Taya Oberbaum, 13, recently discovered that her mother's aunt, author and Israel Prize recipient Amalia Cahana-Carmon, was a descendent of the Ba'al Shem Tov, the founder of Hassidism. She also found out that another hassidic leader, the Rebbe of Kotzk, is an ancestor of her father, Dr. Menahem Oberbaum.
Zur Chen, a software development expert, created Digital Roots.
"When I did my roots project, I discovered many facts that I was unaware of, starting with the names of my great-grandparents," says Oberbaum.
Seventh graders throughout Israel, usually of bar-mitzva or bat-mitzva age, work on a roots project for a few months during the school year. They conduct research under the guidance of teachers in order to connect to their past.
Thus, during their milestone year, they encounter the various circles to which they belong: family, community and the Jewish people. They present a project complete with text, photos and family trees about their family's history, going back for as many generations as they can glean information.
Sometimes facts are added about the country of origin or unique community customs. Parents often get involved by providing information, referring to sources and helping with the technicalities of production.
Oberbaum of the Kelman high school in Ramat Hasharon will be one of 28 finalists in the first Digital Roots Contest in memory of Ilan Ramon. It will be held in Tel Aviv on June 15, in the presence of Ramon's widow, Rona.
Branching out. Students present a project complete with text, photos and family trees about their family's history, going back as many generations as they can glean information.
Ilan Ramon, Israel's first astronaut, whose 2003 Columbia mission ended in tragedy for him and his six crewmates, took artifacts to space linking him to his past as a Jew and Israeli, including a miniature Torah scroll from the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp. He became a symbol of the Israeli drawing strength for the present and future by connecting to the past.
This contest parallels the annual competition held by the Diaspora Museum - the difference being presentation. All the projects are presented in digitalized form and written via the Internet using the Digital Roots program.
The Internet brings together people from all parts of the globe, especially youth and young adults.
"At one time, families lived near each other. Today, they live all over the world. Today's children are disconnected from their past. If it weren't for the Internet, staying connected would be very different," says Zur Chen, 32, a software development expert who created Digital Roots.
Chen is the founder of the Mishpuhe sites with services for the family including online family documentation with albums, family milestones, recipe books and more. Digital Roots (www.myshorashim.com), an offshoot of Mishpuhe, was created after teachers and students created digitalized family research projects and family trees through Mishpuhe.
Throughout the country, some 40 schools with 3,500 students participate in Digital Roots. Entire seventh-grade classes subscribe to the program for one school term. The Jerusalem municipality has so far enrolled some 1,000 subscribers. In addition to the Hebrew, English and French versions, the program's Arabic version is used by Arab students in Jerusalem, Ramle and Lod.
Each student receives a user account with utility tools to create an autobiographical project. The program can generate family trees, an information center, photo/video albums, recipes and an events calendar. The site also includes links to sources and articles about genealogy.
Students have access to the 100 terms developed by the Education Ministry to implement the Shenhar and Kremnitzer reports on education toward Jewish, Zionist and democratic values.
For example, if the youth refers in the project to his bar-mitzva celebration, a link explains the meaning of bar-mitzva. A special service from myshorashim.com sends a daily term to registered users, with links to other sites for more information on the term.
The program, authorized by the Education Ministry and the Karev program for educational involvement, enables the teacher to keep track of students' progress at any stage, whether in school or at home. Teachers and principals receive a monthly report about sections that are missing. Chen is developing a "smart agent" that will send weekly reminders about missing sections and the student's work. The student receives support via the Internet for the entire year.
"Today's education emphasizes the importance of how to find information. Through Digital Roots, students learn to use databases and utilize search engines on a high level," says Chen. "The teacher's role is still necessary to teach writing skills and provide guidance on how to present the project in a personal way."
Oberbaum interviewed relatives, conducted research via the Internet and went to the Diaspora Museum to find out about the surnames, discovering that Oberbaum is a unique name.
Although she is the fourth child in her family, she did not use material from her siblings' projects as some students are tempted to do.
"She was very thorough and took it upon herself to conduct all the research and writing," says Oberbaum's mother, Yael. "I assisted her with technical aspects like finding photographs and driving her places. She discovered information that was new to me. Some was painful, like about my husband's relatives who perished in the Holocaust," she says.
Yael Oberbaum appreciates the fact that Digital Roots helped Maya through the various stages of the project, while the teacher was able to follow up on her daughter's progress.
"Digital Roots offers guidance questions," notes the seventh grader. "It made it easier for me to organize the material according to topics. I focused more on the content and not on the technical aspect of organizing the material. The program helped create the final presentation."
Digital Roots is user-friendly with a virtual guide explaining how to use all software utilities and produce a presentation or export the project to MS-Word. Many students have a digital camera or scanner for photographs. Some use multimedia by including videos, links or opening up other screens.
