Clay in My Boots: A Romp Through My Genealogical Past

I wanted to let you know that the piece I wrote won two journalism awards this past season — I can't thank you enough for providing your expertise and time last summer to make this story possible. Zoe Bell The Washington Jewish Week story featuring you won two separate second-place journalism awards: Simon Rockower Award Awarded by the American Jewish Press Association Second Place — Excellence in Writing about Jewish Heritage and Jewish Peoplehood in Europe Presented June 4, 2026, at the AJPA conference in New York The competition received more than 1,050 entries for work published during 2025. Washington Jewish Week announcement MDDC Press Association Award Awarded by the regional press association serving Maryland, Delaware and Washington, D.C. Second Place — Religion Reporting Washington Jewish Week competed in Division E Official MDDC award listing The award-winning article was Zoe Bell’s July 30, 2025 story, “A Surge in Ukrainian Ancestral Records Means Finding Long-Lo...

This image was created from authentic family photographs using AI-assisted restoration and composition techniques. Every effort was made to preserve the unique facial features and identity of each family member while imagining them together in a single portrait. Five Generations. One Family. One of the greatest rewards of genealogy is discovering that our ancestors live on—not only through documents, photographs, and DNA, but also in the faces we see every day. This portrait brings together five generations of my direct paternal line : Aaron — my son Michael — me S. Sidney (“Sid”) — my father Mike — my grandfather Yashua — my great-grandfather These five men never had the opportunity to stand together for a family portrait. Their lives span more than a century, yet through modern AI and carefully selected family photographs, I was able to create a realistic studio portrait imagining...