Family Story Finder
The sweep of family history across the generations
Adventures in Israel—Walter and Joanne
Two of the Ruby offspring went back to Israel for significant periods.
Demise of the cultured Lewi family
Five siblings who stayed true to German ideals until the bitter end
Eilertsens by the lake
Ed was the rector at Saint Martin's By the Lake in Minnetonka Beach, Minn. The family was raised in towns around the lake region west of Minneapolis, including in the church rectory
Love conquers all as Gerhard marries Ilse
Two young Berliners make a modern marriage—with lasting consequences
Rabbi Spektor's true genealogy
Most of what we discovered about Rabbi Spektor's genealogy was entirely true. All but the myth of our family's connection to it
Stan at Brant Lake
Stan summered at a Jewish summer camp in the Adirondacks.
The Clerc jewelry aryanization files
The Clerc jewelry assets were seized and resold to an Aryan buyer. The Nazis kept perfect records of the transactions.
The Rubys in Israel—1961 sabbatical
Our family’s amazing year of discovery and connection
When Ed Eilertsen "crossed the bridge"
In a dramatic moment while crossing the Mississippi River, he broke with his parents' austere Lutheranism for a more ecumenical approach
Yichus and our relation to the famous rabbi
Walter thought he had proved the family legend of descent from the celebrated Kovno Rav, Rabbi Yitchak Elchanon Spektor. Later facts emerged that suggested a more tenuous connection.
Ze'ev and Penina Sharon of Kibbutz Afeq
A pioneer to Palestine in 1936, Ze’ev married Penina and they did their part to build the state of Israel as founders of Kibbutz Afek.