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Historic Highlights Of The Jewish Genealogical Society Of Toronto

JGS Toronto is presenting MyHeritage Genealogy Expert, Daniel Horowitz, in a series of webinars every Thursday at 10 am EST

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The Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto (JGS Toronto) was originally known as The Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto) and had its beginnings in 1985 | Photo: JGS Toronto

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Volunteer-run as a non-profit charitable organization, the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto provides a forum for the exchange of genealogical knowledge and information with our members and the community at large.

 

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto (JGS Toronto) (originally known as The Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto)) had its beginnings in 1985 with a small group of avid genealogists and family historians interested in continuing the exploration of their family roots and history.

A few historical highlights:

  • In 1988, under its first editor, Peter Cullman, JGS Toronto began publication of Shem Tov, our quarterly bulletin, sharing news of the genealogical world along with stories and highlights of our members’ journeys through time as they discovered new and exciting moments of their ancestors.
  • In 1990, the Society incorporated as a non-profit society under the name, Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto), and hosted an extremely successful International Summer Seminar on Jewish Genealogy in 1993.
  • In 1999, a connection was made with the Jewish Historical Institute in Warsaw.

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  • In 2000, the Society’s “Jewish Youth Genealogy Project” won the 2000 IAJGS award for Outstanding Project that Advances the Objectives of Jewish Genealogy.
  • During 2002, the IAJGS recognized Toronto by holding its annual IAJGS conference in Toronto, hosted by our Society.
  • Since 2004, JGS Toronto has contributed to the Jewish Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) at JewishGen as we continue to identify, index, and publish information on all Jewish burials in the cemeteries in the GTA and surrounding areas for the world community to research online. JOWBR today has a database of over 3.7 million Jewish names from 8,666 cemeteries in 130 countries.
  • In 2011, we celebrated 25 years of existence with the publication of a book contributed to by 44 members, Tracing Our Roots, Telling Our Stories. The book won the 2013 IAJGS Award for Outstanding Publication by a Member Organization.
  • In 2013, the Society officially changed its name to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto.
  • In 2015 we began cataloguing and photographing GTA memorial plaques in synagogues for the JewishGen Memorial Plaques Project, which is a database of names and other identifying information from Jewish synagogue and memorial records (Yahrzeit Plaques) worldwide.

The 2011 book commemorating 25 years of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada - Tracing Our Roots, Telling Our Stories

  • In 2016, we launched our Polish translation project in conjunction with JRI-Poland, producing translations of Polish records for worldwide distribution and use.
  • In 2017 we revitalized our Special Interest Groups for Poland, Ukraine, and Lithuania, Latvia, and Belarus, which meet regularly, focusing on and researching these areas with our members encouraging them to explore their common ancestry. Our new DNA SIG helps members explore and interpret the results of DNA analysis in our new world of discovering relationships and ancestors by gene technology.
  • In 2018, we created our Toronto Jewish Families History Project, revisiting the early 1920s of Toronto Jewish life through the re-creation and publishing of Dr. Henry Goldenberg’s patient’s historical family genealogical relationships. 
  • In 2018, The Society also introduced a revamped and restructured website for our members and guests, offering facilities for enhanced member research communications along with Special Interest Group and additional targeted member areas generating further sharing of ancestral information, and connections to the worldwide genealogical community.

Our Society’s library collection of research and historical information is second to none for a local genealogical society and is now housed at the Reference Library of the Toronto Public Library system. Our Speakers Bureau and community outreach present workshops and how-to classes throughout the GTA (and beyond) at synagogues, seniors’ residences, schools, community groups, and associations.

Much of the information reflected on today was garnered from past issues of Shem Tov, the voice of the JGS Toronto, the JGS Toronto website, meeting minutes, and memories of our members. We thank our founders for their foresight in creating the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto as they looked backward to discover their ancestors and heritage and also looked forward to preserving the past for the future.

JGS Toronto is presenting MyHeritage Genealogy Expert, Daniel Horowitz, in a series of 8 genealogical webinars every Thursday at 10 am EST.

Daniel will speak about MyHeritage’s new features and other genealogy topics as he guides beginners and experts alike to the joys of family genealogical research, helping them discover their own heritage and history. There is no cost for these webinars. The link to join us is at:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mwbm9xRrCHcfLU_B_9_cgf3_wp6e4wCC/view?usp=sharing

You can reach us through our website www.jgstoronto.ca or by email to info@jewishgen.ca. We look forward to welcoming you to our meetings and seeing you soon.

Mel Fishman is the President of The Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto (JGS Toronto).

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Thank you for choosing TheJ.Ca as your source for Canadian Jewish News.

We do news differently!

Our positioning as a Zionist News Media platform sets us apart from the rest. While other Canadian Jewish media are advocating increasingly biased progressive political and social agendas, TheJ.Ca is providing more and more readers with a welcome alternative and an ideological home.

We revealed the incursion of anti-Israel progressive elements such as IfNotNow into our communities. We have exposed the distorted hateful agenda of the “progressive” left political radicals who brought Linda Sarsour to our cities, and we were first to report on many disturbing incidents of Nazi-based hate towards Jews across Canada.

But we can’t do it alone. We need your HELP!

Our ability to thrive and grow in 2020 and beyond depends on the generosity of committed readers and supporters like you.

Monthly support is a great way to help us sustain our operations. We greatly appreciate any contributions you can make to support Jewish Journalism.

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