Welcome to the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island (JGSLI)!
JGSLI was founded in 1985 to encourage and assist the pursuit of Jewish family history. Our goal is to bring together people interested in tracing their Jewish family roots.
We are a non-profit organization, operating through member efforts. We work to educate members and the public regarding the “how to” of finding one’s roots. See the future meetings tab below for dates, speakers and topics.
Join our efforts to grow the JewishGen Memorial Plaques Database. Find out how you can help here.
JGSLI YOUTUBE VIDEOS
Did you know that our award-winning YouTube Channel has 40 5-minute videos on topics including Landsmannschaften, DNA, immigration research, Jewish headstones and more! Watch them here: YouTube Videos
JGSLI MEMBERS-ONLY BENEFITS
Current members can now access our 1988 - 2025 LIneage newsletter issues, featured lectures and speaker handouts. Visit our members-only section to find out more. To join JGSLI visit our Membership page.
Next JGSLI Meetings
For full details of the meetings and the Zoom registration links please click on the Details links. Wednesday meetings start at 7 PM.
- Sunday March 8, 2026 at 12:00 PM: POSTPONED: Genealogical Surprises: Irregular Records and Sources as an aid for Family Research by Prof. Yaron Wolfsthal
***THE MEETING ON MARCH 8 HAS BEEN CANCELLED - WE ARE WORKING TO RESCHEDULE IT ***
Details about POSTPONED: Genealogical Surprises: Irregular Records and Sources as an aid for Family Research by Prof. Yaron Wolfsthal - Wednesday March 25, 2026 at 7:00 PM: Finding Ancestors in the 19th Century Russian Revizskie Skazki by Hal Bookbinder
The Russian Revizskie skazki can be a gold mine in finding information about our ancestors. “Revizskie skazki” literally translates as “revision tales”, though we generally refer to them as “revision lists”. While censuses only provide information on people currently alive, revision lists include “tales” about the men who died or moved away since the prior revision list. The talk will provide an overview of the periodic revision lists and demonstrate how Hal was able to use the 1850 and 1858 ones to identify ancestors, including those who lived earlier, and even to creatively use the information to get back yet an extra generation or two where no records exist at all. During the past three years, the JewishGen Ukraine Research Division has indexed and made available on the All-Ukraine Database, approximately four million Russian records. This includes hundreds of thousands of records from Revision Lists and other censuses of Jews living in the Russian Empire. Hal will demonstrate how to efficiently search this amazing resource
Details about Finding Ancestors in the 19th Century Russian Revizskie Skazki by Hal Bookbinder
Please watch our emails, Facebook page, and website for further details. Wednesday meetings start at 7 PM.
- 12:00 PM – 2:00 PM, Sunday March 8, 2026 – POSTPONED: Genealogical Surprises: Irregular Records and Sources as an aid for Family Research by Prof. Yaron Wolfsthal
- 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Wednesday March 25, 2026 – Finding Ancestors in the 19th Century Russian Revizskie Skazki by Hal Bookbinder
- 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sunday April 12, 2026 – Preserve Your Family Memories Through Personal Digital Archiving
- 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sunday May 3, 2026 – Jewish Records at Ancestry.com by Crista Cowan
- 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Wednesday May 27, 2026 – TBD
- 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sunday June 14, 2026 – How to Learn Family Stories from Crumbs: Polish Notary Records by Anna Wiernicka
- 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Wednesday June 24, 2026 – Piecing Together Your Ukrainian Story by Ellie Vance Christensen
- 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Wednesday July 29, 2026 – "Mein Feld ist die Welt" a Historical Research Guide to Hamburg Passenger Lists 1850-1934 by Logan Knight
- 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Wednesday September 9, 2026 – Schindler's Listed: The Search for my Father's Lost Gold by Randi Biederman
- 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sunday September 27, 2026 – TBD
- 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sunday October 11, 2026 – TBD
- 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sunday November 8, 2026 – TBD
- 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM, Wednesday November 18, 2026 – TBD
- 2:00 PM – 4:00 PM, Sunday December 13, 2026 – TBD - Annual Meeting
Join the Jewish Genealogy Society of Long Island!
Membership Benefits Include:
- Free Admission to monthly meetings
- Receive monthly Lineage OnLIne Newsletter
- Opportunity to Network with other people and experts in Jewish Genealogy
- Advanced notice of our Family Workshop and other special events.
Click here for more information!
The 2025 event was held on Sunday, December 7th, 12:30 - 5:00 PM via Zoom. Jewish Genealogy 101: Four Hours+ to Your Family Roots: JGSLI’s 35th Annual Family History Workshop A review of the fundamentals of Jewish genealogy. Topics include interviewing relatives; identifying ancestral towns; Holocaust research; using censuses, city directories, ship's manifests, naturalizations, vital records, and other U.S. sources; European records; and internet resources.