Category Archives: Jerusalem 2015

Israel 2015 – Days 15-21

It was easy to fall out of the practice of blogging, so now it’s time to finish up. I did keep up a little better than this seems, but I didn’t publish it.

Except for one night at Daniel’s after the conference, I stayed with my cousins in Haifa the rest of the trip, taking it easy. Some people would baulk at how I wasted time, but I enjoyed myself. I don’t feel the need to spend all my waking moments on tours and seeing historic sites. I have seen quite a bit and I think it will still be here when I come back in the future.

Here’s a quick family tree, as I will mention their names. Lea is my second cousin, once removed. Her husband is Odi. Her kids: Dikla, Tomer, and Lior. Dikla is married to Ido and Carmel is their daughter. Tomer is married to Michal and Noga is their daughter. Lior lives with her parents presently and Daniel is her boyfriend.

So what have I done all these days? Let’s see if I can remember.

We visited the cemetery in Nesher where Lea’s parents and grandmother are buried. Then there was a party. Lea invited about 40 people on her mother’s side of the family. (I’m on her father’s side.) It was a welcome home to Lior, the youngest daughter, who just got back from eight months in South America after serving her time in the IDF. I also met Lea’s brother Israel and his family at the party.

On other days, Lea, Carmel, and I went to the local zoo. Then we met Lior and Daniel for lunch. Lea, Odi, and I went to see HaMinyonim. Lea had mentioned needing some time to stop by her work (she was on vacation my whole visit) and I told her to drop me at the movie, but they said we should all go. They even found it playing in English, though I would’ve been happy with it in Hebrew for fun. It was adorable. The only drawback was that much of the cutest parts were in the trailers. However, the one phrase Minions speak that is Hebrew was worth it to see in Israel.

A long drive brought Lea, Odi, and I to the Switzerland forest above Lake Kinneret. We visited Yardenit and watched people being baptized where they thought Jesus was baptized but not quite in the same place; that was a weird one. We drove through Tiberias without really stopping. Visited the Magdala church and the synagogue ruins in front of it that were 2000 years old. And finally we stopped at Kibbutz Amir. This was where Lea’s parents lived until just after she was born. She still has an aunt there. It’s also where the family picture was taken that helped me find them.

A shorter trip brought Lea and I to the Israel Valley where we met Lior and Michal for lunch, with Carmel and Noga. Then the two of us drove around to see Nahalal, the first moshav, another moshav, Beit Shearim, and Bet Lekhem HaGalili, or what Google Map calls Bethlehem of Galilee. The Hebrew name is more interesting to me. They sell all kinds of spices and some foods. You can walk through their farm, but it was hot so we just took the quick walk in the front.

Genealogy day began in the evening, typical of the Jewish calendar. Lea went through boxes of photos, then I scanned them on their computer. Many were unlabelled and a good collection were mystery people. Under other circumstances, I might have done her mother’s family and even her husband’s, but there was so much.

Next, Lea and I went through the family methodically like we did at the beginning and this time she typed it in Hebrew. We still did not finish. But I was able to finish up the family for my database, which I now need to add.

I ended my visit with the cousins by visiting Caesarea in the evening. I’m pretty sure a lot of that wasn’t there 30 years ago.

The next day, Lea dropped me off at the train station where I headed back south to Tel Aviv. I visited Beit Hatfutsot and waited for Daniel to arrive. He showed me to the secret room in the basement, after mentioning the urban legend that says they have some of the LDS Polish microfilms, but they never let anyone see them. We mostly spent the day at the Mediterranean Sea. I mentioned to him that I had seen all three major bodies of water, but hadn’t been in any of them. So we walked along the boardwalk for a bit and ended up at the beach. We just hung out there until after the sun went down and I walked into the water a bunch of times. We didn’t change into bathing suits, so I could only walk a little ways in.

And that’s about it. Daniel dropped me off at the airport. Security was pretty easy. The baggage check took so much longer; I don’t know why they couldn’t check the bags of the people in front of me in line for so long. The flights home were brutal. I need to learn how to sleep sitting up I guess. I couldn’t stay awake but I definitely didn’t sleep.

My mom informed me today that we did swim in the Dead Sea 30 years ago. We don’t have pictures because our tour guide was off eating lunch and we didn’t bring the cameras onto the lake. We had the huge hotel breakfast, but he didn’t. I have no recollection of this, but I remember so little of that trip. I scanned in all of my photos and I had a total of 52 for that three week trip. I joked that I wanted to take at least 2000 on this trip. I made that number easily.

So now that I’m home, I guess I have a little more blogging to do about the trip, mostly sharing some of the photos, I think. Watch for those in the near future, but give me a little time. I have to catch up on everything after a three week vacation.

But since it’s easier to upload pictures from home… here’s my last sunset in Israel over the Mediterranean Sea.

Last Sunset in Israel

Israel 2015 – Day 13-14

Lea took me to a Druze village for a little shopping, then up to a church for a view. I forget the name of the church, but I have pictures to tell me later. There was a statue of Elijah, believed to be where he had to take down the false prophets. They had a compass on the ground of the lookout pointing off towards major cities and some minor ones more nearby. Unfortuantely, the sky wasn’t as clear as the day before, so we couldn’t see too terribly far.

Next up, we went north. Rosh Hanikrah was beautiful. We walked right up to the border fence with Lebanon. Some army VIPs showed up and even they went through some inspection to cross through. Then we took the cable car down to see the grottoes and the old tunnels where the British built their railroad.

We stopped in Akko on the way back where we walked through the old city and the shuk. Many shops were closed and we realized eventually that it was still Ramadan. We had lunch at Said, supposedly the best humus in Israel, certainly in Akko. (I even looked it up online.) Another unfortunate stop was at the Tunisian synagogue, which was also closed at the time, so we couldn’t go in.

I finally emailed all of my other known Israeli cousins, so we’ll see if I have a chance to meet with any of them before I leave. If not, it’s just another reason to come back again. I have a few other reasons that are piling up of things I didn’t get to do yet. I should come back more often than every 30 years.

Israel 2015 – Day 11-12

I began and ended my visit to Jerusalem by visiting the Old City and the Kotel. This time, I found an audio walking tour in an Android app. I only did the Jewish Quarter tour. There were a lot of people wandering around the quarter — I wasn’t the only tourist.

A couple hours later than I expected, I headed out of Jerusalem with Daniel and his family. He invited me to stay the night in Kfar Saba, so I would be part way to Haifa for the next day. We left so late that I got only a quick driving tour in the dark and then in the morning. Daniel traded files with me; I had the on demand files and he had the webinars, so there are now back-ups. He dropped me off at the train station on his way to work.

The train was a curiosity. Things were no longer bilingual, for the most part. I got to the platform, which was loaded with IDF soldiers. There was an announcement in Hebrew and the place cleared out. Soon, everyone was on the opposite side. I realized I had to switch sides quickly to not miss my train; had it not been a few minutes late, I would have had a long wait for the next one. Then, when I should have had about 7 minutes to transfer trains, it was more like 2 minutes, and the elevator was slow. But I got on my train and headed up to Haifa. I called my cousin along the way and she showed up a little bit after me.

At her home, I walked Lea through some of the Halpert family tree before we stopped for lunch. She was writing it all out in Hebrew. She then took me out to see the Bahai Garden and Elijah’s Cave, among a few other views in Haifa. The whole lot of us went out for falafel for dinner. I went to bed early, waking up early too, but I got some pretty decent sleep.

My cousins are nice. The only problem is that they like the heat. I had this issue all last week with Emily. When I was barely comfortable, she was freezing. It’s going to be a warm week.

Israel 2015 – Day 9-10 – IAJGS Day 4-5

Thursday was very busy for my conference schedule. Unfortunately, the sleep deprivation caught up to me. After waking up very early and going to breakfast, I just could not stay awake. I missed the whole morning. I showed up in time for lunch and didn’t go to that either. The only session I went to was the Professionals BOF. A good sized group of us sat around two tables and discussed some interesting issues about running our genealogy businesses. It left me with some things to think about.

I briefly helped Daniel with running around to record some extra sessions by webinar. I don’t know what will happen with those, but since we didn’t have the majority of sessions being recorded, he was catching more of them. This also left me with an advantage. As the IAJGS webmaster, I will have access to all of the recorded and on demand sessions, so I can watch them later after missing them during the week.

I didn’t sign up for a table for the banquet, but I know people. I asked to sit at table 1 and was allowed, but opted for 19 right next to it and sat with Daniel. We’ve had a good time at the banquet before, and since I only see him briefly twice a year during genealogy conferences, I try to spend as much time with him as possible. The entertainment seemed like an odd choice, a barbershop group, but once they got past the usual songs, the others were good. My mind wandered when Dick Eastman was speaking, but I got the bulk of it, and I’d already heard some of his ideas previously in the week.

Friday started too early, as does every day, but instead of jumping up for breakfast, I stayed in bed for a while lomger; it makes me feel like I’ve slept more. I had plenty of time to get to my session. I figured I should webinar myself, but when Daniel didn’t answer, I didn’t. I wasn’t sure how my new presentation would go. I had a much bigger crowd for Search As An Art in the very last time slot of the conference. I felt really good about how it went and I had lots of questions after. That one is definitely a keeper and needs to be expanded on.

Afterwards, I finally got invited to the Shabbat dinner for the IAJGS board and other VIPs that I’d been hearing about. It was really nice and gave us some time to casually chat with each other and the new CEO of FamilySearch.

Edit: This is the peril of writing a blog post late; I forgot some of it. After my session, I went out to Mahane Yehuda Market. It was a madhouse. I mostly just walked through and observed. I ended up walking back to the hotel when I meant to take the light rail. I even ended up going the long way and via Cinema City. I really wanted ice cream, but the place there was already closed.

Israel 2015 – Day 8 – IAJGS Day 3

I started the day in Non-Classified and Unidentified Sources for Genealogy with Alex Denysenko. It was a fascinating tour of records that he has come across in unusual ways, whether the archive simply hadn’t cataloged it, or it was built into the roof of a building. Some were in beautiful shape and others were almost unreadable. It doesn’t teach me anything about doing research or how I can find such records for myself, but it is interesting to see that records are still being found.

Lunch was spent with five other bloggers, including our banquet keynote, Dick Eastman. We went out to Caffit, a dairy restaurant.

The IAJGS Annual Meeting ended up taking its full three hours this year. There were some concerns. I made a fuss at one point when they probably expected it to go by smoothly, expressing my disappointment in the Stern Grant choices. This was the third time in five years that Gesher Galicia has won. As much as they do, not everyone is a galitzianer, including me, and I think the money should go to other organizations that haven’t gotten it yet. Some other people spoke up after me too, but they still got the grant.

I finished off with The Mother of All Genealogies (Genesis 10) with Prof. Aaron Demsky. This lecture looked at different types of genealogies that are listed in the bible. It was interesting. Again, it was another lecture that didn’t assist my research at all, but I guess sometimes those are needed to break up everything else. After all, I wouldn’t mind learning more history at these conferences, so this is moving in that kind of direction.

I really wanted to go back to the Old City tonight and visit the Kotel again. Today is the 30th anniversary of my bat mitzvah, which was at the Kotel. But the friends I tried to get to go with me didn’t come through. I ended up having dinner in the hotel with Marlis. I would be more upset if I hadn’t already been to the Kotel on this trip already. And I will go back again before I leave Jerusalem.

Israel 2015 – Day 7 – IAJGS Day 2

Today was a short day on lectures. I had two at a time in two time slots, but I still didn’t go to the first one at all. Both were broadcast On Demand. Conveniently, as webmaster, I will be getting all of those to put on the web site, so I can watch them later.

I went to Ask the Experts: Adventures in Archival Research in Poland, Ukraine, and Austria with Alex and Natalie Dunai. Pam Weisberger moderated, I think, a little too much. There were many questions posed in the description, but instead of answering those, they took audience questions and just barely glanced over those listed questions. I know the Dunais have information. I’m still waiting for them to provide a session that shares it. I’m usually disappointed by the lack of details they provide.

I gave my first lecture today, Insider’s Guide to the Family History Library. I timed myself to 45 minutes exactly… then finished in 32. But, this year, it was supposed to be 30 minutes, so I don’t feel bad for finishing that early. I had a small crowd, but people were told not to attend sessions that were on demand because there are no other recordings this year to buy.

And that was it for the conference itself. It was time to leave the hotel again, so I went out to the First Station with Daniel and Rose, then we walked by the Liberty Bell and Montefiore’s Windmill, ending up at an auction for a little while.

No picture today. WordPress and Androids aren’t cooperating. I wanted to share the windmill.

Israel 2015 – Day 6 – IAJGS Day 1

Time for the IAJGS Conference.

I started out in the session for New Attendees. Marlis Humphrey, as President of IAJGS, presents that. But she asks me to help, this year specifically with demonstrating the app. We had a good crowd but ran short on time.

Next, I went to Sensitive Subjects in Genealogy: What to Reveal, What to Conceal from Jane Neff Rollins. She was a Jedi level speaker, only answering the main question in the last few minutes. She wasn’t specific enough for me though, with what I should do about the big family secret that I know.

I went into Footnotes, Side Notes, and Remarks in European Vital Records with three speakers, but it wasn’t long until I was summoned by Daniel to help someone with tech support on the app. The session sounded like it might get interesting, but the parts I heard, I already knew.

Daniel asked me to the Bukovina BOF to introduce me, since I scan a lot of records for them.

Sub-Carpathia SIG was next, where Marshall Katz finally admitted publicly that he had digitized records and would get them indexed, verifying that he would never share the images. He told me this quietly in Paris a few years ago too, specifying that I didn’t need to go back to Ukraine. I still will. I want the records, not the index, and unlike him, I get permission from the archivist so I have no problem sharing the images. I recently posted the index of records I digitized in 2012 of over 1100 Mukacheve births, along with 15,000 names of the Uzhhorod 1938 Voters List on my new site, Jewish Genealogy Indexing and Research Collective.

The Keynote Session was good. Rabbi Lau spoke mostly in Hebrew but switched to English sometimes. The simultaneous translation did good. I only wish I wasn’t so tired by that time of the day.

And there was plenty of socializing and networking throughout the day and at the President’s Reception and Opening Reception.

Israel 2015 – Day 5

After joining the Shabbaton unexpectedly yesterday, today I joined a tour. I went on the Masada and Dead Sea tour.

Masada was hot. I brought back one souvenir and it’s red and all over my face and arms. So much for the sunblock.

We skipped the Dead Sea for the most part. Many people were very annoyed, including me. I was last in Israel 30 years ago. My family saw the Dead Sea but didn’t go in. I wanted to do that this time. Obviously we could see the sea on the drive, and we did convince the driver to stop so we could take pictures. But I wanted more this time.

They said that many beaches are closed because of lower water levels and a plethora of sinkholes. But one person abandoned the tour at the start and he got to go.

We stopped at the old synagogue at Ein Gedi and at Qumran, but just for the gift shop of the latter.

It was a fun trip, but I thought it would be better.

I had dinner with four friends and almost fell asleep at the restaurant.

Today’s picture is the Dead Sea.

image

Israel 2015 – Day 4

The events of the IAJGS Conference have begun. There was a Shabbaton and, following instructions, I blended into the group by the end of Saturday.

I was hoping or expecting to do a couple of things, but trouble with the web site handouts meant I had some work to do. After making plans for that, I went to the Ramada hotel in the afternoon, catching a ride from Michael, where I joined the tour of the Israel Museum.

After a few hours of archaeology, history, and culture, followed by a speaker at the hotel, I headed home with Garri to fix the web site.

It was a day of seeing a small number of good friends among the conference attendees, adding on to those first visited from yesterday.

When some final evening plans fell through, Garri invited me to stay with her for the night. The offer was accepted due to the morning transportation back to the hotel. It’s good to have friends, but it’s even better to have the right friends. Among this group, I have often had the right friends to deal with several situations over the years.

No photo today, as I forgot to take one with my cell phone for this purpose.

Israel 2015 – Day 3

I wonder how long it will be until I forget what day I’m on.

I finally made it over to the conference hotel today. Rony Golan had arranged a tour of Tel Aviv for eight of us and it made for a lovely day.

First, I got see a bunch of conference people in the lobby. Then we hopped on a van and went for a drive. We had to earn our lunch by hiking up quite the hill. Then I compared our tour with a timeshare — where you earn something for free, but have to listen to a sales pitch to get it. In this case, we heard about a genealogy project to better identify and fill in the details of the lives of fallen soldiers of Israel.

The rest of the tour was spent in Jaffa and Tel Aviv. There were a few times that I wanted to get off the van to walk around and/or for pictures, but not badly enough to actually say so. It was hot and that first hike made me want to walk less. Instead, we did a lot of driving past things, but we did get out and walk in a few places, notably through Jaffa and Sarona.

While we were stopped for a late afternoon coffee break in Sarona, I had to deal with some conference stuff in my email. I connected to the free wifi available throughtout Tel Aviv at that time. I’m glad I read about that.

At the beach, we stopped by a monument to the illegal Jewish immigrants to British Mandate Palestine where we heard a great story from Rony about his father’s immigration. The short version is that he was immigrating illegally but ended up on the first ship of legal immigrants to the State of Israel.

We ended the tour at a restaurant on the beach of Herzliya for dinner. Some more conference business was taken care of with the lead co-chair of next year’s conference, Janette Silverman.

Shabbat Shalom from Israel.

I wasn’t thinking about a picture for the blog for most of the day, which has to come from the cell phone camera. I leave you with the sunset in Herzliya from inside the restaurant.

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