A valuable perspective on the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies Conference

I received a link of an excellent summary of the International Association of Jewish Genealogy Societies Conference held in Salt Lake City, Utah recently. Obviously, my perspective of the Conference was considerably different than that of a person who was deeply involved in Jewish genealogy. The post on The Jewish Daily Forward, is entitled, "A Report From the Jewish Genealogists' Summer Camp, The Author of 'The Family' Heads to Utah." I think the post very clearly expresses what I felt and experienced at the Conference as a complete "outsider." It is sometimes hard to break out of our "genealogical comfort zone" and really take the time to learn about an area of genealogy with which we are not familiar. But it is always worth the effort.

Genealogy is genealogy and the subject matter is only one variable in a sea of constants. Research methodology is the same no matter what the ethnic background, time period, geographic location or social construct. But in the case of this Conference, there was a distinct difference in the dedication and fierce interest of the attendees.