Exploring Jewish Genealogy

Want to explore your Jewish roots? Then, there is no better time than May to identify Jewish heritage resources! To start, the library has quite a few Jewish genealogy books that can be helpful for beginning and continuing your research. These print resources are just a smattering of all that is available. You will also want to explore the many online resources that are available for free, particularly JewishGen.

JewishGen is “The Global Home for Jewish Genealogy.” This amazing resource is made possible through The Genealogical Research Division of the Museum of Jewish Heritage. On this website, you can, “explore millions of records from around the world, identify relatives, discover the towns of your ancestors, experience how they lived, connect with our global JewishGen community, and more!” You can access all of this with a free account. Once you create your account, you may want to visit the Get Started page to find tips for using their tools, like the InfoFile Index which links to countries and topics specifically related to Jewish genealogical research. In addition, you can sign up for their online classes and volunteer to help others. JewishGen also allows you to connect with others through tools like their Family Finder and ViewMate and resources like the Discussion Group and JewishGen Gazetteer. Speaking of connecting, you can also join their Facebook group (AKA the Jewish Genealogy Portal). There is so much to learn about/from JewishGen, so give it a try if you have Jewish ancestry!

If you would like to connect with others locally and explore even further, you may want to consider joining the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois, which gives you access to more online resources, like JewishData and JGSI Jewish Chicago Database (JJCD). Of course, FamilySearch has a great Jewish Genealogy wiki that includes links to many online resources. In addition, Cyndi’s List has links to additional online resources in their Jewish category. Happy researching!