Genealogy
Google’s Interactive Tour of Spain’s Jewish Quarters
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice Would you like a tour and history lesson of the Jewish experience in Spain? Thanks to an organization called Routes of Sefarad, you can make a virtual visit to Spain’s historic Jewish quarters. Routes of Sefarad partnered with Google to create an interactive timeline that covers over one thousand years of geography and history. Once you have familiarized yourself with Spain via the virtual experience, book a ticket and travel to Spain. It is a fascinating...
Read MoreThe Taste of Ethiopia — Berbere
Published in The Jew and the Carrot When the Ethiopian Jews began arriving in Israel with Operation Moses in 1984, they brought with them a spice mixture called berbere — the mix gives Ethiopian cuisine its distinctive flavor. The fiery taste of berbere evokes my early childhood, as my family lived in Ethiopia from 1969 to 1973. Berbere is the food of my infancy. My father was an Israeli diplomat, sent to Ethiopia to help improve its agricultural output. My family lived in the Rift Valley, south of Addis Ababa. We lived on an experimental farm called Abba Dir. Read...
Read MoreBack in Girona, after 500 years
Have you ever wanted to meet your ancestors from a faraway time and place? Have you wondered about all the locations they lived in and what sort of people they were? I grew up with incredible stories of my great-grandparents’ adventures and treks across continents and wanted to find out as much as I could about my ancestors. Modern, affordable DNA testing made it possible for me to uncover more about who I am and where I came from — and revealed an extraordinary surprise. This discovery took me on a trip to Spain, where my investigation of my family’s past inadvertently revealed the search for Jewish origins and identity many Spaniards are currently...
Read MoreWhat Did My Foremothers Eat? What My DNA Analysis Revealed!
Published in The Philadelphia Jewish Voice Where did my ancestors live? What was their culture and cuisine like? I have some oral family history to work with, but I have always wished that there were some scientific way to know. In the year 2003, the Human Genome Project announced that it had mapped the approximately 25,000 genes of the human genome. Gene Base founded “the world’s first online personal genomics DNA database” in 2005. They offer DNA tests to help you trace your ancestral routes. I could finally find out how much of the oral tradition was correct, and what was unknown or forgotten. Last summer I decided to take the test. My...
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