Contest: Your heirloom may win roots travel

What's the most unique thing saved from your family's history? Write a 300-word essay about it and you might win this heritage stories contest.

Lands' End - a catalog that shows up frequently in mailboxes across the US - has created a Heritage Collection and now wants others to tell their own family stories.

Readers can submit entries through September 30:

From antique hunting in a parents' attic to digging up old treasures on the family farm, everyone is getting excited about items from long ago - including Lands' End. The company is celebrating its rich, storied past with the Lands' End Heritage Collection - well-known, classic pieces that are synonymous go-to favorites by virtue of their authenticity. Inspired by this collection, Lands' End is inviting everyone to share their own heritage with the "Heritage Stories" contest.

Beginning Sept. 8 through Sept. 30, submit a short description of the most unique thing from your family's past. Perhaps an authentic family heirloom, quality advice, or a valued family motto - that has been treasured and counted on over time.

What are the rules?

To enter the "Heritage Stories" contest, please submit an essay, in 300 words or less, explaining the most unique thing saved from your family's history. All entries must be submitted to landsend.com/thehub by Sept. 30, 2010, 11:59pm CDT. This contest is open to United States and Canadian residents. The official contest rules can be found at www.landsend.com/thehub.

And if you win?

Winners will be notified on or around October 15, 2010. Twenty-five winners will each receive $100 towards their choice of items in the Lands' End Heritage Collection. One Grand Prize winner will receive $250 towards the Lands' End Heritage Collection, plus a $2,000 Visa Travel Money Card to use toward continuing their family's traditions or discovering more of their family's heritage.

Tracing the Tribe's crystal ball forsees roots travel in someone's future!

For more details, click here and read the complete press release here.

Quest: A mysterious Baltimore tea set

The Jewish Museum of Maryland's blog recently conducted readers through a bit of forensic genealogy.

The post (and photos) revealed how museum Collections Intern Sara Patenaude-Schuster tracked down the history of a mysterious tea set.

It also took Tracing the Tribe a bit of forensic searching through the blog to learn Sara's name, as her post included several photos of her, but not her name. I eventually discovered the intro post with the photos of this year's eight museum interns and searched those photos to find a match to the young woman depicted in the tea set post!

Sara's biggest challenge so far has been confirming the details on a tea set (photo right).

Read the steps she followed as she traced the history of this item.

Last week, my supervisor Jobi and I went to visit a woman who has a tea set that the JMM may be acquiring. The potential donor told us as much as she knew about the family history regarding the tea set, but some important details were missing. The key piece was the inscribed initials “M&S” on the tea pot. The set, she said, belonged to a prominent Jewish Baltimore family. The initials of the members of this family, though, weren’t M and S. She told us that she believed the tea set to have belonged to the wife of the prominent Baltimorean’s parents.

The museum had to confirm the object's details to make a decision on whether or not to accept the object.

Sara realized the names and family relationships were confused, such as identifying the wife for the mother-in-law and a nephew for a son.

Once she figured out the relationships, she attempted to research the wife's mother, but the museum's biographical records held nothing. The Internet had details on the husband and his family, but relatively nothing [pun intended] on the wife, and nothing about her parents.

Sara's then perused the museum's vertical files containing newspaper clippings (obituaries, pamphlets and fliers), and located the wife’s obituary and the name of her family's company. A breakthrough of sorts - although the Internet still showed nothing. Back to the vertical files, where she checked for everyone with the same surname, and hit gold!

A newspaper article revealed the name of a male cousin and the family business, as well as the family history. Sara found the man, M, and his wife, S, mentioned.

See the blog post for her "Eureka!" happy dance photo. Wrote Sara:

There is something immensely satisfying about solving a mystery, even one as seemingly unimportant as identifying the initials on a teapot.

Tracing the Tribe's readers can identify with her "happy dance" moment and congratulates Sara on her successful quest.

Read the complete post at the link above to learn more and see the great photos.

Click here to see the archival holdings of the Jewish Museum of Maryland.

Boston: "Jacob's Cane" author, June 13

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston will host critically-acclaimed "Jacob's Cane" author Elisa New, on Sunday, June 13.

The event begins at 1.30pm at Temple Emanuel, Newton Center.

The book's full title is "Jacob's Cane: A Jewish Family's Journey from the Four Lands of Lithuania to the Ports of London and Baltimore; A Memoir in Five Generations."

Professor New traces the journeys of Eastern European family members over five generations as she unravels mysterious etchings on her great-grandfather's elegant cane and will discuss the tools she used in her research.

Drawn to an image of her great-grandfather's ornately carved cane, scholar Elisa New embarked on a journey to discover the origins of her precious family heirloom. Following the paths of her ancestors, she traveled from Baltimore to the Baltic to London to tell the story of her family's migration.

New is a Harvard University professor of English. To read more about her journey of discovery and the book, click here.

Fee: JGSGB members, free; others, $5. Refreshments will be served. Click here for directions. For more information on the JGS of Greater Boston, click here.

Oregon: Heirlooms and genealogy, Jan. 24

We all have them - mementos and heirlooms. How can genealogists and family historians use old letters, jewelery, newspaper clippings, photographs and even household items in our research?

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon will host Toby Forim Blake, who has many such items and will share some of them, on Sunday, January 24. She's been researching her family since the late 1980s.

The program begins at 1.30pm at Ahavath Achim Synagogue in Portland, where Blake will demonstrate how these family treasures have impacted her own research and how your own heirlooms can help you.

She earned an MA in Jewish History (Baltimore Hebrew University)., and has served on the Baltimore Community Board of Jewish Women's Archives where she was involved in personal history interviews and other project components. She's been a Jewish educator and administrator in the classroom and for the Baltimore Board of Jewish Education. Currently at the Portland Jewish Academy, she is the International Baccalaureate Coordinator for the Primary Years Program.

For more information and directions, see the JGSO site, and check out their resources to help readers tracing family that lived in the state.

Keep spinning: A diamond dreidel

Looking for the ultimate Chanukah gift? How about a diamond-studded dreidel for $1,800?

Now, that's a nice heirloom to pass down through the generations. Of course, you'll have to frisk your dreidel players after each game.

You could always just have it painted into a family portrait and let your descendants spend a lot of time looking for it each Chanukah. Tracing the Tribe believes in establishing your own holiday traditions!

If you really want one, the Platinum Micro-Pave Diamond Dreidel, with .96 carats of handset diamonds is available from Mervis Diamond Importers.

This is not the kind of dreidel you stuff chocolate coins in. This one requires real gold (not foil) coins.

Tracing the Tribe would like to say we received one of these limited edition items in return for writing about it, but ours must be lost in the mail!

Read about it here. (NOTE: Here is the Mervis Diamond page for more info and the phone number for ordering. For those who have asked, the stones are handset in gold and platinum.)

Modern trees: Designing your family

Ever look at what's available for family tree art?

There are an infinite number of companies offering different styles, sizes, colors. Many are traditional. But if you are looking for something different, here they are.

Tracing the Tribe can see these as delightful baby gifts and for any gift-giving occasion. All items in this post are very contemporary designs from Jen O'Neill, who lives in Vermont.

This tip comes from my daughter in New York who found "My Tree and Me" noted on DesignerSpongeOnline.com, a site launched in 2004, dedicated to home and product design run by Grace Bonney, of Brooklyn, New York. DSO covers student design, national and international design shows, and is updated 6-10 times a day. Find interesting store and product reviews, videos, podcasts and trend forecasting. If you are into design, or know someone who is, let them know about DSO.

Reviewed on DSO, Jen's site, My Tree and Me, provides very modern family trees.

She became interested in family history when her first child was born.

As a new mother, it felt incredible to take my place in the long line of mothers who had come before me. And in the more challenging moments, it was comforting to think that all of these generations of parents had raised children, day-by-day, year-by-year, through the highs and lows, and they made it through! I didn’t want to lose that sense of connection. By graphically interpreting our history, our family tree serves as an emotional reminder that we always have the wisdom, humor, and experience of generations to draw upon.

She hopes that in creating these modern charts, "your history and your connections will serve as a very personal form of art on your walls—one that inspires curiosity, reminiscing, and storytelling. " Jen also donates a portion of profits to the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

Charts come in various sizes and colorways, and can be customized for specific occasions, such as birthday or wedding date. Depending on the style selected, some can be customized to feature siblings, while others have room for only one name at the top of the tree.

Read Jen's site carefully to understand about ordering and creation of custom charts - which take about 2-3 weeks.

Ohio: What's in Bubbe's attic? August 5

The next meeting of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland will host the Western Reserve Historical Society's Jewish history associate curator Sean Martin.

The program, at 7.30pm, Wednesday, August 5, will take place in Menorah Park's Miller Board Room, in Beachwood.

Martin's program - "What was that in Bubbe's Attic?" - is a cross between "Show and Tell" and "The Antiques Roadshow."

Attendees are invited to bring old documents, photographs, books, etc. and learn about them. Martin will also answer questions.

The program is free.

Judaica auctions: Selling the family jewels

About.com has experts on all sorts of topics. In the Collectibles pages, by Barbara Crews, I found an interesting article on J. Greenstein & Co, the only auction house dealing only with Judaica.

A leading antique Judaica expert and collector, Jonathan Greenstein, 41, explained that many unique pieces were lost in 1939 when Hitler had sacred ornaments melted down for their silver. Centuries of Jewish history disappeared - what remains is even more rare.

He's been working in the field for more than 27 years and is often retained to authenticate Judaica. He says that 70% of what he sees is fake. A lecturer at major museums and institutions, he wrote "The Lost Art," which describes the making of 18th-19th-century silver kiddush cups.

There are many family owned antiques that will be owned by generations, but none are so cherished or special as the Judaica items passed down through the family after the hardship of immigrating to another country or later when fleeing Hitler during the years of World War II.

The United States saw a mass immigration of Jewish people from 1880 through 1927 and many people brought with them their cherished family items, passing them down through the generations. These are the pieces that are often being sold as older people are dying off and younger family members might need the money due to the state of today's economy.

J. Greenstein & Co, Inc.'s next auction will be on June 8, 2009. Jonathan Greenstein says “Rare and one-of-a-kind artifacts and antiques are now surfacing that haven’t seen the light of day in generations as the effects of the sinking economy and the Madoff scandal congeal.”

In the sale will be sacred possessions of Reform Judaism leader Rabbi Alexander Schindler, a Madoff victim. His wife is not only forced to sell the family home but also to sell prized items given to the rabbi when he retired as leader.

"One of the artifacts is a silver Torah crown, an ornately detailed piece which adorns the holy scroll. Another is a silver Torah pointer, used so that fingers never touch the sacred text. It dates from the 1700s and is extremely, extremely rare," said Greenstein.

"Very few objects of this quality survived the Holocaust," said Greenstein, adding that Madoff raided "little old ladies' bank accounts" like the Nazis raided the temples.

Greenstein says he will not charge a fee to the family.

Founded in 2004, J. Greenstein & Co, Inc. is the only auction house solely devoted to the sale of Jewish Ritual objects. Its biannual auctions feature rare Jewish ritual objects, works of art, books and manuscripts.

Here's more on what's available at the June 8, 2009 Judaica Auction; many items have inscriptions, and there are also a few Persian ketubot.

For genealogists, there are some poignant items, such as the silver-bound Pinkhas of the Chevrah Kadisha of Nitra (Hungary, 1898). Hand written names of each deceased community member. 12.3-inches tall; estimated sale price $2,000-5,000. There's a large brass Syrian charger plate with applied copper and silver, 13" diameter. Made c1900, its estimated sale price is $800-1,200.

If money's no object, what about a very rare modern Italian menorah by Bucellati (pictured left), 10-inches tall, with a estimated sale price of #12,000-16,000. Or a finely written and decorated Italian 18th century megillah scroll, with an estimate of $17,500-24,000.

A very collectible item in the field of Judaica are dreidels (Hanukkah spinning tops), which come in many kinds and made in diverse materials. In fall 2004, some auction prices for this collectible were:

7" Silver musical dreidel - $16. 2.7"
19th-century Russian silver/enamel dreidel - $350.
.75" pewter dreidel, Poland c1800 - $41.
2" brass w/rhinestones dreidel - $65.
1.5 gilt silver dreidel, c1900 - $300.

Current Collectible Dreidels:
Lladro dreidel with dove - $105.
Lladro dreidel with star - $130.
Waterford Marquis dreidel - $50.
Waterford jeweled dreidel ornament - $35.
Christopher Radko Dreidel ornament - $40.

Some people collect antique and vintage menorahs. Here are some prices:

Oil Pal Bell bronze olive branch menorah - $210. "Made in Israel"
37cm wall hanging brass/bronze menorah - $114. very ornate
Bronze menorah with lions - $137. Jewish star on top
Silverplate, circa 1890 menorah - $925. Very ornate, Poland, 11"
Antique brass menorah - $225. Simple design
Antique sterling silver menorah - $416. 14.5" tall, elegant, simple
Copper menorah, 6.75" tall, - $130. Jerusalem during British rule, WWI bullet casings hold wicks

Look around on the net and find many resources.

If you were not lucky enough to inherit family heirlooms from your own ancestors, you can collect a bit of family history and make it your own to pass down.

Israel: Rescuing brass candlesticks

A staple of every Jewish home was its pair of Shabbat candlesticks. Tall brass, intricately chased silver, silverplatem all kinds from all countries. If there was one single custom that could be said to signify a Jewish household, it was the lighting of Shabbat and holiday candles. And it was certainly enough to get someone arrested as a Judaizer by the Inquisition.

My great-grandmother's candlesticks arrived with her in 1905. We don't know if they were her mother's or whether they were purchased for her when she married. They arrived in her bundles that she shlepped along with Leib, 2, and Chaya Feiga 6 months. The bundles also included her samovar and its accessories and their feather beds.

In Jerusalem, a woman is giving new life and light to brass candlesticks, in this Jerusalem Post story.

On Pessah we think a lot about how best to pass on our traditions to the next generation, chastened by apocryphal stories of Jewish immigrants from good homes who rashly threw their tefillin in the sea on the way to America.

Conversely, I've never heard of a family - not even socialists or Communists - who jettisoned Mama's candlesticks. Just the opposite. Immigrants reverently preserved those brass candlesticks, no matter how little space and how little money they had. Nonetheless, sometimes sadly no one is left to light. What happens then to the family's candlesticks?

Brondi Katz Levine likes to rescue such candlesticks. Okay, she's sentimental. Every forsaken antique candlestick makes her wonder about the Jewish women - strangers - who lit it long ago. In her Jerusalem living room, Levine lights 12 candles each Friday night, all originally from Eastern Europe. They are the striking centerpiece of her home.

Her Eastern European family settled in Mountain Dale, in the Catskills' borscht belt. She obtained her first pair when she was engaged. Her sisters selected new silver candlesticks, but Levine requested a pair made of brass. Her mother offered to purchase a new set or she could have a pair that had been in the family since their immigration from Galicia over two decades earlier.

Russian and Polish brass candlesticks were often similar in shape, tall, with a wide square base and rounded stem. Some might have been silverplated at one time. Most were made before World War I so they are nearly a century old.

And so, after her wedding, Levine began lighting the old brass candlesticks each week. "I liked the idea that even though I didn't know the owner," said Levine, "these candlesticks had been loved and blessed by generations of other Jewish women. I felt their presence when I lit my candles."

As her five children were born, she thought about the added value of lighting old candleticks to honor the past and celebrate the future. She and her husband began looking for the old candlesticks.

When they found a pair from Warsaw near Jerusalem's Mahaneh Yehuda, the antique dealer insisted she take a pair home with her for a test light before they paid. "Only after you say the Shabbat blessing on them will you know if they suit you," he advised her.

Over the years, her collection grew and friends and relatives offered others to her.

Last year, after a synagogue evening of psalm recitation for a friend who was ill, she saw a pair of abandoned European brass candlesticks that would complement her others.

No one knew to whom they belonged, but the synagogue warden was reluctant tolet her buy them. Levine persevered, finding a go-between who arranged the purchase. She learned later that her contribution had paid synagogue's back bills for electricity and literally kept their lights burning.

She has 12 now, just like the Tribes of Israel. Not all are pairs, some are singles, some have minor defects. But when all 12 tall candlesticks are shining, it seems a sight to behold.

Read the complete story at the link above.

History's mysteries: The walking stick returns

The Fort Wayne (Indiana) Journal Gazette offered a Jewish genealogy story about Congregation Achduth Vesholom's 160th anniversary and a piece of its 19th-century past brought back by modern technology.

The item is an engraved, golden-topped walking stick, presented by the congregation to its founder, that had been languishing in a Philadelphia-area man’s estate.

The tale worthy of PBS’ “History Detectives” began with an e-mail that arrived at the synagogue’s office in April, says Beth Zweig, of Fort Wayne, the congregation’s president and celebration coordinator.

“Hi, my name is Ed Romanofsky. I’m doing a favor for a friend. He has an old cane,” the e-mail began.

Romanofsky, 56, of Havertown, Pa., picks up the story. The friend, Ed Campuzano of Upper Darby, was cleaning out his brother’s house after his death and found the cane. It was inscribed “F. Nirdlinger Esquire from the members of Congregation Achduth Vesholom, Fort Wayne, Ind.”

Campuzano wanted to return the cane to the Nirdlinger family but didn't know how to find them. Romanofsky Googled Frederic Nirdlinger and found a hit on the synagogue's website history. Zweig, who wrote about the congregation's early history, recognized the name immediately.

Nirdlinger, she says, was not just anybody. The German-born merchant was the leader of the 23 founding members of the Society for Visiting the Sick and Burying the Dead, the predecessor to Achduth Vesholom.

Indeed, he had allowed the young, then-Orthodox, Jewish congregation, the oldest in Indiana, to meet in his brick home for services. Men sat in one parlor and the women and children in another, as was traditional then, she says.

Nirdlinger was a businessman whose New York Emporium grew to be one of the largest clothing stores in the state. While there were no descendants in the congregation as Romanofsky and Campuzano had hoped, Zweig knew where to find one.

A few years ago, she says, Roger and Mimi Arnstine of Cleveland had contacted the congregation while visiting Fort Wayne to research their genealogy at the Allen County Public Library. Roger Arnstine is Frederic Nirdlinger’s great-great-grandson.

Zweig contacted the Arnstines, and the stick was reunited with the family by August.

The story behind the story:

Campuzano’s brother found the stick some four decades ago on a train from Philly to New York. He liked it and took it home.

Zweig checked through the congregation's records - translated from German at the library, but found no mention of the stick as a gift. She thinks it might have been an 1865 gift after Nirdlinger had spent 15 years as president of the synagogue.

The Arnstines were planning to attend the anniversary celebration, along with another descendant who recently appeared on the scene.

Kristine Nirdlinger - great-great-great-niece of the founder - lives in the Chicago area and contacted the congregation at Rosh Hashana. She is coming with her fiancé and her parents. She recently learned about her Jewish ancestors as she prepared to marry a Jewish man. She has converted to Judaism and discovered her link to the congregation.

Read the complete story about the second-oldest Reform congregation west of the Rockies at the link above.

Humor: Top 10 worst family heirlooms

As noted previously, I am catching up with reading email and my favorite gen blogs, such as Chris Dunham's Genealogue postings, such as this one from November 10.

Thanks, Chris - I really needed a chuckle or two during the last week!

The Genealogue's top 10 worst family heirlooms:

10. Open jar of mayonnaise.

9. Great-grandparents' bondage gear.

8. Toenail clippings.

7. Predisposition to public flatulence.

6. Grandpa's place on the couch.

5. Credit card debt.

4. Live hand grenade with missing pin.

3. Vintage roadkill collection.

2. Grandma's secret crystal meth recipe.

1. Autopsy photo album.

Read The Genealogue regularly for more of Chris' insights!

Los Angeles: Appraisal Faire, Oct. 25

The Southern California Genealogical Society is holding an Appraisal Faire a la Antiques Roadshow from 9.30am-noon and 1-4pm, Saturday, October 25.

Have you ever wondered about the dollar value of that trinket your grandmother left you, even though you would never dream of selling it?

Ever dream of appearing on Antiques Roadshow and learning that your dumpster-dive doodad is worth a small fortune?

The Southern California Genealogical Society's Appraisal Faire is the place for you.

Bring in up to three items and have your priceless treasures checked by qualified appraisers. Fee: Donation of $5 per item, up to three items.

The Faire will be held at the Southern California Genealogical Society, 417 Irving Drive, Burbank. For more information, click here or email scgs417@yahoo.com.

Israel: Judeo-Spanish material culture series

Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel, is holding a series of six meetings on the material culture of Judeo-Spanish speakers at the Salti Center for Ladino Studies.

"Possessions Tell a Judeo-Spanish Past" is the topic of the first meeting on Nov. 19.

Topics will include Balkan Judeo-Spanish dress, home and synagogue textiles, Ottoman Empire Jewish homes and their contents, religious artifacts, Sephardic synagogue art, anthropological research on Sephardic Jews and Judeo-Spanish musicology.

The series will take place in 2008, on November 19, December 3, 17 and 31; in 2009: on January 14 and 21.

The website is here; unfortunately, it is only in Hebrew, thereby excluding thousands of interested readers around the world. The Salti Center's email is ladinocn@mail.biu.ac.il. Readers who feel that it would be good to have an English version of the site might wish to send an email with that suggestion.

There will also be a series on Ladino song during April, May and June 2009 at the Salti Center, with musicologist Dr. Shoshan Weich-Shahak and singer Orit Pearlman.

Unlocking tales of family treasures

Just in time for the High Holidays - a time of year when we remember our ancestors, their stories and their histories - my story on family heirlooms was just published in the Jerusalem Post.

Genealogists in several countries participated.

To read it in the Jerusalem Post Online Edition, click here, or go to www.jpost.com -> Jewish World -> Jewish Features. Unlocking tales of family treasures is the second in the list of three today. By tomorrow you may have to hit "more" as more stories have been added for the holiday issues.

Asked about her collection of family heirlooms, Linda Silverman Shefler will likely say that as a child, she was somewhat of a nudnik!

As far back as she can remember, she would pester her grandmothers with questions: Who were those people in all the photographs? What did those documents she couldn't read really say? To whom did this or that object belong?

Eldest of the 10 grandchildren on each side of the family, Shefler was the only one who showed interest in the family history: "I believe that's what made me the logical candidate to inherit so many wonderful family treasures."

Shefler began researching her family 23 years ago after her grandmother died and she inherited a drawerful of photographs. She began to research a previously unknown Cleveland, Ohio branch, and her journey of discovery has gathered 80 direct ancestors, 10 generations and more than 11,000 relatives, going back (in one branch) to the late 1600s. "There's still so much research to do," she adds.

Other genners mentioned in the story: Stan Diamond (Canada), Bernard Kouchel (Florida), Ann Rabinowitz (Florida), Shelly Levin (California), Linda Silverman Shefler (US/Israel), Chaim Freedman (Israel), Rachelle Berliner (Georgia), Meryl Frank (New Jersey), Meyer Denn (Texas), Helen Horwitz (New Mexico), Frayda Zelman Naor (New York City), and Ina Levitt Yanover (Canada).

Shana tova u'metukah to all Tracing the Tribe readers. For you and your families, I wish you a happy, healthy, prosperous and sweet New Year, filled with amazing genealogical discoveries and everything else you wish for yourselves.

Pennsylvania: Family heirlooms and kids

When Rachel Glick, 14, heard about the planned Harrisburg Living Museum of Jewish Heritage, she decided to lend it an ordinary, yet priceless family heirloom: a soup spoon, according to a story in the Patriot News.

Glick is the third generation to use the only remaining piece of silverware from her paternal grandfather's family.

She said it seemed like a natural to be displayed Sunday in the Harrisburg Living Museum of Jewish Heritage. The one-day exhibit, a collection of Jewish artifacts on loan from the local Jewish community, was sponsored by the Rabbi David L. Silver Yeshiva Academy in the Jewish Community Center.

"I called my Bubbe [Yiddish word for grandmother] and asked her if I could borrow the spoon," said Rachel, 14 and an eighth-grade student at the academy. "She was happy to lend it to me. Everyone brought something given to them by a relative. It made me realize that a Jewish artifact can be very important in helping people remember a relative from a previous generation."

The 8 1/2-inch silver spoon belonged to Rachel's paternal grandfather, Eli Glick of Oshmiana, Poland in the 1930s.

"When my dad was 15 in the late 1930s, his family heard that the Nazis were coming," said Dr. Mark Glick, Eli Glick's son and Rachel Glick's father. "He, his parents and siblings wanted to escape. So they buried their silverware, silver candlesticks and jewelry in the backyard. His parents were killed, but the three teenagers walked several miles and lived in caves in the woods for the next 3 1/2 years. They came out at night and stole food to survive."

Meanwhile, Mark's mother, Sonia Lubetzka, then 14, was rounded up in the same village, taken to a cattle car, and then a concentration camp from 1939-1945. Her parents perished.

After the war, Eli and his two sisters returned to the family home, occupied by strangers who had taken all the family's possessions.

"The strangers told my dad and his sisters to leave," Mark Glick said. "When they went to the backyard to dig up the family things, the strangers said they already found that stuff. My one aunt begged for something and was given a soup spoon."

Mark's parents met in a Polish displaced persons camp in Poland, where they married and came to the US in 1951 - with the spoon.

"This spoon represents survival of a people and their faith," Glick said. "It's critical to learn about your heritage, who you are and what you will become. Rachel is very passionate about her heritage."

Rachel's grandmother, Sonia Lubetzka Glick, 87, said she uses the spoon every Sabbath "because it reminds me of my late husband."

Third-grader Madison Schwab,lent a copy of the manifest from the ship that brought her great-grandparents to the US from Russia in 1906 - the original name was Schwabsky.

David Schwab - Madison's father and grandson of David Schwab of Vilna, Lithuania, said the family came to the US to escape religious persecution.

"When they got to Ellis Island, they were asked questions like 'are you a polygamist?' Are you an anarchist? Are you deformed or crippled?" he said, pointing to the questions on the form.

Madison said she came to learn about history. The exhibit also featured antique candlesticks, scrolls, mortars and pestles, a yellow Star of David and pants worn in a concentration camp.

What a good idea for community programming!

Have Tracing the Tribe's readers heard of similar exhibits in their own communities?

If such an exhibit has not yet been organized, perhaps a local Jewish genealogical society, in conjunction with a local historical society, Jewish school, congregation or other community institution might collaborate to present one for people of all ages.

Can you top this? Start a family dreidel collection

I still come across those little plastic ones - red, blue and green - in drawers filled with odds and ends. Leftover dreidels from Chanukah Past; not exactly priceless heirlooms like some of the items we've mentioned in this blog, but nevertheless a nice way to remember happy family gatherings.

Dreidels are great collection starters. When friends and family see interesting ones on their travels, they're likely to bring one home for you. And if you know a relative with a dreidel collection ... well ... it's easy to decide on a gift for them.

Each year, new silver styles appear at Israeli silver shops, and there are many more out there.

New York's Jewish Museum has an interesting collection, all available for online shopping.

Some are from Israel, some by artists. Materials include ceramic, glass, stainless steel, anodized aluminum, silver and titanium, silver and onyx, hand-painted enamel and gold or silverplate, wood, cloissone, glass, beaded pewter, fused glass and metal -- even stuffed dreidels. There's a salt-and-pepper dreidel set to grace a holiday table, or one made of Nambe (a beautiful alloy used for expensive tabletop serving pieces).

These items can range from a few dollars to hundreds of dollars.

Postcards from the past

Scenes from the past come alive in two articles on Ynetnews describing a family collection of postcards gathered over the course of more than 100 years.

Moshe Ginzburg and Zehava Lavit Ben-Tovim immigrated to Israel at the end of the 19th century, met in Israel, and were married in 1918.

Zehava's father, Isaac Ben-Tovim, was active in the Haredi Yishuv and the couple had the privilege of knowing the Israel of the beginning of the 20th century. Many postcards and letter from throughout Israel, neighboring countries and Europe were sent to their home. Zehava kept the correspondences and left them to her daughter Shifra Lancet, who has presented some of the postcard collection here in memory of her family.

Click here for Part I, and here for Part II.

Jewish genealogy online class - update

More details are now available about GenClass - Online Genealogy Classes.

Both January and February registration are now open. The February Basic Jewish Genealogy class covers the following topics:

1. Introduction to Jewish Genealogy (glossary, Hebrew calendar and dates, handwriting, languages, life cycle, records, sources, etc.)

2. Tools of the Trade (charts, soundex, databases, reference books, software, Internet, interviewing and reading tombstones, etc.).

3. Jewish Geography and Names (maps, name origins - Ashkenazi and Sephardic, etc.).

4. Geography and Archives (border changes, types of documents, access documents, Sephardic, Holocaust, Yad Vashem, etc.).

5. Emigration (reasons for, origins, transportation, travel, Hamburg, Ellis Island, name changes, Ashkenazi and Sephardic, etc.).

6. Immigration (arrival information, creative spelling, naturalization, Western Europe, Africa, Australia/NZ, South/Central America, Israel, contemporary from Russia and Moslem countries, etc.).

7. Searching (major websites, general, Ashkenazi, Sephardi, etc.).

8. Culture of Remembrance (connecting, learning, sharing, privacy issues, publishing, etc.).

The four-week class is an easy, practical way to learn the essentials and begin making major discoveries.

New online genealogy classes

For several years, I taught basic Jewish Genealogy and Jewish Internet Research for MyFamily.com.

It was a great experience, and co-teacher Micha Reisel and I thoroughly enjoyed helping students learn not only the basics, but how to find the information they needed. Our students lived in the U.S., UK, Canada, the Canary Islands, France, Australia, Israel and other countries.

In several classes, students discovered not only research partners of the same geographical areas, but even relatives!

Last year, when MyFamily.com dropped the online classes for various reasons -the classes were called "the best-kept secret in genealogy" - the former instructors joined together to see how we could continue to assist those interested in researching their families around the world.

I'm delighted to report that GenClass - Genealogy Classes Online is now live for January class registration. The February schedule is also up, as is information about each instructor and class outlines.

While Micha and I will be teaching the Jewish genealogy classes, other experienced instructors will offer January 2007 classes in Adoption Investigation, Family Tree Maker 16 (basic), Jump Start Your Genealogy, Lost Friends and Family Investigation, Scottish, Native American and Northeastern U.S. Genealogy.

In February, classes will include basic/intro Jewish Genealogy, Adoption Investigation, Eastern European Genealogy (basic), Organizing Your Family History, Write Your Family History Step-by-Step and Lost Friends and Family Investigation.

Each four-week class has a detailed curriculum, two lessons to be downloaded each week, online class meetings and other features. Each class costs a nominal $29.95. Other classes and instructors may be added later in 2007, including advanced versions of some of the basic classes.

International readers are welcome; the class language is English, as are all printed materials.