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JGSLI Programs – Sept. 2014 to June 2015
Program details are subject to change. Please watch www.jgsli.org for the latest information.
Date
Location
Speaker(s)
Topic
Sunday, Sept. 21
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Renee Stern Steinig
"A Connecticut Rabbi
on the Archbishop's Tree:
Tracing John O'Connor's Jewish Roots"
Plainview-Old Bethpage Library
999 Old Country Road
Plainview
www.poblib.org
Dr. Rhoda Miller, Ed.D., CG
Sunday, Oct. 26
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
When the sister of NY's late Archbishop John
Cardinal O'Connor revealed that their mother
was born Jewish, JGSLIer Renee Steinig
searched further -- and discovered that O'Connor's grandfather was a pulpit rabbi in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Renee will describe her research on the Cardinal's Prussian-Jewish grandparents, its front-page coverage in the New
York Times, and some interesting finds about
the family of Gustave and Tina Ruben Gumpel
that never made the papers.
"Who Do You Think You Are,
Lauren Fox?”
Lauren Fox, JGSLI's website developer, knew
she had Jewish roots but little more about
her ancestry. Researching, Rhoda Miller learned that Lauren's great-grandfather
was the renowned Yiddish author Chaim Leib
Fox. Family stories, archival documents, and
DNA results led to revelations about Lauren's
family’s connections with the Holocaust and
other historical events. Join us for the telling
of this journey of discovery and learn strategies that can help in your own family research.
Sunday, Nov. 2
12:30 – 5:00 p.m.
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Bonnie Birns, Chair
“Jewish Genealogy 101:
Four Hours+ to Your Family Roots”
JGSLI’s 24th Annual
Family History Workshop
… a review of the fundamentals of Jewish genealogy. Early-bird rate (postmarked before or paid at
the Oct. 26 meeting): $45, including 2015 membership dues. After Oct. 26: $55. Additional family
member: $15. Send checks to JGSLI, Attn. Bonnie
Birns, 28 Madison Ave., Jericho NY 11753. For details contact Bonnie – workshop@jgsli.org,
516.433.0130.
Sunday, Nov. 23
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Robin Meltzer
“The Name Remains the Same:
Adventures in Finding
Sid Caesar’s Grandmother”
When Sid Caesar, the architect of television’s
Golden Age, died in February 2014, hundreds of
press reports repeated the myth that the family’s
name had been “changed at Ellis Island” on their arrival from Austria. Of course, no one’s name was
changed at Ellis Island (or Castle Garden). Careful
research proved that the family’s surname remained
unchanged from the time they lived in Galicia
through their immigration to the United States. This
presentation will explain the search techniques used
to find the embarkation list and passenger manifest
for Sid Caesar’s grandmother and great-uncle and
how others can apply these methodologies to their
own research.
(continued)
Sunday, Dec. 14
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Nolan Altman
Sunday, Jan. 25
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Janette Silverman
“JOWBR and the Importance
of Burial Records”
Jewish genealogical researchers face many
special impediments -- individuals’ name
changes, town and country name changes,
Holocaust displacement and others. However,
there is one major advantage that we can use
to help link our generations together – patronymics. We’ll start with the origin and importance of naming patterns and then show
step by step how JewishGen’s JOWBR database can be used as the central source for
Jewish burial records. Next, we’ll review how
to read a Jewish headstone and give examples of symbols as well as inscriptions. We’ll
also look at unusual headstones, some creative and others just plain funny. Finally, we’ll
discuss JewishGen’s Memorial Plaque Project
and show how you can help to grow the database.
“Ancient Texts Lead
to Genealogical Discoveries:
The Lives Our Ancestors Led”
New York’s Jewish Theological Seminary is off
the radar screen for many genealogists but its
library is home to almost half a million volumes and its archives are a rich repository of
records of Jewish communities, institutions &
prominent individuals in the US and Europe.
We will take a digital trip to explore some of
JTS’s treasures, such as correspondence between the State Department and offices in Vienna, St. Petersburg, Warsaw and Bucharest
from 1863-1906 about the legal position and
persecution of Jews and materials about the
French Jewish community from the 1700s until after WWII. We will also look at ketubot
and mohel books and talk about the way all of
these materials help in our research.
Sunday, Feb. 22
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
John Paul Lowens
Sunday, March 22
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Hadassah Lipsius
“New (and Antique) Resources
for German Jewish Genealogy”
After researching his German Jewish ancestors
for nearly 60 years, John Lowens is still learning much about them. As the Loewenstein
family historian since high school, John has inherited fascinating collections of archival photos and documents. He is currently scanning
hundreds of World War I era photo postcards
written to his grandparents. With the help of
JewishGen, these letters from the past are being translated and interpreted. John will share
some of these photocards, which tell fascinating and sometimes tragic stories of middle
class Jewish life and death in western Germany, and continue to expand and illustrate a
long family history. John will also speak about
new indexing projects, initiatives at the Leo
Baeck Institute, and other resources that have
made the civil and Holocaust records from
Germany far more accessible in recent years.
“Jewish Records Indexing – Poland:
Small Miracles Continue”
The Jewish Records Indexing - Poland online
searchable database of indices to more than
four million records has enabled researchers
to trace their families' growth and migration
inside Poland. Last year, JRI-Poland entered
into a new agreement with the Polish State
Archives that will have far-ranging benefits for
tracing Jewish roots to Poland. Hadassah will
outline recent developments in the PSA/JRI
relationship, current indexing activity, online
availability of actual images of records, newly
discovered resources, and plans for the future.
She’ll also describe new techniques for searching the database and how to navigate and utilize other features on the JRI-Poland website.
Sunday, April 26
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Avraham Groll
“How Did Jews Get to Europe?”
Sunday, May 31
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Michael Chaplan
JGSLIers Share Success Stories
Marilyn Gotkin
- Michael Chaplan’s interest in genealogy
blossomed when he began to work five minutes
from NYC's Municipal Archives. He will discuss
his use of the Archives's resources to research
his early 20th century immigrant ancestors.
With the decline of Babylonian Jewry in the
ninth and tenth centuries, Jews immigrated to
Europe in large numbers. Yet there is evidence of a Jewish presence in Europe more
than 1,000 years earlier. In this presentation,
Avraham Groll, who is JewishGen’s Director of
Business Operations, will focus on early Jewish settlement in Spain, Germany, France and
Italy. He will use maps, pictures, and documents to explore why Jews chose (or were
forced) to live in these countries, where they
settled, and under what conditions they lived.
He will also discuss the migration patterns of
Jews in even earlier periods, including the division of Israel into two kingdoms, the beginnings of the Jewish Diaspora, the destruction
of the Second Temple in the year 70 CE, and
the transfer of the center of Jewish life to
Babylon.
Andrew Bader
Allan Mallenbaum
- Marilyn Gotkin will illustrate how snail mail,
Facebook, Geni, JewishGen, kindness of
strangers, and serendipity have enabled her to
explore family history and connect with living
relatives in the USA, Europe, and Israel.
- Andy Bader has been very successful using
Facebook to locate & maintain contact with
family members. He’ll tell us about the value of
that social networking site to genealogists.
- Allan Mallenbaum will provide guidance on
maintaining and preserving for future generations the precious family records that we find.
Sunday, June 28
2:00 – 4:00 p.m.
(Mavens 1:30 p.m.)
Mid-Island Y-JCC
45 Manetto Hill Road
Plainview
www.miyjcc.org
Logan J. Kleinwaks
“GenealogyIndexer.org:
New Sources, New Ways To Search”
Logan Kleinwaks is the creator of GenealogyIndexer.org, an award-winning, free website that
enables searches of historical business, address,
and telephone directories (primarily from Eastern and Central Europe), Yizkor books, Polish
and Russian military documents, community
and
personal histories, Galician secondary school
reports, and more.
Logan will update us on recent additions to this
huge and unique collection of data, which contains millions of personal names – often with
towns, street addresses, and occupations, and
sometimes with vital dates or patronymics –
and he will discuss new ways to search the site.
He will also briefly preview a new free website
offering detailed research advice based on your
GEDCOM file.
Coordinator of the JewishGen Danzig/Gdansk
SIG, Logan has a research background in physics and runs a literacy charity that aids refugees
from Darfur.