Mission Statement

As a charitable foundation dedicated to promoting Jewish Heritage, we pledge:
  • To educate Jewish people about their historic roots and create timeless links through classes, seminars and projects. 
  • To make Jewish history accessible and relevant by creating and publishing engaging Jewish history books and textbooks. 
  • To research, translate and publish historical documents of the Jewish people. 
  • To remember those who are nearly forgotten by creating, repairing and maintaining Holocaust memorials at significant sites throughout the world. 
  • To educate European school children about the Jewish communities that existed in their towns prior to the Holocaust. 
  • To sponsor essay contests in European schools to forge links and safeguard Jewish sites. 
  • To protect and transmit Jewish history by repairing and renovating historic Jewish landmarks and cemeteries in the United States and abroad.
"Tree of Life Heritage Foundation strives to repair this broken world.  We preserve precious landmarks, publish books, rescue historical treasures from oblivion, provide hospice education and accreditation, and tell the story of good people from generation to generation."  
​(Rabbi Ben-Zion Saydman)

Completed Projects

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Creation of the Website http://www.shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/rumsiskes
Hundreds of photographs and documents illustrating the richness of Jewish life that was Rumshishok (Rumsiskes), Lithuania lay unseen and covered in dust.  The Foundation formed a core group of global volunteers to collect, edit, and translate the data.  These priceless relics, all that is left of Rumshishok, were organized into a website which serves to educate contemporary Jews and memorialize a vanished community.

 
Organization of Historic Gathering and Fundraiser to Benefit the Oldest Ashkenazi Synagogue in the United States
Congregation Beth Hamedrash Hagodol, on New York’s Lower East Side, is the first American synagogue established by immigrants from the Russian Empire. The Foundation sponsored a two day event that drew participants from 26 of the Unites States and 4 foreign countries.Partnering with local Jewish and civic groups,
the Foundation offered educational and religious programs to raise awareness and aid in the renovation of the damaged synagogue. 

Formation of Descendants of Anshei Rumshishok (DAR)
The Foundation located and recruited living descendants of the Jews of Rumshishok and formed an association of landsmen.  This association supports charitable
causes and sponsors research which has led to the reunification of families separated by time and conflict. 

Acquisition and Publication of Historic Lithuanian Jewish Records
Working with the Lithuanian State Archives, the Belarus State Archives and several Israeli archives, the Foundation has purchased, translated and published scores
of historic Jewish records that document the Jewish life that existed in Lithuania for 1000 years and ended with the Holocaust.

Translation and Publication of Jews of the Kaišiadorys Region of Lithuania
 For more than three and a half centuries Jews flourished in the Kaišiadorys region of Lithuania—the area between Lithuania’s two largest cities, Kaunas and
Vilnius. It all came to an abrupt end during the Holocaust when the German SS Einsatzgruppen killing squads and their Lithuanian collaborators murdered most
of the Jewish population and plundered their belongings. This book, originally written in Lithuanian, tells the history of the Jews of the region from its earliest days,
but with particular emphasis on the early 20th century and Holocaust periods.  More than 200 pictures show the life and Jewish people of the region as it existed
before the Holocaust.  Jews of the Kaišiadorys Region of Lithuania is both a scholarly work and a memorial.    To purchase the book, follow this link:  http://www.avotaynu.com/books/Kaisiadorys.htm


Current Projects

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Creation of a Book on the History of the Jews of Orange County, CA
This project is in partnership with the Orange County Jewish Historical Society and will include the publication of a textbook for use by Orange County Jewish Day schools and Hebrew schools.

Translation and Publication of Der Rav Hakollel un Zayn T’kufa
In its entire history, the city of New York can boast of only one Chief Rabbi. He was Harav Hagaon Ya’akov Yosef, ztz”l.  Due to the efforts of the Foundation, the two volume Yiddish work about this great leader and his epoch will be made available to the English speaking population.

Heritage Trip to Lithuania
Scheduled for Summer 2025.  See below.

Restoration of Jewish Historical Landmarks
Ongoing renovation project earmarked for historic Jewish institutions and cemeteries in need of repair.

POWERFUL. INSPIRING. LIFE-CHANGING

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Come with us on a Jewish Heritage Tour to Lithuania, Belarus and Prague.
Visit important Pre-War centers of Jewish life and the monuments to its destruction.  Walk back in time and visit the shtetl of your ancestors.  Pray in their synagogues.  Read Psalms at their graves.   Experience their old marketplaces.  Walk in the forests near their homes.  Imagine...

COMING SUMMER 2025
A traditional Jewish Heritage Tour.  All are welcome.  Kosher.  Choice of Sabbath observant programming / free time.  Lectures.  Visit Jewish and other historical sites.  
This is not just a trip.  It is a pilgrimage.
Add-on to Israel.
email [email protected] to reserve a spot for the most incredible trip of your life.

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​Accolades

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