“I wonder?” That’s the question that strolled through my mind when I started my journey to my family’s past. How did they live? What were they like? How did what they did and didn’t do lead to me? Every time […]
Identifying Benjamin W. Cohen Of New York and New Orleans
Rabbi Malcolm H. Stern, FASG, built his classic book on Jewish families in America on a foundation of thorough understanding of Hebrew customs, skilled use of records and correspondence with descendants.[1] Decades later, omitted lines require specialized research to tell […]
From Our Mailbox, Fall 2008
Comments on Rosenstein Article Neil Rosenstein’s article, “JRI-Poland Database and Rabbinic Data Merging,” discusses a topic that has interested me considerably. When JRI-Poland made available on its database indexes for records of three of the Gerer Rebbes, I ordered copies […]
Avotaynu Ask the Experts: Fall 2008
My maternal grandparents, Isaac Kolnik and Sarah Karp, emigrated to New York City around the beginning of the 20th century. They do not appear in the U.S. census for 1900, and I have not been able to locate their arrival […]
JGS Newsletter Summary: Fall 2008
by Diane Goldman To read an article or news release excerpted in U.S. Update, order the issue of the publication in which it appeared from the appropriate JGS. A list of Jewish Genealogical Societies can be found at <iajgs.org/members/members.html>. A […]
Avotaynu Contributing Editors: Fall 2008
AUSTRALIA (Sharpe) Jewish Genealogy Downunder Vol. 10, Nos. 2 & 3, May-August 2008. Australia’s first national Jewish genealogical conference was held in Canberra, October 26–29 (see <www.ajgs.org.au/conf08/>). <> The Australia Jewish Historical Society website documents Australians’ graves the world […]
Death In Venice: Seeking the Katzenellenbogen Tombstones [AB-033]
This article was first published on Chaim Freedman’s blog at http://chfreedman.blogspot.com/—Ed. Having recently discovered my descent from the Katzenellenbogen family, I decided to trace the graves of members of the early generations while I was in Italy in May […]
Paul Armony z”l (1932—2008)
Paul Armony, president of Asociación de Genealogía Judía de Argentina (Association of Jewish Genealogy of Argentina), died in Buenos Aires on October 24, 2008, after a battle with acute leukemia. Armony was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, in 1932. His father, […]
From Our Mailbox: Summer 2008
Correct Article In my article “Age Makes a Difference,” (AVOTAYNU, Vol. XXIII, No. 4, Winter 2007), a clarification is necessary. BL, the woman who made herself five years younger to remain with her sister, has informed me that the change […]
Book Review: Every Family Has A Story: Tales From the Pages of AVOTAYNU, Edited by Gary Mokotoff
Every Family Has A Story: Tales From the Pages of AVOTAYNU. Edited by Gary Mokotoff. Hardcover, 292 pages. Avotaynu, Inc., Bergenfield, NJ. Price: $37 There are several dozen genealogical adventure stories in this collection, straight from the pages of AVOTAYNU, […]
Ask the Experts: Summer 2008
I need help finding more information about my father’s maternal grandfather, Samuel Sinberg (possibly Zinberg originally). Most of all, we would like to know where he is buried, where he was born, when he immigrated to the United States, and […]
Avotaynu Contributing Editors: Summer 2008
AUSTRALIA (Caplan) Six Australians traveled to Arolsen with Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Sack to view the International Red Cross Tracing Service records on Holocaust victims. These included Rieke Nash, president of the Australian Jewish Genealogical Society in Sydney; her husband […]
JGS Synopses: Summer 2008
by Diane Goldman To read an article or news release excerpted in U.S. Update, order the issue of the publication in which it appeared from the appropriate JGS. A list of Jewish Genealogical Societies can be found at <iajgs.org/members/members.html>. A […]
Case Study: Using ITS Records to Discover Fate of the Family of World-Renowned Talmudist Professor David Halivni
In the past few years the myth that no records survived for anyone who perished in the Holocaust finally has been exploded. One of the most comprehensive and overwhelming sources is found in Bad Arolsen, Germany, in the records of […]
From Our Mailbox: Spring 2008
Looking for Information On Grandfather in New York Jeffrey Arkin’s recent story, “My Faceless Grandfather,” touched a nerve because my grandfather, Samuel Solomon, also was involved in the paper box industry in Brooklyn in the 1920s. He was a partner […]
Ask the Experts: Spring 2008, by Randy Daitch and Eileen Polakoff
I have hit a wall and hope you can help. My mother’s parents, Leib (Louis) Klukovsky and Beila (Bella) Aronin, both came to the U.S. in 1914. Each came to a brother-in-law, my grandfather to Benjamin Lieberman and my grandmother […]
Highlights from JGS Newsletters: Spring 2008
Diane Goldman To read an article or news release excerpted in U.S. Update, order the issue of the publication in which it appeared from the appropriate JGS. A list of Jewish Genealogical Societies can be found at <iajgs.org>/members/members.html>. A list […]
Avotaynu Contributing Editors: Spring 2008
From Our Contributing Editors (Australia) First National Jewish Genealogy Conference, The Great Synagogue: A History of Sydney’s Big Shule, Insurance policy registers, German Jewish Cemetery Database project; (Canada) Jewish farming colonies, earliest Jews of Montreal, genealogical research and financial identity, […]
Did They Really Meet on the Boat?
We all know about urban myths, legends, and fairy tales, et cetera. A story gets told, and retold, from person to person, until there’s no longer an original source, no factual back-up, and no way to know if the tale […]
From Our Mailbox: Fall 2007
Do You Tell Adopted Children? I read with great interest Richard Sobel’s article on privacy, “Guidelines for Respecting Privacy in Jewish Genealogy (AVOTAYNU, Vol. XXIII, No. 1, Spring 2007). An additional situation about which I would appreciate some comment concerns […]
Postsecondary Study of Genealogy: Curriculum and Its Contexts, by Thomas W. Jones, PhD, CG, CGL, FASG
College degrees in genealogy should be commonplace. The field’s pursuit is more demanding than many academic endeavors, peer-reviewed journals publish advanced genealogical scholarship,[1] and credentialing programs since 1964 have certified genealogists whose work meets high standards.[2] The field has its […]
From Our Mailbox: Summer, 2007
Writes About Status of Search Bureau Records AVOTAYNU wrote to the Central Zionist Archives (CZA) in Israel asking why the database of the Jewish Agency’s Search Bureau for Missing Relatives, created many years ago under the direction of Batya Unterschatz […]
East European Archival Internet Sites
The following article has been adapted from a presentation given at the IAJGS conference in Salt Lake City in July 2007—Ed The archival websites described here provide the greatest amount of detail on genealogical records and their locations. Many other […]
U.S. Update: Spring 2007
by Diane Goldman To read an article or news release excerpted in U.S. Update, order the issue of the publication in which it appeared from the appropriate JGS. A list of Jewish Genealogical Societies can be found at www.jewishgen.org/jgs. A […]
Ask the Experts: Spring 2007
by Randy Daitch & Eileen Polakoff My great-grandmother’s maiden name was Lena Asher. I have managed to accumulate copies of many records for her, but all indicate that her place of birth was “Galicia,” “Austria” or “Poland”— with no town […]