I want to give you something to discuss. During Hanukkah I went to Tucson for a purpose, namely, to present an award to two men who are doing some important and exciting work that offers a real and unique value to humanity in general and to the Jewish people in particular. They are scientists. Their field is genetics, specifically DNA. They can trace the human race back to one original mother and father somewhere in Africa — Adam and Eve, if you will. One of them proved that a certain woman was not who she claimed to be — Anastasia, daughter of the last Czar of Russia. The other was one of those who isolated the genome that identifies Kohanim, the descendants of Aaron the first High Priest, Moses’ brother. Now working together they launched the DNA Shoah project, with the purpose of reuniting families that were torn apart by the Holocaust. They seek DNA samples from survivors and children of survivors so they can build a data base, essential to matching any of us with long lost kin. Visit their website, www.dnashoah.org and learn more about this wonderful program. We were proud to be able to present its authors Syd Mandelbaum and Dr. Michael Hammer with the 2009 Cohon Award, named for my parents of blessed memory, Rabbi Samuel S. Cohon and A. Irma Cohon. And thereby hangs another website, www.cohonaward.com Another chance to join in making these awards that encourage valuable work in many fields.
I hope to hear from some of you that you used this opportunity to locate members of your own family!