A Jewish Genealogy Primer

Today, Jewish genealogy is more popular than ever thanks to a plethora of online genealogy resources available to Jews anywhere in the world. In the first of a multi-part interview, Shalom Life speaks to Schelly Talalay Dardashti, noted Jewish genealogist, journalist and award-winning blogger (tracingthetribe.blogspot.com), about the fascinating world of Jewish genealogy.

How is Jewish genealogy today different than in the old days?

Jewish genealogy really took off when the Internet became widely accessible. This made it possible for the global Jewish genealogy community to communicate quickly, collaborate and share information. Groups of people around the world decide to share specific information and resources to help themselves as well as others (who may not yet know they need that particular information about a geographical location, name or other topic). Those with diverse skills –languages, access to local resources, research materials— join together to help everyone. This is seen every day as individuals create websites for their ancestral town of origin, create surname websites, help fund transcription and transliteration of records and place them into searchable databases. This large international community is driven by dedicated volunteers.

What are some of the major trends occurring right now?

The increasing proliferation of Sephardic genealogy resources (websites, books, journals, articles, DNA projects) is a recent trend. Within this field is an unusual focus on Ashkenazi Jews who are now investigating their family oral history of Sephardic origin. There are more of us out there than most people realize many hear that story but refuse to believe it. Technology - DNA genetic genealogy - however, has given us the tools to learn more. Thus the importance of our IberianAshkenazi DNA Project at FamilyTreeDNA.com, co-admin’d by myself and Judy Simon of New York. We grew up hearing these stories and we knew there were many more of us. So far, we have genetically matched ostensible Ashkenazi Jews with those who today are Sephardic, Converso, Bnai Anusim and Latino/Hispanic (who may or may not know about their family’s Jewish origins). Another major source is Dr. Jeff Malka’s SephardicGen.com www.sephardicgen.com with extensive resources for many countries, including indexes and searchable databases.

Ashkenazi Jews are the overwhelming majority in North America, so it is understandable why the preponderance of resources are oriented towards Eastern Europe. The trend here is increasing interest by groups of descendants of a certain place in funding Jewish cemetery restoration and preservation indexing names and photographs of the stones and enabling online searches for this information.

The best place to learn what’s new in Jewish genealogy is to attend the annual International Jewish genealogy conference. This year’s 30th edition will be held in Los Angeles from July 11-16, hosted by the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles (www.jgsla2010.com). It’s the one place that so many researchers – from beginners to advanced, archivists and experts – gather to network. Some 130 speakers will present more than 250 programs over the six-day event.

What about online resources?

The website that started it all by providing a home for Jewish genealogy on the Internet is JewishGen.org www.jewishgen.org. It should always be a first-stop for newcomers to the field and is free. It provides extensive databases, links for additional research, and many infofiles on diverse topics.

For-fee subscription sites include the essential Ancestry.com. Other sites also place document images, photographs and other elements online, such as Footnote.com, with its general collections as well as a Holocaust collection. Historic newspapers are a fascinating source of information, and can be found at NewspaperArchive.com, GenealogyBank.com and others.

Many subscription sites are available free of charge at North American public libraries, so check that out.

We could do a listing of online resources and links filling several pages for all sorts of specialized research. Many sites offer resource and link sections. Another easy way to learn what’s new and how to access it is to read genealogy blogs, currently there are some 1,000 on many topics. Only a very few, however, are Jewish-focused, such as my blog, Tracing the Tribe: The Jewish Genealogy Blog, which is ranked 10th in the top 25 genealogy blogs (of all topics) by ProGenealogists.com, and also ranked as one of only three “Best for Jewish Researchers” resources by Family Tree Magazine.

Genealogy blogging (“geneablogs”) has added to the mix by providing niche sites for a virtual cornucopia of diverse interests. There are blogs focused on Polish, German, British, Italian research - name a topic and someone writes on it. There are blogs for Jewish languages (Yiddish, Ladino), Jewish history (Italian, Sephardic, etc.), geography and much more.

How has technology changed Jewish genealogical research?

Technology makes resources accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, while social networking assists in other ways.

Facebook is proving an interesting source for people to contact newfound family members. Twitter is helping to announce projects, events and resources, while social networking sites with a genealogical interest, such as MyHeritage.com, help to connect families around the world in some 35 languages.

One serious technology issue today is privacy. People who post family trees online should be investigating the privacy controls of their chosen site and how others could use that information. While some companies have less than optimal privacy controls and individuals can “hijack” trees they did not create, other companies, such as MyHeritage.com, provide excellent privacy controls and security. MyHeritage has some 13 million family trees, 47 million members and 530 million profiles and provides many tools, features and advanced technology for family historians and genealogists.

Technology is also drawing younger people into genealogy. This is important, because new blood is essential if the genealogy community will continue to grow.

Has genealogy gone completely paperless?

No! More books are being published every year on various aspects of Jewish genealogy as well as general genealogy. And there is research that must still be done in person at archives and libraries. Not everything is online ... yet! Old-fashioned genealogy - and those important skills - is still necessary for a variety of reasons.

How have the political changes in Eastern Europe in the past decade or two changed how you can research your Jewish lineage?

Political changes in Eastern Europe have meant the opening up of closed archives, and organizing of projects to reveal the information long kept secret. Some archives are more cooperative than others. But these political changes have really increased availability of information to researchers.

Let’s talk about some myths of Jewish genealogy.

Were our names changed at Ellis Island?

Never happened, no documented case ever took place. Clerks at Ellis Island simply checked off names on the list prepared before embarkation or onboard. If I only had a penny for each time I've heard this from people who should know better! However, nothing stopped the immigrant from changing his or her given name or surname - to something easier to spell or pronounce - the minute they were cleared by immigration officials.

Many people think that there are no records left of their European ancestry because of the Holocaust.

Not true. We hear about new record discoveries all the time. People were killed, but many papers and records survived.

Do ancestral towns still exist? Some people say that these shtetls and villages are all gone.

Yes, they still exist. The town is likely still there, the Jewish cemetery or remnants of it may still be extant, records may still exist in local town halls or were transferred to the next larger administrative town's archives.

These days with all the online resources, can you do all the research from the comfort of your home?

No, although more resources are found online every day. In addition to Internet resources – not everything can be done sitting at home in your pyjamas and pretty pink bunny slippers – there are some 75 global Jewish genealogy societies providing programming, reference libraries and helpful experts to set newcomers on the right road to discovery.

Any advice about how to sift through all the information you may uncover once your genealogy journey begins?

It’s most important to work backwards, from what you know to what you don't know. Gather family documents and photos. Always interview senior relatives first. Never forget to write down every single family story – no matter how silly it might seem. There is always a kernel of truth, and it is up to family historians and genealogists to find that truth. Record it for posterity. If you can't find the answer, perhaps one of your descendants will have better tools – like a time machine! – to track down the truth.

Look for part two of our interview in the coming weeks.