You can now sign up for the special events at the 33rd IAJGS International
Conference on Jewish Genealogy to be held in Boston August 4-9th. These
are events that require additional fees, such as computer workshops,
Breakfasts with the Experts, Special Interest Group (SIG) Luncheons, the
Gala Banquet, and sightseeing tours. Look under the PROGRAM tab on the
conference website (www.iajgs2013.org) for detailed information about
these events.

If you have already registered for the conference, go to the conference
website and update your registration form (mouse over the REGISTRATION tab
and click on "Update Your Registration Info"). If you haven't registered
yet for the conference, you will need to do so to be eligible to sign-up
for these activities (follow the same procedure as above but click on
"Registration Form" instead). In both cases, you will be put into the
registration form, which now has a new sections covering the optional
fee-based items. The number of participants for these activities is
limited, so sign up as soon as possible to reserve your place.

Computer workshops are available for PCs and Macs. They include "Creating
One Step Search Tools" with its creator, Stephen Morse; "Getting Started
with Family Tree Maker" and "Beginners' Reunion" and "Getting the Most Out
of Reunion10" (Mac); workshops for Hungarian and Bessarabian (Moldova)
research, JewishGen, social media, and Jewish community history, to name a
few.

Breakfasts with the Experts include "Researching Your Roots" in Galicia,
Germany, Hungary, Israel, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine with the leading
experts in these fields. Another breakfast features "Understanding DNA
Testing and Results" with Bennett Greenspan. Genzyme will be offering a
special breakfast session on genetic diseases.

The Gala Banquet will feature entertainment by the internationally known
Zamir Chorale.

Throughout the week guided tours will be offered to local sites of Jewish
interest. On Sunday there will be a bus tour to the Touro Synagogue,
celebrating its 250th anniversary and a walking tour of old Jewish Newport
in Rhode Island. On Friday there will be a bus tour to the Yiddish Book
Center in Amherst where you'll find a million Yiddish books, permanent and
traveling exhibits, and art galleries.

On Monday there will be a walking tour of Boston's Old South End, home to
an early Jewish community between the 1840s and the 1920s. Also on Monday
will be a free tour for people who attend the showing of the film "Samuel
Bak: Painter of Questions" at the conference to the nearby Pucker Gallery
to see Bak's work. On Tuesday there will be a walking tour of Boston's
North End, where Boston's Eastern European Jewish immigrants lived over a
century ago. Here, too, are icons of American history, such as the Paul
Revere house. Wednesday will feature a walking tour of the West End, where
Jewish immigrants also lived. This also was the site of Boston's pre-Civil
War Underground Railroad and the free black community. The tour ends at
the Vilna Shul, one of the few surviving immigrant-era Jewish synagogues
in the country.

These optional activities complement the nearly 250 programs as well as
the outstanding evening entertainment included in the conference
registration fee.

For more details on the optional activities or to register, go to
www.iajgs2013.org.

Jay Sage
Florence Schumacher