Passion for genealogy draws a crowd to NY

by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

They have vast differences in religious practice, languages, and nationalities. But when 1,500 people — including at least 55 from New Jersey — convene at the Marriott Marquis Hotel in Manhattan on Sunday, they will have one purpose in mind: the never-ending search for their Jewish roots.

Call it a hobby or an obsession. But for five days, members of the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies will take part in 280 programs offering a wide perspective on family heritage and the recapturing of ethnic roots.

Judy Salomon, who will commute to the convention from West Caldwell, expects it to be “absolutely wonderful. You go to hear lectures on how to do things from people who are really knowledgeable, and you get to meet other people who are interested. There are hundreds of people who are totally interested.”

Salomon’s own interest began when she had a baby.

“I was getting baby presents from people on the Salomon side of the family, and I was very curious about how they were related,” she said.

After someone gave her a copy of her in-laws’ family tree, it sparked an interest in examining her own roots as a member of the Freund family. She has traced the Freunds back to 1830 in Poland, and her interest led her to the Jewish Genealogical Society of North Jersey in Wayne. She is now its membership vice president.

“When I started, there was no Internet,” she said. “So I went to the National Archives and went through rolls of microfilm. I sent to local towns for copies of birth certificates and death certificates and wrote letters to people.

“Now that the Internet is here, it is much easier to know where to look.”

Schelly Talalay Dardashti, a Brooklyn-born Tel Aviv resident who is handling publicity for the gathering, also spoke of the profound change advanced technology has brought to the field.

In an earlier era, genealogists would trace names and dates off rapidly eroding tombstones. But, Dardashti said, “nobody does grave rubbing anymore. The digital camera is now the weapon of choice.”

But researchers still feel a need to meet face to face.

“Since the Internet, we’ve become an instantly communicating community around the world,” she said. “But we are getting together to meet as geographical interest groups and topical interest groups. You have to meet in person. You can’t just sit at home and work in your pajamas all the time.”

Beyond shoptalk about the latest in genealogical software, conventioneers will consider the role of DNA in tracing family members separated by the Holocaust or other tragedies. They will discuss initiatives directed toward Russian Jewry and will participate in a new program for Sephardim. “They are catching up to the Ashkenazis in genealogical research,” said Dardashti. “Sephardi genealogy is the new kid on the block.”

In addition to meetings and speeches by Allen Weinstein, the archivist of the United States, and Samuel J. Freedman, a journalism professor from New Jersey who uncovered the roots of his own family tree to write Who She Was: My Search for My Mother’s Life, the delegates will take field trips to Ellis Island, the Tenement Museum on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, and to five New York cemeteries.

“The people involved in genealogy are a wide-ranging group,” Dardashti said. “They range from people who aren’t Jewish today but are looking for their Jewish ancestors, to extremely, extremely [Orthodox]…. Genealogy doesn’t care what you wear on your head. It doesn’t care what you do on Saturday morning. It doesn’t care what you eat in your kitchen or what you eat outside. It doesn’t matter, because everybody is interested in their ancestors.”

The conference runs from Aug. 13 to 18. The registration fee is $250, with spouses charged $175. Daily passes are available.