Jewish Genealogy Research

Did you know?

 * Columbus took Jews with him in hopes they could translate Oriental languages.
 * Jewish births are sometimes listed in local church records.
 * Emma Lazarus, daughter of Sephardic Jews, wrote the famous poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses..."
 * Jews are the oldest group with their national identity and cultural heritage intact.

Ethnic Divisions of Judiasm

 * Ashkenazi Communities of Jews that settled in Central and Eastern Europe. They speak a unique language called Yiddish, which is a mixture of Hebrew and German that originated in the 9th century.
 * Sepharadic Jews who descend from those who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and Portugal in 1496 and from Italy 1490 - 1510. Most of these Jews spoke a version of Spanish called Ladino and settled in the Ottoman Empire, Netherlands and the Holy Land.Sepherad means Spain in Ladino.
 * Romaniote Community with distinctive cultural features and who have lived in the territory of Greece, Italy and neighboring areas for more than 2,000 years. They trace their roots from the destruction of Jerusalem. Their languages were Yevanic, a Greek dialect, and modern Greek.
 * Mizrahi Jews descended from local Jewish communities of the Middle East. The term Mizrahi is most commonly used in Israel to refer to Jews who trace their roots back to Muslim-majority countries. Mizrahi and Sepharadic are often inter mingled.
 * Marrano Jews from Spain who converted or were forced to convert to Christianity, some of whom may have continued to practice Judaism in secret. Sometimes called Crypto-Jews
 * Crypto-Jews A term used to describe descendants of Jews who maintain some Jewish traditions of their ancestors while publicly adhering to other faiths.

Key Internet Links

 * International Assoc. of Jewish Genealogical Societies over 75 groups
 * Sephardim.com for Sephardic genealogy / Jewish genealogy research
 * Yad Vashem - Israeli Holocaust Museum and database
 * Holocaust Survivors and Victims Database The Benjamin and Vladka Meed Registry of Holocaust Survivors at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.
 * Synagogue Scribes London Ashkenazi Synagogue records database]
 * JewishGen databases and tools to help find family members]
 * The Knowles Collection - Contains the records of over 1,000,000 individuals in 6 different database with genealogical details and family connections.
 * Federation of East European Family History Societies fosters research]
 * American Jewish Historical Society books, photos, art and artifacts]
 * Cemetery Scribes recording tombstone inscriptions in the UK
 * Ancestry.com Jewish Family History Collection world's largest online]
 * Center for Jewish History databases, collections, guides, and event ]
 * Avotaynu Online Avotaynu Online intends to stimulate collaboration among genealogists and historians in all its forms, with a particular focus on Jewish genealogy. In-depth reports on events and discoveries.
 * Avotaynu Not the same as the website above. Avotaynu publishes books, newstetters and weekly emails for researches
 * The South African Jewish database. The primary aim of the project is to research the estimated 15,000 core families who migrated to Southern Africa between 1850-1950 from England, Germany, Lithuania, Latvia and Belarus.
 * National Library of Israel JPRESS. New titles on JPRESS This site contains a collection of Jewish newspapers published in various countries, languages, and time periods. Ongoing project.
 * Cyndi's List/Jewish


 * EllisIsland.org NY passenger lists of 20 million immigrants. See also:


 * Searching $ New York (all: 1820-1957) Passenger Lists in One Step
 * Searching $ Hamburg Outbound Passenger Lists in One Step


 * For more websites click here:

Helpful Guides

 * How to Start Your Family History Simple steps to begin your family history.
 * State Research Guides Individual guides to finding records and indexes in each U.S. state.
 * Research Outline Jewish Genealogy

Things you can do
In order to make this wiki a better research tool, we need your help! Many tasks need to be done. You can help by: