Ancestry.com: Ultimate Family Journey contest

Ancestry.com is again sponsoring the Ultimate Family History Journey Sweepstakes, timed to coincide with Season 2 of the US-version of "Who Do You Think You Are?" which begins Friday, February 4.

The event began January 25. Readers can register and enter once each day through April 8.

Who may enter: Residents of the 50 US states (and DC) and Canada. Entrants must be at least 18 years old at time of entry. Click here to read the official rules.

The Grand Prize includes $20,000 in travel money, up to eight hours of consultation with an expert genealogist, help from up to five experts in specialized fields relevant to your unique family history, and a year-long Ancestry.com World Deluxe membership for you and five family members.

Twenty First Prize winners will receive an annual Ancestry.com World Deluxe membership.

For more information and to register, click here to begin by entering your email address.

Where in the world will you go if you win the grand prize? Tell Tracing the Tribe about your plans!

JewishGen: ShtetLinks update, December 2010

JewishGen's ShtetLinks Project has issued its report for December 2010 on updates and new sites.

Updated:

Ruzhany, Belarus

New sites:

Cotopaxi, Colorado, USA (Jen Lowe)

Chop (Csap, Cop) (S-C), Ukraine (Marshall J. Katz)

Kezmarok (Kesmark), Slovakia (Madeleine Isenberg)

Park Hills (Flat River), Missouri, USA (Ross DeHovitz)

Some shtetlpages were created by those who can no longer maintain them. Here are some orphan pages up for adoption:

Borisov, Belarus

Krnov (Jaegerndorf), Czech Republic

Lask, Poland

Rozdol, Ukraine

Contact Susanna Leistner Bloch if you wish to create a new webpage for your ancestral shtetl or adopt an orphan page.

NEHGS: Research tours scheduled through July

The New England Historic Genealogical Society is offering a slate of research tours from January through July.

Check out these trips to Boston, London UK, Washington DC, Indiana and New York. Perhaps you can combine them with a visit already on your calendar.

For more information on any of these tours, visit AmericanAncestors.org, NEHGS's website, or send an email.

Winter Weekend Research Getaway: Effective Use of Technology
January 27-29
NEHGS, Boston, Massachusetts

NEHGS Weekend Research Getaways combine personal, guided research at the NEHGS Research Library with themed educational lectures to create a unique experience for every participant. Personal consultations with NEHGS genealogists throughout the program allow visitors to explore their own genealogical projects, under the guiding hand of the nation’s leading family history experts.

The Winter Research Getaway, “Effective Use of Technology,” offers a variety of lectures surrounding “best practices” in using technology including researching online, software, and other topics relevant to any genealogist.

English Heritage Long Weekend
February 22-28

Discover the rich heritage of London with NEHGS in February. This unique long weekend will feature memorable events led by renowned scholars George Redmonds and John Titford, including talks, a guided tour of historic London churches, a visit to the College of Arms, optional side visits, special guests, and dinner at an exclusive private club. The weekend also includes up to three full days at Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE! — the largest family history event in the world. Space is extremely limited. In addition to events, the NEHGS English Heritage Long Weekend includes six nights at the Hilton London Kensington Hotel, 179–199 Holland Park Avenue, London; daily coach service, daily English breakfast for five days, and two additional group meals. Participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements to and from the Hilton London Kensington Hotel and optional activities and all other meals not included in scheduled tour events.

Washington, D.C. Research Tour
March 6-13

Research in the repositories of the nation’s capital with NEHGS as we return to Washington, D.C. Researchers will visit the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) Library, Library of Congress (LOC), and the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) during this intensive week of guided research, individual consultations, lectures, and group meal events. Featured consultants include Henry B. Hoff, David A. Lambert, and Rhonda R. McClure.

Allen County Public Library Research Tour
Fort Wayne, Indiana
May 22-29

Join NEHGS for our inaugural visit to Fort Wayne, Indiana, as we explore one of the world's largest genealogical collections at the Allen County Public Library (ACPL). Fort Wayne has been dubbed the “Best Read City” by Places Rated Almanac as ACPL holds more than 350,000 printed volumes and more than 513,000 items of microfilm and microfiche. Consequently, ACPL is a destination for every genealogist. The tour includes individual consultations, group meals, lectures, and other events.

Weekend Research Trip to Albany, New York
July 13-17

Searching for ancestors from New York State? Join NEHGS as we explore the vast resources of the New York State Archives. The weekend includes individual consultations, lectures, and a group dinner. Featured consultants include Henry B. Hoff, editor of the Register, and Christopher C. Child, Genealogist of the Newbury Street Press.

For more information on each tour, use the link above to AmericanAncestors.org.

San Francisco: Safari in Poland, Oct. 17

Experience a safari in Poland - a data safari - with researcher Robinn Magid at the next meeting of the San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society on Sunday, October 17.

Doors open at 12.30pm (program at 1pm) at the Oakland Regional Family History Center, 4766 Lincoln Avenue Oakland, CA 94602

Magid will present "Data Safari in Poland: Discovering the More Elusive Tracks of Our Ancestors."

In May 2010 Robinn returned to Lublin, Warsaw and Krakow with the intention of finding history, documentation,and imagery remaining “in the field” relating to the Lublin-area towns where her family lived in 18th-century Poland.

Her “data safari” goals included exploring the surviving Holocaust documentation beyond vital records to track individuals who “disappeared” in the war.

Magid's talk is a summary of her trip to discover if the envelope of available genealogical data can be pushed into the 18th century at one end, and through the Holocaust at the other end.

Along with a colorful presentation of “what she found on safari,” Robinn will focus on resources she found to before her trip, and how to maximize the probability of finding answers to vital questions while hunting for little-used information in the archives.

A long-time SFBAJGS member, she is also a JRI-Poland board member and a compulsive genealogist since her retirement from management consulting with an international CPA firm in 1991. She holds a BA (UCLA) in economics

In 2001, she realized her childhood dream of visiting Poland and “walking a mile in her grandmother’s moccasins.” Her research includes tracing Jews in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Lithuania, and Galicia.

Oregon: 'Lost town of Trochenbrod,' Oct. 12

Avrom Bendavid-Val will present "The Heavens are Empty: Discovering the Lost Town of Trochenbrod," at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon meeting on Tuesday, October 12, in Portland.

The meeting begins at 7.30pm, at Congregation Ahavath Achim, 3225 SW Barbur Blvd.

The town of Trochenbrod was created by city Jews as an agricultural village in a marshy area isolated in the forest in Volyn Province, in the Jewish Pale of Settlement, in the early 1800s. This beginning as a rural farming community happened at a time when no Jews were farmers—at that time Jews couldn’t even own land.

As Trochenbrod gradually took on the character of a town and grew to its final population of about 5,000 people it became the only free-standing Jewish town ever to exist outside the biblical Land of Israel.

Trochenbrod developed into a thriving regional commercial center with a highly diversified and essentially self-sufficient economy.

In Trochenbrod everyone—shopkeepers, farmers, craftspeople, workers, teachers, livestock traders, factory owners…everyone—was Jewish; and the languages the townspeople spoke in the street and in their homes were Yiddish and modern Hebrew.

When Bendavid-Val was working in Poland in 1997, he decided to visit Trochenbrod, the ancestral town of his father and grandfather.

He discovered that there were no physical remnants of Trochenbrod and that it had been a unique settlement in many ways. He documented the town's history from its creation in the early 1800s to its destruction in 1942.

His book about Trochenbrod will be released by Pegasus Books early this month. If you obtain the book before the program, he will sign your copy at the event.

Attendees who arrive by 7pm will receive expert assistance with genealogy problems, and questions may be sent ahead of time.

Fee: JGSO members, free; others, $5 donation requested.

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.

Florida: The Z Family's Journey, Sept. 15

Dennis Rice will speak on "The Z Family: Their Genealogical Journey Around The World," at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Palm Beach County, on Wednesday, September 15.

The first program of the season runs from 12.30-3.30pm at the Beifield Auditorium, Sandler Center, Levis Jewish Community Center, Boca Raton. JGSPC members, free; others, $5.

From 1-2pm, attendees are invited to network with the society's mavens, expert genealogists, mentors and special interest group leaders. Light refreshments, coffee, tea, will be available from 12.30pm-2pm.

Members who attended IAJGS 2010 in Los Angeles will report on what's new in genealogy.

JGSPBC past president Dennis Rice will discuss “The Z family: Their Genealogical Journey Around the World,” and offer pointers on how to research for family members. Recently returned from trip to Eastern Europe in search of his family roots, Rice will also offer suggestions on how to plan a trip to ancestral homes.

For more information, click here.

North Carolina: Shtetls and camps, Aug. 25

The daughter of Holocaust survivors - who has been researching her family history and looking for surviving relatives for more than 50 years - traveled to ancestral villages in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Germany.

Deborah Long will speak about her research trip on Wednesday, August 25. The dessert-and-discussion event, from 7.30-9.30pm, will be in a private home and is for the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation.

Long will recount her shocking 2009 unearthing of family artifacts that compelled her to visit ancestral villages in Slovakia, Poland and Hungary, and also to northern Germany to understand her parents' Holocaust history.

The presentation includes her methodology, her trip through shtetls and concentration camps and joyful discovery upon returning home.

A professional educator, Long has written more than 20 books, including a memoir about growing up as a child of survivors.

Those who donate $118 or more to the Durham-Chapel Hill Jewish Federation will receive a free copy of her book.

For more information, send an email or click here.

The Galitzianer: Call for articles

Gesher Galicia's journal - The Galitzianer - has issued a call for submissions for the November 2010 issue.

According to managing editor Janice Sellers of San Francisco, submissions may be articles and/or graphics, original or previously published, and relevant to Galician genealogical research.

These may include articles on recent trips to Galicia, reports on your own research, historical and recent pictures relevant to Galicia.

Electronic submissions are preferred, but not required and may be from Gesher Galicia members or others.

Contact Janice for more information. The deadline for the November issue is October 15.

Summer travels are over!

Tracing the Tribe is home, following a really busy summer of conferences, traveling, speaking and visiting with friends and family.

I'm also trying to catch up on a series of articles for a well-known website and other assignments.

A serious internet connection problem put a damper on my usual frenetic blogging pace, but that's been fixed!

Announcements on upcoming activities will be made soon.

Fellowship: Travel facts, fictions and Jewish identity

The University of Pennsylvania is seeking applications for a post-doctoral fellowship (2011-2012) on "Travel Facts, Travel Fictions, and the Performance of Jewish Identity," at the Herbert D. Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies.

The deadline for applications is November 10, awards will be announced by February 1, 2011; applications are available here.

Tracing the Tribe thinks that this topic might be interesting for Jewish genealogy conferences. Readers may wish to put on their thinking caps as the call for papers for the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (Washington, DC; August 2011) is coming up.

About the topic:

The past decades have seen the emergence of an intense interest in the subject of travel as a complex range of practices and representations. The inherent richness and diversity of the evidence, texts and materials related to Jewish travel make it a perfect venue to engage scholars from a broad range of disciplines and periods(ancient, medieval, and modern history, literature, art and film, anthropology, postcolonial and gender studies) in a critical dialogue.

Travel writing in particular (in its mimetic, imaginative and hybrid modes) has served a variety of social and ideological functions throughout the ages, and unquestionably, travels of dislocation and return, pilgrimage, trade and conquest, hold a prominent place in formative Jewish and non-Jewish fictions of identity.

Interdisciplinary common questions and issues include:

-- What are the institutions and conditions that foster travel, such as new technologies, concepts of leisure, or commercial networks linking Jewish communities in far-off places? How do these factors provide social, political, and economic contexts that influence both travel fact and travel fiction?

-- How do travel discourses engage in a critical dialogue with "hearth and home," supporting or disturbing dominant perceptions of centers and margins? How do these categories look like when viewed through a Jewish lens as opposed to a Christian or Muslim one?

-- How do the various genres and discourses of travel writing interact and influence one another? How does the real affect the imaginary, and vice versa? How do travel literatures themselves circulate?

-- How is the journey depicted in visual media such as photography, sketches, and film? How is travel imagined in postcards or touristic advertising?

-- To what extent does Jewish travel map onto the movement made possible by the expanding frontiers of empires, both ancient and modern? How, for example, do Jewish authors interact with European models of expansion and discovery?

-- While relatively few pre-modern travel narratives were written by women, travel accounts do raise important issues of gender agency and representation. How does gender influence both what is seen and how it is interpreted in the various modes of travel writing?

The Katz Center invites applications from scholars at all levels in the humanities and social sciences and outstanding graduate students writing dissertations. Stipends are based on academic standing and financial need.

For more information or questions, contact Sheila Allen.

Roots Travel: A London success story

Afraid of reaching out via a cold phone call or email to a long-lost cousin in a distant location?

That "cold" call or tentative email just might result in a wonderful reunion and provide a memorable experience for all involved. It can also bring together family branches long separated for reasons unknown.

When Tracing the Tribe visited our TALALAY/TOLLIN cousins in Springfield, Massachusetts, many years ago, my visit prompted the reunion of several area branches who had not spoken for so long that no one knew why. They lived not far from each other and didn't know they were related, although they had the same rare surname.

We learned that the split had occured because an uncle's wife did not like the wives of her husband's two nephews. Although the branches did not attend the same weddings and bnai mitzvahs, they did attend the funerals.

When the International Conference on Jewish Genealogy was in Toronto awhile back, it was the perfect opportunity to meet my now-late cousin Victor Talalay, with whom I had worked long-distance for a long time on the family history. Victor even attended the conference, and it allowed attendees to see that there really was more than one TALALAY in the world! I later met Victor's brother Michael and family in London, and their uncle, Dr. Paul Talalay, in Baltimore.

My good friend Daniel Horowitz had a similar experience when he traveled to London to represent MyHeritage.com, where he is genealogy and translation manager, at the Who Do You Think You Are? LIVE family history fair in February.

Thanks to his visit (and those tentative emails and phone calls), several SINGER branches were able to meet once again. His SINGERs are from Czernovitz (was Austro-Hungary->Ukraine.

Born and raised in Caracas, Venezuela and now living in Israel, Daniel knew there were London branches but didn't know much about them, except that they didn't talk to each other. When Daniel's father's cousin Renee visited them in Israel, they talked about the family and Daniel's then-upcoming trip to the UK.

"Renee asked if I knew about our London cousins and, of course, I knew about our late uncle Lothar," says Daniel, who adds that "about 25% of my current family tree is due to Lothar's work in the early 1970s, when he compiled a complete tree for my father's mother's family."

However, Daniel didn't know about his sons and other descendants. He had once tried to contact Lothar's wife, but she wasn't very interested.

Renee reminded him about their other cousins in London, including the sons of Dorica (Lothar's cousin) and said she had met them when they visited the family in Israel a few times.

His information on the London relatives was limited to their names and a few dates, he says, but by the end of Renee's visit, he knew much more, including children and previous family contacts.

The critical information was that the two branches in London simply didn't talk to each other because of a problem their parents had experienced.

To genealogists, the opportunity to meet and bring together family is always a call to action! As Daniel told me, "This was the perfect trigger for a genealogy quest."

Renee provided the cousins' contact information. Daniel began contacting them, explaining why he was coming to London and that he really wanted to meet them.

Daniel said they were all cordial and, to his surprise, they agreed to a small family meeting. it took many emails and phone calls to schedule the meeting with as many cousins as possible at very short notice and with a hectic business schedule.

"The first thing I asked them was to bring as many old photos or documents they could find," said Daniel. "I gave them access to my MyHeritage.com family site, so they could see what I already had for them and they could add new information."

They did.

One cousin couldn't make the planned get-together, so Daniel met him a few nights earlier. Over dinner, they talked about their families, and updated each other with information covering 50 years.

"We had each heard the names before, but now I knew exactly what questions to ask. He told me about his father and the pre-WWII stories he had heard: How his father had been in the Russian Army and later with the partisans, how he had been involved in illegal immigration to Israel where he later moved, and how he got to London.

"My cousin found, in his parents' home, many photos with inscriptions on the reverse, along with a completely new family tree of which neither of us was aware. This was new information for me, and what you might call a moment of serendipity! It was the perfect preparation for our family meeting a few days from then."

The other cousins met at a Piccadilly Circus restaurant, and three were already there when Daniel arrived, and another arrived shortly after.

"I introduced myself and explained how we were related. They had brought photos and we began sharing information about our parents and grandparents.

These were cousins who had always lived in the same city and had lost contact for more than 20 years. Now reunited, they were beginning to recall their memories, sharing and comparing photos with each other. And I was there to hear all the stories."

In addition to learning about their childhoods, their visits to Israel and Brazil (that was a new lead for him!), there was also all the gossip and family secrets buried in their collective memory.

"Not everything was revealed that afternoon and, of course, nobody knew exactly why their parents had stopped the contact between them, but it wasn't really important any more.

"I now have contact with family of which I hadn't been aware, and this is just the beginning, thanks to my cousins in London."

When will you visit your family in other places?

Let me know about similar experiences you have had.

Wanted: TV genealogists

Looking for a media break? The Travel Channel is getting in on roots action with a new series, and they are looking for professional genealogists.

Here's the casting call:

Calling all Professional Genealogists

Travel Channel is casting an exciting new series about the journey and process of locating missing heirs. We are looking for professional genealogists only. Must have a proven track record of successful investigations resulting in the location of missing heirs – preferably internationally as well as domestically. Must be charismatic and comfortable on camera and MUST HAVE photos and video of yourself.

Contact Timothy Hedden, HeirMailCasting@gmail.com.

Video? Hmmmmm. Randy Seaver and I have some video snippets from our Australian meet-up in Sydney - on the ferry and at gorgeous Manley Beach. Somehow, I don't think that's what the Travel Channel wants.

Let's hope that some of our Geneablogger colleagues win this gig!

Illinois: Midwest Jewish Genealogy Conference, June 6

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois will present a one-day Jewish genealogy conference, "From the Shtetl to the 21st Century," on Sunday, June 6, in Skokie.

The venue is Temple Beth Israel, 3601 W. Dempster.

The full-day event, from 8am-5.15pm, features experienced instructors on topics to expand knowledge of genealogical resources, including a two-part Beginners’ Workshop. Fifteen sessions are scheduled - three each in five time slots.

Key note speaker Ron Arons is a nationally known expert on Jewish criminals, Jewish genealogy and research techniques. He will demonstrate new ways to use the Internet to find family information in  “Online Jewish Genealogy Beyond JewishGen and Steve Morse.” During lunch, he'll share how his interest in Jewish criminals led to his book - “The Jews of Sing Sing” - and he'll also lead a mapping techniques session.

Other presenters will be Judith R. Frazin, Harriet Rudnit, Abby and Bill Schmelling, Ralph Beaudion, Leslye Hess, Robin Seidenberg, Irwin Lapping, Alvin Holtzman, Louisa Nicotera, Everett L. Butler and Mike Karsen.

Sessions include: Beginners' Genealogy Workshop, Using the Internet to Research Your Family History, Travel to Your Ancestral Shtetl, Find That Obituary Online, Holocaust Research in Libraries and Internet, Polish Translation Guide, Mining for Gold: Online Newspapers, Waldheim Cemetery, Basics of DNA Testing, Mapping Techniques, Cook County Genealogy Online, Genealogy Research Reasoning, Write Your Family History Now, and Ask the Experts.

Fee: Before May 15, fees are: Members of any Jewish genealogical society, $45; others, $50, Conference plus JGSI membership (new member only), $70. After May 15, each category increases by $10.

The JGSI library with hundreds of books will be available. Refreshments and a box lunch food will all be kosher. The synagogue is wheelchair accessible and has an elevator.

Tracing the Tribe also believes that this event could be considered a great lead-in and preparation for the main event of the Jewish genealogy year, the 30th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy - JGSLA 2010 - which runs from July 11-16, in Los Angeles.

Download an event brochure, and find more program details, at the JGSIllinois website.

Around the world: Looking for Jews

When we traveled much more than we do now, Tracing the Tribe always looked for signs of Judaism.

Many years ago, when we lived in Iran, we visited Isfahan, from where my husband's family had migrated to Teheran in the mid-1850s. Our itinerary included the various Jewish quarters and old synagogues of Isfahan and I convinced my husband to travel 30km on a gravel road in a mini-bus to the ancient Jewish cemetery at Pir Bakran (below). Unexpectedly, we even met a very distant cousin on the mini-bus that day and were invited to share eggs cooked over a fire, tomatoes and bread.

Some years ago, I wrote about our visit to this cemetery here for the IAJGS Cemetery project. For more outstanding photos of the cemetery, view here. One of these days, I will scan in my own photos of our trip.

In Shiraz, we visited cousins by marriage, walked through the old Jewish quarter, visited synagogues and community institutions.

In Teheran, I accompanied American visitors to the old Mahalleh - the old Jewish neighborhood - when it was really most unfashionable to go there.

In Guadalajara, Mexico, we ran the gauntlet of phone calls to be approved to attend a Shabbat service at the guarded Jewish club.

In Catalunya - Barcelona, Girona (see image right), Besalu, Lleida and elsewhere - we visited the silent stones of once important Jewish communities.

Massachusetts resident Lynn Nadeau does much the same, and detailed her travels in this story in the Jewish Journal Boston North. The story covers Rome, Palermo, Belize and Argentina.

-- Split, Croatia: She found a third-floor room in Diocletian’s Palace that the only Jews in the city - six men - used as a synagogue. the nearest rabbi was 300 miles away in Zagreb.

"In Argentina (and wherever I travel), I look for the Jews. I go down streets called “the Jewish quarter,” but often the streets are empty of Jews and contemporary Jewish life. My Jewish tour of Palermo, Sicily, was paltry. Although there was lots of history, I was able to find only one Star of David and one candelabra in a Norman palace."

-- Hania, Crete: Nadeau walked through narrow alleys on Succot to pray with a handful of local Jews.

-- Syracusa, Sicily: A closed abandoned mikvah - no sign of a synagogue.
She also finds existing vibrant communities, such as in Rome, in a heavily guarded Munich shul, in a Sephardic synagogue with a sand-covered floor on the Caribbean island of St. Thomas, on Barbados, and in the third largest Jewish community in the world, Buenos Aires.

She describes the museum of Temple Libertad, built in 1897, with photographs, wedding gown displays, information on Jewish gauchos, and also covers the 1970s wave of anti-Semitism and the "disappeared," as well the tragic bombings in 1992 and 1994.

Nadeau sums up her searches:

"But my searches have resulted in a deeper identification with Jews of other nationalities, in a feeling of pride because of the depth and breadth of our Jewish family throughout the world. My searches have added the excitement of a detective novel to my travels, and a deep satisfaction in finding that the spirit of Jewish studies and customs live on, despite all the global obstacles we have faced and overcome."

What have you discovered on your travels?

Read the complete story at the link above.

JGSLA 2010: New programs, classes, workshops!

In addition to lectures, JGSLA 2010 will offer programs on maps, roots travel, films and filmmakers, classes and crafts.

"This year in LA" is the 2010 mantra for Jewish genealogists around the world.

Don't miss the early registration discount for the 30th IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, July 11-16, in Los Angeles. Discounts end April 30, don't miss out. Go to JGSLA 2010 and register today.

Two fascinating speakers have been added to the program, and see further down for even more additions to the program.

Holocaust

USC Shoah Foundation Institute executive director Dr. Stephen Smith will speak on Wednesday evening, July 14.

He was founding director of The UK Holocaust Centre, the UK's first dedicated Holocaust memorial and education center. For this work, he was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (M.B.E.). Additionally, Smith co-founded the Aegis Trust, withe the goal of prevention of crimes against humanity and genocide. He chairs the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, which organizes the UK national Holocaust commemoration.

A dynamic speaker, he is dedicated to bringing the Shoah Foundation’s survivor testimonies into the 21st century by making them accessible to a worldwide audience. His talk will address this topic.  The conference resource room will offer streaming Shoah Foundation survivor testimonies daily during the conference, beginning on Sunday, July 11, at 10am.

Sephardim

Professor Delores Sloane will discuss her new book, “The Sephardic Jews of Spain and Portugal: Survival of an Imperiled Culture in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries,” a storyteller’s account of what happened to the expelled Iberian Jews who built new lives in exile after leaving what had been their home for 1,500 years.

Sloan believes that history is best understood through the experiences of those who lived it.

In 1996, she traveled through Spain and Portugal for five weeks, by train, bus and by foot, looking for footprints left by the remarkable Jews who had created a golden age of learning and discovery.

Her new book offers a compelling portrait of Sephardic Jews, who created a Golden Age on the Iberian Peninsula under Moslem rule for nearly seven centuries, and continued to advance science, medicine, political economy, government and the arts under Christian rule that followed. See the link above for more information.

Here's even more to absorb:

Maps and more

Ukraine and Galicia are on the menu with the famous Brian Lenius speaking on cadastral maps and landowner records; Alexander Dunai (from Lviv) on maps in the Ternopil (Tarnopol) archives; and Alexander Denysenko (from Lviv), on roots travel. Dunai and Seattle's Sol Sylvan will present how you can plan the trip of a lifetime. Other experts will be able to discuss roots travel to Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Latvia and Lithuania.

Films

Filmmaker, researcher and travel planner Michael Masterovoy of Moscow is flying in to  speak at the Belarus SIG luncheon (don't forget to sign up for this added event!). He'll speak about his recent trip to several Belarus towns, including Vitebsk, home to Movsha Shagal (AKA Marc Chagall).

He has created documentary and campaign videos for North American Jewish organizations and the film festival will screen several of his films, including “Brailov: A Town Without Jews."

In about two weeks, the complete Film Festival schedule will be online.

Arts & Crafts, Workshops, Classes

Frequent conference-goers know we all need breaks from lectures.

Some classes and workshops:

• Sunday, Lil Blume will offer a two-part workshop on “Writing Family Stories and Memoirs.”
• Monday-Thursday: Lynn Saul - “Creating and Retelling Your Family's Stories: A Participatory Writing Workshop;” Mike Karsen - “How to Create Your Family History;” and Marlis Humphrey - “I Couldn’t Put it Down! New Ways to Publish Family History.”

Crafts:

• A Tallit–making class will cover the history of the Jewish prayer shawl, the Hebrew prayer for the atarah (or collar), the aleph bet chart with various Hebrew fonts, images to stitch to decorate the tallit, how to tie tzitzit (corner fringes), and sha'a'tnez. (prohibition of using two different fibres in the same textile).
• “How to Create a Genealogical Quilt” using ancestral photographs as the artwork.
• “Pomegranate Jewish Papercut” session to learn the art of Jewish paper cutting, using scissors. References to Jewish paper cutting date from 14th century and it became an important folk art among both Ashkenazim and Sephardim in the 17th-18th centuries. Each participant will have a papercut that they can display at home. There's a $10 kit fee for the project materials.

Holocaust, Sephardim, maps, roots travel, writing, films and filmmakers, along with arts and crafts! No matter your specific interests, there will be something - and lots of somethings - for you.

Tracing the Tribe looks forward to greeting you in Los Angeles.

New York: Gesher Galicia spring event, April 18

The Gesher Galicia Spring regional meeting is set for Sunday, April 18, at the Center for Jewish History, 15 W. 16th Street, New York City.

The two-part program begins at 11am.

Part 1: Update on the Cadastral Map and Landowner Records Project, with Gesher Galicia president and research coordinator Pamela Weisberger.

Cadastral land records and property maps are an excellent source of family history information. Studied together, they can show the exact location where a family lived in a shtetl. They can tell the story of neighbors or siblings who resided near each other and demonstrate how close a family lived to the synagogue, cemetery, schools, or the market square. Using house numbers gleaned from vital records, a connection can be made between these physical locations and the genealogical data. Landowner taxation books show the size and value of the properties that Jewish families owned or rented, adding greatly to the history of a family. These records are invaluable when other metrical records are not available, and in some cases they may be the only documented evidence relating to your ancestors.

Examples of maps and records from Phase 4 of the project will be shown and discussed, along with examples from a 1765 Polish magnate "census" book showing the Jewish residents of Grzymalow and the first appearance of Jewish surnames as derived from the occupations of the Jews who lived on the estate grounds. The next phase of the project (June 2010) will be detailed along with the return of the Lviv Street and House Photography Project in July 2010.

2. A Galician Childhood Recounted - The True Story of Feige Hollenberg-Connors Feige, who was born in Korolowka in 1933.

In addition to a house on the market square, her family had farmland outside of town, inherited from her Rosenstock grandfather. She led an idyllic childhood until war broke out and her family had to go into hiding. Hear her first-hand account of what it was like to grow up in this shtetl, until at age 14 she was hidden by a Ukrainian family that later betrayed her, escaped from the ghetto andlabor camp, and survived in the forest until the war's end.

Feige returned to Korolowka last summer with cave explorer Chris Nicola, who will be on hand to add a coda to her story involving his discovery of "Priests Grotto" the seven-mile long cave where 38 Jews from the town hid until the war was over, and his tenacious path to both discover the identities of those who survived the horrors of war and to successfully reunite them.

There is actually a Part 3 to this program. After lunch, the JGS of New York will meet with speaker Roma Baran to hear her story of rediscoveringher family's true identities.

A JGSLA 2010 preview will also be offered.

The meeting is free to all. Invite anyone who might be interested. Click here for directions.

China: A visit to Kaifeng

The one thing I really wanted to do, on my recent visit to Hong Kong, was arrange a visit to Kaifeng. It was impossible this time, but will be number one on my next visit - whenever that will be.

Matthew Fishbane recently visited the city and recounted his experience in the New York Times Travel Section, "China's Ancient Jewish Enclave." He also provides details for making a successful trip, mentions two guides and offers an interesting look.

One guide mentioned in the story is Shi Lei, 31, who studied at Bar Ilan University in Israel. We met when he spoke to a Ra'anana branch meeting that attracted nearly 100 attendees.

Through a locked door in the coal-darkened boiler room of No. 1 Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Kaifeng, there’s a well lined with Ming Dynasty bricks. It’s just a few yards deep and still holds water. Guo Yan, 29, an eager, bespectacled native of this Chinese city on the flood plains of the Yellow River about 600 miles south of Beijing, led me to it one recent Friday afternoon, past the doormen accustomed to her visits.

A mezuza at the doorway of Guo Yan's house in Kaifeng, where traces of a thriving Jewish community remain.

The well is all that’s left of the Temple of Purity and Truth, a synagogue that once stood on the site. The heritage it represents brings a trickle of travelers to see one of the more unusual aspects of this country: China, too, had its Jews.

Ms. Guo, who identifies herself as a Jew, says she hears it from scholars, visitors and Chinese people alike: “ ‘You Chinese Jews are very famous,’ they say. ‘But you are only in the history books.’“

That seemed a good enough reason to come looking, and I quickly found that I was hardly alone.

Ms. Guo and I were soon joined by a 36-year-old French traveler, Guillaume Audan, who called himself a “nonpracticing Jew” on a six-month world tour of “things not specifically Jewish.” Like me, he’d found Ms. Guo by recommendation, and made the detour to see what the rumored Kaifeng Jews were all about.

Earlier, Ms. Guo had brought us into a narrow courtyard at 21 Teaching Torah Lane — an alley once central to the city’s Jewish community, and still home to her 85-year-old grandmother, Zhao Cui, widow of a descendant of Chinese Jews. Her one-room house has been turned into a sort of dusty display case, with Mrs. Zhao as centerpiece. “Here are the Kaifeng Jews,” Ms. Guo said, a little defiantly. “We are they.”

Fishbane says, as does my own research over nearly two decades, that for 150 years following the death of the last rabbi, there was still a spirit:

Grandparents told their grandchildren, as Mrs. Zhao told Ms. Guo: “You are a Jew.” Without knowing why, families avoided pork. And at Passover, the old men baked unleavened cakes and dabbed rooster’s blood on their doorstep.

Read the complete story, at the link above, which tells of the visit to Mrs. Zhao, Judaica, and the 50 or so descendants of this ancient Jewish community as they are relearning their heritage. Fishbane also provides a good capsule history of Kaifeng as well. Their synagogue, damaged by floods, was never rebuilt.

And, if this story inspires you, view the details, resource books and possibilities of arranging such a visit to Kaifeng. Most visit only for a day as there are few sites to see that exist, and a visit relies on how the visitor and guide explain what once was.

If you do plan a trip, you might want to do it sooner than later. The street where Shi's grandfather lived - where Shi keeps a one-room mini-museum of photographs, documents and donated objects - is scheduled for re-development. We all know what that means and Shi doesn't know where the museum will move. Read the story for details on a Kaifeng visit planned for October 2010 by a group that specializes in such trips.

JewishGen: ShteLinks additions

Check out these geographic locations below. Are any of them part of your unique family history?

If so, view the pages, contact the site creator or compiler and add your family's information. This is one way to create a living memorial to your ancestors.
(NOTE: N=new site, U=updated)

POLAND
Baligrod (N)
Created: Maurice I. Kessler
Webmaster: Arie Schwartz.

Ilza (Drildz) (N)
Created: Barbara Sontz

HUNGARY
Debrecen (N)
Compiled: Eugene Katz
Created/Webpage Design: Marshall J. Katz

Tiszafured (N)
Compiled: Dr. Agnes (nee Szego) Orbanne
Created/Webpage Design: Marshall J. Katz

Hodmezovasarhely (U)

ROMANIA
Iasi (N)
Created: Robert Zavos

AUSTRIA
Lackenbach (Lakompak) (U)

You, too, can create a new ShtetLinks webpage for your ancestral shtetl or adopt an existing page that has been "orphaned" and requires a dedicated person to maintain it.

If you are interested in starting such a project but need help with website design, a team of volunteers is available to help you.

For more information, send an email.

Tracing the Tribe is always available to ShtelLink site creators to help the Jewish genealogy world learn about your project and find more descendants who may wish to get involved.

Australia: Visiting Sydney, Day 1

Ziva drove me to the airport, before dawn, to catch an early morning flight to Sydney to see my cousins.

Bob and Di met me at the airport and, since time was so limited, they drove me around to get a feeling for this beautiful city. The weather was sunny and breezy and Bob shared his love for the city where he has lived for more than three decades.

For lunch, we went to the Sydney Fish Market for fish and chips. An amazing building full of fresh everything that can say "glub glub."

Some of them were still speaking!

Name a creature of the water and it is on ice or in a tank somewhere here. There are also other kiosks inside (sushi and more).

At 2pm, Bob and Di dropped me off at the Kent Street site of the Society of Australian Genealogists, where I met the SAG program director Carole Riley, a GenClass.com colleague Kerry Farmer and MyHeritage.com's Linde Wolters (who lives in Sydney). From left, Carole, Kerry and Linde:

We had a quick tour of the excellent facilities, library (there is another archive offsite), talked genealogy - what else? - and went for refreshment to the cafe across the street. First it was 3.20pm and the next time we checked it was 4pm. If I wasn't being picked up by my cousins, we could have gone for several more hours.

For dinner, we went to a Lebanese restaurant with our cousins' friends and had a great time talking genealogy, DNA and much more.

Tomorrow, say my cousins, I'll get to see koalas, kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, emus and other unusual animals. Looking forward to that!