Orange County Genealogical Society 1841 Historic Courthouse, 101 Main Street Goshen, NY 10924 Sunday, June 1, 2003 2:00 PM How To Read A Hebrew Tombstone Anywhere In The World ~ Tombstone Translation Topics ~ Or The Matzevah Matters What information of genealogical value might a visit to a family gravestone provide? How can you properly decipher and decode what the Hebrew letters and words recite ~ even if you aren't as Hebrew literate as you might like to be? To help you read your family gravestones almost anywhere in the world ~ from the Americas to Zimbabwe ~ this presentation will focus on:   ·    Usual Format of the Hebrew Section of a Jewish Gravestone ·    Whether a "Resh" indicates your Great-Grandfather was a Rabbi, or the Difference between Reb and Rav ·    Common and Uncommon Words and Phrases Used  ·    Hebrew Acronyms and Abbreviations (Roshei Tevot) as a shorthand for Words, Phrases, Significant Dates ·    Hebrew Dates and Dating Practices (Days, Months, Years, Centuries, Special Days) ·    Whether You Have to Translate Everything ·    Symbols and Motifs Found on Gravestones ·    Designing a Genealogically Useful Tombstone Inscription     Presented by: Judith Shulamith Langer-Surnamer Caplan See the back of this flyer for information about our speaker For this month only, our regular monthly meeting will be held on a Sunday, June 1, 2003 Meeting at 1:00 PM Program at 2:00 PM. Program will be approx. 1 ½ hours followed by a question and answer period. The meeting and program are free and open to the public. If you have any questions please contact Marilyn Terry at (845) 562-2749 or via email at mvtgrterry@aol.com include OCGS in the subject heading. Judith Shulamith Langer-Surnamer Caplan, the daughter of a rabbi and a rebbetzin, earned a BA in English from Brooklyn College, a Masters in Mass Communications from Syracuse University, and also studied at the Seminary College of the Jewish Theological Seminary. She taught English in the New York City High School System for 20 years, and is a published poet and short story writer.  Three articles on her genealogy research, especially her Sur(i)namer family which goes back to circa 1650, have appeared in Avotaynu, and an article she wrote on genealogical research, entitled "Linking the Generations," appeared in The Jewish Star in Oct. 2002. Two databases she created, "Deportation of Bialystok Children from Theresienstadt to Auschwitz" {http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/0025_BialystokChildren5Oct1943.htm} and The Rabbi Samuel Langer Database {http://www.jewishgen.org/databases/SamuelLanger.htm} are searchable via the web.     Judi serves as Chair of the LitvakSIG Publications Committee and is the Editor of the LitvakSIG Online Journal <http://www.jewishgen.org/litvak/journal.html>.     Judi and her husband Neil, who have two grown sons, are now the proud grandparents of Esther Malka Caplan, who was named for her 8th great-grandmother, and they are eagerly looking forward to March 2003 and the anticipated birth of twin grandchildren.     Judi <Judith27@aol.com> is also the founder of a professional genealogical research and cemetery visitation service in the New York City - Long Island area known as Up, Roots!