Surname Łos from Białystok

I'm wondering if anyone has any information on the surname £os from Białystok. Any information would be wonderful, especially on Josefa Los or £os - Born 1896 Bialystok

or Synchaja?

A łoś in Polish is an elk (N.American - moose). BTW without the dojiggers the word los means fate, destiny or lottery ticket.

More than 5,000 people named £oś in Poland wtih the Białystok area being the single largest concentration. Katowice comes a close second.

Thank you for the information, just wondering, is it a common name? Is it always Polish or could there be something else? My mtdna on my mother's side (The Los) side seems to show different ethnicities besides Polish.

Well, with the diacriticals £oś is defintiely Polish. Without them it could be traceable to soem otehr nationality. In German los means wrong as in "Was ist los?" (what's wrong).

One example: in Polish posada means a job post or position, in Spanish it is a tavern or inn.

I guess what I'm asking is: Have you ever heard of the surname being used as an Ashkenazi surname, as my mtdna seems to have much in common to the European Ashkenazi gene base. This is totally a surprise to me, as there was never any talk of this in my family.

ALthough many Polish Jews had certain kinds of names, any name could have been used by a Jew. Never heard of łoś, but Wilk (Wolf) and Lis (Fuchs) were not uncommon.

Maybe this link will lead you in the right direction:

broken link removed

I never heard of a jew (ashkenazi or otherwise) named £oś.
But you might have some Jewish women among your ancestors. You might be interested to know that according to jewish law, being jewish comes from the mother. In other words, if you have only one jewish great grandmother but it's your mother's mother's mother, then you are a Jew no matter what religion or ethinicity of your male £oś ancestors.

Does he have a say it that matter?

Here is a link which can get you started tracing Jewish surnames: nancy.polishsite.us/art24jagafr.htm

What does anybody know about "hidden" Jewish ancestry in Poland?

He can live his life as he sees fit. But regardless of what he does his legal standing in Jewish law is that he is a member of the tribe, with the accompanying rights (to marry another Jew, for example) and obligations (to keep the laws of the torah). But if he ignores this, then Jewish law doesn't hold him responsible because it recognizes that he was brought up as a non-Jew and can't be expected to suddenly believe in the Jewish religion. On the other hand, if he decides that he wants to marry a Jewish girl he won't have to convert, even if he was a catholic priest, because he's already a Jew.

Gee This is most racist? chauvinistic and anachronistic interpretation of "nation" , tribe that I ever heard!
I'm awed ! Its so!!!! tribal fresh from down of humanity - marvelous.

Nothing like cementing your identity, right?

Right?
I don't fallow you....

Well, as long as you follow me, I'm not too concerned about fallow ;) ;)

Everyone has fallow periods :(

I don't know what you had in mind!))))
As for fallow periods - I'm exhausted on the verge of sleep!
byyyyyyyyyyyyy

Classic missing of humour but nevermind, I'm working on you guys. You will rise up above slapstick one day, I'll put my mind to it ;)

I don't see anything racist or chauvinistic about this at all. The law simply determines someone's legal/religious status based on that of his mother. It states nowhere that his status as a Jew is superior or inferior to that of a non-Jew. The reason we don't marry non-Jews is not because we think they are inferior but because we have to preserve our identity and our mission. How else do you think we could maintain our identity as a scattered minority for 2000 years? As far as being anachronistic, Jews are by definition anachronistic, and proud of it.

So, how would/could I "prove" this? Does anyone know?

Prove what?

Prove if I have any Jewish women among my ancestors.

Start by asking your mother. Do you know who your mother's mother's mother was? Do you have a name, or name of a town?

Josefa Los or £os - Born 1896 Białystok
or Synchaja? Yes, I actually knew her but she never said anything about being Jewish, or having Jewish in her background. That's why all this dna stuff is interesting and baffling to me. Furthermore, one of the persons that I share a 0(zero) genetic distance from is an Orthodox Jewish woman (I'll withhold the last name) - but we can't seem to find a link between us, most of her family being from Israel and mine, Poland.

Whats humor? And why would you work on me? Do you have something sinister in mind?


What for that >prove< thingy?
What do you need it for?


But it is ! The member of the tribe have to have "blood" of the tribe without a doubt(thats why mother is more important). It means that "blood" of the tribe is sacred and have special role as a vessel bonding past and present generations together as a one sacred and special entity.

Special is always considered better, why bother if there no differences between mine"family" and other "no family" , that why chauvinistic!

Anachronistic tribe was always "better" then others and as such chauvinistic as a rule!


I think you do!)))))
Maybe not everyone but definitely most of you!

Yes, £os is from Białystok :) From Canada too

Sacred and special role for sure. But if it were only based on blood then converts would not be accepted. Yet a convert to Judaism is considered equal, legally and spiritually, to a born Jew. I'll try to explain it this way:

In ancient times, G-d made a covenant with Jacob and all of his his descendants. The agreement was we would have to follow G-d's law and worship Him alone and in turn, G-d would settle us in the Land of Canaan and give us his protection and blessings. The purpose apparently was for us to be a holy nation that would serve as an example (or as an experiment?) that would eventually be followed by the rest of the world. This agreement is unending and unlaterable as long as there are descendants of Jacob (Israel). Besides for blood descendants, anyone from any nation who identifies with this mission and accepts the burden of keeping the laws of the Torah can join the "holy people".

Now you can say this is terribly chauvinist, but this story is an integral part of western civilization, thanks to the christian religion, which spread this story to the western world. While christians tend to emphasize the failures of the Jews to live up to their special mission, no christian can deny that we were originally chosen to fulfil G-d's mission. We haven't succeeded yet, but we're still trying. And anyone born of a Jewish mother can feel privileged to be part of this, but should also feel awe at the difficulty and seriousness of trying to live life as a Jew should. Anyone not born of a Jewish mother is also welcome to join, as long as they are aware that undertaking to serve G-d as a Jew is not something to be taken lightly. For anyone who sincerely wants this, I say welcome to the gene pool.

So it seems that it is more of a spiritual thing (at least during the times when there is no blood relationship) then blood alone.

Would I be wrong to say that if the Jew does not follow the spiritual path, that would automatically exclude him from being Jewish? I think not. So according to you, it is either spiritual (for Jews and converts) but often blood related, provided the person follows the spiritual path? Please clarify this for me. Most interesting.

It's like this:
Everyone born a Jew is born into the covenant. If that person does not follow the spiritual path, he/she is violating the covenant, but is still a Jew - meaning that the responsibility is still there. A convert chooses to undertake the terms of the covenant, but once he/she does so formally, there's no turning back, and children that she gives birth to after that will be born Jews, generation after generation.