Please Note: The "IAJGS International Conference 2013- Boston" Project is a volunteer initiative of the hundreds of avid genealogists participating in the development of the Jewish Genealogy Portal at Geni.com. It is not officially related to the IAJGS or the Conference, which speak for themselves on the web pages whose links are provided below. Now that we have the disclaimer out of the way, here's the scoop.... :)

Welcome!==

We are delighted to announce that a delegation of Geni Curators and enthusiasts involved in the development of the Jewish Genealogy Portal on Geni.com will be actively participating in this year's 33rd Annual Conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies, to be held at the historic Boston Park Plaza Hotel from Sunday August 4th through Friday, August 9th.

• View Conference Promo Video!
  

We will be making presentations, representing Geni Curators in Birds-of-a-Feather and SIG meetings, and manning a Geni-sponsored Curators booth with high-speed Internet access throughout the conference.
At our booth, in addition to demonstrating how Geni functions, we plan to host regularly scheduled Skype teleconferences with Geni Curators and other Geni-connected experts all over the world who will answer questions from conference participants.

Please join our IAJGS / Geni Discussion Group

We hope to describe the rapid growth of the Jewish branches and projects on the Geni World Family Tree, and the vital role the volunteer Curators play in maintaining the site's genealogical integrity. Our objective is to supplement and support any professional staff of MyHeritage/Geni, who may participate in the Boston conference as representatives of the MyHeritage corporate family.

How to Attend!

1. Book a Room at the Hotel Reservations and Information page. The conference organizers advise us that rooms are filling up fast! Registration begins on August 3rd, Saturday evening, so plan on arriving early to take in Boston's sights and sounds! We will be on hand for dinner out with fellow Geni denizens!
2. Register for the conference at the IAJGS 2013 Conference Registration Page, which includes information on conference costs, and deadlines for early registration;
3. Study the conference calendar at IAGJS2013. The programs will be firmed up in April, so make a habit of visiting the site.
4. Participate in the Geni Jewish Genealogy Portal programs at the conference and volunteer to serve at our booth or to help organize meetings. For information, contact Geni Curator Adam Brown
5. Spread the word! Encourage interested genealogists to join the Geni IAJGS 2013 Discussion that we have established to encourage pre-conference collaboration.

Conference News Updates

• 3/14/2013 - Presentation Schedules for Conference

We are delighted to report that our proposed conference presentation has been accepted . Adam and Randy have taken the lead thus far but there is room for anyone interested in helping develop our presentation and associated materials beforehand and/or to participate in the actual presentation itself. You can be a help, even if you are unable to attend the conference!

Time and place: Thursday, August 8th, 4th Floor, Room TBD, 9:45am to 11:00am

Description in Online Conference Catalog

Here is the preliminary description:
The New "Big Bang" In Genealogical Research: Universal Matching of Databases and Family Trees

Automated, computerized “matching” of online resources and family trees has transformed our online genealogical experience and provides unprecedented opportunities for growing our family trees. We foresee that all successful sites will soon offer users new options combining four essential services:
(1) Exclusive access to proprietary databases,
(2) Non-exclusive access to public Internet resources,
(3) Stand-alone trees with limited collaborative functionality, controlled by a single subscriber, and
(4) Expert-moderated collaborative family trees and genealogical projects.
The presenters will compare current offerings and discuss the transformations that will occur over the next five years in each of these four areas, and recommend strategies for beginning and advanced genealogists, content providers, and software/website developers to take advantage of these exciting new opportunities.

• 3/2/2013 - Jewish Genealogy Portal at Geni.com BOF Accredited for Conference

We have received an email from the conference organizers that our new Birds-of-a-Feather group has been accepted for participation in the Share Fair on Sunday afternoon and will be reserved time and place for a BOF meeting during the week of the conference. We are preparing a BOF desciption which will be posted at JGP-Geni BOF. The exact date of our formal BOF meeting will be known in April.

• 2/24/2012 - Book Now! Hotel Rooms for Boston Conference Filling Up!

Conference planners for the annual IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy are recommending that you book your hotel room now. They state there is a significant chance that the hotel will sell out. Two-thirds of the rooms set aside for the conference have already been reserved. Make your reservation through http://hotelinfo.iajgs2013.org. The conference is being held at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel from August 4–9.

• 2/23/2012 - "Share Fair" scheduled for Opening Day Sunday August 4th. From 1:30 to 5:00 in the afternoon, there will be a fair with tables for Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and Birds of a Feather (BOFs), archives and repositories, local genealogical and historical societies, and related local organizations of interest.

The fair will give conference participants the opportunity to become acquainted with these organizations and what they offer to genealogists. The Geni Curators will be represented!

• 2/22/2012 - Aaron Lansky, the founder and president of the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts will deliver the conference Keynote Address Sunday evening, August 4

Mr. Lansky is responsible for revitalizing the study of the Yiddish language and motivating hundreds of young scholars to study and teach Yiddish. He has saved over a million Yiddish books since he started collecting them as a 23-year old graduate student in 1980. His mission to rescue Yiddish literature earned him a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant" in 1985.

Mr. Lansky also will be available to meet with attendees at a "Breakfast with the Experts." There will be a special bus tour to the Yiddish Book Center offered during the conference.

Participating Special Interest Groups

As of March 3, 2013, the following SIGs have submitted their SIG applications and will participate in the Conference:

• Austria Czech SIG (Austria Czech Special Interest Group)
• BIALYGen SIG (Bialystok Region Jewish Genealogy Special Interest Group)
• Belarus SIG (Belarus Special Interest Group)
• Bessarabia SIG (Bessarabia Special Interest Group)
• French SIG
• GerSIG (German Jewish Special Interest Group)
• Gesher Galicia (Special Interest Group for Galicia)
• H-SIG (Hungarian Special Interest Group)
• JRI-Poland (Jewish Records Indexing - Poland)
• Latvia SIG
• LARG (Lodz Area Research Group, Poland)
• Litvak SIG (Lithuania Special Interest Group)
• ROM-SIG (Romania SIG)
• Sephardic SIG (South African Special Interest Group)
• South African SIG (South African Special Interest Group)
• Suwalk-Lomza Interest Group
• Sub-Carpathia SIG (Sub-Carpathia Special Interest Group)
• UK SIG (United Kingdom Special Interest Group)
• Ukraine SIG
• Yizkor Book Project

Participating Birds-of-a-Feather Groups

As of March 3, 2013, the following BOFs have submitted their BOF applications and will participate in the Conference:

• Bolechow Jewish Heritage Society
• Bukovina BOF (Czernowitz - Sadagora Area BOF)
• Canadian BOF
• DNA Project Administrators BOF
• Friends of Jewish Dokshitsy
• Geni.com Jewish Genealogy Portal BOF
• IGRA (Israel Genealogy Research Association)
• Jewish Polesie BOF
• KehilaLinks Project (JewishGen KehilaLinks Project)
• Kobrin Uyezd Jewish Research Group
• Kolbuszowa Region Research Group (Poland)
• Kremenets District Research Group (KDRG) (Kremenets, Ukraine)
• Kupiskis SIG (Kupiskis, Lithuania)
• Lida District BOF (Lithuania and Belarus)
• Lublin and Zamosc Area BOF
• Mac Users BOF
• Mogilev-Podolsky (Mohyliv Podilskyy) BOF
• Next Generation Jewish Genealogists
• Novogrod-Volhynsky (Zvhil) BOF (Ukraine)
• Ostrow Mazowiecka Research Family
• Paterson BOF (Paterson, New Jersey, BOF)
• Rokiskis SIG (Rokiskis, Lithuania)
• Rohatyn District Research Group (Rohatyn, Ukraine)
• Suchostaw Region Research Group (Ukraine)
• Suwalki/Lonza BOF (Lithuania)
• Svencionys District Research BOF (Lithuania)

Press Coverage=

Boston 2013: The 33rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, by Jay Sage], Avotaynu, Fall 2012

"With its Early American history and European flavor, beautiful parks, world-renowned universities and museums, the Boston Pops orchestra, numerous facilities for Jewish family history research and much more. Boston welcomes Jewish genealogists to the 33rd International Conference on Jewish Genealogy (IAJGS) on August 4–9, 2013, at the Boston Park Plaza Hotel. Co-hosted by IAJGS and the Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston (JGSGB), the conference team includes genealogists from Boston and elsewhere in the United States, Europe and Israel working together to produce yet another outstanding event to benefit all attendees, both old-timers and firsttimers. The annual IAJGS conference last was held in Boston in 1996.

Onsite Research Opportunities Abound at Boston 2013 IAJGS Conference, by Florence Schumacher], Avotaynu, Winter 2012

"Even in this era of burgeoning online databases, much genealogical research still can be done only onsite in record repositories. Those who attend the 33rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Boston, August 4–9, 2013, will find in that city a number of extremely important repositories. These easily accessible local sites hold a wide variety of international, national, New England regional, Massachusetts state and Boston-area specific records."

Genealogy Links

• Jewish Genealogical Society of Greater Boston
• Western Massachusetts Jewish Genealogical Society
• American Jewish Historical Society, New England Archives
• The Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts
• The Massachusetts Archives
• The National Archives at Boston
• Tracing Jewish Roots Along the Mystic River
• The Yiddish Book Center
• Jewish Women's Archive
• Documenting Maine Jewry
• Rhode Island Jewish Historical Association
• The National Center for Jewish Films Brandeis University, Waltham MA

Notable Bostonian Jews

• Leonard Nimoy Star Trek (Dr. Spock)
• Louis Brandeis (Justice of the US Supreme Court)
• Rabbi Pinchas-David Halevi Horowitz (1st Bostoner Rebbe)
• Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Horowitz (2nd Bostoner Rebbe)
• Grand Rabbi Jacob Korff ( Zvhil Mezbuz)
• Rabbi Yosef Dov Soloveitchik
• Rabbi Dr. Isidore Asher Twersky

Boston Jewish Community

• Jewish Sites of Interest
• Boston Jewish Resources
• Boston Jewish Cultural Walking Tour
• The Jewish Advocate Boston Jewish Newspaper
• JewishBoston.com
• ShalomBoston.com
• Sidewalk Memories YouTube
• Roxbury, Dorchester and Mattapan Sidewalk Memories Video.

Israel is prominent in institutional Jewish life in Boston.  Through the efforts of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, Boston maintains an active relationship with its sister city of Haifa.  Almost half of Jewish adults in our area have been to Israel at some point. Source

Walk the 21 stations of The Innovation Trail of Boston and Cambridge.

Boston Synagogues

• Central Reform Temple / Newbury St
• The Boston Synagogue
• Chabad of Greater Boston
• The Vilna Shul / Havurah on the Hill
• Temple Israel
• Zvhil - Mezbuz Beis Medrash

Kosher Restaurants

• Milk Street Cafe - (Vegetarian, Kosher, Lactose Free) Boston
• Café Eliat - (Mediterranean Bistro) Brookline
• Jerusalem Pita & Grill - (Middle Eastern Cuisine) Brookline
• Rami's - (Middle Eastern Cuisine) Brookline
• Rubin's Famous Deli and Restaurant Brookline
• Taam China - (Chinese Cuisine) Brookline