Myra working on the ESRAmagazine Website

As visitors to the ESRAmagazine website know, every article on the site allows the reader the opportunity to comment on the article and to send the comment for approval to the webmaster. In my capacity as the webmaster, one of the most interesting and pleasant duties that I have is to handle these comments. Often they are simply congratulations on an article well-written, but many times they will include some interesting connection that the reader has found with the writer of the article or the contents, and I find that I am constantly being asked to put people in touch with long-lost friends, relatives or acquaintances. In fact, the website is a networking opportunity that spans continents, years and people in so many different walks of life.

A good example of this is the story of a woman living in the UK who was an au pair to a family who moved to Israel in 1973. When she found their name on the ESRAmagazine website, she asked to be connected with them. The outcome was that after so many years, they set up a wonderful Skype get-together between her and the family.

And there is the story of a woman who read Anton Felton's article about a Persian carpet gifted to a Jewish doctor in Iran, and recognized it as being the carpet that was owned by her great-great-grandfather. Subsequently, Anton helped her son research the history of the carpet and the family. His research won first prize and was published by Beit Hatfustsot.

Then there are the multiple stories from kibbutz volunteers replying to an article about the kibbutz volunteer project in the 1960's and 1970's. So many people from across the globe, both Jewish and non-Jewish, came to Israel as volunteers after the Six Day war, and the common theme of all the comments sent in was what an amazing experience they had, and how much their time in Israel had changed their lives. They too were looking for connections with people they knew from their time in Israel, and I was able to put them in touch with an organization that would help them make the connections.

Finally, there is the fascinating article by Carl Hoffman relating to the history of Ireland's so-called "Black Irish" who are suspected of being originally Jews. They escaped from Spain during the Inquisition and are called Black Irish because of their dark hair and eyes. So many Irish people living all over the world have found this article online and sent us messages admitting that they suspect that they too might be descended from those Jews. Here again I was able to put these people in touch with an organization that has information about the Anusim throughout the world.

There are many more examples - too many to list here - but together they show how our ESRAmagazine website reaches both local and international readers who are interested in reading about Jewish affairs or life in Israel, and so they appreciate the opportunity to connect with the people and places that are written about in our magazine.