I would like to try to clarify how my exploration of family roots relates to my Jewish identity.

Before the massive emigration of Jews from Europe in the latter half of the 19th and first quarter of the 20th centuries, Jews identified themselves not only as Jews, but as Jews from a particular location. Of course, there were Ashkenazi Jews, those who lived in Europe, and Sephardi Jews, those who lived in the Middle East and North Africa, whose ancestors came from the Spanish exile of 1492. But within these categories, there were myriads of distinctions. A Jewish historian could divide the Ashkenazi Jews into many subcategories, such as Galician, Lithuanian (Litvaks), Polish, German, etc. Even within these categories, Jews identified themselves as hailing from particular geographic settings.

Once Jews began immigrating to the west and Palestine, however, these distinctions diminished in importance. Jews married other Jews, but geographic origins played little role in these unions. In Israel today, the distinction between Ashkenazi and Sephardi is losing its edge as marriage between these groups becomes a regular occurrence. In America today, the distinction, once so sharp, between Eastern European and German Jews has lost its meaning. Indeed, our geographic origins plays an insignificant role in Jewish life today compared to issues of religious affiliation and ethnic continuity.

And so my Jewish identity is defined mostly by my modern Orthodox outlook and synagogue affiliation, my commitment to Torah learning and dedication to ethnic and historical continuity. These are the values that I have tried to pass on to my two children (to what success remains to be seen). The fact that my maternal grandfather and paternal grandmother came from eastern Poland, as well as generations before them, are, in terms of future descendants, little more than a historical footnote.

And yet, Zambrow still matters to me. It doesn’t much, if at all, to my other family members. It is a mystery that calls to me. I am not really sure why. But through this journey, I hope to find out.