by Luther and Calvin.).

Similarly to how one Trudnyak moved interdenominationally (See the above note.), the Nagy-Trudnyak couple moved intracity wise. The difference is that they moved two times within five years (once from Dohány Street to Szövetség Street, once from 2-2 Szövetség Street to 19 Szövetség Street—with 19 utca Szövetség being much closer to the Jewish Quarter in relatively-newly-merged-with-Buda Pest). The harassment and imminent conscription of Nagy Mihály got to them by 1891–Mihály Trudnyak was 16, not 15, and he needed to quickly take his father’s name as well as claim to be a year older than he was. He also needed to join his father in Reading, Pennsylvania, only to have his father leave for Obrucsno (Obručné) near his own town of birth (Késmárk or Kežmarok) in 1892 and return to Reading in 1895. 

As far as I know, he never again saw his mother (whom was last known to be alive when Aranka married the “illegitimate”/“mamzer” Párducz Fuchs Rezső—whom actually got incarcerated for trying to use the name “Fuchs” in 1891!). He also never again saw either of his sisters (Aranka and Mária—and you can guess why his parents did not want to name their first daughter “Mária”!). In other words, he began life with instability and with multiple losses of significant connections—including to his mother permanently (at least in the ‘olam haba), and to his father at least twice (with a move to Obrucsno followed by a move back to Obrucsno. That alone would cause instability for a hidden-Jewish boy living under Austrohungarian persecution, and all because his parents were uncomfortable marrying in a Roman Catholic Church. They certainly heard and/or read the shocking and disgusting account of the desecration of Zolika the son of Joachim Arányiné Jána/Johanna. Zolika’s gentile father was Catholic or Catholic adjacent, and the 1842-born Mária and 1845-born Mihály wanted to avoid any Catholic rituals as much as possible especially after their 1859-born peer was desecrated.). 

With generational, personal, and other trauma (including the posthumous desecration of his parents’ Matrilineally-Jewish peer) on his mind, Mihály Nagy Trudnak (now going by Michael “Mike” Trudniak or Trudnak) needed to figure out how to balance himself in the United States—and in Appalachian Pennsylvania after a brief stint on its border in reading as well a brief stint in New Jersey! In 1913, he’d already lost two children (with the younger deceased child dying in 1912, and in often-unforgiving Appalachia). Now he bit another proverbial bullet: naming a daughter “Mary” after perhaps losing a daughter because he dared to name her the apparently-more-gentile and -Catholic “Katherine” (Mary would later get spooked and not name any of her sons directly after their own father for 11 years!). His next daughter was “Rosalie” mostly after his wife’s mother and his maternal grandfather’s mother by secular name (only one nod to Sefardi and Mizrahi custom that Jews in the Hungarys traditionally used—for his wife’s sister Helen Rosalia—and thus no harm or foul!). 

Then came World War One (Mary wasn’t celebrating her secular birthday on July 29th, her actual secular birthday, again!). A real dread that the nominally-tolerant Hapsburgs could win crept in to everyone (July 28, 1914 ended up being what Michael Trudnak hoped; and he claimed to be born in his father’s Exile base of “Czechoslovakia”). When the Hapsburgs lost, another dread followed up the former dread of a Hapsburg win: the 1918 Flu Pandemic came raging! Then came the 1929 loss of the youngest Trudnak child (after multiple other losses), the Depression, and the recognized part of the Holocaust (as Jews in the Islamic Middle East and under Stalin, including in the Exile base of Ukraine for the Trudnyakovs, also endured Antisemitic ethnocide.).

In the midst of 1929-1943, more losses (including that of Mary’s firstborn son and of Michael’s wife) followed. On the secular day of June 7, 1946, the widower of Anna Munka Trudnak and thrice-bereaved father with multiple other losses somehow made it to 70 secular years. Then came life’s final tragedy for the somehow-walking-independently 75-year-old man whom could walk back and forth from the Ashley (Ashley-Hanover Township) Hose House (Firehouse) every night. On the secular date of August 24, 1951, 75-year-old Austrohungarian Inquisition survivor and tragedy-beleaguered Michael Nagy Trudnak didn’t even get to live to 80 years old by reason of strength; and 27-year-old negligent driver Robert Evans subsequently got away with vehicular homicide. Robert Evans also failed to drive Michael Nagy Trudnak to the much-closer Ashley Hose House, leaving him to die in the hospital. The firefighters could’ve tried to save the 75-year-old man much more than a self-assured punk in his 20s even made any effort to do teshuvah for driving particularly dangerously at night!

A life begun in tragedy 150 years ago ended tragically in just over half that much time 75 years ago this year (regardless of which calendar one uses)—and the 75th yahrzeit bookends yet another chapter in the continuing legacy of Michael Nagy Trudnak, a tragic ordinary figure whose life could barely be less ordinary. By the way, the ultimate fates of Michael’s parents, sisters, and known in-law brother are still unknown to me—one of the great-grandchildren of Michael’s daughter Mary.

(As I Continue To Research and Write, By the Way)

 A few people in a certain Facebook group thought that jesting about a flooded gravesite was perfectly appropriate. This is what I wrote in response: 

One Caveat About My New Book: I’m Not Glorifying The Real-Life Unseemliness In It

In a recent Facebook comment, I replied to someone:

“70 and 20 (as unseemly as it is) is nowhere close to any child being exploited by any adult. But go on 🙄: Julia Fosko was exploited at 18; Rosalia “Rosina” Korsch beginning at 14 at most (Samuel Munka was born in about 1848, and Rosina had Paul in about 1876); and Anna Munka about 12-14 (Michael Nagy Trudnak was about 24-26. 26-to 27-year-old Paul married about-20-year-old Anna Blasicsak, and Michael’s parents would’ve been horrified that their son married a girl instead of a woman. Michael’s own parents, the common-law spouses Maria Nagy and Mihály Trudnyak, were 31 and 28 when their oldest child, Aranka, was born; and Mária married off Aranka to an adult when Aranka was an adult. If Mihály Trudnyak were around in New Jersey in 1900-1902, Michael Trudnak would not have touched Anna Munka until she was at least 20.). 

“There were also cases in my family that were borderline (e.g., One of my great-grandfather’s cousins was 19 when she married one of my great-granduncles, whom was 27. What didn’t help is that she gave her age as 21 on the marriage license, even though she wasn’t turning 20 until the February after her wedding. Almost as unhelpful: on her own marriage-license application, my great-grandmother who was the sister of that great-granduncle claimed to be 21 when she was still 20.). 

“I’ve heard the excuses. I’ve seen the excuses. I’ve also seen the exceptions, and some of the victimizers’ parents were among the exceptions (Mihály Trudnyak brought his 15-year-old son to Pennsylvania in 1891, and so that the younger Mihály could avoid conscription. Michael Trudnak was in New Jersey near or with Anna Munka’s siblings Paul and Helen by 1900. In 1900, Michael and Anna lived under the name “Poornak”. In 1902, both Paul Munka and Anna Munka married.). 

“Either way that you (literally and figuratively) do the math, “Back in the day” is a poor and an unpleasant excuse, especially when quite a few people bucked certain trends (Two more examples: the older Mihály’s parents were married in, respectively, their 40s and 20s. Mária’s parents were born in 1822 and 1821; and while their own parents should’ve waited to marry them off, they at least married a teenager to a teenager. Mária’s oldest sibling was born in 1838.).”

The real-life inspiration for part of the book is as you thought and worse. The 1900 Census discusses an Anna and a Michael “Poornak”; and Michael was born “illegitimate” to Mária Nagy and Mihály Trudnyak. I get that both of my Trudnak great-great-grandparents needed to hide being Jewish, and that the Nagy-Trudnyak themselves cohabitated outside of legally-recognized marriage. In no universe does that justify a 20s-year-old man exploiting a child, especially when he had examples of adults whom married (including common-law married) other adults. Anna Blasicsak, by the way, was born in 1882 (per her gravestone).

 

In Memory of A Daughter Whom Still Holds A Family of Her Father Together

As Reilly and I go “night nights”, I think about the woman on the left (my uncle’s right side). The photo was taken on July 22, 1989, just before her 76th secular birthday. My parents’ marriage didn’t last, perhaps to her relief in some ways. Had I known that, that would’ve helped. What I do know is that she did what multiple women before her (even her in-law mother, with whom she had differences) did; and what’s lasted well beyond my parents’ marriage and divorce (and also beyond my dad’s second marriage and divorce) is that even though our family is still recovering from a lot of brokenness, she held our family together as much as she could do so.

That she held our family together still makes an impact, especially as I’m writing just past what was her father’s 150th secular birthday (June 7, 2026). The more that I think about it, the more that I realize that her impact was part of why I got into genealogy, for instance. I knew that I wanted to find out if I’m Jewish, and I could’ve been content with knowing that her husband was. Her part of my family history therefore contributed to my wanting to find out what I didn’t even expect that I would find out. I thus came to additionally find out, for example, that she treated me and her grandson with disabilities as human beings and as family members because she knew what being mistreated both within and outside of the family was. She knew the heart of a stranger because our ancestors had been strangers in all of the world, including in Ancient Egypt and in 19th-Century-CE Budapest. She felt the generational effects and the personal effects that the generational effects affected. 

She wasn’t a daughter of “Michael and Anna Monka Trudnak”, but of hidden Jews Mihály Nagy Trudnyak (the only and “illegitimate” son of Mihály Trudnyak and Mária Nagy) and Anna Munková (the surviving daughter Anna of Sámuel and Rosalia Korschová Munka). Only later would “Michael Trudnak” be Anna’s husband and their daughter’s father, as Mihály‘s own parents refused to marry in any church even as the Austrohungarian authorities kept persecuting and pestering them; whereas  Anna would pass for her previously-baptized sister, and be sent from Újpest to join Budapest-born Mihály Trudnyak in the United States. After a few older daughters came before her, the “daughter of ‘Michael and Anna Monka Trudnak’” would perfectly acceptably get the name of her younger paternal aunt (Mária Nagy, b. 1842 CE) as well as a maternal grandaunt (Mária Korschová Saxová, b. in the 1860s CE). Both were presumably alive by then, although neither name honoree (as far as I know) received the honor of meeting her namesake (Given, as I later found out, that Jews in the Hungarys originally used minhag Sefardi, Michael and Anna presented no conflict in their  use of a secular name for “Miriam”. As they were also Ashkenazi Jewish, they also named her for both of his grandmothers—the maternal one of whom certainly did not get the honor of meeting her name honoree, as she died before her daughter Aloysia Nagy Libich died in 1901.). 

Bu the way, I don’t exactly know what she’d think of Reilly Rosalita being partially a namesake of her maternal grandmother and of her sister Rosalie (Rosalia Munková’s double name honoree as well as Rosalia Duday Nagy’s name honoree). I can only hope that she’d understand and take it in good humor (which she probably would) when she’d be told that Reilly helps to hold me together on an individual level. 

יהי הזיכרון של מרים בת מיכאל וחנה לברכה.