Seattle: Jewish genealogy society receives grant

Some time ago, Tracing the Tribe wrote about the grant program offered by Archives.com, and asked which Jewish genealogy group might be the first to receive one.

We are delighted to report that the newest $1,000 grant has been given to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State (JGSWS), to allow the group to begin a digitizing project of the 120-year-old Jewish Transcript newspaper.

Anyone with roots in Seattle or other Washington state communities will find a wealth of information on the Jewish community. JGSWS has wanted to work on this digitizing project for many years but did not have the resources to carry it out.

Tracing the Tribe is especially interested to learn about our JASSEN family, which arrived in Seattle around 1923.

The pages of this venerable publication contain community news; birth, marriage and death announcements, life cycle events and historical news. Currently, the issues are in bound volumes held in the Seattle Public Library. The goal is to digitize the pages and make the records searchable online and accessible to interested researchers around the world.

For those researching Sephardic families, this publication will be of great interest as Seattle has one of the largest Sephardic communities in the US, with origins in Rhodes, Saloniki, and Turkey.

According to the Archives.com blog post:

Archives is pleased to contribute to this project which will clearly have a positive impact on anyone researching their family history in Washington State.

JGSWS President Nancy Adelson notes, "Because of this grant, Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State will be able to start an important project that we've wanted to do for over seven years... Thank you so much for choosing us and our project! I can't tell you how much this means to the members of JGSWS and how it will help make Jewish genealogical research a bit easier."

For more information on JGSWS, view its website.

Is there a project that your group wishes to accomplish related to family history or preservation? Learn more and apply for a grant here.

Seattle: Cemetery research tips, June 13

Cemetery research tips will be the next program of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, on Monday, June 13.

"Carved in Stone: Tips for Cemetery Research" begins at 7pm at the Stroum JCC, on Mercer Island. The library and Wi-Fi will be available.Admission: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

Deb Freedman of Tacoma will share tips for doing genealogical research in cemeteries, including cemetery etiquette and how to read a tombstone. She will reveal her recently discovered method for photographing headstones.

Deb will bring ideas for accessing mortuary records and obituaries, and for making virtual visits to cemeteries. You’ll learn basic abbreviations used on many stones, plus methods for figuring out Hebrew names and dates.

Freedman retired from a 20-year career as a youth services specialist for the Tacoma Public Library, which helped her to develop research and genealogy skills to dig into original research. She is a charter member of the JGSWS, past board member of the Tacoma Historical Society and the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, and current board member of Tacoma’s Home of Peace Cemetery Association and has completed a book of transcriptions of its tombstones.

An award-winning author, Freedman received the Pierce County Heritage League’s Individual Achievement Award for writing a third-grade local history supplement - "Tacoma’s Twenty-One Tales" - and is currently writing a book on Tacoma’s 19th-century Jewish merchants - tentatively titled "Dry Goods and Wet Goods."

For more information, click here.

Seattle: 150 years of Jewish history, May 9

Rabbi Jim Mirel will speak on 150 years of Jewish history in Washington State at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State on Monday, May 9.

The program includes powerpoints by Jeff Adelson and the Washington Jewish Historical Society.

Doors open at 7pm at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island. Admission: free for members and one guest per year; others, $5.

Rabbi Mirel will talk about the three waves of Jewish immigration into Washington, including Ashkenazi and Sephardic populations. He'll give highlights about Jewish individuals and families who affected the state and Seattle history. He'll show historic pictures of these families, their synagogues, businesses and social life.

Senior Rabbi of Bellevue's Temple B'nai Torah, Mirel has served there since 1985. Previously, he was rabbi at Temple De Hirsch Sinai in Seattle.

He was educated at Reed College, the University of Cincinnati, the University of Washington, and was ordained at Hebrew Union College.

The author of "Stepping Stones to Jewish Spiritual Living," Mirel has served as president of the Washington State Jewish Historical Society, the Pacific Association of Reform Rabbis, University Kiwanis, Washington State Coalition of Rabbis, and is a founder of the Jewish Archives at UW. He has lectured at most colleges in the state and at many local churches and mosques.

For more information and directions, click here.

Seattle: 'Jews, Genetics & the DNA Shoah Project,' April 11

"Jews, Genetics, and the DNA Shoah Project" with Matthew Kaplan is the next program of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, on Monday, April 11.

Doors open at 7pm for the 7.30pm program at the Stroum Jewish Community Center, 3801 East Mercer Way, Mercer Island. Admission: Free for JGSWS members and one guest per year; others, $5.

Kaplan will present research findings from studies of Jewish genetics and Jewish population history. He’ll start with a short review of some basic principles of human genetics and the biology behind DNA testing.

He'll also talk about the DNA Shoah Project, a unique humanitarian effort to reunite survivors of the Holocaust.

Following the lecture there will be time for questions. Volunteers will be on hand to assist those interested in contributing their DNA (free) to the DNA Shoah Project.

Kaplan is a staff scientist at the University of Arizona Genetics Core laboratory (UAGC), which provides genetic testing services for academic researchers and the private sector. He personally developed the genetic testing pipeline for FamilyTreeDNA, the leader in the genetic genealogy field.

The laboratory currently provides genetic testing services for FamilyTreeDNA and for public participants of National Geographic’s and IBM’s Genographic Project.

Kaplan has worked with Dr. Michael Hammer on research projects using the Y chromosome and mitochondrial DNA to investigate the population genetics and population history of Jewish populations for more than 10 years. Kaplan and Hammer are working together on the DNA Shoah Project.

For more information and directions, see the JGSWS website.

Seattle: Using Ancestry.com to locate Jewish ancestors, March 14

Crista Cowan will present "Using Ancestry.com to Locate Your Jewish Ancestors" for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State.

The two-hour program begins at 7pm at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island; wi-fi and the JGS library will be available.Admission: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

Cowan is the community alliance manager for the Ancestry World Archives Project.

She will share go-to sources and hidden gems to help you grow your family tree. Learn about the newer additions that provide data on Jewish ancestors. In an interactive forum, she will use personal and audience case studies to give insight into powerful resource, how to access them, and know when to use them. Ancestry.com is available free at all Seattle and King County libraries and at the National Archives

Cowan has been involved in family history research for more than two decades and actively engaged in client research since 2002. Her specialties include Jewish immigration , descendancy research, and sharing family history with the genealogically challenged. She is the owner of Legacy Family History Services, and has been employed at Ancestry.com since 2004.

For directions and more information, see the JGSWS website.

Seattle: Jewish records on the new NARA website, February 14

Locating Jewish records on the new National Archives website - with speaker Carol Buswell - will be discussed at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State on Monday, February 14.

The meeting starts at 7pm at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island. The JGSWS library and WiFi will be available. Admission: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

The National Archives recently completed a major redesign of their website. As a result, little-known documents and materials are more easily accessible. Billions of NARA documents are continuously being added both free and for-fee sites, such as Ancestry, Heritage Quest, Footnote and FamilySearch.

Carol Buswell will introduce these and other new resources, along with techniques for using them to discover Jewish family, community and political records from the Civil War through the 20th century. She’ll show how easy it is to do research on those sites.

The National Archives in Seattle holds government documents for Washington, Oregon and Idaho, a large microfilm collection for all states, and free computer access to for-fee websites featuring National Archives records.

The NARA education specialist in Seattle, Carol has also worked as a teacher, author, public speaker, professional genealogist and owner of an American Indian antique shop and bookstore. She has published articles and books about American Indian migration, genealogy and historical issues. She holds a BA in Elementary Education and Fine Art (Western State College of Colorado) and an MA in American Indian Studies (UCLA).

For more information about the JGSWS, click here.

Seattle: Czarist laws, Sept. 13

Learn what 1,500 Czarist laws can tell us about Jewish genealogy, at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, on Monday, September 13.

Michael Steinore is the speaker at the program, which begins at 7pm, at the Stroum Jewish Community Center auditorium on Mercer Island.

Following a brief review of the history of 19th-century Russian Jews, he'll discuss myths and realities of Jewish life during that period, while demnostrating elements of truth and fiction in each, and using Czarist laws as examples.

The details of these laws give insight to important genealogical documents such as revision lists and metrical books, as well as information on the mobility of Jews within the Pale of Settlement, various occupational and residence restrictions, military conscription, social class, and property ownership.

The Levanda Index website - a legal resource on Jewish life in the Pale - will also be discussed.

Steinore is the author of numerous articles and web pages on Jewish genealogy, focusing on the history and genealogy of Czarist Russia Jews. He has translated Russian-language materials and made them available on the Internet, including maps, Duma voter lists, Holocaust victim lists, and Czarist decrees.

Fee: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

For more information and directions, visit the JGS of Washington State's website.

Seattle: Sephardic synagogue celebrates 100 years

When Tracing the Tribe was in Seattle for the Association of Jewish Libraries conference in July, we toured landmarks of the Jewish community. Among them was the Sephardic Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, now celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The group received a personal welcome and tour from former Hazzan Isaac Azose (a close friend of our Seattle family), who had been the congregation's hazzan for some 34 years. He also presented a Seattle Jewish history session at the AJL event and presented a rousing Ladino version of the birkat hamazon at a conference luncheon.

The congregation will celebrate its first-century mark today, as noted in the JT News, which carried the story of the celebration.

The anniversary of Ezzie Bezzie - as it is known to insiders - will be celebrated August 22 at a gala dinner. The event also included two major speakers: Dr. Aron Rodrigue of Stanford University spoke about life in Rhodes on August 12, while Seattle native Rabbi Dr. Marc D. Angel (rabbi emeritus of New York's Shearith Israel, and founder/director, lnstitute of Jewish ldeas and ldeals) spoke on August 19.

A new courtyard will be dedicated with a memorial inscribed in six languages honoring the congregation's founders on the Greek island of Rhodes. It is a replica of the black granite memorial in Rhodes, dedicated to that vibrant Sephardic Jewish community before they were transported to their deaths in Auschwitz-Birkenau.

In July 1944, the Germans moved with relentless precision into Rhodes and nearby Kos, and deported all but 50 of the 2,000 Jews who lived there, a mere three months before they were defeated. Those 50 Jews that held Turkish citizenship were protected by the Turkish consulate. Only 151 Rhodesli Jews survived the Holocaust. Thirty-five Jews live in Rhodes today.

The story stressed that although Ezra Bessaroth is an Orthodox synagogue, most members are not, and it is a diverse community repersenting all levels of observance. However, the congregation continues its responsibility to continue the traditions of the founders, who came from Rhodes.

When the first Jewish immigrants from Rhodes began their new lives in Seattle in 1904, others soon followed. Soon, they would need a “kehilla,” the Sephardic word used for a synagogue. More like a Jewish brotherhood in its first incarnation in 1909, the Koupa Ozer Dalim Anshe Rhodes, the Fund for the Aid of the Poor People of Rhodes, was organized. Its first building was located at 9th and Yesler in Seattle and the monthly membership dues were 25 cents.

Today, a congregation that decades ago held daily services in the Spanish-Hebrew hybrid language of Ladino, now uses nearly all Hebrew and English, with only a few prayers in Ladino.

According to a former board member Joel Benoliel, “Here we are, a hundred years later, with the prayer and the ‘minchag,’ or customs that are exactly the same customs as it was 100 years ago on Rhodes.” He serves on the program committee for the celebration and is master of ceremonies at the events related to the centennial and gala. “We think it’s one of the few synagogues in the world that is faithful to the customs of the Isle of Rhodes,” he added.

The challenge for the future is to grow, and it is bringing in a new rabbi - Rabbi Daniel Hadar - with a strong background in outreach and growth. The congregation is looking for him to help with outreach and strengthen their Sephardic heritage while maintaining ties with non-Sephardic members.

For more about the congregation, click here, and read the complete article at the link above.

Oregon: A visit to Portland

Portland, Oregon is a great city.

I've spoken to the Jewish genealogical societies in both Portland and Willmette Valley, met the recently-retired Portland Jewish Federation head Charlie Schiffman several times over the years.

The first time I met Charlie was when our daughter attended a Middle East Studies summer program at Portland State University during her university years. We still talk about the wonderful lunch we had with him so long ago.

Daniel Horowitz also stopped this summer in Portland. The MyHeritage.com genealogy and translation manager was the subject of an article by Paul Haist in the Oregon Jewish Review.

The story touched on Daniel's life in Venezuela, the family's transplantation to Israel and his early involvement in Jewish genealogy, although the main focus was his work at MyHeritage.com, which helps make family connections possible, as well as company partnerships with Beit Hatfutsot (the Museum of the Jewish People) and JewishGen to help grow Jewish family trees online.

He came to professional work in genealogy out of a personal interest in genealogical research and after he wrote a curriculum in Hebrew history that called on his students to research their own family histories.

He called the curriculum and the classroom project “Searching for My Roots.”

“The kids researched their own family. We studied—in effect—Jewish history for the last 100 years in a multicultural community.”

The Venezuelan community was richly diverse with strong representation in both Sephardic and Ashkenazi traditions.

Read the complete article at the story link above.

Interested in learning more about Oregon's Jewish community?

Click here to read the 60-page Shalom Oregon Guide.

Seattle: Jewish library conference begins

Tracing the Tribe is now in Seattle at the Association of Jewish Libraries conference.

I'm helping Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage.com at the conference, which opened today. People were coming by even before the event officially opened.

Attendees are librarians, archivists and educators at universities, congregations, day schools and elsewhere, in the US and Israel. Some are active in their local Jewish genealogical and historical societies.

It was really interesting seeing so many people who knew about Tracing the Tribe, and many who told us that their users ask them how to start genealogy research.

There were friends of cousins who live here in Seattle, as well as those from many cities who knew one or more of our Dardashti cousins. Monday night, I'm seeing the cousins and going to a birthday barbeque for my cousin Charlie.

Daniel will present "Technology and Museums: A Success Story to Retrieve Information," discussing the partnership between MyHeritage.com and Beit Hatfutsot (Museum of the Jewish People) to grow the museum's collection of Jewish family trees.

Among the familiar faces at the conference is Zvi Bernhardt of Yad Vashem, who will also be speaking later this month at JGSLA 2010, July 11-16.

The keynote speaker tonight was the very animated and interesting Joseph Janes, author and associate professor at the Information School of the University of Washington, who attempted to explain how different libraries are today in the digital age, how some things are the same and what may be coming down the road.

One great quote was that in the old days, when one said "research," it meant standing up and going to get the necessary information. Today, the perception of the term is that research and resources will come to the person who needs it, through the Internet.

While we of a certain generation - likely anyone over 30 - tend to think externally about research, today's students, who have grown up with computers and other electronic information devices since childhood (unlike adults who had to learn the technology), are "wired" for multi-tasking and they think internally about research.

Today the conference focused on meetings and newcomer sessions; tomorrow, the sessions start and Daniel and I will each try to attend sessions of personal interest.

Sephardic topics include:

-- Shulamith Berger will speak on the "Sephardic Collections at Yeshiva University'," in its Mendel Gottesman Library, focusing on the Ladino book collection. It contains several hundred rare Ladino books, which were recently catalogued and microfilmed.

-- Amalia Levi will speak on "Archiving Balkan Jews: Reclaiming the 'Sephardic Homeland' through social media, discuss how social media can be used to unite historians and scholars and how it can promote the creation of online archives for Sephardic studies.

-- Hazzan Isaac Azose will speak on the history of the Seattle Sephardic community.

-- Julia Eulenberg will present the history of Jewish businessmen in the Western US from the 19th century, and describe how she gathered the information.

On Tuesday, a session on Jewish history and economics includes Marlene Schiffman's "How Jews got their last names in Europe in the 18th-19th centuries. A session on Jewish archives collaboration is "Building a Successful Jewish History Archive Through Collaboration: The Washington State Jewish Historical Society Archive.," with a panel from the JHS.

There will be sessions on Yiddish culture, focusing on Yiddish Theater in Argentina and Yiddish Publishing in Winnipeg.

In "Resources at Yad Vashem," Zvi Bernhardt will speak on two topics:

-- "Yad Vashem Reference and Information Services: On Integrating 'Corporate Cultures" in a Reference Setting," as it discusses the combining of Yad Vashem's reference service units (library, archive, photo archive and the Hall of Names.). He'll talk about difficulties in combining the various departments including resistance of some staff and administration to the change, and how the departments have evolved to better fulfil the needs of the public.

-- "Resources at Yad Vashem: Online and Offline" will address the organization's resources, including the database of Shoah Victims' Names, photo archive, library catalog, Shoah Resource Center, scholarly articles and stories of the Righteous among nations, as well as its online services for the public such as basic research, genealogical and scholarly research and more.

Zvi will also be speaking at the 30th IAJGS International Conference of Jewish Genealogy (JGSLA 2010) later this month, from July 11-16, in Los Angeles.

Yoram Bitton will present "Columbia University's Hebrew Rare Book and Manuscript Collection," featuring thousands of of items, mostly from the 12th-19th centuries. It was unknown to the scholarly community until the unversity began cataloging it.

Rachel Misrati of the National Library of Israel will speak on "Who's Been Using my Archives: A Historical User-Study of Personal Archive Users" in the NLI's Archives department. There are some 400 personal archives in this department.

Social media is also a focus, with Heidi Estrin and Diane Romm presenting AJL and the social web, discussing the organization's online presence, including website, blog, podcast, Facebook page and more.

There's a session on the huge digitizing project at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum, which has covered more than 10 million pages. Michlean Amir will discuss problems of storage, access, quality control, restriction issues and future plans.

Next year's AJL conference will take place in Montreal, June 29-22, 2011. The theme is "Cultural Diversity/Cultural Mosaic: From Bagels to Borekas."

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.

Seattle: New building history guide

If Seattle, Washington is important in your research, there's a new Seattle Building History Guide that may assist you.

The information was detailed in the Seattle Public Library's Shelf Talk blog.

Now, Seattle history detectives are armed with a new arsenal, a comprehensive compilation of Seattle history resources created by our own Special Collections Department. The new Seattle Building History Guide annotates a wealth of Seattle history research tools and places them in a broader context than ever before. We'll be rolling it out on May 19th at the Third Place Books History Cafe. Afterwards, the guide will be available from our website.

If you only recognize the term "cadastral records" from Polish research, know that similar surveys were done in the early days of Seattle; as well as topographical charts from 1879 and Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps from 1893.

Other resources noted:

-- King County Property viewer for building research.

-- There's also information on obituaries, census records, marriage licenses, birth records and more, along with information on Seattle Parks Department , HistoryLink.org, Seattle Municipal Archives Photograph Collection .

Readers can download the Guide as a PDF file with hyperlinks, or print it. The blog post recommended two books as well: Native Seattle: histories from the Crossing Over Place by Coll Thrush; and House Histories: A Guide to the Genealogy of Your Home by Sally Light.

Check the library site today for the new resource.

Seattle: Gen library treasures, April 12

Jewish genealogical societies often have excellent reference libraries built up over the years. Researchers in a locality where such a society exists should investigate the library's holdings.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State will offer an overview of the hidden treasures in its library on Monday, April 12, at 7pm.

The venue is the auditorium at the Stroum Jewish Community Center, Mercer Island, Seattle. Wi-Fi is available, so bring your laptops.

The society's library will be available in its entirety. The evening will be spent browsing books and researching. JGS "mavens" will be available to answer questions, and there will be some extra computers available for internet research.

For directions and more information, visit the JGSWS website. Fee: JGSWS members: free; others, $5.

Ladino Music: Romansas, folksongs CD

"Ladino Reflections" is a double CD set of Ladino romansas and folksongs, released by Hazzan Isaac Azose of Seattle.

Tracing the Tribe met Hazzan Ike in Seattle when visiting our Jassen family. He is a beloved friend of our family and of the Sephardic community.

For some 40 years, he has dedicated himself to the preservation of Mediterranean Sephardic traditions. Although he retired as the hazzan of the Sephardic Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, he wrote me that he's busier than ever with many projects on his desk. Think of the energizer bunny!

"Ladino Reflections" has been 20 years in dreaming and six months in production.

Hear the samples and find ordering information here. If you enjoy authentic Ladino music, this CD will make you happy.

Songs on the first CD:

Pasharo Dʼermozura, A La Una Yo Nasi, Alta Alta Es La Luna, Arvolikos Dʼalmendra, Durme Durme, Una Matika de Ruda, La Roza Enflorese, Yo Me Akodro Dʼakeya, Noche, Avre Este Abajour Bijou, Yo Tʼadmiro, Kuatro Anyos Dʼamor, La Serena, Sos Muy Ermoza, Los Kaminos de Sirkedji, Puncha Puncha, Eskalerika de Oro, Noches Noches

On the second CD:

Avre Tu Puerta Serrada, Adio Kerida, Ijika Dile a Tu Mama, Esta Montanya Dʼenfrente, Arvoles, Yorran Por Luvyas, La Vida Do Por El Raki, Misirlu, Morenika, El Dyo Alto, Mama Yo No Tengo Visto, Povereta Muchachika, Tres Ermanikas, Eran Siempre Te Ami, Avrij Mi Galanika, Por La Tu Puerta Yo Pasi, Porke Yorraj, Blanka Ninya, Kuando El Rey Nimrod

For ordering information ($28, includes $3 s&h/US orders only), click here.

Readers interested in Sephardic liturgy as sung at Congregation Ezra Bessaroth, should click here, listen to the samples and order this double CD ($23, includes $3 s&h/US orders only).

For international orders for the new CD or the liturgy CD, click here to contact Hazzan Azose.

Look at the calendar - Pesach isn't that far off. Want to learn the Sephardic melody and the Four Questions in Ladino? Click here.

Seattle: Genetic genealogy, Jan. 30

How can DNA genetic genealogy help you in your research?

Readers in the Seattle area can learn about the basics in a program presented by the Seattle Genealogical Society at the Green Lake Library from 1-3pm on Saturday, January 30. It is free.

"Genetic Genealogy -- How to Use DNA to Solve Genealogical Puzzles and Uncover New Questions You Never Faced Before" with speaker Larry Jones, a Seattle attorney.

Paternal, maternal and autosomal genetic markers yield different results and are of differing values to your ancestral research. Learn how to overcome some kinds of dead-ends in your research and see what kinds of roadblocks are unlikely to be overcome with DNA results.

Jones is researching five Y-lines of paternal genetic ancestry and one X-line of maternal ancestry. He has been researching his family history for 45 years and has published four books of family history on Welsh and English ancestors.

The SGS advises participants to bring the name, location and date of their most ancient ancestor in each of their various male ancestral lines. A lucky person or two may go home with the solution to a genealogical puzzle, especially if you have a wireless laptop along.

Seattle: Deciphering Cyrillic and Hebrew, Feb. 8

Learn to decipher Eastern European Cyrillic and Hebrew archival documents at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State on Monday, February 8.

Doors open at 7pm at the Stroum Jewish Community Center, Mercer Island.

"Reading in Another Hand: Deciphering Cyrillic and Hebrew Archival Documents from Eastern Europe," will be presented by Natan M. Meir.

This lecture-workshop will demonstrate elements of the Russian and Hebrew/Yiddish cursive scripts used in the Russian Empire in the 19th-early 20th centuries. Topics discussed will include the Cyrillic and Hebrew alphabets, their use in archival documents, key words and phrases in documents of interest to genealogists, and the structure of tsarist and Soviet archives.

A number of archival documents will be viewed as attendees work together to decipher words and phrases.

Participants are encouraged to contact the speaker in advance with specific documents or questions they've had problems with, and some will be integrated into the presentation. Email questions.

Born in Jerusalem, Natan Meir was raised in New Jersey and Quebec. He earned a PhD in Jewish History (Columbia University, 2003), and is the Lokey Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies at Portland State University. His scholarly interest is modern Jewish history, focusing on the social and cultural history of East European Jewry in the 19th and 20th centuries.

His first book - "Kiev: Jewish Metropolis, 1859-1914" - is forthcoming from Indiana University Press, and he is now working on a second project tentatively titled "Jewish Marginals in Eastern Europe."

Fee: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

For directions and additional information, see the JGSWS site.

Seattle: Mapping madness on the menu, Jan. 11

Mad mapper Ron Arons will be visiting Seattle to present his "Mapping Madness: Historical Maps and Genealogical Research" program to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State on Monday, January 11, 2010.

Doors open at 7pm and the program starts at 7.30pm in the Stroum JCC auditorium on Mercer Island. There's WiFi, so bring your laptops. This program is practical for all researchers, regardless of skill or experience level.

Ron will discuss a variety of websites that offer historical maps for genealogical research. He’ll review the basics of the Internet-based mapping facilities from Google and Microsoft (maps.google.com and www.bing.com/maps, respectively), including more advanced functions of both systems.

He'll then cover more online mapping facilities provided by whitepages.com, Microsoft's MapCruncher, IBM's Many Eyes, and more.

Ron began researching his roots some 12 years ago. He has been a speaker covering Jewish genealogy and Jewish criminality ("Jews of Sing Sing) at eight IAJGS conferences and speaks at many other genealogy societies, JCCs, synagogues, history conferences and book fairs. He holds an engineering BS (Princeton) and an MBA (University of Chicago).

For more information and directions, click the JGSWS site here. Fee: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

Tracing the Tribe has seen Mapping Madness and highly recommends this session to fellow researchers in Seattle and environs.

Seattle: Eastern European Jewry, Nov. 9

Eastern European Jewry up to the great migration, with Professor Natan M. Meir, will be discussed at the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State, on Monday, November 9.

Doors open at 7pm and the program begins at 7.30pm at the Stroum Jewish Community Center on Mercer Island. The JCC offers Wi-Fi, so bring your laptops. The JGSW library will also be available for attendees.

Although many American Jews think that their Eastern European ancestors were “traditional” shtetl Jews until they left for the US, the historical reality was more complicated.

This program will survey the history of Eastern European Jews from the twilight of old Poland at the end of the 18th century through the vicissitudes of subjectship under the 19th century Russian Empire. Gain an understanding of the vitality of Jewish life in Eastern Europe and the multiple crises that Russian and Polish Jews faced at the turn of the 20th century – the age of the “Great Migration.”

Topics will include tsarist policies towards Jews, Jewish leadership shifts, the roles of pogroms and anti-Semitism, internal cultural and religious dynamics, as well as economic and demographic transformations.

The program will mainly cover the Russian Empire (Pale of Settlement) but will also refer to Russian Poland (Congress Kingdom) and Austrian Galicia.

Born in Jerusalem and raised in New Jersey and Quebec, Natan M. Meir is the Lokey Assistant Professor of Judaic Studies at Portland State University (Oregon). He holds a Ph.D in Jewish History (Columbia University), taught at the University of Southampton (UK), and was a Hebrew University Yad Hanadiv postdoctoral fellow.

His interest is modern Jewish history, focusing on the social and cultural history of East European Jewry in the 19th-20th centuries. His first book, "Kiev: Jewish Metropolis, 1859-1914," is forthcoming from Indiana University Press, and he's now working on a second project tentatively titled "Jewish Marginals in Eastern Europe."

Admission: JGSWS members, free; others, $5.

For more information, visit the JGSWS website.

Seattle: Jewish cemetery discoveries, Sept. 14

Old and new world cemetery discoveries will be presented by Sally Mizroch and Nancy Adelson at the next meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State on Monday, September 14.

The event begins at 7pm, at the Stroum Jewish Community Center, Mercer Island.

It was Tracing the Tribe's pleasure to meet up with both Sally and Nancy at the recent Philly 2009 conference. Sally's excellent digital photography session provided me with information and tips I'm already using.

Cemeteries are a treasure trove of genealogical information. JGSWS members Sally Mizroch and Nancy Adelson will report on the latest in cemetery research and how information from headstones can help us answer a vast array of genealogical questions. They will present information from the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) and explain how researchers in Washington State can help add to this amazing database.

They will also cover the latest information on international cemetery projects provided at August's 29th IAJGS Conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, including European restoration projects. They will demonstrate how to access information and support restoration projects.

A founding member of JGSWS, Nancy Adelson has served as first vice president and program chair. She has researched more than 4,000 family relatives for her husband's Sephardic family and her own Eastern and Western European family, back to the 1700s. She teaches business and Real Estate at North Seattle Community College.

Sally Mizroch's genealogical research has led her to discover cousins all over the world. She has visited archives in Lithuania and South Africa. Her research concentrates on the professions and movements of her relatives in the old country to recreate the Eastern-European culture lost to the Holocaust. She serves as President of JGSWS and Secretary of LitvakSIG. In her professional life, Sally studies large whale populations at NOAA Fisheries National Marine Mammal Laboratory in Seattle.

For more information, visit the JGSWS website.

Washington: First synagogue

The first synagogue in Washington state was Emanu-El in Spokane. Fellow geneablogger Miriam Robbins Midkiff let me know about this article in the Spokane-Review.

On June 25, a rededication was held and a plaque commemorates the original location of Temple Emanu-El, on Madison Street between Third and Fourth avenues. For those who know Spokane, it is at the back of the Downtown Lexus of Spokane dealership, next to a freeway onramp.

The ceremony carried special meaning just before Independence Day.

Jews were in evidence as early as the 1870s. He noted that in the late 1880s, Spokane’s Jewish community had no permanent house of worship, but a Christian man donated a lot at Third and Madison so a temple could be built.

Temple Emanu-El was dedicated at the site Sept. 14, 1892 – four days before Ohaveth Sholum Synagogue was opened in Seattle – making Spokane’s temple the first in the state. It was a frame building, 40 feet by 70 feet, with a stone foundation that cost $3,500, which was raised by donations. It stood at the site until 1934.

Temple Emanuel was a Reform congregation, and in 1901 the city’s Orthodox Jews formed their own congregation, Keneseth Israel, holding services at the Odd Fellows Hall until 1909, when they built their own structure at Fourth Avenue and Adams Street.

Dignitaries at the dedication included Spokane Mayor Mary Verner; Spokane County Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich; Chabad House's Rabbi Yisroel Hahn; Temple Beth Shalom president Karrie Brown; Faith Bible Church's Rev. Dan Jarms; Hilary Bernstein of Seattle's Anti Defamation League, as well as representatives from congressional and city offices.

Also present, Jerry Klinger of Rockville, Md., president of the non-profit Jewish American Society for Historic Preservation which provided the plaque; and Emily Sue Pike, a 30-year history teacher at North Central High School, who conducted the background research for Klinger.

Klinger's group has done this before in 2004, but this spring the plaque was vandalized this spring; Klinger offered to repair and rededicate it.

His group has erected many such markers and constructed commemorative sites around the world, including Little Camp at Buchenwald.

Read the complete story at the link above and learn how this community event ties in to the July 4th celebration.

For more, click here and search for “Spokane’s Jewish Community."