I. Herbert Gordon Birth (1889)

This document states that Bielsk-registered resident (of the petty-bourgeois class) Pinchas, son of Eli Yankel Chrabolowski, and his wife Chaya Leah, daughter of Ezer, gave birth to a son Israel on December 8, 1889 in the City of Bialystok. He was circumcised on December 15.

The dates above are from the Julian calendar. The birth date of December 8 converts to December 20 on the Gregorian calendar, now used in most of the world. Another column gives the dates in the Jewish calendar.

Herbert spent his whole life thinking he was born on January 1, 1890. He carried an 1890 silver dollar in his pocket every day. Alas, someone mistakenly made the calendar adjustment twice, so Herbert was not a New Year’s baby.

Mark Gordon held Herbert’s original birth certificate in his hands upon visiting the Bialystok branch of the Polish archives in 2003.