Vancouver, BC: Jewish genealogy workshop series

The Jewish Genealogical Institute of British Columbia is presenting "Trace Your Jewish Ancestry: Getting Started in Jewish Genealogy" workshops every Sunday during November at the Jewish Museum & Archives of British Columbia.

I was just informed of the series - unfortunately the first two sessions have already taken place.

The first session -"Why Jewish Genealogy?" - was presented on November 2, when JGIBC president Catherine Youngren provided an introduction to the challenges, rewards and myths of Jewish genealogy, what you know that you thought you didn’t, and the initial five steps that emphasize the pedigree chart. Beginner genealogy kits were explained and provided to participants.

The second workshop took place November 9. “Getting Started” addressed interview techniques, collection and analysis of interviews, documents and photographs.

Click here to learn more details about the series. Each workshop is CN$15 per person.

There's still time to register for Sessions 3 and 4:

Sunday, November 16:
Session 3 – Surfing the Net
Bring your projects, research materials and questions to this session about online genealogical resources, such as Jewishgen.org, yadvashem.org, ellisisland.org, ancestry.com, findmypast.com, newspaper searches (The Jewish Chronicle, Palestine Post, etc.), and census and passenger list searches. Presenters: Members of JGIBC

Sunday, November 23:
Session 4 – Putting It All Together
Bring your projects, research materials, and questions to this final session. The afternoon includes “Piecing the Puzzle” by JGIBC president Catherine Youngren, and “Book Writing and Publishing” by JGIBC past president Cissie Eppel. These will be followed by one-on-one work with registered participants.

Boston: Global Jewish Languages conference, March 2009

A seminar on global Jewish languages and literature will be part of the ACLA conference in March 2009.

Jews have been creating unique fusion languages for thousands of years, beginning with Aramaic, which combined the lingua franca of the Assyrian and Persian Empires with classical Hebrew.

These languages include: Biblical andModern Hebrew, Aramaic, Judeo Spanish/Ladino/Judezmo, Yiddish, Judeo-Arabic, Judeo-Persian, Yevanic, Judeo-Malayalam, Shuadit, Judeo-Italian/Italkian, Judeo-Provencal, Judeo-Portuguese, Israeli Sign Language, Karaim, Judeo-Georgian, Israeli Sign Language and Judeo-Chinese, among others.

Papers on Jewish languages and literature are sought that address the following questions:

What constitutes a Jewish language?

How have Jewish languages been affected by modernity and geographical
dislocation?

What, if anything, makes a language"Jewish"?

Does linguistic "Jewishness" reside in typography, literature,alphabet, culture, or elsewhere?

What are the parameters of Jewish literature?

Topics include alphabetization, translation, oral tradition, diaspora, literary production and dissemination, and the sociology of Jewish languages.

For more information, check the ACLA website.

Boston: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia, Nov. 22

Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston

Brown University Professor Omer Bartov will speak on "Erased: Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia," at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston's 2nd Annual Genealogy Lecture co-sponsored by Hebrew College.

The event will be held at 3pm, Sunday, November 23, in Berenson Hall, Hebrew College, in Newton Center.

Once home to a vibrant Jewish community, former Eastern Galicia is now part of Ukraine, where all traces of a Jewish past are being eradicated in the name of a fiercely aggressive Ukrainian nationalism. This region was once part of Poland and also the Austro-Hungarian Empire, where multi-ethnic communities co-existed before WWII.

Omer Bartov, an international authority on genocide, traces the destruction of the region’s Jewish communities under Nazi and Soviet rule, and explores the contemporary politics of memory in Ukraine. He is the Birkelund Distinguished Professor of European History at Brown University. His lecture draws on his most recent book, "Erased, Vanishing Traces of Jewish Galicia in Present-Day Ukraine" (Princeton, 2007).

Admission is free, but advanced registration is required due to limited capacity. Register at www.hebrewcollege.edu/events.

JGSGB and Hebrew College are also offering an intensive course in Jewish genealogical research on Monday evenings from February 2-March 30, 2009. For more information, email president@jgsgb.org.

The annual lecture and genealogy course receive the generous support of harvey Krueger and the Stone Charitable Trust.

For more information on the JGSGB, meetings and other details, click here.

Brussels: Low Countries Jewish Studies, May 20

It seems to be conference time again, and here's one at the University of Antwerp, Belgium, on Jewish Studies in the Low Countries, set for May 20, 2009

The Institute of Jewish Studies organizes for the second time an interdisciplinary conference concerning Jewish Studies on the Low Countries at the University of Antwerp. The purpose of the conference is to facilitate contacts between researchers working within this area of study.

We especially encourage young researchers to participate in the workshop. We also hope for contributions from more established researchers, in order to establish a positive exchange between different research generations.

Presentations may include works in progress. We welcome all themes and disciplines within Jewish Studies concerning the Low Countries. Proposals need not be limited to a specific historical period. Both individual and panel proposals are possible. The conference languages are Dutch and English.

A 400-word abstract and CV must be received by December 18, 2008. For more information, contact Karin Hofmeester.

New Orleans: Alsace-Lorraine Jewish Experience, November 2009

The Alsace-Lorraine Jewish Experience in Louisiana and the Gulf South is a New Orleans conference set for November 2009.

The call for papers has just been announced.

The Historic New Orleans Collection, with support from the Consulate General of
France in New Orleans and from Tulane University, announces a one-day conference
to be held November 13, 2009, in New Orleans. The organizing committee invites
submissions on a range of subjects discussing the Alsace-Lorraine Jews of New
Orleans and their associated communities.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

- Jewish community life in Alsace-Lorraine
- Rhine Valley immigration to the New Orleans region
- Jews in 19th-century New Orleans
- Rural vs. urban lifestyles of Louisiana's Jewish immigrants
- German-French relations in America
- European Jews and their cultural allegiances in America.

Proposals for 30-minute English-language presentations should be sent to Mr.
Daniel Hammer, danielh(AT)hnoc(DOT)org, including a CV and 500-word abstract. Program submissions must be received by November 15, 2008. Limited travel funds are available.

Tel Aviv: MyHeritage photo tagging, Nov. 10

The new MyHeritage.com Photo Manager is the subject of the next Israel Genealogical Society - Tel Aviv branch meeting.

The new feature provides tagging capabilities and face recognition.

Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com will demonstrate and discuss photo uploading and how to use face recognition technology to group and identify the people in those photos, which can be either from your computer or imported from a favorite online photo service (Picasa, Fliker, Facebook, etc).

The Hebrew program begins at 7pm, Monday, November 10, at Beit Hatanach, 16 Rothschild Blvd. The library will be open at 6pm. IGS members, no charge; others, NIS 20.

Los Angeles: Sephardic music, Nov. 16

Voices of the East is a concert of Sephardic, Persian, Turkish and Moroccan Jewish music, at Stephen S. Wise Temple, 7pm, Sunday, November 16.

I'm glad to report that the line up includes:

- Hazzan Nathan Lam
- Pini Cohen
- Hazzan Haim Mizrahi (Sephardic Temple Tifereth Israel), and
- The Valley Beth Shalom Choir under the direction of Dr. Noreen Green,

Importantly our cousins Hazzan Farid Dardashti (Beth El Congregation, New Rochelle, NY), and his daughter Galeet Dardashti, leader of then Mizrahi group Divahn will perform.

Tickets are $25. For more information, email sephardicconference@huc.edu.

The concert was made possible by a Milkin Family Foundation Grant, and is part of the Sephardic & Mizrahi Studies conference in conjunction with UCLA and USC.

US Congress: 44 Jewish members

According to JTA, the following is a list of the 44 Jewish members - 13 senators and 31 representatives - who will serve in the 111th U.S. Congress that convenes in January:

U.S. SENATE

Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)
Benjamin Cardin (D-Md.)
Norm Coleman (R-Minn.)**
Russ Feingold (D-Wisc.)
Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.)
Herb Kohl (D-Wisc.)
Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.)**
Joseph Lieberman (I-Conn.)
Carl Levin (D-Mich.)**
Bernard Sanders (I-Vt.)
Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)
Arlen Specter (R-Pa.)
Ron Wyden (D-Ore.)

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Gary Ackerman (D-N.Y.)
John Adler (D-N.J.)*
Shelley Berkley (D-Nev.)
Howard Berman (D-Calif.)
Eric Cantor (R-Va.)
Stephen Cohen (D-Tenn.)
Susan Davis (D-Calif.)
Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.)
Eliot Engel (D-N.Y.)
Bob Filner (D-Calif.)
Barney Frank (D-Mass.)
Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.)
Jane Harman (D-Calif.)
Paul Hodes (D-N.H.)
Steve Israel (D-N.Y.)
Steve Kagen (D-Wisc.)
Ron Klein (D-Fla.)
Sander Levin (D-Mich.)
Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.)
Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.)
Jared Polis (D-Colo.)*
Steve Rothman (D-N.J.)
Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.)
Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.)
Adam Schiff (D-Calif.)
Brad Sherman (D-Calif.)
Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.)
Henry Waxman (D-Calif.)
Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y.)
Robert Wexler (D-Fla.)
John Yarmuth (D-Ky.)

* Elected to Congress for the first time

** Senators who were re-elected (Coleman defeated Democratic challenger Al Franken in Minnesota by 571 votes, but a recount is expected. Franken also is Jewish, leaving 13 Jewish senators regardless of who emerges as the winner.)