As a part of my genealogical studies in Boston university I sworn to adhere to the following practices of reliability:

The number one priority for every genealogical researcher is to obtain, organize and resurface family history in the most accurate way possible.

To achieve this goal, professional genealogical researchers are following five main guidelines which helps both as a quality standard and as a tool for new genealogical researchers.

The guideline is called Genealogical Proof Standard (or GPS in short) and it has five elements:

- A thorough and mindful research that exhausts all information sources

- Full list of up to date source citations of every piece of information we use.

- Analysis  and correlation of the obtained information.

- Any conflict should be solved or have a plausible exp...

The Genealogy research is dealing with places, people, property, relations, science, money, culture, ethics …and human emotions. In all the variables mentioned above emotions are involved. All kind of emotions:  tension, hope, curiosity, disappointment, fear, shame, greediness, sorrow and joy.

When you sign a contract with a client to do a genealogy research your ethics and standards,  you take upon yourself an obligation to act according to the principles of the GPS to do the best job you can, but you cannot promise success, joy, money etc. You cannot predict the client reactions.

Sometimes even the client himself is surprise himself with the emotions it erase.

One of the reasons to surprises is that the client comes to the research aside with overt expectations, also inv...

R.K. was born in a kibbutz in the Jordan Valley about a year before the establishment of the State of Israel. She never knew her father, who was killed in battle defending the Jordan Valley. Therefore, she heard and knew very little about him, perhaps because her mother remarried.

In the initial interview she said that he was born in Leipzig, Germany. She also knew the names and dates of her grandparents. She also knew the details that were written on an Israel Defense Forces memorial. She had a picture of her father that was taken close to the date of his death. Every year she would visit his grave in the cemetery in Kibbutz Degania. She also said that before his immigration to the Land of Israel he had undergone training to prepare himself for immigration at a kibbutz in Europe, thus...