Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog

New York: Seeking Syrian Jewish experts

2009-11-23T08:00:00.001+02:00

Do you belong to the Syrian Jewish community in New York?

The Commission on the Jewish People of UJA-Federation of New York works to build
bridges among the various diverse and complex Jewish populations of the New York area.

As part of this, it is currently exploring different elements of the Sephardic Jewish community and specifically the nature of New York's Syrian-Jewish population.

They are searching for potential academics able to conduct research into the Syrian-Jewish community living in Brooklyn today, ascertaining both qualitative and quantitative information such as Jewish patterns of behavior, the socio-economic character of the population, population growth, and interface with the non-Syrian Jewish community at large.

The commission is seeking more on the contemporary nature of Brooklyn's Syrian-Jewish community, rather than historical information. The researcher should be willing to make significant contact with the Syrian community.

For more information, contact the UGA's director of research Jennifer Rosenberg if you are interested or if you know of someone who specializes in this or a related field.

Miami: Cheesecake & stone crabs, Dec. 6

2009-11-23T08:00:00.000+02:00

As a former South Florida resident, my brain cells are indelibly imprinted with memories of great Jewish delis, Joe's Stone Crabs and the Cuban restaurants.

I wish I could be at the next Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami meeting which will feature author Seth Bramson speaking on his most recent book, "Sunshine, Stone Crabs and Cheesecake," on Sunday, December 6.

Bramson, a JGS Miami member, has written 16 books, including the first-ever Jewish history of the area, "L'Chaim! The History of the Jewish Community of Greater Miami," which details the part Members of the Tribe played in building the community.

The morning begins at 9.30am for networking, with the main program at 10am at the Greater Miami Jewish Federation, 4200 Biscayne Boulevard, Miami. (See below for information on security arrangements).

Also, join in the group's annual Hanukkah celebration, complete with decorations, special treats, and a Hanukkah Party Grab Bag. See the JGS Miami website for directions, or contact president Joan Parker for more information on any details.

(SECURITY PARKING: There is free secure parking; bring ID. The gate is permanently closed. On the left, find a yellow security box, press #001 to connect to security. Announce that you are attending the JGS meeting, the gate will slide open and then close behind you.)

MyHeritage.com: Family by the numbers

2009-11-22T17:44:00.001+02:00

Family tree charts are useful for an overall view of a group of your ancestors. Descendant chart printouts help us understand, in a linear text format, how the generations of our family tree relate to each other.

Now there's an entertaining way, via MyHeritage.com's new free tool, to learn family statistics contained in your data.

Called "Family Statistics," the new tool helps researchers access and understand 45 sets of statistics from information in their trees. It will also help locate data entry errors so they can be fixed quickly.

The stats are organized into six Family Zones: names, places, ages, births, marriages and divorces.

Find the oldest and youngest family members, learn who lived the longest, who married the youngest, who had the most children, who married the youngest and other interesting facts that might not be so obvious.

Family Statistics is completely free and easily accessed from the MyHeritage welcome page or from the Reports tab of your Family Tree site.

NOTE: If you've just joined MyHeritage, but have not yet uploaded a Gedcom or entered family information, you won't see the Reports tab. That should encourage you to add data now!

To gain the most from this interesting new tool, keep growing your tree and adding more information.

How can Family Statistics help you in other ways?

As it provides a quick way to demonstrate family facts and figures, the new tool can answer family questions fast.

MyHeritage members gain more insight into their families by growing their trees. The more data in a tree, the more interesting the charts will become.

If you see some strange results, such as siblings born a century apart or an ancestor married at age 10, you'll know a mistake was made somewhere and you can correct it quickly.

Enjoy this new way to learn more about your family!

JPS: Free readers' guides online

2009-11-22T08:00:00.007+02:00

The Jewish Publication Society offers free downloadable teachers/readers guides to some of its titles.

Read about them here.

They can be used for all kinds of groups, schools, adult education and others. They might also lead to more gift ideas for children and teens.

Genealogists should enjoy Vanessa L. Och's award-winning Inventing Jewish Ritual, for which the Leaders’ Guide suggests activities for exploring the meaning of Jewish objects, old and new; new ritual practices; ways to curate a mini-exhibit of contemporary Jewish life; and ways in which to conduct an ethnographic journey through one’s own Jewish life.

Did your family come through Galveston, Texas? Zayda was a Cowboy by June Levitt Nislick has a Study Guide which asks thought-provoking questions and provides background information on the Galveston Plan, a less-studied aspect of Jewish life in America in the late 19th-early 20th centuries.

While there are guides for such children's titles as The JPS Illustrated Children’s Bible, there's also the guide by Neal Scheindlin for The Commentators’ Bible: The JPS Miqrao’ot Gedolot, which has been translated into contemporary English.

One guide that isn't free is a book, Paul Steinberg’s Study Guide to Jewish Ethics, a companion volume to Rabbi Elliot Dorff's three Jewish ethics books: "Matters of Life and Death," "To Do the Right and the Good" and "Love Your Neighbor and Yourself."

Take a look around JPS and view its catalog.

Jewish Women's Archive: Santa Fe trip, March 2010

2009-11-22T07:00:00.003+02:00

The Jewish Women's Archive is planning a trip to one of my favorite places, Santa Fe, New Mexico, during March 2010.

The theme is Jewish memory and narrative through art and craft, with a talk by Dr. Stanley Hordes, author of the excellent "To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico."

The trip is set from Wednesday-Sunday, March 3-7. For details, see the JWA.

For a century, artists have flocked to Santa Fe. The work of Jewish artists there combines both their heritage and their understanding of themselves as modern Jews. Life in Santa Fe is influenced by the existence of the hidden Jews - the Conversos - and their descendants who survive in Spanish outposts like New Mexico.

Jews living here have the freedom to be or not to be Jewish - surrounded by the ghosts of Jews who were not free to make that same choice, who were forced to give up their heritage but preserved it anyway as family custom and lore.

The local Jewish community lives alongside two others struggling to keep their cultural heritage. Both the Native Americans, with their extraordinary baskets and carvings, and Hispanics, with their tapestries and folk art, are engaged in the quest of how to remain affiliated and proud despite the forces of assimilation, homogeneity, and modernity.

The venue is the historic downtown Hotel Santa Fe, the city's only Native American-owned hotel. It is in the new Guadalupe Railyard District, called Santa Fe's Soho, filled with museums, galleries, shops and restaurants just outside the hotel.

Each day, meet Jewish artists and visit their studios, enjoy meals with poets and artists at some great dining locations, enjoy private tours of the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum and the new facility of the Santa Fe Art Institute, visit galleries like the Casa Nova Gallery, tour the School for Advanced Research on the Human Experience, lunch at and and tour the Institute for American Indian Arts with legacy guide Carol Franco and Jewish Native American Lois Frank, visit the Museum of New Mexico with director Fran Levine.

There's a Santa Fe-style Shabbat dinner at the Rosewood Inn of the Anasazi with Rabbi Malka Drucker and local hosts. On Saturday morning, join Shabbat serves at any of the local synagogues or privately tour the Museum of Indian Arts & Culture and the Museum of International Folk Art. Famed photographer Annie Leibovitz will speak at the O'Keeffe museum (separate tickets) when she receives the museum's 2010 Women of Distinction award, and end the day at a farewell banquet at the Geronimo Restaurant.

On Sunday, listen to one of my favorite people, Dr. Stanley Hordes, author of "To the End of the Earth: A History of the Crypto-Jews of New Mexico," as he discusses the remarkable story of Crypto-Jews and their tenuous preservation of Jewish rituals and traditions over the past 500 years, from their origins in medieval Spain and Portugal to their efforts to escape persecution by settling in the far reaches of the northern Mexican frontier.

What a great way to take a Santa Fe break! Your first visit will not be your last. If you've been to Santa Fe before, this is a new way to enjoy the city's atmosphere.

Israel: New database

2009-11-22T07:00:00.001+02:00

In a collaboration that could be the model for other genealogical societies in other countries, the Israel Genealogical Society (IGS) has developed a special relationship with Petah Tikva's Oded Yarkoni Archive, which focuses on the city's history.

The IGS hopes other municipal archives will follow. This model is also useful for encouraging individuals to join genealogical societies, as these particular databases are accessible only to IGS members, in its online Members' Corner.

In recent years, the Oded Yarkoni archive has made a number of databases available - through the IGS website - with information about the city's population in its first 50 years. This is important to those searching family that lived there.

The current databases are the 1922 census, various registries, the 1923-34 birth registry and the 1923-1939 death registry. The 1922 census database has been translitered from Hebrew to English, but the others are only in Hebrew.

Here is additional information about the archival registries which are nine Hebrew-only lists, mostly undated, from the files of the town council.

They include the craftsmen's association, the vegetable marketing branch, the weighers, tradesmen, farmers, Maccabi Avshalom, automobile owners, horse-drawn wagon owners, and farmers living on the moshav. IGS has combined them into one database, including details found in each.

As an example, the tradesmens' list included the type of business and address for most individuals. In the craftsmen's registry, only the address was listed. For weighers, the addresses were given with the year (1943-44), while Maccabi Avshalom's list was dated 1939-1940.

The database includes 947 names. It is in Hebrew and can only be searched in Hebrew.

Some tips: If a surname is a compound, such as Ben Ezer, search for "contains Ben." A joint ownership or partnership with two surnames is listed twice - under both the first and second surname.

There is useful information here for those who can access it. Take a look around the IGS website for its English resources and databases.

USHMM: June workshop, Sephardic Jewry and the Holocaust

2009-11-21T16:00:00.002+02:00

A June 2010 workshop on Sephardic Jewry and the Holocaust will take place at the USHMM in Washington, DC. The application deadline is November 23 (see below).

It is sponsored by the Center for Advanced Holocaust Studies (CAHS) of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM) which is seeking applications for the workshop, planned for June 16-25, 2010 at the USHMM. Up to 14 applicants will be accepted.

It will be led by two leading scholars in the field, Aron Rodrigue and Daniel Schroeter. There are two parts, seminar and research.

The seminar will address interdisciplinary issues, such as Ladino language and Sephardic identity; the Sephardic experience in ghettos, camps, and transports; resistance and rescue; and the experience of North African Jews before and during the war. Geographic areas are Southeastern Europe (Balkans, Bulgaria, Greece) and North Africa (Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, and Morocco).

The research section will consist of orientation, exposure, and guided research in the Museum's extensive archival and other collections concerning North Africa, Croatia, Greece, Serbia, the Jewish community of Monastir, newly acquired collections in Ladino and Judeo-Arabic, and selected collections of Sephardic-survivor oral testimonies and Sephardic music.

The goals are to acquaint emerging scholars with the breadth of this rich and diverse subject matter; expose them to new scholarly research on Sephardic Studies and the Holocaust; and provide them with the background knowledge, archival resources, and scholarly networking necessary to initiate or continue work in this underrepresented area.

USHMM will accept up to 14 scholars from among advanced graduate students, doctoral candidates, post-doctoral scholars, and early career academics who are currently conducting or considering research on Sephardic Jewish Studies, Holocaust Studies in Sephardic countries or communities, or area studies in countries in which Sephardic Jews resided.

Candidates must be affiliated with an accredited, degree-awarding institution (baccalaureate, the equivalent, or higher) in North America.

Applications, which must be submitted electronically (or postmarked) in English by November 23, include a current CV, a statement on the scholar's interest and background, a supporting letter from an advisor, department chair or dean. Non-local attendees receive lodging for the workshop and $1,000 towards travel and incidental expenses. Local attendees receive $200 for the two weeks.

Questions? Contact Dr. Leah Wolfson, or view the USHMM site for more information.

UK: Meeting the family in Israel

2009-11-21T13:29:00.003+02:00

Tracing the Tribe loves family reunions. The Jewish Chronicle covered the recent get-together of the Sugarman family in Israel.

The story was written by one of the attendees - Gita Conn - making it very personal, indeed.

Thirty-six people from the Conn branch of Manchester were among the more than 200 people - including 80 children - at the reunion in LaRomme Hall, in Rehovot. Some were meeting for the first time and some were there in utero, born after the historic event.

The attendees were all descendants of Manchester quilt-blanket manufacturer Chaim Sugerman, born in Vaslui, Romania, and his wife Rosa. Some 80 years ago, in 1929, the couple brought five of their eight children to Palestine.

According to the story, the group was a real mix:

The dairy farmer from Meggido met the financial director from Paris; the radical feminist from Haifa chatted to the head of a yeshivah; the UK’s leading legal pensions expert hung on the words of the retired Ashkelon health inspector, fascinated to hear that, after service in the British Army from 1938, he departed Manchester in ’48 to serve the Hagganah and, at the age of 91, still spoke fluent English “with a Mancunian accent which only exists abroad”.

Secular and Charedi, professionals and blue-collar, kibbutzniks and city dwellers ate, drank and mingled joyfully as they celebrated a Jewish family saga with a rare theme of happily-ever-after… at least so far. We had made it. Grandchildren and spouses, great-grandchildren, great-great and one great-great-great descendant of just one couple — Chaim and Rosa Sugarman, who took five of their eight children from Manchester to Palestine 80 years ago.
Planning a similar reunion?

There are tips in this story for you including badges, activities, recording the historic event, an historic photo display, family tree books, entertaining the children at such an event, displaying memorabilia and much more.

Read the complete story at the link above.

Wales: Oldest synagogue to be converted

2009-11-21T13:00:00.001+02:00

The oldest Welsh synagogue will be converted to apartments, according to the Jewish Chronicle.

The 1870s' Neo-Gothic synagogue in Merthyr Tydfil - the only one known to incorporate a Welsh dragon in its architectural design - has been closed since 1983. Now empty and a target for vandals, it was used as a Christian community center and gym.

A company in Warwickshire plans to convert the Grade II listed historic building into eight apartments, and will leave the exterior intact as well as maintaining the synagogue's Magen David stained glass windows.

Today, some 2,000 Jews live in Wales, about half of the total living there in the early 20th-century. Only about a dozen live in the town today, and most Welsh Jews live in Cardiff, which has an Orthodox and a Reform synagogue.

Read more at the Jewish Chronicle.

JGSLA 2010: Call for Papers

2009-11-21T12:30:00.002+02:00

The Call for Papers is open for the 30th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (July 11-16, in Los Angeles).

The topics of interest are listed below. See the next JGSLA 2010 post for details and tips on submitting session proposals.

Your ideas are requested for what will be one of the most exciting conferences ever. Read all about the event, sign up for the newsletter, the blog and much more at the conference site.

There will be 5 1/2 days of information-packed programs and lectures by experts for all attendees from beginners to advanced. The program will include the Jewish Film Festival, computer classes/workshops, as well as artistic workshops and musical performances. It's the perfect time to network, collaborate, meet old and new friends, experts and archivists from around the world.

Mark your calendar: Proposals must be received through the online process only by 12:00am Pacific Coast time January 15, 2010. You may edit proposals through that time. No emailed proposals will be accepted.

These topics are of special interest, but this is just a guide to the possibilities:

Research sources/methodology: For beginning genealogists
Research sources/Jewish history: Los Angeles/State of California.
Research resources/methodology for:
-- Eastern Europe
-- Western Europe
-- Sephardim
-- Mizrahim
-- Converso/B'nai Anousim
-- Persian Jewish History
-- Israel (pre-/post-1948)
-- US/Canada
-- South/Central America
-- Other locales (Australia, China, South Africa, India, etc.)
Jewish immigration/migration
Jewish surname adoption/naming patterns
Genetics/DNA research
Holocaust research
The immigration experience
"Hollywood" and the Jewish community
Oral histories/family newsletters
Jewish history/culture
Yiddish theatre/Tin Pan Alley/klezmer music/Broadway
Roots/"shtetl" travel
Rabbinic research
Photographic/document preservation
Technology/Internet resources
Computer training workshops
Other workshops (photo identification, face-recognition, document preservation, etc.)

The program committee invites creativity, innovation, originality and even esoteric topics for new relevant sessions. Have suggestions for double sessions, panels, interactive and/or special presentations? Tell the committee.

Click here for more information, or email for answers to other questions about the program.

See the next JGSLA 2010 post for details and tips for preparing your proposals.

What makes a newspaper Jewish?

2009-11-21T10:35:00.021+02:00

Is a Jewish newspaper intended only for a Jewish audience? Is its content only for "Jewish" topics and issues?Should local and regional newspapers be included?

According to the historical Jewish press database detailed below, a Jewish paper will be written and published by Jewish writers and editors, which will necessarily include local and international events impacting its audience.

In addition to local and international general and Jewish news of interest to its readership, there will be social announcements, along with local business and event news and ads. Some publications may be directed towards niche audiences - adults, children, young people, institutions or political parties.

Most importantly for Tracing the Tribe's readers, these papers are important sources for genealogy and name searches. Jewish papers from international communities provide a source for those of us interested in searching for information on our relatives and ancestors to reconstruct our family trees. And we also learn how our ancestors lived.

While searching in the French language Bulletin de l/Alliance Israelite Universelle, using "perse juif juives" as a search term, some 124 articles came up. One of them, from 1892, listed the 22 restrictions placed on Jews in Hamadan, including: a Jewish doctor may not ride a horse, all Jews must wear a red badge, a Jewish house must not be higher than a Moslem's and the door to a Jewish home must be low.

Searching for Isfahan or Isphahan produced no hits, it was necessary to write Ispahan, to find 118 articles. An 1890 article - by which time our Dardashti family had already been in Teheran for some 40 years, although some branches had remained in Isfahan - detailed an 1888 visit there by Sir Julian Goldsmid and Sir Albert Sassoon, representing the Anglo-Jewish Association.

While "big" papers tend to focus on "important" people, local community papers offer information on ordinary people, and include social announcements with information on births, engagements, weddings and deaths, information on court cases and business dealings, in addition to advertisements.

It also provides information on what items might cost, such as this 1932 bit (left) from the Palestine Post on what oranges sold for in Manchester.

What it means for family history researchers is that our families' details may be lurking in these pages, and for some of these details, it might be the only place to find that information.

However, for some communities, remember that countries and local geographic names have changed (e.g., Istanbul was Constantinople before 1930; where exactly was Prussia?), and searchers need to know the old names of places and where they were located at the time the paper was published. A quick bit of Googling will likely turn up the information you need to search more efficiently.

Tracing the Tribe has been writing quite a bit about historical newspapers in general, and this post details a site to help researchers interested in pre-/post-state Israel, France, Egypt, Morocco, Prussia, Poland and Austria.

This site contains a collection of Jewish newspapers published in various countries, languages, and time periods. Digital versions of each newspaper are displayed, so researchers can see the paper in its original format. Full-text search is also available for all content.

There are 11 newspapers in the interactive database (Hebrew University of Jerusalem) and here (Tel Aviv University) (two access URLs for the same site). The papers are organized in three sections: the Jewish press in Arab lands, 19th-century Hebrew press, and the Yeshuv and State of Israel.

Each search must be performed in the language of publication. Caution: searching in Hebrew characters using the foreign (French or English) interface or searching in Latin characters using the Hebrew interface will not produce any results. And, for the linguistically challenged, there is only one English publication, the Palestine Post (forerunner of today's Jerusalem Post).

Some were published daily, weekly, every two weeks, monthly. The papers, language, years, pages and place of publication are listed below:

Palestine Post - Palestine/Eretz Israel
English - 1932-1950 - 32,745 pages

Bulletin de l/Alliance Israelite Universelle - France
French - 1860-1913 - 10,774 pages

Paix et Droit - France
French - 1921-1940 - 2,344 pages

L'Avenir Illustre - Morocco
French - 1926-1940 - 3,335 pages

Ha-Magid - Prussia, Poland, Austria
Hebrew - 1856-1903 - 19, 445 pages

Ha-Levanon - Palestine/Eretz Israel, France, Prussia, Britain
Hebrew - 1863-1886 - 7,629 pages

Israel - Egypt
French - 1920-1939 - 3,158 pages

Davar - Palestine/Eretz Israel
Hebrew - 1925-1996 - 97,707 pages

Ha-Zvi - Palestine/Eretz Israel
Hebrew - 1884-1915 -7,695 pages

La Liberte - Morocco
French/Judeo-Arabic - 1926-1940 - 440 pages

La Voix des Communautes - Morocco
French - 1950-1963 - 578 pages

For tips on searching, read the FAQ with more on the content and how to use it here.

The site also offers links to other sites with historical Jewish newspapers, such as Historical Hebrew Press (with titles from the beginning of the Hebrew-language press), Compact Memory (Jewish German-language periodicals, 1837-1938), Exilpresse (text database of some 30 Jewish German-language papers, 1933-1945), The Pittsburgh Jewish Newspaper Project (Jewish papers from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and environs), The Occident and American Jewish Advocate (one of the first Jewish papers in the US, full text access but not scanned original images), The Jewish Chronicle (subscription site but search is free, oldest British Jewish paper (1841-today), and The Jewish Theological Seminary (periodical list related to Judaism on the Internet, historical/current).

For general historical press, see Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (Library of Congress, 1836-1922), The 19th Century British Library Newspapers Website (1 million digital pages via National British Library).

For sites with US focus, see The New York Public Libraries, Historical Newspapers, University of Pennsylvania, Historical Newspapers Online, Historical Newspapers and Indexes On The Internet – USA.

Of course, three excellent subscription sites for historical newspapers are NewspaperArchive.com, Footnote.com and GenealogyBank.com.

What have you found?

Thanks to Rose Feldman for this tip.

Illinois: Maxwell Street film, Nov. 22

2009-11-20T02:07:00.013+02:00

If you can get to Skokie, you'll be able to see a great documentary called "Maxwell Street: A Living Memory," on Sunday, November 22.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois is hosting the film at 2pm, at Temple Beth Israel.

I saw the 2001 film when it was shown at Beth Hatefutsoth in Tel Aviv several years ago and interviewed filmmaker Shuli Eshel. Whether or not your family's roots are in old Chicago, it is a wonderful homage to long-ago days.

Read about the Maxwell Street Foundation, dedicated to preserving, interpreting and presenting the multicultural history of some 150 years of the old Maxwell Street Market and neighborhood in Chicago.
In 1994, when the University of Illinois at Chicago and the City of Chicago teamed up to move the market and begin the neighborhood's final destruction, there were many pockets of resistance. A coalition formed consisting of property owners, neighborhood businesses, street vendors, residents, blues musicians and fans, and historic preservationists.
The group was formed in 1997 as the Maxwell Street Historic Preservation Coalition. In 2004, with the destruction and redevelopment of the neighborhood nearly complete, it became the Maxwell Street Foundation. When the last residents and businesses were remove, the new focus became preserving the area's history.

With Eshel, it co-produced the 30-minute documentary which captures the Maxwell Street Market through memories of the children and grandchildren of Eastern European Jewish immigrants who built it, incorporating some rare film and photographs.

In association with the Chicago Historical Society, the group also produced a book of photographs - "Chicago's Maxwell Street," and a book of oral histories, Jewish Maxwell Street Stories. (both by Arcadia Publishing).

The JGSI meeting will open at 12.30pm, so that members and guests can use the genealogical library, get help with genealogy websites or ask related questions before the film is screened.

For more information, view the JGSI website.

DNA and the death of Venice

2009-11-19T07:00:00.001+02:00

The population of Venice, Italy is dwindling, and is now below 60,000. A mock funeral for the city was also the impetus for a DNA project on the origins of Venetian families.

One reason is the high cost of living in the city, and tourism is also taking the blame as food and housing costs rise and people move to the mainland. The number of residents has dropped by 66% since the 1950s.

Some residents say that a house in Venice costs twice as much as a similar one elsewhere.

A recent event highlighted the situation with a mock funeral. Activists claim Venice is a ghost town, populated only by tourists, although the city calls the its death premature.

A city demographer said the low number ignores 120,000 people on Murano and Lido Beach islands, while admitting the population had decreased in the central historic section of Venice.

On a brighter note, which should add to DNA databases, the event was used to collect DNA samples from Venetians to discover more about the origins of central and western European populations. Worcester Polytechnic Institute (Massachusetts) scientists hope to take some 5,000 DNA swabs to learn more about the Venetians' origins.

Several sources covered the story, including BBC and AFP.

Volunteer mapmakers: Changing our views

2009-11-18T08:00:00.002+02:00

Do you use Google Maps? Do you know where they come from? Have you ever had a GPS device problem?

In summer 2007, I spoke at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Sacramento (California). The president drove me from the train to his house, cautioning me to watch his GPS device. As we neared his home, the voice repeatedly said "turn left" at the next intersection, but my friend was in the right lane. As I checked our surroundings on the left, I saw a large building (no road through it!). As he made the right-hand turn into his street, he said that he enjoys showing that to visitors and that complaints were made but nothing had been updated.

Perhaps by now it has been updated by local residents, who are tired of being told to make a left turn where there is no such possibility.

People on-the-ground in their own neighborhoods and cities know when there are local map errors or changes in roads or new buildings. According to a New York Times technology story today, Google and other websites now understand that local residents can fix problems more quickly than professional digital map providers.

The new philosophy of mapmaking and geo-volunteerism was addressed today in the story by Miguel Helft. Read it here.

Geo-volunteerism is a new term to Tracing the Tribe, and the story began with Richard Hintz, 62, of San Francisco, who enters map details into atlases accessible online. Using GPS devices and simple software, volunteers create digital maps that never existed and, on existing maps, fix mistakes and add data.

Google says accessible maps are even more important these days as so many cellphone users rely on them to get where they want to go. You can't get there from here without reliable data, and local users are providing it.

According to the story, Google is dropping traditional providers and using volunteers to create maps of 140 countries, which are more complete than those from professional providers.

Other online resources are mentioned, such as the non-profit OpenStreetMap, whose 180,000 contributors have made free maps available to anyone. Its maps are used in IPhones and even on a White House website. WikiMapia creates maps that are layered on top of Google’s.

There's information on how this data is being used in GPS devices.

A most interesting read at the link above.

'Cool' Chanukah videos

2009-11-18T07:50:00.001+02:00

In Israel, Jacob Richman's website offers so many resources in so many categories. He's just created a list of 115 cool Chanukah YouTube videos.

Chanukah begins Friday, December 11 at sundown.

Laugh a little! It's good for you! And count the different ways the holiday is spelled!

The list includes these and many more:

Adam Sandler's - The Chanukah Song
Kenny Ellis sings his hit single Swingin' Dreidel
I Had a Little Dreidl - Bagel Blvd Chanuka Edition
Left to Right - Michelle Citrin
Captain Smartypants sings Dreidel
The Funky Gold Menorah by The Mama Doni Band
Chabad: Chanukah Around the World
Light Up - Moshe Skier Band
Poway Chanukah: Yes, We Can!
Nefesh B'Nefesh: Modern Day Miracles
Birthright: Light em Up
Hanukkah Bird (animation and song)
My Menorah - The knack is back! (animation and song)
Ahmedinijad admits he is addicted!
Eli Yazpan, Hanukkah (in Hebrew)
Jewlarious: he Miracle on 42nd Street
Benji Lovitt: Happy Chanukkah from Jerusalem!
Meshugga Beach Party - Oh Hanukkah
"First Time Lighting" - with Matisyahu, Nosson Zand
Al Hanisim - Six13 @ Chabad Chanukah Telethon
Hannukah Song Texas Style
Oy Cappella - Adam Sandler Chanukah Song
Voices of Liberty singing O Hannukah
Aish: Just Jew It - True Chanuka Story
Chana Zelda
"The Latke Song" by Debbie Friedman
How to play Chanukah Dredyl
LeeVees - Latke Clan
Gerber Folk Skewer The Dreidel Song
The Eight Nights of Hanukkah, as told by Jewish celebrities
Purim Homintaschen vs. Hannukah Latke debate
Feed Me Bubbe - Latkes

Enjoy many more!

APG: Election congrats to familiar faces

2009-11-18T07:30:00.011+02:00

Some very familiar faces - from New Hampshire, Florida, Utah, New York and Israel - were among the 17 individuals recently elected to the Association of Professional Genealogists board.

Special congratulations from Tracing the Tribe go to the following:

Laura G. Prescott of Brookline, New Hampshire was elected president.

Andrew M. “Drew” Smith of Odessa, Florida, was elected secretary. Drew is the Florida Genealogical Society of Tampa president, and co-hosts (with George Morgan), the Genealogy Guys Podcast.

Among elected regional directors:

West Region: Suzanne Russo Adams AG of Utah, is a specialist in Italian research and employee of Ancestry.com.

I've known Suzanne for what seems like years and she was my host when I visited Ancestry's Provo headquarters a few years ago. We meet at the Southern California Genealogical Society's annual Jamborees as well as the annual IAJGS international Jewish genealogy conferences, where she is usually an Ancestry.com speaker.

Northeast Region: Debra Braverman of New York, is a national speaker and forensic genealogist who regularly testifies as an expert witness.

She is a JGS of New York member; we meet at the annual IAJGS conferences.

International Regions: Michael Goldstein of Israel, traces roots worldwide, specializing in family reunification, heir searches and Holocaust research.

Well-known to all genealogists in Israel, Michael wears several hats as president of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) and president of the Israel Genealogical Society. He speaks at Jewish genealogical societies in North America and at IAJGS conferences.

The Association of Professional Genealogists, established in 1979, represents nearly 2,000 genealogists, librarians, writers, editors, historians, instructors, booksellers, publishers, and others involved in genealogy-related businesses. APG encourages genealogical excellence, ethical practice, mentoring, and education. The organization also supports the preservation and accessibility of records useful to the fields of genealogy, local, and social history. Its members represent all 50 states, Canada, and 30 other countries.

Congratulations to everyone elected this year!

Florida: Jacksonville cemetery restored

2009-11-16T08:00:00.020+02:00

History has not been kind to Florida's oldest Jewish cemetery. Read about how one person's visit a few years ago inspired a major restoration project.

It had been a couple of years since Clare Hogwood visited her relatives’ graves in the Jewish section at Jacksonville’s Old City Cemetery.

The markers were weather-beaten and covered with moss. Some had fallen over.
Shin-high stone walls around the section had become dirty and overgrown,
disappearing from view. “You couldn’t even read some of the stones,” Hogwood said.

She was disgusted and took her concern to her congregation, Ahavath Chesed, which was responsible for the 46-grave plot.

Last week, she returned - this time in a much better mood - as the congregation and the city rededicated the Jewish section of Eastside cemetery with a memorial stone and service.

This was a public-private partnership as the cemetery land had been donated by the city to the Jewish community 152 years ago - in 1857 - during a Yellow Fever epidemic. The congregation funded the restoration.

Read the complete story here and learn about the Jewish history of this community. and the first Jewish cemetery in the state.

Among the first graves are those of the Dzialynski (pronounced da-linsky) family, the first Jews in Jacksonville. In 1881, the city’s only Jewish mayor was Morris Dzialynski. Hogwood's great-great-great-grandfather was Philip Dzialynski, who died in 1896.

Congregation archivist Hazel Mack said some of the dead served in the Confederate army during the Civil War, but none died in the fighting. The plot fell into disrepair after the last burial in 1935.

Hogwood and other descendants who complained helped spearhead the six-month restoration project, Mack said.

Congregation board member Douglas Oberdorfer said it was a moving experience to finally see the grave of Abraham Zacharias.

“He was my great-great-grandfather,” said Oberdorfer, 37. He had last been to the cemetery as a kid, when both grave and marker were lost in the overgrowth.

“It gives me a sense of connection and reaffirmation with my family, my congregation and Judaism,” he said.

Read the complete article at the link above, and also search Tracing the Tribe for more articles on Florida's Jewish history, using the search box on the left sidebar.

Caribbean conference: More information

2009-11-16T08:00:00.019+02:00

Here's more information on The Jewish Diaspora of the Caribbean International Conference , which will explore the history, culture, and identity of Caribbean Jewry, from January 12-14, 2010.

Here's much more information on session titles, post-conference program, hotel and registration. This is an update to Tracing the Tribe's previous post which provided only speakers' names.

The venue is the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel. High-season discounted rates: deluxe single (US$149.73) or deluxe double (US$171.38), including service charge, all taxes and buffet breakfast. For more on the conference, click here; for registration and fees, click here (scroll down for details).

Jamaica is easily accessible from the East Coast. I wish it were as accessible from Tel Aviv!

Tuesday, January 12
--Sephardic Trade Networks in the Colonial Caribbean
Chair: Jane S. Gerber

Miriam Bodian, University of Texas
“The Formation of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish Diaspora.”

Jonathan I. Israel, Institute of Advanced Studies, Princeton
“Amsterdam, Curacao and the Rise of Sephardic Trade System in the Caribbean (1600–1670)”

Gérard Nahon, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, Paris
“Amsterdam and the Jewish Nation of the Caribbean during the Seventeenth Century”

Holly Snyder, Brown University
“What Jewish Merchants Contributed to Jamaican Commerce, 1670–1831.

-- Material and Visual Culture of Caribbean Jewry
Chair: Judah Cohen

Rachel Frankel, Architect
“Remnant Stones: The Significance of New World Portuguese Jewish Diaspora Cemeteries.”

Sharman Kadish, Director, Jewish Heritage, UK; University of Manchester
“Isaac Mendes Belisario, London’s Bevis Marks Synagogue, and the Sephardi Architectural Heritage."

Jackie Ranston, Independent Scholar, Jamaica,
“Biography as History: The Art of Isaac Mendes Belisario (1794–1849)—Story Painter.”

Wednesday, January 13
-- Caribbean Jewish Identity and Heritage: From Conversos to Modern Jews
Chair: Miriam Bodian

Mordechai Arbell, The Ben Zvi Institute, Jerusalem
“The Gradual Disappearance of the Spanish-Portuguese Jewish Communities of the Caribbean.”

Ronnie Perelis, Yeshiva University
“Daniel Israel Lopez Laguna’s Espejo Fiel de Vidas (London 1720) and the Ghost of Marrano Autobiography.”

Hilit Surowitz, University of Florida
“Portuguese Jews of the Caribbean and the Question of Early Modern Secularization.”

Judah Cohen, Indiana University
“Inscribing Ourselves with History: Exploring Heritage in Today's Caribbean Jewish Diaspora.”

TOUR: A Jamaican Jewish Heritage Tour of the Duke Street Synagogue, with author/local historian Ed Kritzler

-- Blacks and Jews in the English Caribbean
Chair: Eli Faber

James Robertson, University of the West Indies, Mona
“The ‘Confession made by Cyrus’ reconsidered: Maroons and Jews during the First Maroon War.”

Stan Mirvis, The Graduate Center, CUNY
“Sexuality and Sentiment: Concubinage between Jewish Males and their Female Slaves in late Eighteenth-Century Jamaica.”

Swithin Wilmot, University of the West Indies, Mona
“Jewish Retailers and Black Voters in Post Slavery Jamaica: Electoral Politics in the Parish of St. Dorothy, 1849-1860.”

Thursday, January 14
-- Reassessing the Geographic and Ethnic Definitions of Caribbean Jewry Chair: Jane S. Gerber

Eli Faber, John Jay College, CUNY
“The Jews of Colonial America: How Broad were the Parameters?”

Matt Goldish, Ohio State University
"Franks Among Franks: Adventures of a Jamaican Ashkenazi in the 1690s."

Dale Rosengarten and Barry Steifel, The College of Charleston
“Charles Towne, South Carolina: Northernmost Outpost of the Gulf-Caribbean Plantation Region.”

Joanna Newman, The University of Southampton; The British Library
“Refugees from Nazism in the Caribbean during World War Two.”

TOUR: Jamaican Jewish Heritage Tour of the Hunt’s Bay Cemetery, with author/local historian Ed Kritzler

-- The Art of Sephardic Genealogy Workshop

John de Mercado, Independent Scholar
“A Sephardic Odyssey: Four Centuries of the de Mercado Family in the West Indies.”

Panel Discussion: Ainsley Henriques, John de Mercado, David Kleiman.

Post-Conference Program Highlights, January 15-16
(Click here to read about the Jewish significance of these sites).

Friday, January 15: Hillel Academy - Visit to Jamaica’s National Gallery of Art - Lunch at Strawberry Hill - Shabbat Service - Kiddush and Dinner.

Saturday, January 16: Shabbat Services - Lunch at Devon House - Visit to Port Royal - Dinner in Old City - Cocktails and Concert.

The conference is sponsored by the United Congregation of Israelites of Kingston Jamaica, Institute for Sephardic Studies of the Graduate Center CUNY, University of the West Indies, American Sephardi Federation, International Survey of Jewish Monuments, Jamaica Tourist Board, Commonwealth Jewish Council, Laurence and Ronnie Levine and Dr. John de Mercado.

Montreal: Ottawa's Jewish history, Nov. 23

2009-11-16T08:00:00.007+02:00

Learn about Ottawa's Jewish community at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Montreal on Monday, November 23.

Speakers are JGS Ottawa founding president Hymie Reichstein and vice president John Diener.

The meeting begins at 7pm, in association with the Jewish Public Library, and the venue is the Gelber Conference Center, 5151 Cote Ste-Catherine.

For more information on JGS Montreal meetings and Sunday morning family tree workshops, click here.

The site is packed with information, indexes and much more. If you have or had family in the Montreal area, you shouldn't miss this as a resource.

New Blog: Through young immigrants' eyes

2009-11-15T12:50:00.018+02:00

There's a new blog, Half-Remembered Stories, written by more than a dozen young Jewish immigrants, aged 16-25. If you have immigrant ancestors - don't we all? - readers should relate to the words of these young people.

"I am up to my ears in bits and pieces. I am immersed in parts of my family’s story, in clues to follow-up on, in tales that must continue to be reinvented, imbued with life. But because there is so much, so much, so much time gone by and so much family I must consult ...," writes Hannah, one of 16 young Jews invited to blog for the New Jewish Filmmaking Project (NJFP).

The NJFP project is subtitled, "Emerging media from the borderlands of Jewish identity."

For the past seven years, 50 young Jews (ages 16-25), have collaborated with a team of documentary filmmakers to create sophisticated, personal documentaries; 16 are blogging.

The NJFP project, sponsored by the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF), also creates films about and co-directed by these new immigrants from the former Soviet Union, Latino Jews and Jews of North African origin, who are "coming of age at the intersection of multiple ethnic and national identities."

In July 2010, the projected multi-media exhibit will launch under the auspices of the SFJFF's New Media Initiative.

It will be about lost people, lost places and the quest to reclaim lost memory, and will combine films, text, photographs and audio to show what it means to come of age on the border between Jewish identity and mainstream American life.

Some of the young bloggers are Adam, Alex, Ashley, Corey, David, Hannah, Jason, Klaira, Lee, Mayana, Samantha, Yelena, Yenny and Zoe.

Samantha writes, "The streets you resided in as a child stick with you for life. Your childhood home, so to speak, is where memories reside. I bet almost all of you reading this can remember the address, or at least the street name of the house where you began your life. For myself, and those around me ... ."

"We’re all familiar with the timeless adage 'write what you know,' and it continues to guide writers both young and old. The NJFP has long offered a unique opportunity for young Jewish filmmakers to 'film what they know,' taking us on tours of their homes, histories, streets, and cities—exploring their fears, passions, and dreams....," shares Lee.

See the videos here, including "Four Short Films About Love," where a Latino-Jewish couple strolls through San Francisco’s Mission district, a triad of sisters laze on a sunny Sunday morning, four grandmothers face off at a Russian family dinner. It demonstrates how families come together and sometimes fall apart. The film won the 2004 Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Produced by documentary production company Citizen Film, the NJFP is a program of the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival which provides showcase venues. More than 300,000 people have viewed the NFJP films through public television and exhibits in classrooms nationwide.

Tracing the Tribe thinks this project and exhibit will be of interest to help young people get involved with family history research. It would be an interesting exhibit for the upcoming international conferences on Jewish genealogy.

ShtetLinks: What's new for you?

2009-11-15T12:17:00.009+02:00

Many researchers have created online memorials to the Jewish communities where their ancestors once lived. These sites are a valuable resource for current researchers and for those who will be searching for information in the future.

The sites are on JewishGen at the links below for each.

These are the new (N) as well as the updated (U) sites for October, listed by current country.

CHINA
Harbin, China (U)

BELARUS
Homyel (Gomel, Homl), Belarus (N)
Created by: Paul Zoglin

LITHUANIA
Varniai (Vorne), Lithuania (N)
Created by: Susan Gerichter
Webpage Design: ShtetLinks volunteer Greg Meyer

Zagare (Zhager), Lithuania (N)
Created by: Cliff Marks
Webpage Design: ShtetLinks volunteer Nicky Carklin

Aukstoji Panemune (Panemon, Poniemon Frentzela), Lithuania (U)

POLAND
Pila (Schneidemuhl), Poland (N)
Created by: Peter Cullman

SLOVAKIA
Poruba pod Vihorlatom (Nemetvagas), Slovakia (N)
Created by: Marshall J. Katz

UKRAINE
Grimaylov (Grzymalow, Hrymajiliv), Ukraine (N)
Created by: Susana Leistner Bloch
Webmaster: Edward Rosenbaum

Strabychovo (Sztrabicso, Strabichevo), Ukraine (N)
Compiled by: Amos Israel Zezmer
Created/Webpage Design: Marshall J. Katz

Kovel (Kowel), Ukraine (U)

Tracing the Tribe readers who would like to create a webpage for their ancestral shtetls or kahals (there is a Sephardic communities section), or adopt an existing orphan shtetlpage should send an email for more information.

If creating webpages and HTML is not your thing, don't worry. A group of dedicated individuals will help you create this memorial for your ancestral home.

For more information, contact Susana Leistner Bloch, ShtetLinks vice president.

Poland: Open Jewish University launches

2009-11-15T08:00:00.003+02:00

The Shalom Foundation announced on Friday that it was launching the Jewish Open University in Warsaw, Poland. Classes in Jewish literature, culture, music and philosophy will begin in January 2010.

The part-time two-semester program has already enrolled some 30 students, with room for 60. It is backed by Warsaw University.

The joint Polish-American-Israeli foundation is dedicated to reviving Jewish traditions in Poland and preserving the lost culture of what was Europe's former Jewish heartland.

The Shalom Foundation organization was created in 1988 mainly by graduates of the I. L. Perec Jewish School (which no longer exists) in Lódz.

Before the Holocaust, Poland had some 3.5 million Jews. Following the Holocaust and the killing of some 6 million European Jews, there were only 280,000 Jews in Poland. Today, the estimate is from 3,500-15,000 in a mainly Catholic general population of 38 million.

It is however almost impossible to say how many Poles have some Jewish ancestry. According to Jewish history, western European Jews first emigrated to Poland to escape 11th century pogroms. During the war, Jewish children were hidden with Polish families and some in these and other situations are also rediscovering their roots.

One version of the story appeared here. Read more about the Foundation's many activities.

Florida: Finding family success

2009-11-15T08:00:00.001+02:00

Toby Levin's recent family reunion in Israel was the main event at the recent meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami.

This society provides excellent programming and Tracing the Tribe always carries its meeting announcements. We hope the following story will encourage you to attend the meetings of your own local society.

Levin's father came to the US in 1910, leaving his family in Austria, in a town that changed from Austria to Poland to Ukraine. In 1955, when her father died unexpectedly after surgery, she knew nearly nothing about her paternal family, except for her father's birthplace.

The branches of her family tree were bare for 50 years.

The Miami Herald covered the story of how retired freelance journalist Levin, 77, found her cousin Shalom Rosenblatt, 82, in Israel through Yad Vashem's Pages of Testimony, and how the The American Society of Yad Vashem's southern regional director Aaron Bernstein personally called Shalom.

This past August, Levin was inspired by a few events, including listening to a success story at a JGS meeting. She began a dedicated quest, worked all August and made her discovery in September.

Levin typed in her father's last name and his birthplace on Yad Vashem's Internet site. To her surprise, a screen popped up with a Page of Testimony. She had discovered two cousins; one had survived, one had perished in the Holocaust.
"My heart literally stopped,'' Levin said, describing her emotions when she saw a scanned document, hand-written by someone she immediately identified as her cousin.
The entry was for Rosenblatt's younger brother, murdered at 14 in then-Poland.

The Page of Testimony indicated that her only living paternal relative, Shalom Rosenblatt, had moved to Israel. Levin called her brother Jack and told him they were going to Israel.

If you've ever attended a meeting where someone has described such a discovery, you'll know that audience reaction is mixed. Some applaud while others cry. It was the same in Miami, when Levin shared her story.

Following her online discovery, she learned that The American Society for Yad Vashem had opened an Aventura branch a few months earlier. She called and told her story to regional director Aaron Bernstein.

"Within a half an hour, he called me back and said that he had spoken with my cousin in Israel and that he's a very nice man,'' she said, still with a look of disbelief on her face.

She then called Rosenblatt herself. And then her brother.
In October, there was a three-generation reunion near Jerusalem.

The Pages of Testimony at Yad Vashem have helped many family history researchers reconnect with family they thought was lost.

So many of us just don't know what happened to the family left behind after our relatives arrived in the US.

If you ever needed a reason to join a local Jewish genealogical society, this may be it. Hearing a first-hand amazing discovery may encourage you to look for your own. If you are in Southern Florida, why not check out the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Miami?

Read the complete story at the link above.

Orlando: Genealogy Google Goodies, Nov. 24

2009-11-14T08:30:00.006+02:00

Want to make your Thanksgiving feast special? Impress your family with what you've learned at this session just a few days before the holiday!

Learn about many useful Google tools for genealogy with Paul Enchelmayer's talk at the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Orlando (Florida) on Tuesday, November 24.

The program begins at 1pm at the Congregation of Reform Judaism.

A member of the Genealogical Speakers Guild, Enchelmayer is past president and current webmaster of the Central Florida Genealogical Society.

He'll demonstrate the many tools available through Google, including maps, photos, books, patents, old newspapers and other useful tools for family history research.

The meeting is free and open to the public. For more information, send an email.

Australia: Newspapers now online

2009-11-14T08:00:00.007+02:00

While US-based researchers are already accustomed to accessing historical newspapers online, other countries' publications are becoming more accessible online, such as Australia.

If Australia is an important part of your family history research, access Australian papers here at the Australian National Library site. As of today, see 878,820 pages containing 8,802,914 articles.

The first digitized issues - 18,000 pages for the first two decades - of the Sydney Morning Herald are available, from the first issue in 1831 and the project is continuing through 1954, with additional issues appearing every week through early 2010. Included are the Sydney Herald (1831-1842) and the Sydney Morning Herald (1842-1852). The Sunday Herald (1949-1953) will also be available.

For Melbourne papers, find The Argus (and its previous title, the Melbourne Argus) in their entirety from 1846-1945. The balance (1945-1954) for the Argus will be available in 2010.

See the complete list of papers and dates by clicking here.

The site, which launched in August 2009, offers suggestions for optimal viewing. It works best using Internet Explorer 7, Firefox 2+ and Safari 3+, with a screen resolution of at least 1024x768.

Subscribe to the announcement list and learn about database additions by emailing sympa@nla.gov.au. Write 'subscribe andp-announce' in the subject line.