Gesher Galicia Today

The Mamales in Conversation with Steven Turner

This podcast focuses on Jodi, Maya and Raquel, 3 performers from the Joel Grey directed production of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish who after the run of the show formed a singing group The Mamales.   They performed at the Gesher Galicia NY event in December, 2025 and due to popular demand, Gesher Galicia is producing a virtual concert by The Mamales on 4/26/26. Hear the story of how they formed their group and how singing in Yiddish became so important to them. A clip of them singing, "The Sabbath Prayer" from Fiddler on the Roof is played during the podcast.   Buy tickets for the 4/26/26 virtual concert here [https://furshmedia.stellartickets.com/events/gesher-galicia/occurrences/11f62aff-ffb4-4e56-b6d7-74a9b7fea34f]. Dr. Turner was in error when he said the livestream will start at 12 PM EDT. It will actually start at 1 PM EDT. Gesher Galicia members write to membership@geshergalicia.org [membership@geshergalicia.org] to get the promo code for discounted tickets. Watch their concept video Abi Gezunt here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6dYOmkFYQs]. The video of the Fiddler in Yiddish Cast performing at the 2019 Easter Bonnet Benefit can be seen here [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfHpL4EwocY].

Renia's Diary with Elizabeth and Alexandra Bellak

Renia Spiegel was born in 1924 to Jewish family living in southeastern Poland in the former land of Galicia.. At the start of 1939 Renia began a diary. “I just want a friend. I want somebody to talk to about my everyday worries and joys. Somebody who would feel what I feel, who would believe me, who would never reveal my secrets - a diary.” And so begins an extraordinary document of an adolescent girl’s hopes and dreams. By the fall of 1939, Renia and her younger sister Elizabeth (née Ariana) were staying with their grandparents in Przemysl, a city in the south, just as the German and Soviet armies invaded Poland. Cut off from their mother, who was in Warsaw, Renia and her family were plunged into war and the grips of the Holocaust. Renia’s sister Elizabeth Bellak, and her daughter, Alexandra join Gesher Galicia President, Steven Turner in a conversation about the diary. Please submit any questions or comments to info@geshergalicia.org. [info@geshergalicia.org]

Bennett Greenspan, Founder of Family Tree DNA with Steven Turner

Entrepreneur and life-long genealogy enthusiast Bennett Greenspan founded Family Tree DNA in 2000. Family Tree DNA [https://www.familytreedna.com/] was the first company in the world to develop DNA testing for ancestry and genealogical purposes into a commercial business. The Y chromosome test, the company's original product, started the Direct To Consumer genetics testing revolution. Mr. Greenspan’s business and entrepreneur experience spans photo-imaging and commercial real estate.   Conversation spans the beginning of the very first commercially available DNA test to the future of genetic genealogy. Please give it a listen.

Nolan Altman, JewishGen's Holocaust Coordinator on Holocaust Research

Nolan Altman was bitten by the “genealogy bug” when he was inspired to write his family history in 1996 in memory of his mother. After making use of the valuable information on JewishGen [https://www.jewishgen.org/], he volunteered to do data entry on various projects. In time, he was asked to become the Coordinator for JewishGen’s Holocaust Database and subsequently the Coordinator for the JOWBR (JewishGen’s Online Worldwide Burial Registry) project. Nolan  currently holds the position of JewishGen’s Director for Data Acquisition and focuses on growing the JOWBR  [https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/cemetery/], Holocaust  [https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/]and Memorial Plaques [https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Memorial/] databases. In 2021, Nolan was recognized by the IAJGS with their Lifetime Achievement Award. In addition, the organization’s volunteer award was renamed in his honor, the Nolan Altman IAJGS Volunteer of the Year Award. He is in conversation with Steven S. Turner, President of Gesher Galicia. A handout for the podcast can be found here [https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PdytPYk3iMn9fvn-8_IoTsAkH26tb3qPv_wsyy2s_cM/edit?usp=sharing]: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1PdytPYk3iMn9fvn-8_IoTsAkH26tb3qPv_wsyy2s_cM/edit?usp=sharing

Arthur Kurzweil with Steven Turner

We are very excited to present to the community this most interesting conversation between the noted author, educator, editor, publisher and award winning genealogist, Arthur Kurzweil with Gesher Galicia [https://geshergalicia.us20.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fbb5b2ee42522d6ba8f00a53f&id=69b8db8789&e=3fff55e77f] President, Steven Turner. Those of you who were able to attend the gala at the IAJGS in Philadelphia know what a privilege it is to listen to Arthur Kurzweil. We discuss Arthur’s new book, The Persistence of Memory which can be purchased here [https://www.benyehudapress.com/books/the-persistence-of-memory/?srsltid=AfmBOoqI-kE1q982uEthrmmUcH6DsHkYlM9RoBiynPmReiUMJApJLJpn]. Arthur Kurzweil grew up hearing his father's tales of Dobromyl, the small town-a shtetl - in what is now Ukraine, which his father had left behind as a child when his family emigrated to New York in the 1920s. As a young man in the 1970s, Arthur obsessively sought to rediscover this lost world, researching in the New York Public Library and tracking down the shtetl's surviving emigrants. This research led him to write his best-selling book, From Generation to Generation: How to Trace Your Jewish Genealogy and Family History, but his obsession with Dobromyl didn't abate. We hope you give this podcast a listen and look forward to hearing your questions and comments at info@geshergalicia.org [info@geshergalicia.org]. In The Persistence of Memory, Arthur brings us along on his quest to find his father's ancestral home in Dobromyl - a quest that covers physical and spiritual ground. Join him on a frustrating trip to Soviet-held Ukraine in the 1970s to multiple return trips to a free Ukraine in the 21st century, in a quest that brings him to the height of elation and to the depths of despair.