Introduction According to Arthur Kurzweil: “For the Jewish people, our royal families have been those of the illustrious rabbis.”[1] If that is true, then the Katzenellenbogen rabbinical lineage is foremost among these noble families. For centuries, Jewish men and women […]
Project to Identify and Document Holocaust Memorials & Museums in the Americas
As the child of Holocaust survivors, I have been keenly aware of this Jewish and human tragedy since I was of school-age. Now at the age of 52, I see the youngest of the survivors reach old age and die. […]
Personal Journeys: The Flayer and Razin Families of Shklov
Sitting on the passenger side of the coach, Reiza Flier swept her beady gray eyes over the family’s small home. At approximately 40 years old, this mother showed expressions of defiance and anticipation, even if she also felt sadness for […]
Announcing the Avotaynu DNA Project!
DNA testing is an unparalleled genealogical resource, yet 15 years after the inception of genetic genealogy many genealogists and family historians remain unclear about its use. As a result, DNA testing is underutilized and potential knowledge goes unrealized. To remedy […]
Genealogy for Students: Connecting the Jewish Future to Its Past
We in the genealogical community regularly experience the rush that comes with genealogical discovery. We know well the feeling of triumph at seeing a name or date we’ve been seeking for more than a decade. We know the borderline (or […]
Personal Journeys: A World War I Casualty
It was not a “dark and stormy night.” It was a bright and sunny mid-afternoon. 17 May 2015 was Celebrate Israel Day set up once again in Rancho Park, Los Angeles, as has been done for the past several years. […]
First Fruits of the ‘Reclaim the Records” Access Project Are Obtained!
As previously written about on Avotaynu Online (http://adam.learnpress.esy.es/2015/10/breaking-news-ny-municipal-archives-throws-in-the-towel-in-public-access-fight/) Brooke Schreier Ganz and Reclaim the Records were successful in their Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) case about obtaining the New York City indexes for 1908-1929 marriage licenses and affidavits. All but […]
Autosomal and Mitochondrial DNA Together Solve A Family Riddle
In November 2014, I happened across an Ancestry.com online tree featuring Sarah Pikholz, her husband Eisig Baar and twelve children. The tree had them in Czechoslovakia but I quickly found the first three births in Yahilnytsya (Jagielnica) in east Galicia, […]
Subscribe to IAJGS Records-Access Alert!
In February 2013, the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS), started a new announcement list, the IAJGS Records Access Alert. At that time it was decided to open the Alert only to subscribers that were members of IAJGS member […]
The Most Powerful Genealogical Research Tool of All: Jewish Genealogical Societies
I grew up in what I considered to be a large extended family in Toronto, my birthplace, and Montreal, my hometown. Understanding family relationships was simple, or so I thought. My maternal family was in Montreal and my paternal […]
Breaking News! NY Municipal Archives Throws In the Towel in Public Access Fight!
Reclaim the Records Won! Brooke Won! The Public won! Records Access won! In Early September I posted on Avotaynu Online about how one genealogist can make a difference-(see http://adam.learnpress.esy.es/2015/09/public-records-access-one-genealogist-can-make-a-difference/) when Brooke Schreier Ganz and Reclaim the Records filed a legal […]
Researchers band together to index records from Visokaye, Belarus
In the best tradition of Jewish genealogy, a number of the members of the Wysokie-Litewskie Internet mailing list have pooled their resources in a three-stage initiative to obtain genealogically relevant records from the town of Vysokaye (Visoko-Litovsk), Belarus. While the cost […]
Personal Journeys: Leopold Goldstein, Rabbi or Not?
Last July marked what is commonly recognized as the centennial of the start of the First World War. What parts, if any, did my family play during that war? From my research, the only person who seemingly played a noteworthy […]
Crypto-Jewish Conference Enjoys Record Attendance
Rave reviews continue to pour in from speakers and attendees of the 25th Anniversary Conference of the Society for Crypto-Judaic Studies (SCJS) held in Miami, Florida in July 2105. The Society was formed over 25 years ago to help facilitate […]
Public Records Access: One Genealogist Can Make A Difference!
This past Thursday, September 3, 2015, a legal petition was filed at the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York. Brooke Schreier Ganz and ReclaimTheRecords.org [Petitioner] vs. New York City Department of Records and Information […]
Jewish Genealogical Resources in France
Jews probably followed the Roman armies into France; evidence of their residence dates back more than a millenium. Many rue de la juiverie (street of the Jewish district) or rue des Juifs testify to their former presence as does a […]
Book Review — “Zagare: Litvaks and Lithuanians Confront the Past”, by Sara Manobla
The Lithuanian Link: Sara Manobla explores her family roots in the town of Zagare On July 13, 2012, veteran Israel Radio broadcaster Sara Manobla served as master of ceremonies at a memorial ceremony in the Lithuanian town of Zagare for the […]
The Jewish Surname Process in the Russian Empire and its Effect on Jewish Genealogy
Did you ever wonder why your autosomal DNA and Y-DNA genetic match lists contain so many unfamiliar surnames? Did you ever question where the myriad number of bewildering and unexpected surnames, even among your close genetic matches, comes from? If […]
Announcing the “Dictionary of Sephardic Given Names”, by Mathilde Tagger
Mathilde Tagger’s legacy to Jewish genealogy continued even after her death last December. At that time, she and Avotaynu were working on her next (and eighth!) book: Dictionary of Sephardic Given Names. Fortunately she made final corrections before her death, and […]
Utilizing Belgian Archives For Jewish Genealogical Research
Belgium possesses several unique sets of records with valuable information for genealogists. Tens of thousands of Jews from Central and Eastern Europe moved to and through Belgium starting at the end of the 19th century and continuing up to World […]
Personal Journeys: The Shkarovsky Family of Pohrebyshche, Ulraine
Researching a Rare Family Name Shared by Levites and Israelites Shkarovsky is an uncommon Jewish surname. This can be a blessing, as the focus of research is limited; or a curse, as there is limited material with which to work. […]
Let’s Put All Our Eggs in One Basket
At an ever-increasing pace, creators of genealogically useful databases are posting them on the Internet—and scattering them in a variety of different locations. Some may be found on the website of a Jewish genealogical society; others are on JewishGen; still […]
Personal Journeys: A Leaf in the Genealogy Tree, by Madeleine Isenberg
I’ve been working on my family tree for about 20 years now and helping others find their roots, branches, or leaves in theirs somewhat less than that. My work, while it is something of a hobby, is quite intense. Now […]
Personal Journeys: A Trove of Family Letters Yields a Novel, by Julie Freestone
I was four years old when my mother, Mathilda Gruber Conan, and my sister Laura and I joined my father Abraham Conan (née Makovietzki), in Germany where he was working as part of the Allied High Command Occupation Forces. He […]
Personal Journeys: Searching for Stones, by Madeleine Isenberg
No matter how much you ask people for their help, there are times you just have to do it all yourself. Take my quest which became a hunt for stones, to find more about a distant relative whose name was […]
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