Israel Civil Registration

Online Collections
The Israeli Association for the Study of Family Roots

The Importance of Death Records
Death records can be extremely important because they are more recent. Your ancestor may have been born before birth and death records began being kept, but he still died after they began being kept. The death record may tell his birth date and place and his parents names and birth places. A death record might have all the information a birth record would have had.

Ottoman Empire Civil Registration

 * Registration of Births, Marriages, Divorces & Deaths in the 19th Century in Eretz Yisrael, by Shmuel Shamir

How To: Birth and Death Certificates in Israel
How To: Birth and Death Certificates in Israel By Garri Regev On October 16, 2014 Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA)

"Smaller communities may have some records but the official path for obtaining Birth or Death Certificates in Israel is through the Ministry of Interior. The process is not simple and there are specific requirements – and it may not be possible for everyone. You can now access all the information that it is necessary for you to have before beginning the process.....How to Request Official Documents from the Ministry of Interior of the State of Israel
 * "According to the privacy laws in Israel, many documents are closed to the general public for 70 years. In addition, only first degree relatives can receive the information. In some instances various offices extend this period up to 100 years.


 * Birth Certificates


 * Only the person himself or a first-degree relative [person himself, spouse, parents, children] can get a birth certificate. If otherwise, an explanation is required, possibly a legal document stating why one needs this information and feels he/she is entitled to it. The request requires the identification number of the person for which one is looking. The official procedure to follow is available in Hebrew. You can ask for a birth certificate in Hebrew or English or both. If the request is for someone born before 1955, it is important to include the place of residence of the parents at the time of the birth.


 * Birth certificates for the later Mandate period (1930’s & 1940’s) may be available through the Ministry of Interior. At a local level, some of the towns and settlements have ledgers where the births were recorded."


 * Official website of the Ministry of Interior dealing with birth certificates for those born in Israel.
 * Internet request for birth certificate
 * Right click on the screen and select "Translate to English".


 * Death Certificates


 * "Only first-degree relatives [person himself, spouse, parents, children] may request a death certificate. If otherwise, an explanation is required possibly a legal document stating why one needs this information and feels he/she is entitled to it. This request has to be handed in personally. The official website of the Ministry of Interior deals with death certificates for persons who died in Israel. The following information is required:


 * Identity number of the deceased
 * Details of the deceased as they were recorded at the time of death: given name, surname, father’s name, mother’s name, date of birth, Hebrew date of birth, status (married, single, widow, divorced), nationality, date of death, place of death
 * Do you request the cause of death
 * Request form filled out as required
 * If the request is for someone who died before 1955, it is important to include the place of residence of the deceased at the time of death.
 * If you do not have the required information or are not a first degree relative, you can apply to receive the last known address of the person which may yield the date of death."

Research Strategies
Effective use of church records includes the following strategies:


 * Search for the relative or ancestor. When you find his or her birth record, search for the births of brothers and sisters.
 * Next search for the parents' marriage date and place. The marriage record will often lead to the parents' birth records.
 * You can estimate the ages of the parents and determine a birth year to search for their birth records. If more than one possible candidate is found, search confirmation, marriage, and burial records to determine the correct individual. If available, census-type records or family books can be used as well.
 * Try to find the parents death/burial entries, since these records may give their age at death.
 * Use the above strategies for both the father and the mother.
 * If earlier generations are not in the record you are using, search neighboring parishes and other denominations.
 * Search the burial registers for all family members.