Call for Papers: The Jewish Atlantic World, March 2011

In June 2006, the journal Jewish History offered a special issue on the port Jews of the Atlantic. As a result, there's a call for panelists and papers on the topic for a March 2011 conference.

Editor Lois Dubin noted that the concept of port Jews identified the role and experience of Jewish merchants who lived in Mediterranean and Atlantic port cities in early modern Europe. The issue's authors followed these merchants across the Atlantic to the North and South American colonies. The trans-Atlantic leap demonstrates the life and times of colonial American Jews.

They rarely stayed in one place, and traveled between ports on both sides of the ocean, as they married and traded with Jews of other key towns.

This transnational world of early American Jews is the focus of a call for panelists/papers is being made for "The Jewish Atlantic World," at the seventh biennial conference of the Society of Early Americanists, set for Philadelphia, March 3-5, 2011.

For more information on the conference, click here.

According to the announcement: "Proposed papers may explore, but are not limited to, such issues as trade, slavery, race, messianism, mysticism, everyday life, politics, gender, education, gravestones, the synagogue, or the arts."

A broad disciplinary range is sought, and submissions are welcome from literary scholars, archeologists, art historians, historians, and scholars of religious studies. Comparative studies of Jews and other colonists are also welcome.

Send one-page abstracts for consideration - by September 20 - to Reed College's Laura Leibman.

Tracing the Tribe reminds those interested that such topics may also be of interest to the program committee of the 31st IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (Washington, DC; August 2011). The call for papers for DC 2011 is set for the near future.

Southern California: Red Line Jewish Immigrants, Aug. 1

The Red Star Line brought 2.7 million immigrants - half were likely Jewish - from Eastern Europe, via Antwerp, to US ports from 1873-1934.

Artist Eugeen Van Mieghem of Antwerp is probably the only European artist who captured the lives of the Jewish immigrants. His parents had a tavern in front of the Red Star Line warehouse, providing a front row seat.

Eugeen Van Mieghem Museum (Antwerp) curator Erwin Joos will speak at the Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County (JGSCV) on Sunday, August 1.

The program will run from 1.30-3.30pm at Temple Adat Elohim, 2420 E. Hillcrest Drive, Thousand Oaks.

Joos' topic is "One Foot in America: Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875-1930) and the Jewish Emigrants of the Red Star Line."

The largest number of Jewish immigrants came following programs (1900-1914). Joos will also address Jewish writers who described their travel experiences on one of the most important shipping lines.

Joos is also president of the non-profit Eugeen Van Mieghem Foundation, which has more than 1,100 members. He has spoken some 100 times in Dutch, English and French, in Antwerp, Amsterdam, Paris, New York and Philadelphia; has written five art books, 12 albums, and organized 15 exhibits.

He will be speaking at several Jewish genealogical societies on this tour, so look out for notices and try to attend his talk.

The book and DVD -"One Foot in America, Eugeen Van Mieghem (1875-1930) and the Jewish Emigrants of the Red Star Line" - will be available for $20 each.

For more information, visit the JGSCV or contact president Jan Meisels Allen.

Webinar: Finding ancestors in EllisIsland.org

"Ellis Island: Find Your Ancestor in a Sea of Online Records" is a webinar with Lisa Alzo, scheduled by Family Tree Magazine on Wednesday, July 21.

Nearly half of all Americans have relatives who arrived at New York's Ellis Island. Those passenger records - some 22 million online records - are a key resource to help researchers jump back to the old country to pick up the trail.

The 60-minute webinar, presented by Lisa Alzo, will provide the tricks and tips of searching EllisIsland.org. It begins at 7pm Eastern.

Participants will learn:

-- Tricks to searching the Ellis Island passenger list database
-- Secrets from a demo search of a hard-to-find immigrant
-- How to use Steve Morse's One-Step search tools to locate elusive passengers
-- The differences between Ancestry.com and EllisIsland.org

To register, click here.

San Diego: A Jewish story everywhere

Did you have family in San Diego, California? Here's a great newspaper resource for family historians and genealogists searching for Jewish family connections.

The San Diego Jewish World - whose tagline is "there's a Jewish story everywhere" - has put on line, in its blog, the paper's index and also blogs the paper's historical (from 1954, in this case) social announcements, travel notes and more.

"Adventures in Jewish History” is sponsored by Inland Industries Group LP in memory of long-time San Diego Jewish community leader Marie (Mrs. Gabriel) Berg. The comment at the end of the blog posts:

Our indexed “Adventures in San Diego Jewish History” series will be a regular feature until we run out of history.

The social and travel notes for June 25, 1954 are here.

Among the treasures are these:

-- From Near and Far – The Fischbeins write from Tel Aviv that they are “having a fabulous time seeing everything in Israel.” From not so far, the Mac Kaufmans reported last from Portland that the northwest is even more exciting than expected. And from even nearer, the Mickey Fredmans and the Harry Waxes report an exciting weekend in Las Vegas.

As an example of what else can be found, click on July 9, 1954, and scroll down for the wedding announcement of S. Esther Weitzman and Andrew Segal, which took place on July 11. There are many family connections in this one with names of parents, locations, guests, bridal party (bridesmaids, ushers flower girls, ring bearer, best man, matron/maid of honor) and out-of town relatives from New York, Los Angeles, Venice and San Bernardino.

Surnames in this social announcement are WEITZMAN, SCHWARTZ, SIEGEL, JACOBS, PEARL, LOWITZ, PRAGER, PRESS, COHEN, CHARNEY, HINE, ROCHMAN, LEIDNER, FINN, TWEDT, OSMAN, KUSCHER, DOBIN, SHAPIRO and SEGAL.

For more, go to the blog at the top link above, scroll down to "Categories" (lower right sidebar), scroll to "Adventures in San Diego Jewish History," and click for all such posts. Readers can also search by date, country, Jewish public official, author, topic or name.

Enjoy!

On the Road: California, Nevada

Travel is wonderful and allows reconnections with old friends.

I'm glad I got in 10 days before the upcoming Jamboree conference to work out the jet lag.

My friend Hilary has been wonderful, and we did a Persian barbecue while I was there.

Then I went out to Thousand Oaks to speak on Sephardic genealogy trends and resources for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Conejo Valley. There was a very good turnout with interested people who asked questions for nearly an hour following my talk on Sephardic genealogy trends and resources.

Thank you to Jan Meisels Allen and her husband Tom who were superb hosts. It was also nice to see Hal Bookbinder and Warren and Debra Blatt and other JGSCV members.

Today, I managed a quick overnighter to Las Vegas to take care of some things and to visit with old friends Mark and Cheryl, whom we've known since we moved to the area in 1990. Tomorrow afternoon it's back to Los Angeles and on Thursday, the Burbank Airport Marriott is where I'll be until Sunday, June 13.

Hilary and I found a fantastic Chinese restaurant in Sherman Oaks, called Kung Pao Bistro. We highly recommend it, as well as a great Japanese/Asian buffet in Woodland Hills. Both were excellent. We even got good sandwiches at Brent's Deli out in Agoura and a wonderful post-talk dinner with JGSCV friends at Marcello's.

Tomorrow will be a serious blogging day so expect lots of good things to read!

A busy schedule: Flying to the US

Tracing the Tribe wishes readers a happy holiday weekend with friends and family. Travel safely.

I'm off to Los Angeles in the early hours of Tuesday June 1, arrive the same day after a long flight, and jump right into a busy schedule. I'm looking forward to meeting Tracing the Tribe readers at every stop. Please make sure to come by and say hello.

• After a few days with good friend and fellow Mogilev researcher Hilary Henkin, I will be speaking on Sephardic research at the JGS of Conejo Valley (and Ventura County) at 1.30pm, Sunday June 6, at Adat Elohim in Thousand Oaks.
• From June 11-13, I will be at the Southern California Genealogical Society's 41st Jamboree at the Burbank Marriott - always an amazing event - where I'll be on the advanced bloggers' panel and also speak on our IberianAshkenaz DNA Project from the administrators' viewpoint. I'm looking forward to seeing many of my Geneablogger colleagues, Tracing the Tribe readers and will be blogging away all weekend. I'll also be helping out at the MyHeritage booth, as I also write the MyHeritage Genealogy Blog.
• On June 13, as Jamboree ends, I go north to Los Altos to visit good friends Rosanne and Dan Leeson and hope to also see friends in San Jose and Monterrey.
• July 4th weekend is at the Association of Jewish Libraries' conference, July 4-7, at the Fairmont Olympic Hotel., Seattle There are several family history sessions this year: history of names (Jewish European names, 18th-19th Centuries), researching Sephardi Jews (including Yeshiva University's Sephardic collections, and using social media in relation to Sephardic studies), Jewish archives, Jewish social history, social media, Seattle's Sephardic history, Jewish business in the Far West, Yiddish culture, in addition to many others on archives, libraries and more.
• To Los Angeles on July 8 to get ready for JGSLA 2010's big international Jewish genealogy conference from July 11-16. I'll be presenting on the wonderful world of genealogy blogging, our IberianAshkenaz DNA Project and how to create your own DNA project, on Sephardic research, speaking with Thomas MacEntee and Lisa Louise Cooke at a social media expert's breakfast, and much more. I'll be blogging from there all week attempting to attend as many as possible of the 150+ speakers presenting 300+ programs.
• On July 16, just as JGSLA2010 ends, I'm off to El Paso, Texas for the 7th Bnai Anousim Sephardic Conference, July 16-19, at Congregation Bnai Zion, where I will be speaking on Genealogy 101 and Sephardic research.
• Then to Houston to enjoy a few days with FamilyTreeDNA.com's Bennett Greenspan and his family.
• New York City is next to see family and friends for a few weeks.

Sounds like a lot of work with all those conferences, but how can we possibly call genealogy-related activities "work"? We love it!

Vacations are great, breaks are necessary but, after this one, I'm sure I'll need another "real" vacation!

While I'm trying to schedule in as many Tracing the Tribe blog posts to automatically publish, there may be some slow days due to travel arrangements or other activities.

It's the summer and everyone needs to kick back a little.

I'm already working on a travel schedule for October. I'm hoping to again attend the Mont Juic Institute's October 18-20 conference (in Barcelona and Valencia) on Catalan-speaking Jews, and the FamilyTreeDNA administrator's conference October 30-31. An East Coast speaking tour may also be in the works.

Hong Kong: On a clear day....

Doesn't it always happen like this?

You visit a new place and weather conditions are such that you can't see more than a few buildings down the road. Then, on the last day, everything is beautiful and clear.

On both my visits, I could barely see the harbor from the hotel window. Today, I could see the hills on the far side.

At least I have this great shot!

Hong Kong has been a great experience and I am grateful to the Jewish Community Center events committee for making it happen. Mira, Tara, Erica, Howard and everyone else were most gracious and very kind.

This trip afforded many opportunities to talk genealogy with so many diverse individuals and I hope that they may go on searching their own ancestry, whatever it might be.

My visit to Australia was a dream come true as well. Ziva and Sam Fain were very caring hosts and it was hard to tear myself away from them (and the two dogs); the conference was excellent and I thank everyone on the committee who made it possible.

Meeting my Melbourne cousins from Bobruisk (Alex, Jenny, Nelly, Leon, Fleur) was a wonderful experience, and my Sydney cousins Bob and Di were delightful, as usual.

Meeting up with geneablogging colleague Randy Seaver and his wife just added to the overall good memories of Sydney. That's Randy and me on beautiful Manley Beach (right).

It was a great pleasure making in-person connections with gen colleagues Kerry Farmer and Carole Riley in Sydney, and finally meeting Linde Wolters, a member of MyHeritage.com's farflung family.

I will always remember the great people I met on this trip, talking genealogy in two countries and with fellow passengers. I'd like to travel there again for the Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival in November. We'll see!

For now, it is back to Tel Aviv tonight, attempt to get ready for Pesach, and to catch up on a huge pile of work for upcoming conferences and other events.

Tracing the Tribe wishes a Happy Pesach to all readers who celebrate this special holiday.

Kangaroos, koalas and wombats - Oh my!

This non-genealogical morning was devoted to Australia's unusual animals.

My first animal encounter (below) was with a joey - a baby kangaroo - named Blossom.

What did I see? Kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, echidnia (porcupine-ish), wombats, emus, many colorful birds and many koalas, of course. There was a strange white long-feathered white chicken.

Koalas were next up.

Sorry I didn't get this one's name (right).

There were lots of free-hopping wallabies, which are a smaller marsupial than kangaroos. Visitors can buy ice-cream cones filled with their feed.

Not sure what this bird is called.

However, he sports yellow feathers on his head which look exactly like a long blonde wig - kind of a rocker bird.

Fairy penguins - the smallest variety - were enjoying the water today - except for these two!

Melbourne: Shabbat down under

The weather report indicated possible showers today, and the heavens have really opened up, with thunder, rain and hail. Glad I'm inside today!

After nearly two weeks of travel, jet lag has finally hit.

This past week was spent kicking back, frequently napping and getting the travel fuzz out of my brain.

My hosts, Ziva and Sam Fain, couldn't be nicer, and their two pooches are wonderful.

Last night, for Shabbat dinner, I cooked up a Persian Shabbat meal of abgusht, gonde, khoresht-e-lubia sabz, rice and golden tahdiq. None of the guests had ever eaten Persian food before and it seems this was a big hit.

For readers unfamiliar with the cuisine: abgusht is a chicken soup flavored with handfuls of mint and parsley, carrots, parsnips, onion and lots more. Gonde are meatballs of ground chicken, grated onion, roasted chickpea flour, cardamom, turmeric, pepper and salt, cooked in the soup.

Khoreshts are stews with meat and vegetables and/or herbs. Lubia sabz are green beans. This particular dish uses very lean stew meat, sauteed fresh green beans, lots of carmelized onion, crushed tomatoes, whole tomatoes, lime juice and cinnamon. Shirazi salad - finely diced tomato, cucumber, red onion dressed in lime juice, salt, pepper, and a little olive oil - was also on the table.

Ziva has a beautiful herb garden, and there is nothing like the taste of fresh-picked herbs (two kinds of mint, flat-leaf parsley, basil, oregano and more). It really made a difference. She also has a small vegetable garden, and a big fig tree in her front garden.

Dessert included watermelon and cantalope slices, strawberries and blueberries.

This week, we visited the new Holocaust museum that is just opening - school groups are already going through it. I met many of the volunteers, and some of the JGS people, including Lionel Sharpe, on our quick visit.

The conference starts tomorrow, so I'm trying to kick back and go over materials.

I've connected with my long-lost cousins from Bobruisk who have lived in Melbourne for quite some time - they are still in shock over my phone call and one of the brothers and his family live only a few blocks from my hosts! They are Katsnelson and their mother was a Talalay. We will spend one day next week together. Another day will be spent with Bene Israel friends from India, who have lived here for many years.

On Sunday, March 14, the plan is to be in a place called Kangaroo Flat for the Bendigo Family History Expo. My hosts are planning a visit down to Phillips Island to see the penguins (I love penguins). Sydney is also on the list as I will be seeing my cousins, Bob and Di Conley.

Stay tuned for the conference first day report!

Hong Kong to Melbourne

Tracing the Tribe landed in Melbourne, Australia late in the evening on Monday, March 1.

While we are down under, posting dates and times will be local for Melbourne and Sydney. Now, it is 11am on Wednesday, March 3.

After a long flight, it was great to stretch out and get a good night's sleep at the home of Ziva and Sam Fain in Caulfield South.

It was my first flight on Cathay Pacific and very enjoyable. Although completely full, it was comfortable and the service was excellent.

The seats were the best part of this long flight. In most aircraft, the seat back reclines - generally into the face of the person sitting behind - making it very difficult for that person (the "squashee") to get up, open the table or work on a laptop. On Cathay Pacific, the seatbacks themselves do not recline, but the cushion section itself slides forward. It was quite comfortable.

Long flights are great for catching up on movies and I managed to see such recent productions as Up in the Air, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and the new Twilight sequel.

Business and First on Cathay Pacific are wonderful - wish I had managed an upgrade! Each seat becomes a flat bed, a luxurious creature comfort on long flights.

Tuesday was spent catching up on email. This morning - Wednesday - I'm trying to get posts up on Tracing the Tribe, and will also be going over to the new Holocaust museum (more on that later).

Hong Kong: Victoria Harbour

Finally made it down to Victoria Harbour today. I had wanted to take the ferry across to Kowloon and visit the markets, but time was limited, so I settled for an hour-long cruise.

I love lake and harbor cruises. When I travel through Zurich and change planes there, I always build in a half-day so I can take the train into town, and tram or walk down to the lake and enjoy a relaxing boat trip. All the stress seems to melt away. I highly recommend it if you have a chance.

It wasn't a bad day for the ride today. The sun kept trying to break through the cloud cover and I did get some nice shots. See below.

Star ferries leave from Central Pier:

The terminal and adjacent building offer some food outlets, like Subway, a deli, a Burger Box, and Haagen Daz, where a featured flavor is green tea (a favorite). I had green tea and Belgian Chocolate in a waffle cone.


Views of the Harbour before leaving the pier:





There were some smalll fishing boats:

Colorful waterfront:

Here comes the sun - or tries to:

All too soon we were back at Central Pier, and I returned to the hotel to get ready for the hands-on getting started in Jewish genealogy.

Hong Kong: DNA Project and blast from the past

Tonight I presented the IberianAshkenaz DNA Project at the Jewish Community Center of Hong Kong (JCC logo at left), and also experienced a blast from the past.

I reconnected with someone I haven't seen since 2002.

Joining us (Mira, her husband, me) for the Wednesday night buffet at the JCC coffee shop was Gary Stein of Toronto. Longtime Jewish genealogists will remember Gary, particularly if they attended the IAJGS conference there in 2002, when some 1,200 people attended that week-long event. Gary has been been living in Hong Kong for a year and loves it.

The good turnout included people of many different backgrounds: Ashkenazi, Sephardi, spouses who were one or the other. They represented Israel, Australia, the UK, the US, France, North Africa, Iran and elsewhere - a great mix of people.

I'm also doing a hands-on Intro to Jewish Genealogy tomorrow night, and many people will be attending that as well.

It was great to see Gary, and we will be going to Shabbat services and dinner at the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong (the Liberal congregation). I'm also looking forward to their Saturday night Purim Shpiel, billed as "The Little Theater of West South Northampton presents Mordechai Python's Flying Purim."

Nothing really scheduled yet for tomorrow (Thursday) yet, and if it all works out, I'm hoping to take the Kowloon ferry tomorrow and visit the Jewish cemetery on Friday morning.

Hong Kong: A desire for dimsum

Dimsum have been on my mind since I arrived.

Traveling means enjoying good food with great people. Hong Kong has provided several opportunities this week to do just that. And we did it again today!

Today, vegetarian versions were on the menu at Pure Veggie House in Coda Plaza. The same building also holds other restaurants serving hotpots, regular dimsum and more.

Here's their card:

Here's the regular menu (the dimsum menu is a printed list, something like a sushi order sheet, where you check off the items and how many of each dish):





We arrived at around 12.30, only one other table was occupied. By 1.15pm, every table in the place was filled; 1pm is lunchtime in HK.

We sat at a large round table with a revolving glass center.

Every dish looked delicious, but this group has gone there often and knew exactly what to order.

We started off with what turned out to be fried bean curd skins. They tasted a bit like vegetarian bacon bits - chewy, crisp, interesting.

The other dishes began arriving in bamboo steamers, small platters and bowls: transparent wild mushroom dumplings with black truffle sauce, steamed vegetarian BBQ buns (these were fantastic), turnip puffs (a yellow fried shell surrounding soft melting turnip), pure veggie siu mai, noodles in soup with sesame sauce and peanuts (very delicious), and wonton in red chili soup. Of course, green tea and jasmine tea were on the table. For our group of five, we ordered two of most items and stuffed ourselves silly. The bill? About US$10 per person.

We could also have had other deep-fried pastries - such as wild fungus spring roll, vegetarian cake, pan-friend pumpkin cake or vegetable turnover - or other steamed offerings - fried rice in lotus leaf, steamed eggplant with bean paste, bamboo fungus bundle or steamed rice flour pancakes with vegetables or mushrooms, or another 15 rice or noodle dishes.

Frequent diners get a 10% off card, which one of our group had today.

I learned that there are two types of vegetarian restaurants. One serves dishes that look, smell and taste like various meat products but aren't - such as platters of roast "pork." The other type doesn't try to imitate meat products, like Pure Veggie House.

How did I enjoy it? A simple one-word answer: YUM!

There were some interesting dishes on other tables and asked about them. One was a delicious looking spiced bean curd. Next time.

We didn't have dessert, but if we had room, we could have had sesame pudding, red dates and snow lotus seeds, red date pudding, or sweet rice dumplings.

Back to the hotel to prepare for tonight's talk. More later.

Hong Kong: A walk through the market

Even genealogists need a break occasionally.

This morning, Erica Lyons and I walked through the lanes of a market. Here are some shots.

Dried snacks and candies:

A vegetable stand:

Here are the fishies:

Lots of nuts:

And this was before lunch!

Hong Kong: Markets, magazines and more

Erica Lyons - who has been here for some seven years with her family - and I went to an old temple - I love the smell of incense - and a walk through the market.

We later met some of our dining companions from the other night for a fabulous vegetarian dim sum lunch.

Erica, a lawyer by training, is editor-in-chief and publisher of the new Asian Jewish Life: A Journal of Spirit, Society and Culture.

The now-quarterly free publication - hopefully to become more frequent - focuses on the Jewish experience in Asia. It is handed out on El Al flights from Asia in business and first. It is also online.

She gave me a copy of the 40-page premier issue which features an excellent group of articles by some very interesting writers, covering artists, book reviews, personal stories and much more. Read it online at the link above.

Erica (photo right) is also on the board of the Hong Kong Jewish Historical Society, and shared some information about the century-old Jewish cemetery, which I hope to visit Friday morning.

I have discussed the possibility of forming a Jewish genealogical society here under the auspices of the historical society. I hope to meet more of the historical society members when I return through HK from Australia towards the end of March.

Hong Kong: Day Two

Today, JCC program director Mira Hasofer and I discussed identity, heritage and how it impacts "third country" children.

I had also talked about something similar with French native Armelle Sibony over lunch.

Many in the Hong Kong community are expats. Parents come from one country or maybe two, their children have lived in one or more countries from an early age.

The major question is who they feel they are. What are they? Who are they? Where is home? How does where they live impact how they see themselves?

It was an interesting way of thinking about things, and demonstrates how genealogy and family history projects can help Jewish (and indeed all) families focus on what is within them and what that represents and not what is outside the home and where they are living at that particular point in time.

As an expat myself, I understood what Mira and Armelle were saying all too well.

How does one maintain one's identity for the adults, and more importantly for the children. In the case of Jewish expats, being involved in the community is very important for adults and children to strengthen their heritage and identity.

At our dinner tonight, all the women had grown up elsewhere, mostly in the US. Their children were growing up here. All are very involved in the community.

This morning, it was drizzling, but it stopped a few hours later. Here's what it looked like, in the mist, at about noon.


After a nice buffet breakfast, with all the regular items plus some Chinese items and to-order eggs, I went down to the business center to blog - the Internet connection is faster down there.

My schedule was to include the Escalator from Mid-Levels down to Central, lunch, a visit to The Lanes, and a Chinese dinner with community members tonight.

A French native, Armelle Sibony has been in Hong Kong for three years with her engineer husband. She was my wonderful hostess this afternoon. Her family and her husband's are originally from North Africa.

Although we were supposed to take the Escalator down to Central, we took a cab. We went to a wonderful Thai restaurant called Cafe Siam, 40-42 Lyndhurst Terrace. The vegetarian springrolls were delicious - I knew there was a way of making a tasty vegetarian version, and these get a gold star. Armelle had a noodle and vegetable dish with a great sauce, and I had rice with vegetables and coconut served in a coconut. I had it with chicken, but it would have been just as delicious vegetarian.

Armelle's family is from Algeria; her family name - Gueta - is very unusual.

After lunch - we could have sat there chatting for several more hours - we went to The Lanes, a rabbit-warren of two narrow alleys, lined with shops on both sides as well as booths down the middle of it - kind of a bazaar atmosphere and good for chatchkeles and souvenirs. However I did find nearby an interesting shop that sold silk jackets and tops.

What does Central look like? Like any busy downtown in any major city. Lots of people, tiny shops on sidestreets with major stores lining the main road. Wherever you go, there are Starbucks, 7-11s, and every major upscale international brand.

At 6.30pm, I went to Mira's home where I met her two boys and the baby. She wanted me to see a Hong Kong apartment. She and her family will be visiting her parents in Israel for Passover and we hope to get together then.

Their apartment is on Conduit Road; the building has an unbelievably steep, curving driveway as do many buildings on this side of the road. If you think San Francisco has hills, you haven't seen anything yet! Not only is HK filled with even steeper hills than the famous Lombard Street, but also even more twisty roads. Their apartment has very large rooms, huge bedrooms, high ceilings, a balcony, very large kitchen, a utility room as big as an Israeli living room! At about 2,500 sq. ft. it's about the size of a nice-sized house in the US.

From here, I went to dinner - sharing a taxi with Amy Mines Tadelis who lives in the next building to Mira - with Tara Diestel, a liason between the community trustees and the JCC events committee, and five other women at the Peking Garden in Alexandra House.

Each dish was more delicious than the last. Our menu included scallion buns, a kind of fried seaweed with fresh bamboo and candied walnuts, tangerine beef stuffed into little sesame pockets, superb Peking duck with pancakes and hoisin sauce, a definitely seasonal dish of fresh pea sprouts, a delicious white-fleshed fish in orange sauce, noodles and a variety of mushrooms.

At a center table, a noodle chef demonstrated his technique and received applause.

I'm sure I forgot something, but it was all delicious. My dinner companions said they go there often, and it is a community favorite - they seem to have memorized the very extensive menu. Another table was also filled with their mutual friends.<

As expats everywhere, we spent time discussing our favorite items and whether they were available here or not. I felt like I was back in Iran decades ago. Back then, if you were served good tuna salad with Hellman's mayonnaise, you knew you were on the "A" list, as those treasures - among others - were hard to come by.

Tomorrow there's a luncheon at the JCC, and then I'm taking the ferry to Kowloon and back for another dinner invitation.

After a day climbing up and down hills (only the tamer ones!), I'm exhausted and planning to turn in early tonight.

Goodnight from Hong Kong!

North Cyprus: A new Jewish outpost

Tracing the Tribe is always looking for news of Jewish life in off-the-beaten-track locations. North Cyprus seems the newest edition to this list, as Chabad has opened the area's first Jewish center where more than 100 Jews have moved in recent years.

We traveled to Cyprus two years ago and had an excellent visit which we hope to repeat. It is a very short flight from Tel Aviv and visitors to Israel should consider adding on a Cyprus segment. We drove all over the beautiful island from the sea to the mountains and were very impressed by the friendly people we met. English is widely spoken because of the island's long-time British connections.

Rabbi Chaim and Devora Azimov moved to Kyrenia in March 2008 to open the center which is near major hotels. Their opening Passover Seder attracted 45 participants. Chabad-Lubavitch of North Cyprus hosts a Jewish preschool and weekly Shabbat services, individualized study sessions, visit hospitals and prisons, lead adult education classes, and ensure a reliable supply of kosher food to the community and Jewish tourists.

In a 2008 article, the rabbi estimated that some 200-300 Jewish people live in the area, and that on any given weekend more than 2,000 Israeli tourists pass through, as well as tourists from the UK, US and other countries.

Last week's crowded Rosh Hashanah service was very special, according to Devorah Azimov:

"A woman living here for 24 years, who had no connection to Jewish life, came to High Holiday services for the first time."

How does Cyprus figure into Jewish history? Readers may be surprised to learn about the long and important Jewish connection.

Jews lived on the island before and during Roman rule, with Cypriot Jews reported to have taken part in the great rebellion against Trajan's Rome in 117 C.E.

Ancient synagogues are known to have existed in Lapta and Salamis, and by the late Middle Ages, Jewish communities had developed in Lefkoşa, Paphos and Gazi Mağusa.

In the later part of the 19th century, several attempts were made to settle Russian and Romanian Jewish refugees in Cyprus. Fifteen Russian families under the leadership of Walter Cohen founded a colony in 1897 at Margo, south of Ercan. The abandoned village is now within a Turkish military zone, but a synagogue and Jewish cemetery remain.

During the Second World War, the island served as a haven for hundreds of Jews fleeing Europe. Following the liberation of the concentration camps on the continent, British forces set up a refugee camp in Pile, north of the present-day Dhekelia Sovereign Base Area, for Holocaust survivors and others attempting to enter the Holy Land.

The island and its viticulture is even mentioned in the Talmud:

In a discussion about the incense brought in the Holy Temple, yayin kafrisin is mentioned as a necessary commodity; incense producers would soak the Onycha spice in Cypriot wine to make it more pungent.

Kosher wine is being made on Cyprus at the Lambouri Winery from local Mavro grapes. Read more about the wine here.

Read the complete articles at the links above.

Back home again

I'm back!!!

What a trip this summer was - in many ways.

From the excellent Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree to Philadelphia to the superb 29th IAJGS International Conference of Jewish Genealogy, the summer was studded with visits to and from relatives and good friends. Last week was spent in New York City with our daughter.

Tracing the Tribe is already planning for the Los Angeles conference in 2010 (July 11-16). I had breakfast - along with our daughter - with conference-co-chair Pam Weisberger on Sunday. She herself was getting home after a month in such fascinating places as Prague and Moscow and the Philly conference.

The hectic summer pace meant there were many Google alerts that I didn't get to, so better late than never, there will be a bunch of things coming through. The past few weeks were also interesting in that instead of me interviewing individuals for stories I was working, several reporters interviewed me for stories that appeared in the New York Times and on JTA. That was interesting.

I returned to a very hot Tel Aviv yesterday evening. Supposedly, according to my taxi driver (whose car mercifully had excellent air conditioning), it was the highest traffic day of the year with some 60,000 passengers either flying in or out.

By 6am this morning, I was on the computer with the a/c on full blast. My goal is to get as much accomplished as possible before jet lag sets in and I fall asleep at the keyboard.

There are several more Philly 2009 conference postings that will appear over the next few days.

My new washing machine was installed early this morning - the old one had a fatal mishap last week and things always seem to go wrong with appliances when I'm not here. Not only are the clothes spinning happily, but my husband went down to the supermarket to re-stock the bare fridge. I guess that means I have to start cooking again instead of eating out!

Things are returning to normal.

Caribbean: Jewish heritage sites

It must be travel time. If you are thinking about the Caribbean, here's a glimpse at Jewish heritage sites there, along with some history and websites for more information.

Read the article here. Here are some of the highlights:

Curaçao

In 1651, Joao d’Yllan, a Jewish merchant who migrated to Holland from Portugal as a result of the Inquisition, convinced the Dutch West Indies Company to colonize Curaçao. He and a small group set sail for the island that summer, and soon several independent Jewish businessmen from Amsterdam followed. In the spring of 1659, another group of Jewish immigrants brought Curaçao’s first Torah scrolls. Since that time, the Jewish community of Curaçao has remained one of the most active in the Caribbean islands.

Mikve Israel synagogue, with its sand-covered floors, was established in 1651, and today also houses the Jewish Cultural Historical Museum, home to a permanent collection of art and artifacts. Among the treasures is the original Torah scroll brought to Curaçao in 1659. Nearby Blenheim Cemetery is the oldest Jewish cemetery in the Western Hemisphere and has smore than 5,000 graves. For more information, click here.

Aruba

In 1754, Moses Solomon Levie Maduro, a prominent member of a Sephardic Jewish family in Curaçao, established himself in Aruba with his wife and six children. There, Levie Maduro founded a branch of the Dutch West Indies Company. Over 250 years later, Maduro and Sons operates as the main shipping company in Aruba.

Beth Israel Synagogue blends both Sephardic and Ashkenazi, with some 70 local and 180 overseas members. The Sephardic cemetery has graves back to the 19th century. For more information, click here.

Jamaica

When the first Jewish settlers arrived in 1511, Jamaica was a Spanish territory ruled by the family of Christopher Columbus. The island welcomed Jews, and when England conquered Jamaica in 1655, there was no attempt to expel or limit the Jewish presence. Jewish life flourished, and during the 17th century a small synagogue was established. The United Congregation of Israelites in Kingston recently celebrated its 350th anniversary with a permanent exhibition on Jewish contributions to Jamaica.

The new Jewish Her­itage Center offers important Jewish artifacts, an art exhibit by Jewish Jamaican artists, a family history center, and a reference library.For more, click here.

Nevis

The Jewish history in Nevis is vast and has had a prominent impact on the United States. It is suspected that Sephardic Jews first came to Nevis as traders from Barbados sometime after 1654. By the late 17th century, the Nevis Jewish community established a complete enclave, including a cemetery, a synagogue and a Jewish school. In fact, Alexander Hamilton, the first secretary of the treasury of the United States, was born in Nevis and attended Jewish day school. Though its numbers have since dwindled, at one time the Jewish community constituted one fourth of the island’s population.

The Jewish cemetery dates to 1679 and was rededicated in 1971. Jewish cemetery dating back to February 1679. For more, click here.

Barbados

The British first colonized Barbados in 1627 and actively promoted Jewish settlement during the years that followed. Later, Barbados became the first British territory where Jews obtained full political rights. In 1654, the Jewish community in Bridgetown established a Sephardic synagogue, and by 1679, nearly 300 Jews lived on the island. Many Jewish settlers engaged in sugar and coffee cultivation, and soon tensions between Jewish and British merchants rose. In 1668, the government forced Jews to live in a Jewish ghetto and forbade them from engaging in retail trade; the discriminatory laws were removed in the early 19th century. Despite persecution, the Jewish community thrived in Barbados until 1831, when a massive hurricane caused significant damage to the island, displacing some residents.

The Bridgetown Jewish Syna­gogue remains in use today. For more information, click here.

U.S. Virgin Islands

Jews first settled on the then Danish-ruled island of St. Thomas in 1655. After granting Jews religious freedom in 1685, the island has since had three Jewish governors. At its peak, around 1850, the Jewish population made up half of the island’s white community. After the opening of the Panama Canal, however, the number of Jewish residents declined. St. Thomas boasts the oldest synagogue in continuous use in a U.S. territory. Known as the Congregation of Blessings and Peace, the St. Thomas Synagogue was originally established in 1796 and was later rebuilt several times.

The present Sephardic-style synagogue was built in 1833. Everything in the historic building is original, and a small museum was added in 1996. For more, read here.

The article also includes information for those who observe kashrut.

Morocco: A Jewish oasis

Walter Ruby has a fascinating inside look at Morocco in New York's Jewish Week, which also showed his photographs. Ruby and his fiance visited during Passover.

The Moroccan idyll I shared with my fiance Tatyana began with a Passover evening service at the ornate Neveh Shalom Synagogue in the heart of Casablanca’s Jewish Quarter — an upscale French-flavored district in this mostly modern city where 3,500 Jews live among a much larger number of Muslims — and a sumptuous seder at the well-appointed apartment of prominent community member Sammy Ifergan, his wife Natalie and their two charming teenage daughters.

The elegant century-old synagogue was packed with about 200 worshippers, many of them members of the worldwide Moroccan Jewish diaspora of up to one million, stretching from Jerusalem to Paris, Montreal and Caracas. Then Tanya and I experienced our very first Sephardic seder, with Ifergan performing fascinating rituals like holding a platter of matzah over the heads of family members and guests, while intoning, “You were once slaves in Egypt, but now you are free.”

Among Moroccan Jews, bitter herbs aren't bitter but are a celery-like plant (the Persians also use celery!). Ifergan says in the story, “Maybe because our 2,000-year exile in Morocco hasn’t been as bitter as some others."

Their seder dinner included charoset of dates and figs, soup with ful, salads, lamb with truffle mushrooms, homemade pareve ice cream and more.

The history of the Moroccan Jews is more than 2,000 years old, before the Arabs arrived in the 8th century CE. The original inhabitants of Morocco include the Berber tribes, some of whom converted to Judaism centuries ago. There are shrines to Jewish-Berber holy men like the 14th-century sage Shlomo Bel-Hench.

Moroccan Jews today include descendants of both Berbers and Spanish Jews who arrived in 1492.

The sprawling souk within the walled city of Marrakesh is a vast, pulsating marketplace where every product ever conjured by humankind seems to be on sale; including carpets, metalwork, pottery, jewelry and exotic herbs and spices. Visitors can watch robed and turbaned tradesmen plying timeless crafts including leather working, cloth dying and slipper-making. Adjoining Jemaa-el-Fna Square, with its snake charmers, fire-eaters, and fortune tellers, has an almost hallucinatory quality at sunset, with storks flying eerily overhead.

The couple also visited the seaside town of Essaouira, where Jews were the majority until the 1930s.

If you'd like to visit Morocco, the story includes websites and other resources.

Read the complete story at the link above.