Hal Bookbinder’s areas of interest include Jewish history, finding living relatives, European border changes, immigration, immigrant travel, citizenship and safe computing.

He is a former IAJGS president and currently serves on the JewishGen Board of Governors. In 2010 he was honored with the IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award. Hal served as lead co-chair of the 2014 IAJGS Conference and has spoken extensively on various genealogical topics at a variety of international conferences and society meetings.

Hal has identified over 4,000 relatives, tracing two lines into the 1700s in modern Ukraine and adjacent areas. Professionally, Hal is an IT director and college professor.

“Why Did Our Ancestors Leave a Nice Place Like The Pale?” (Sun-120), 4:30-5:45 P.M.

In 1880 fully 80% of our Jewish ancestors lived in Poland and the Pale of Jewish Settlement in western Russia. We all know of the pogroms (organized violence) and mass exodus of our ancestors to points west over the next generation. This talk will provide background about the 120 years of the Pale from its formation in the late 18th century to its dissolution during the First World War.

The speaker breaks the life of the Pale into six distinct periods which he designates as “Creation”, “Containment”, “Repression”, “Enlightenment”, “Pogroms” and “Chaos”. The talk will provide some context to our ancestors’ lives in the Pale and their decisions to leave everything they had known to make new lives in the West.

Topics: Immigration and migration over the ages, Jewish history and culture, Specific countries or geographic areas

“U.S. Immigration and Naturalization” (Tues-117), 3:00-4:15 P.M.

One of the first things that the newly created United States of America did was to establish laws covering naturalization. These laws were administered by the states with many variations. Over the years, the laws were changed. In 1906 the Federal Government took control of the entire process. The standardized documentation after 1906 has proven invaluable to genealogical researchers. Similarly, laws controlling immigration have also changed over time with the Federal Government taking control in 1890.

The speaker’s maternal grandmother was born in St. Louis, Missouri and so was an American citizen by birth. In 1917 she married a man who was brought to the U.S. as a toddler. Upon marriage she lost her American citizenship and was not to be an American again until naturalized in 1936.

This lecture will provide a short history of immigration and naturalization laws and provide general guidance in finding your ancestor’s documentation.

Topics: Immigration and migration over the ages 

“Ships of Our Ancestors” (Fri-109), 10:00-11:15 A.M.

During the active years of Ellis Island, 83,000 ship arrivals were recorded. Between1880 and 1914 about two million Jewish immigrants arrived from Europe, with most passing through Ellis Island. Until the age of flight, immigrants arrived by sea, first on sailing ships and after the middle of the 19th Century, on steamships.

This presentation focuses on the ships on which our ancestors traveled, discussing the shift from sail to steam and the governmental regulations which made ship travel safer and more civilized. It will address the experience of our ancestors in getting to the port of embarkation, being processed for passage, life aboard the vessel, on Ellis Island and in getting to their final destination. It will also address various erroneous myths such as the inhuman conditions in steerage and name changes on Ellis Island.

Topics: Immigration and migration over the ages