California: Pastrami, genealogy in Carmel, Aug. 29

Carmel, California is offering a match made in heaven not usually found in that neck of the woods at this year's Jewish Food Festival, on Sunday, August 29.

From 10.30am-4pm, the cultural festival will offer arts, crafts, live entertainment and educational tours.

What's better than a steaming hot pastrami on fresh rye bread with real sour pickles and cole slaw, along with matzo-ball soup, blintzes, noodle kugel, potato knishes, challah, apple strudel, hamantschen, rugelach and mandelbrot?

There's no Jewish deli on the Monterey Peninsula so these delights are restricted to visits to larger Jewish communities or to talented home cooks who follow the culinary traditions of their ancestors.

Making the food of our ancestors taste even better, Dr. Alan Rosen will man a genealogy table to help people find their roots.

And there's much more, such as a Jewish wedding ceremony enactment, an arts and crafts fair, a tour of the synagogue, and many musical groups throughout the day.

The annual event - this is the 23rd - is run by Congregtion Beth Israel in Carmel.

New York: Sephardic Book Fair, July 25

The first New York Sephardic Jewish Book Fair - with book readings, author signings, book sales and tours - is set for Sunday, July 25.

Hosted by the American Sephardi Federation (ASF), will be held from noon-5pm, at the Steinberg Great Hall at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th Street.

The free event, open to the public, will include authors and book lovers, those who write about and read about the culture, history, philosophy, religion, languages and experiences of the Sephardic Jews, past and present.

Hundreds of titles of Sephardic-oriented books, including many rare titles, will be available for sale by the Sephardic House bookstore, as well as by unique vendors that specialize in Sephardic Judaica.

Several visiting authors will discuss a wide range of topics including personal histories, Sephardic history, philosophy, culture and religion. The day's key author and speaker will be Dr. Marc D. Angel, founder of The Institute for Jewish Ideas and Ideals and Rabbi Emeritus of Congregation Shearith Israel, North America's oldest Jewish congregation.

The fair will also feature a display of rare Sephardic books from the ASF Library and Archives, while Yeshiva University Museum will hold tours of their current exhibit: "A Journey Through Jewish Worlds: Highlights from the Braginsky Collection of Hebrew Manuscripts and Printed Books."

The Braginsky Collection includes handwritten manuscripts and printed books from Holland, Italy, Spain, Greece and India.

There will also be hourly free door prizes for attendees.

The ASF promotes and preserves the spiritual, historical, cultural and social traditions of all Sephardic communities as an integral part of Jewish heritage.

South Florida: Third Genealogy Fair, April 10

What are you doing tomorrow?

South Florida residents can discover their roots at Nova Southeastern University's Third Genealogy Fair, set for Saturday, April 10, from 9am-4pm.

The free event takes place at NSU's main campus - 3301 College Avenue, Davie (Broward County) - in the Alvin Sherman Library, Research, and Information Technology Center.

Local genealogy experts will assist with all research topics, including Revolutionary War lineages; African, Spanish and Jewish roots; research methods and locating tombstones. Participating organizations include the JGS of Broward County, Cuban Genealogy Club, DAR, FamilySearch.org, Genealogical Society of Broward County, International Society of Genetic Genealogy (ISOGG), Mayflower Society and the Guild of One-Name Studies.

The program includes genealogy database demos, breakout sessions, genealogy-related exhibitors and individual consultations throughout the day.

Speakers include:

-- Megan Smolenyak Smolenyak, chief family historian for Ancestry.com, and author of the NBC show's companion book. Her other claims to fame: Cold case researcher for the FBI & US Army; discoverer of the “real” Annie Moore, the first immigrant processed through Ellis Island; expert on genetealogy – DNA and genealogy; and founder and president of Roots Television.

-- J. H. Fonkert, Certified Genealogist (Dutch and English ancestry); president, Minnesota Genealogical Society; columnist, The Septs; director, Association of Professional Genealogists, Midwest Region; and recipient of the American Society of Genealogists Scholar Award in 2009.

Attendees will receive a free genealogy workbook and materials to begin and continue their family history and free access to and lessons on using such genealogical databases as Ancestry Library, Heritage Quest and Family Search, and Family Tree Maker software.

They'll also have time to explore the Genealogy Room and browse the library’s specialized books, journals and how-to manuals

The Sherman Library's 4,000+ item collection was donated two years ago by the Genealogical Society of Broward County. There are also printed materials, periodicals and personal family histories to benefit patrons of all skill levels. This gen collection is in addition to digitized holdings at the library's two primary gen databases - Ancestry Library and Heritage Quest Online.

For more on the event, click here.

Kansas: KC's 15th Jewish Book Fair, November

Kansas City, here comes the 15th Jewish Book Fair! Some great authors are scheduled to speak.

The Jewish Community Center will host eight outstanding authors in November, so mark your calendars now.

The fair kicks off with our friend Jon Entine, author of "Abraham's Children: Race, Identity and the DNA of the Chosen People," on Tuesday, November 3, at Congregation B'nai Jehuda.

Also scheduled - see website below for locations - are:

- November 4: Louise Borden, “The Journey that Saved Curious George: The True Wartime Escape of Margret and H.A. Rey,” co-sponsored by the Midwest Center for Holocaust Education.

- November 8: Gloria Goldreich, “Open Doors.”

- November 10: The JCC is a co-sponsor of the Festival of Faiths, featuring Eboo Patel, “Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, The Struggle for the Soul of a Generation.”

- November 15: Benyamin Cohen, “My Jesus Year: A Rabbi’s Son Wanders the Bible Belt In Search of His Own Faith.”

- November 18: Journalist Martin Fletcher, author of “Breaking News.”

- November 19: Maggie Anton, “Rashi’s Daughters.”

- November 23: Edward Kritzler, “Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean.”

For more information, visit the JCC website.

Eastman in London

Dick Eastman went to London for the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE event (initially covered in my blog here.)

He has two postings about the event. The first is available to all viewers.

The second posting is only available to his newsletter subscribers and, in my opinion, he hits the nail on the head with that one in many ways. Here's the first paragraph, you'll have to subscribe to read the rest:

I'd like to compare this weekend's London event with other genealogy conferences and events in the United States. First of all, the show in London was a fair, not a conference. There is a huge difference. Genealogy conferences as held in the U.S. and in many other countries tend to be aimed at the intermediate to advanced genealogists. To be sure, many conferences also have topics for beginners but if you go down the list of presentations, define each as introductory, intermediate or advanced and then tally the results, you will find that most conferences are heavy in the intermediate to advanced categories. ...

Among his photos:

Here's a picture of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain booth.

House History seems very popular.

Check this out for one way to find your relatives in the crowd!