Clans gather to celebrate
Attendees returned to the historic shule after Shabbat for a visit. They also gathered to view a local landmark on Sturt Street, a house that was home to the Komesaroffs during their years in Ballarat.
THE extended Zmood, Grinblat and Komesaroff families have caught up with one another in Ballarat during a special reunion weekend, at which some 100 family members mingled and reminisced – and celebrated Shabbat in the Ballarat Synagogue.
Attendees returned to the historic shule after Shabbat for a visit. They also gathered to view a local landmark on Sturt Street, a house that was home to the Komesaroffs during their years in Ballarat. The current owners hosted the visitors and gave them a tour of the house.
A group of eight who were rescued from Ukraine by Yaacov Leib Komesaroff in 1922 (the family name was later changed to Mendelson) lived in the house. Yaacov Leib, his wife Bessie, son Norman and later his daughter Minnie Fisher, who was born in Ballarat, lived across the lane. Born in the house in 1923, Lillian Chester turned 100 recently.
“The house has been beautifully preserved,” said one of the visitors.
During the May 5-7 reunion, family members heard how their forebears were brought to Australia from Grafskoy in Ukraine by Yaacov Leib. Becoming interrelated with the Komesaroffs, the Grinblats and Zmoods lived in Ballarat well into the 1920s, with figures including Moishe Rabinov, Aaron Moishe Grinblat, Abraham Grinblat, Zvi Wolf Grinblat and Harry Zmood.
Attendees took part in an Erev Shabbat service followed by a kosher dinner and a Shabbat Shacharit service on Saturday, after which they enjoyed a kosher lunch.
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