Genealogy humor

A reader recently asked me for this definition of a genealogist.

I knew I had it somewhere and, after some searching, here it is.

Before you ask, I have no idea who authored it or where I first discovered it. If you have any information, please post a comment below this item.

WHAT IS A GENEALOGIST?
A full-time detective
A thorough historian
An inveterate snoop
A confirmed diplomat
A keen observer
A hardened sceptic
An apt biographer
A qualified linguist
A part-time lawyer
A studious sociologist
An accurate reporter
An hieroglyphics expert,
AND . . .
A complete nut!

This was in the same file:

DAILY GENEALOGICAL THOUGHT:

A job is nice, but it interferes with genealogy research.

Thank you, readers!

Tracing the Tribe is not yet six months old and more than 20,000 visitors have viewed it, with more more than 35,000 page views.

Readers come from around the world - name a country and someone from there has visited.

Thank you for your support.

If there are topics you'd like to read about, or subjects on which you'd like more information, let me know.

I look forward to reading your comments and suggestions.

Genealogist Arthur Kurzweil's magic

Genealogist Arthur Kurzweil wrote one of the first popular books about Jewish genealogy. Many of us were inspired to research our roots after reading his From Generation to Generation and thinking, "We can do this!"

He has authored or edited some 30 other books, including The Encyclopedia of Jewish Genealogy (Avotaynu) and other subjects. He's also a magician and an educator.

In this article, we learn a bit more about Jewish magicians, Harry Houdini and more.

Even the most famous phrase in stage magic — “abracadabra” — has Jewish roots. Kurzweil said the incantation is a corruption of the Aramaic phrase avra k’dabra, meaning “I will create as I speak” and was probably a reference to God’s great “trick” of creating the universe.

East Berlin cemetery fights for existence

Did you know that Europe's biggest Jewish cemetery is in East Berlin?

The Weissensee Cemetery opened in 1880, and 115,600 graves cover the equivalent of 86 soccer fields,

"The unique importance of Weissensee is not only its remarkable artistic treasures but also its inextricable link with the history of Berlin's Jews," Hermann Simon, director of the Centrum Judaicum foundation for Jewish history and culture, told AFP.

"When I walk through the cemetery I am reminded I am part of a long history that might have ended but instead endured," said Simon, who said he represents the 12th generation of his Jewish family in Berlin.

Click here for the story of how Berlin's authorities and Jewish community leaders are trying to have Weissensee Cemetery named to UNESCO's World Heritage List.

"It is really a mirror image of the history of Berlin's Jews in all its turbulence. And it shows the intertwined histories of Berlin and its Jews," said Simon.

You can go home again: Visiting Ukraine

Roots trips to explore one's heritage are increasingly popular. If you're thinking about this, here's an interesting story of one writer's visit to Ukraine, mentioning Kiev, Berdyansk, Kharkov and Drobitsky Yar, along with tips and links for more information.

One of the pro's of this writer's journey:

My trip was the culmination of an attempt to recover my mother's past, and with it my own. She prepared for me an introduction, written on a notecard in Russian, with a photo of her family taken before the war.

"Dear countrymen!
"I am turning to you because my son Greg and his wife, Candy, don't speak and don't know the language. It is in case they need help. He wrote a book about Ukraine and about my family. The book is about heroism of our people. Everyone in my family was killed in Kharkov, and it is only because of the help of the kind population in our wonderful place that my sister and I are alive so that the story could be told about us. Greg and Candy already love you the way I do. Thank you all for generosity and for colossal courage. Be happy and healthy."
--Zhanna Arshanskaya Dawson, who would love to be going to see you all.

I handed out the cards everywhere, to flower vendors, hotel clerks, waiters, cabbies, babushkas selling seeds and nuts on the street, and the words had a magical effect. Faces that greeted me with wariness and suspicion dissolved into nods, knowing smiles and, often, tears.

And one of the con's:

You walk at your own risk in Ukraine because most sidewalks double as streets and parking lots. On our first day we were strolling down one of Kiev's broad sidewalks when we jumped at the beep! of a Lada, a boxy little Soviet-era car, coming up behind us.

Do read the entire story.

From shtetl to Los Angeles - a joyful reunion

Our families have been talking about reunions for several years, but we just can't seem to get it together. Procrastination would seem to be genetic in both the Talalay and Dardashti lines.

Luckily, the Blackman (Blachman) and Zverow families are not as challenged as we are, and a crowd of them gathered in Los Angeles for a family weekend, as detailed here.

Some 95 relatives, running the age gamut from 4 to 93, came from all over to participate. The impetus was the celebration of the 90th birthdays of the two main organizers' mothers, and the event became more than a plain old birthday party.

A committee of eight cousins recruited others for projects.

All their efforts culminated in the “First International B-Z Reunion” of the Blackman and Zverow families, Aug. 24 to 26. In addition to the social events, organizers put together a family “Memories” book and family tree, and interviewed participants for a DVD.

The weekend of activities included interviews, research and tracing their tree back to the 1700s.

Portland, Oregon: DNA and genealogy event

If you're in the Portland area, don't miss this one.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Oregon is hosting Family Tree DNA's CEO/founder Bennett Greenspan. Greenspan will speak about "Tracing Family Roots Through DNA" on February 14.

For all event details, see this story in Portland's Jewish Review:

Nadene Goldfoot, JGSO publicity chair, said that she and her Portland family believed they were "the only Goldfoots in the world until I started doing the genealogy of our family and started doing surname searches."

Goldfoot found an Ian Goldfoot in Houston, where Family Tree DNA is located. Ian and Goldfoot's brother have undergone a DNA test to determine if the families are related and if so, how closely.

"By the time our genealogy meeting takes place, I should know not only the results of the DNA test, but if it proves to show a connection, just how close we are in that relationship," said Goldfoot. "It's a wonderful thing when paper trails just don't exist."

The Jewish genealogical societies in the northwestern U.S. - including Seattle, Portland and Eugene - have teamed up to bring in great speakers and share the costs. Kol hakavod to their leaders!

Film about Appalachian Jewry: The righteous remnant

Back in December, I informed readers about a blog by Eric Drummond Smith - Hillbilly Savants By Appalachians, for Everyone - who had included information on the region's Jewish presence.

Yesterday, Eric gave a link to a Public Broadcasting documentary titled Righteous Remnant: Jewish Survival in Appalachia, produced by Professor Maryanne Reed of West Virgina University.

The Web site includes photos and a short section of the film.

The film details those immigrants who chose alternative destinations to the crowded Eastern or Midwestern cities in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and migrated into West Virginia after hearing about the "black diamond" coal mining and lumber industries.

The film examines the history and current situation of the small community in Beckley, West Virginia, which the filmmaker believes is representative of small Jewish communities.

During the state's coal boom, Jews arrived and opened businesses supporting the local economy, but when the industry declined in the 1950s and 60s, Jewish and non-Jewish families left for other places.

Those who left did not return, for both economic reasons and because of cultural problems which included a lack of kosher food, and difficulties in finding marriage partners and providing Jewish educations. Many left for Charleston (the one in West Virginia, not South Carolina!) and Cincinnati.

Reed's great-grandfather - Simon Fox - and his family were at one time the only members of the tribe living in Davis, a small Tucker County town. He eventually took his family to Akron, Ohio to find Jewish husbands for his daughters.