Philly 2009: Making it all relative

Making it all relative is a story in today's Jewish Exponent, focused on the current international conference of Jewish genealogy by writer Hillel Kutler.

Read the story here.

Soon after Laurel Katz moved from Los Angeles to South Philadelphia three years ago, she began investigating her local roots. She joined the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Philadelphia, and at meetings wore a badge reading "Magen," the surname adopted by her great-great-grandfather Samuel -- Shmuel Megadenke in Ukraine -- when he moved to the city in 1904.

A genealogy society official informed Katz that she had just completed research on the Magen family for a friend's son who was celebrating his Bar Mitzvah. Katz reaped the windfall of information.

Networking and collaboration, learning and sharing are the highlights of each annual conference on Jewish genealogy.

The event drew nearly 900 attendees and featured sessions geared to genealogists from beginners to experts. A handful of talks were area-specific, such as on city and state genealogical research, the participation of Jewish Philadelphians in the establishment of professional basketball and Jewish agricultural colonies of Southern New Jersey.

Some genealogists, like Katz, were new to the field, but many more had been at it a while. Befitting the topic, several generations of families attended.

Technology feeds the addiction of Jewish genealogists, and includes online resources, DNA genetic genealogy, genealogy education, medical research, international research around the world, countries and much more.

Read the complete article at the link above.