+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Those Little Scraps of Paper Are Sacred: What Should We Do with Our Unfinished Research? +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ A JewishGen InfoFile Jonina Duker < Jonina dot Duker at juno dot com > 23 May 1999 / 8 Sivan 5759 In terms of both what happens to unpublished research and what would happen if all of us finally wrote our books and approached the institutions above in droves (please see the JewishGen InfoFile "Reversing The Paper Trail" for institutions where one might place published research.) I've been mulling over something .... To me all these scraps of paper with notes that look like garbage to everyone else, are really sacred pieces of paper and should be preserved the way Jews have traditionally preserved precious documents in a genizah. Two telling examples: a few years ago without JewishGen or before the formerly Soviet Archives opened up who could envision today's opportunities? Who knows what the future holds? That is why the little scraps of paper with notes about conversations with relatives who have died should be saved until someone, eventually, can fit them in. Too many of us are already moaning about the links that were lost when someone died and papers weren't saved. If we begin treating those little pieces of paper and the mission of reconnecting the C'lal Yisroel, the Jewish people, as sacred maybe others will be persuaded as well. There is an analogy that occurred to me in connection with this that I know not every one would appreciate; however, it's worth a try. All my life I have had long hair but was never able to grow it as long as I liked. I thought that my lifetime experience had shown me my hair's lifetime limit. And then, well into adulthood, I came across a salon that specialized in long hair. One of the most important things they taught me was to stop treating the strands of hair like hair, and to begin treating it like old lace. So I did, and it worked. My hair grew much longer than had ever seemed possible. So, if we Jewish genealogists begin treating those little scraps of paper -- and what they represent -- as sacred maybe the rest of mishpochah will as well. I've been trying to get brave enough to formulate publicly an eleventh commandment of Jewish genealogy to add to the ten of Rabbi Malcolm Stern z'l'. Well, here goes: "Thou shalt affirmatively, explicitly, and in writing ensure that all thy research, published and unpublished, even unto the tiniest scrap of paper, survives you. Thou shalt not put thy relatives in the uncomfortable position of having to rebuke you by reminding you of this positive obligation (mitzvah). " I've been thinking about the idea of a Jewish Genealogical Archive where people could leave ALL of their papers in a way that would ensure relatives' access, protect privacy, etc. In that way those of us that find cousins through email and know them only that way don't have to worry as much about what is going to happen to that cousin's treasure trove eventually. (It's far too touchy to bring it up through email with someone one has never met -- even for me who has already "lost" an enormous treasure trove of genealogical information collected by a professional Jewish historian uncle ... the papers "should" have come to me and were thrown out instead.) In that way those of us whose children aren't interested can ensure that papers aren't thrown out so grandchildren or great-grandchildren or nieces or nephews are given a chance. Let's make sure the baton is still there when someone comes along ready and eager to pick it up and run with it. It is easier to think of how it would work than to figure out who might want to fund it. I've gone on long enough -- I can get really worked up about the way Jewish families have been torn apart throughout history and how we finally have a chance to put some pieces back together with a limited window of opportunity ... if anyone has ideas about what foundation or grant-making body to approach with the idea of the Jewish Genealogical Archive please let me know. Happy hunting, secure saving, and may all of you go from strength to strength. And may some of you be my cousins! L'Shalom. Vocabulary: o C'lal Yisroel: Hebrew, the entirety of the Jewish people o genizah: Hebrew, a hiding place or storage room, usually part of a synagogue, for worn-out sacred books, ritual objects, or anything with the name of G-d written out o L'Shalom: Hebrew, toward peace o mishpochah: Hebrew, extended family, clan o mitzvah: Hebrew, Jewish religious obligation legally devolving upon adults (many a mitzvah is a good deed which occasions the looser translation), in this case there is an attempt to make an implicit link to the mitzvah of not putting a stumbling block before the blind from which various laws about how to behave and when one should rebuke are derived o z'l': Hebrew, contraction of the phrase (zichrono/zichronah l'bracha) may his/her memory be for a blessing, of blessed memory Taibel bas Ruchel Leah v' Shlomo Yehoshuah, also known as Jonina Duker, has spoken and taught for the Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington, and represented the Society on the Jewish Community Council. -------------- [11Jun99jd]bik Copyright 1999 JewishGen Inc. http://www.jewishgen.org +----------------------------------------------------------------------+