ESCADA
Summer Sale
O
on selected Spring/Summer merchandise
Plaza Escada: Sinclair Centre (604) 688-8558
all sales arefinal
Did you know, every day 395 children and their families visit B.C.'s Children's Hospital for treatment and care?
Children's Hospital
www.kidslelethon.com
Short Takes
Understanding Hebrew
. by local Hebrew teacher Rahe
Congregation Shaarey Tefilah is offering a new class to take Hebrew readers to the next level - comprehension. The Level 3 class will give Hebrew readers an imderstanding of what they are reading and will be taught by local Hebrew teacher Rahel Halabc. It will be held on Mondays, at 7:30 p.m., beginning in September, at the synagogue, at 785 West 16th Ave.
The class is suitable for those with a solid knowledge of the Hebrew alphabet and with some Hebrew reading experience. The cost of the course is $150. Registration is limited to 11 people to ensure one-on-one help, if necessary. Pre-registration is mandatory. For more information, please call the synagogue at 873-2700. □
Campaign for Na'amat
Na'amat Vancouver's annual end-of-summer fund-raising campaign is once again imder way. Na'amat is the organization in Israel that gives comfort and support to the most helpless. It provides shelters, child care, safe-houses, counselling services, career training and more. Na'amat provides 60 per cent of Israel's child care and operates 1,500 facilities throughout the country. Na'amat Vancouver helps to raise funds to maintain these services. The campaign runs until Sept. 15. Contributions can be mailed to #303,950 West 41st Ave. For further information about this campaign or other Na'amat activities, call 257-5177. □
Genealogists meet to explore Jewish heritage
Catherine Yoxmgren, president, and Cissie Eppel, foimding chair of the Jewish Genealogical Institute of British Columbia were among the more than 600 genealogists from arovmd the globe who gathered in Salt Lake City, Utah, July 9-14 for the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies' 20th International Conference on Jewish Genealogy. Representatives from more than 50 Jewish genealogical societies attended. Two other B.C. genealogists in attendance were Rochello Moss and David Jacobs.
Programs featured notable speakers, including Alexander Abraham, director of the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum in Israel; Alexandre Beider, author and specialist in the field of Ashkenazi names; Angelika Ellmann-Krueger, German research specialist; Dr. Michael Hammer, a geneticist noted for his work on the kohanim gene; Regina Kopilcvich, a Lithuanian researcher; Marian Smith, historian for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service; and Vladislav Soshnikov, director of the Russian-American Genealogical Archival Service. Banquet speakers Eileen Douglas and Ron Steinman presented a portion of their upcoming film. My Grand-fatlicr's House, a documentary about Douglas's research that guided her back to her grandfather's Eastern European origins.
Researchers enjoyed special "breakfast vwth experts" sessions and small group tutorials designed to facilitate a productive interchange of research tips on a variety of topics. Twenty special interest groups that focused on the study of specific family surnames or on the research of a certain geographical area provided networking sessions to exchange new information of interest to genealogists. These included researchers interested in South Africa, Sephardic genealogy, Latvia, Rzeszow, Grodno, Polonnye Uezd, Nesivizh, Denmark, South Africa, Lodz, Belarus and the Mirvis family surname.
The international association's upcoming conferences on Jewish genealogy will be in London, England, in 2001, Dearborn, Mich., in 2002, and Washington, D.C., in 2003.
The Jcvirish Genealogical histitute of British Columbia is a member of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies. Meetings are held at 7:30 p.m. on the first Tuesday of each month at Temple Sholom synagogue, 7190 Oak St Youngren vidll report on the Salt Lake City conference at the next meeting on Sept. 5.
For more information about the genealogical society's educational programs and membership, contact Eppel at 321-9870. □
- Courtesy of the Jewish Genealogical Institute of B.C.