TORONTO — Several hundred people – to the eighth generation of Ruchel and Isaac Wagman – will gather in Toronto July 3 to 6, for the seventh family reunion.

The family holds a reunion every four years in a different city.

“The first international reunion of the family was held 24 years
ago” said David Picov, co-chair with Shari Bricks-Young of the Wagman
family’s reunion. (Both are seen at left). The two other planning members are Michelle Garshon
and Debbie Zeger. All four are fifth generation.

The last reunion, held in Chicago, attracted more than 400 people. The 2008 reunion will be at the Sheraton Centre Hotel on Queen Street West. Family members from across Canada and the United States, and from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, will be in coming.

Picov said the reunion is an opportunity for cousins to make friends for life, “and that’s what it’s all about.”

Bricks-Young described the reunions as “a unique event. Imagine the awe and the wow when more than 300 people gather in one room at one time and they are all your cousins.”

Ruchel and Isaac Wagman (Wegman) were born in Bogoria, Poland, a shtetl 150 kilometres south of Warsaw. They married in 1861 and operated a bakery and general store.

After the Kishinev pogrom in 1895 and the institution of repressive measures by the Russian government of the time, the Wagman children and their families began  immigrating to North America, and when they were established, they brought other family members.

Picov told The CJN that there will be three members of the third generation at the reunion. “The youngest relative is David Perkins… from Rosewell, Ga., who is three months old, and the oldest is Nettie Berkson from Los Angeles, who is 93.

“We will be marking the 150th wedding anniversary of Ruchel and Isaac with a candlelighting ceremony in which representatives from each of the eight branches, as well as one for those who perished in the Holocaust, will come up to light a candle,” Picov said.

He added that, as at previous reunions, “we will have a special guest appearance from Ruchel and Isaac themselves, who will join us and kvell over all of their descendents.”

The weekend will begin on Thursday with activities planned throughout the day, including a barbecue dinner and karaoke. There will be a family day at Centre Island, a Shabbat dinner and a formal Saturday gala dinner and dance. Also on the roster is a slide show, special entertainment for all ages, a golf tournament, a panoramic family photo, a family tree book and a closing Sunday brunch.

“When people talk about a family reunion,” Bricks-Young said, “they speak of a gathering at a park with a potluck lunch, or meeting at Uncle Marv’s house where he supplies the hot dogs and you bring your own beverages.

“At the Ruchel-Isaac cousins’ club, there is so much more – a true convention of family with non-stop programming geared to all generations.

“Over the years, distant cousins have become close family and friends. The glow and the memories remain with us throughout the years,” she concluded.