About this talk

Tarbut Foundation Sighet (FTS) was established in 2014 following the 70ᵗʰ commemoration to the Jewish deportations from Maramures. Due to the tremendous success of that first gathering, we founded FTS with the intention to keep alive the memory of the 40,000 Maramures Jews that lived in the region before the Holocaust.

We strive to preserve the Jewish heritage of Maramures through art, culture and education.

Apart from continuing to organise the yearly gathering of commemoration, FTS is committed to the following objectives:

Educating students about the Jewish community of pre-WWII Sighet, the Holocaust and Human Rights

Organizing conferences, art workshops, contests and other events regarding Jewish history and culture

Providing genealogical services

Publishing memoirs and novels, and translating from Hebrew and English to Romanian

Restoring and preserving pre-Holocaust Jewish sites in the city and its vicinity

Observing the International Holocaust Day, Yom Ha'Shoah, Romanian Holocaust Remembrance Day and other European Jewish Days

About Peninah

Peninah Zilberman was born in Israel to survivor parents from Sighet Maramures and Bucharest, Romania. She served the Toronto Jewish Community for over 40 years; principal at Jewish Schools, Holocaust Museum Director and Adath Israel Synagogue Sisterhood President.

In 2014 Peninah initiated the "70th Anniversary Commemoration to the Sighet Deportations" followed by "All Generations Gatherings" in 2015, 2017 and 2019 attracting 1000 participants, from all over the world. She is the Founder & CEO of "Fundatia Tarbut Sighet- Cultura si Educatie Iudaica" (FTS) established in 2014. FTS mission is to assist "All Generations" with their genealogy research and organizing "Family Roots Journeys"; at the same time FTS provides cultural Holocaust programs to the high schools across Romania. FTS is an active member of AEPJ, a European Jewish organization for "Perpetuating the Jewish European Heritage". Peninah initiated Intergenerational Heritage Journeys to Poland, Prague, Vienna and Budapest, starting in the early 1990's following the lifting of the Eastern European Block. Ms. Zilberman is an active participant and speaker at all programs sponsored by JDC and the Jewish Federation of Romanian Jewish Communities.

Presently, Peninah is devoting her time to writing the Family Memoir – working title "New Dynamic Paths". The Zilberman and Walter families have walked through many roads, paths, and tracks until they reached their life destinations.