JewishGen.org Discussion Group FAQs
What is the JewishGen.org Discussion Group?
The JewishGen.org Discussion Group unites thousands of Jewish genealogical researchers worldwide as they research their family history, search for relatives, and share information, ideas, methods, tips, techniques, and resources. The JewishGen.org Discussion Group makes it easy, quick, and fun, to connect with others around the world.
Is it Secure?
Yes. JewishGen is using a state of the art platform with the most contemporary security standards. JewishGen will never share member information with third parties.
How is the New JewishGen.org Discussion Group better than the old one?
Our old Discussion List platform was woefully antiquated. Among its many challenges: it was not secure, it required messages to be sent in Plain Text, did not support accented characters or languages other than English, could not display links or images, and had archives that were not mobile-friendly.
This new platform that JewishGen is using is a scalable, and sustainable solution, and allows us to engage with JewishGen members throughout the world. It offers a simple and intuitive interface for both members and moderators, more powerful tools, and more secure archives (which are easily accessible on mobile devices, and which also block out personal email addresses to the public).
I am a JewishGen member, why do I have to create a separate account for the Discussion Group?
As we continue to modernize our platform, we are trying to ensure that everything meets contemporary security standards. In the future, we plan hope to have one single sign-in page.
I like how the current lists work. Will I still be able to send/receive emails of posts (and/or digests)?
Yes. In terms of functionality, the group will operate the same for people who like to participate with email. People can still send a message to an email address (in this case, main@groups.JewishGen.org), and receive a daily digest of postings, or individual emails. In addition, Members can also receive a daily summary of topics, and then choose which topics they would like to read about it. However, in addition to email, there is the additional functionality of being able to read/post messages utilizing our online forum (https://groups.jewishgen.org).
Does this new system require plain-text?
No.
Can I post images, accented characters, different colors/font sizes, non-latin characters?
Yes.
Can I categorize a message? For example, if my message is related to Polish, or Ukraine research, can I indicate as such?
Yes! Our new platform allows members to use “Hashtags.” Messages can then be sorted, and searched, based upon how they are categorized. Another advantage is that members can “mute” any conversations they are not interested in, by simply indicating they are not interested in a particular “hashtag.”
Will all posts be archived?
Yes.
Can I still search though old messages?
Yes. All the messages are accessible and searchable going back to 1998.
What if I have questions or need assistance using the new Group?
Send your questions to: support@JewishGen.org
How do I access the Group’s webpage?
Follow this link: https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main
So just to be sure - this new group will allow us to post from our mobile phones, includes images, accented characters, and non-latin characters, and does not require plain text?
Correct!
Will there be any ads or annoying pop-ups?
No.
Will the current guidelines change?
Yes. While posts will be moderated to ensure civility, and that there is nothing posted that is inappropriate (or completely unrelated to genealogy), we will be trying to create an online community of people who regulate themselves, much as they do (very successfully) on Jewish Genealogy Portal on Facebook.
What are the new guidelines?
There are just a few simple rules & guidelines to follow, which you can read here:https://groups.jewishgen.org/g/main/guidelines
Thank you in advance for contributing to this amazing online community!
If you have any questions, or suggestions, please email support@JewishGen.org.
Sincerely,
The JewishGen.org Team
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Re: Digests vs Daily Summary
Jeff at SG
I essentially agree with everything you've said and hesitated replying and adding to the unnecessary traffic except to add that according to a message I received from Plotz, the 12 message limit is apparently hardwired in the software for the 'daily digest'. I find that hard to believe but if true, that is a major defect of the new platform. However it is one likely to become less important as the traffic volume returns to normal. So things will get better.
Jeff Malka (OP)
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Re: JewishGen Discussion Group Update
Ralph Baer
I assume that all of this discussion will soon die down, although it may pick up again when the SIGs are converted. From day 1 of the GerSIG list, which I think was about 25 years ago, I wondered why one could not type umlauted characters in the group. My name was originally Bär (although the earliest signature which I have seen from about a year after the name was adopted in 1809 reads Behr), and there are many times that it one really should post the spelling as it was used. I learned to live with it, but I was never happy with it. So I was happy when I heard things were going to change.
Some of the other changes I like. Some I don't. The ability to change fonts, insert pictures, etc., seems ridiculous to me, but I could grow to like it. I like the fact that one can get BCCs of one's posted messages and can receive copies of replies to one's posts. I also like the fact that one can add a signature. At least I like it until someone has one that is 50 lines long. I find it hard to understand that the limit of the number of messages in a digest was hardwired and 12 was selected. It seems to me to be the type of thing which should be chosen at the discretion of the group moderator. I also feel that a metagroup should have been setup for discussing the changes as opposed to those posts being here,
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Oct. 29: genetic genealogy program at the Center for Jewish History in New York
#dna
Moriah Amit
Please join us for the following upcoming program of interest to
those undertaking DNA testing for genealogical purposes. Family History Today: DNA and the Golden Rule - The Law and Ethics of Genetic Genealogy Presented by the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute The Legal Genealogist, Judy G. Russell, offers her expert advice on how to navigate the ethical challenges associated with DNA testing for genealogy. Date: October 29, 6:30 PM Location: Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 Tickets: $10 general admission; $5 Center for Jewish History/Partner members, seniors, and students; You may purchase tickets in advance at geneticgenealogy.bpt.me or 800-838-3006. Moriah Amit Senior Genealogy Reference Librarian Center for Jewish History (New York, NY)
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DNA Research #DNA Oct. 29: genetic genealogy program at the Center for Jewish History in New York
#dna
Moriah Amit
Please join us for the following upcoming program of interest to
those undertaking DNA testing for genealogical purposes. Family History Today: DNA and the Golden Rule - The Law and Ethics of Genetic Genealogy Presented by the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute The Legal Genealogist, Judy G. Russell, offers her expert advice on how to navigate the ethical challenges associated with DNA testing for genealogy. Date: October 29, 6:30 PM Location: Center for Jewish History, 15 West 16th Street, New York, NY 10011 Tickets: $10 general admission; $5 Center for Jewish History/Partner members, seniors, and students; You may purchase tickets in advance at geneticgenealogy.bpt.me or 800-838-3006. Moriah Amit Senior Genealogy Reference Librarian Center for Jewish History (New York, NY)
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Yes, this list is still functioning!
#galicia
Renee Steinig
Those of you who subscribe to the main JewishGen Discussion Group know
that it transitioned a week ago to a new format, and there's been quite a bit of discussion among its subscribers about the change. A number of people have asked how the SIG lists have been affected and some have expressed concern that they haven't heard >from us. For now, JewishGen's special interest mailing lists, including our own, are unchanged. Any messages that we receive are being delivered as usual, via Lyris, in Plain Text format. Gesher Galicia's last digest was distributed at about 2:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time on Friday, Oct. 11. Things have been quiet since then simply because no one has written. We hope to hear >from you! As always, we welcome postings related to research on Galitzianer families. Please send any comments about the new format of the JewishGen Discussion Group to support@... . Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and productive new year, Renee Renee Stern Steinig Moderator, Gesher Galicia genmaven@...
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Gesher Galicia SIG #Galicia Yes, this list is still functioning!
#galicia
Renee Steinig
Those of you who subscribe to the main JewishGen Discussion Group know
that it transitioned a week ago to a new format, and there's been quite a bit of discussion among its subscribers about the change. A number of people have asked how the SIG lists have been affected and some have expressed concern that they haven't heard >from us. For now, JewishGen's special interest mailing lists, including our own, are unchanged. Any messages that we receive are being delivered as usual, via Lyris, in Plain Text format. Gesher Galicia's last digest was distributed at about 2:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time on Friday, Oct. 11. Things have been quiet since then simply because no one has written. We hope to hear >from you! As always, we welcome postings related to research on Galitzianer families. Please send any comments about the new format of the JewishGen Discussion Group to support@... . Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and productive new year, Renee Renee Stern Steinig Moderator, Gesher Galicia genmaven@...
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(Ireland) Irish Birth, Marriage and Death Certificates Online for Free; Irish Census Records # records access
Jan Meisels Allen
The Irish Department of Culture, Heritage ad Gaeltacht and Department of Employment Affairs and Social Protection have placed online Irish genealogy records that cover births from 1864 to 1918, deaths from 1878 and 1968, and marriages from 1864 to 1943. The new additions include deaths in 1967 and 1968, births 1917 and 1918 and marriages from 1864 to 1869 and 1942 to 1943.
The General Register Office is currently working on further updating the records. Plans are in place to extend the digitalization of death certificates by 14 years to 1864, while there are also plans to update almost 20 years of marriage records.
In 2014 the Central Statistics Office (CSO) published all the data it collected from every census since 1926, and it is available for free online. In a recent move the censuses from are now available at: https://www.cso.ie/en/census/ To read about the census through history see: https://www.cso.ie/en/census/censusthroughhistory/
Jews in Ireland While always a small Jewish community in Ireland it is an established community. In addition, a number of Jews immigrated to Ireland in the late 19th and 20th centuries whose families were from central Europe, due to the pogroms, and especially from Lithuania. Jews also stopped in Ireland along the way to immigrating to North America—and may have lived there for a few years. You never know what an Irish vital records may reveal!
Jan Meisels Allen Chairperson, IAJGS Public Records Access Monitoring Committee
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Jewish Genealogical Society Meetings
Jan Meisels Allen
Rose Elbaum asked if there was a policy regarding holding Jewish Genealogical Society meetings on Jewish Holidays. First, Jewish Genealogical Societies belong to the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS), not JewishGen so the question about society policy does not belong on this forum. I can tell you that IAJGS does not have any such policy, having been involved with IAJGS since 2004 I think I can say that as IAJGS does not dictate to its members.
Let me try to explain that JGSs in the United States are 501 (c) (3) organizations, by and large, for our non-profit status. We are educational and cultural, not religious organizations, even if our focus is on Jewish genealogy. I don’t know of any JGS that meets on the major Jewish holidays, such as Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, the first two days of Passover, etc. Lesser celebrated holidays are another issue. If the JGS meets in a synagogue, as does the one where I am president, and the one where Rose meets, (two different societies 3,000 miles apart) if the synagogue is open and permits the meeting that is all that is necessary. My society meets in a Reform Synagogue, Rose’s society alternates between Reform and Conservative synagogues and a JCC, if their location agrees to the JGS meeting, then it is perfectly permissible to meet.
Specifically, Rose mentioned her society meeting on Shemini Atseret, and in speaking to the president of JGSGW, yes they met that day, last Sunday, but before the holiday began and the meeting ended way before sundown. Nothing wrong with that.
I also do not know of any JGS that holds meetings on Shabbat. Now, that said, that does not mean we may not be involved in a community function that might meet on Shabbat, but we may lend our society names but not do anything on Shabbat for that function. It also does not mean that individual members of the society, including the board members, may be involved with something on Shabbat. Again, we are not religious organizations, but educational and cultural ones, we would certainly not have any prohibition for members to be involved in something. I have accepted speaking engagements on Shabbat for community not Jewish organizations, and my society members volunteer if we have a table on a Saturday at the Southern California Genealogical Jamboree each year which meets Friday-Sunday.
It is the same thing if a society has Kosher or non-Kosher cookies at a function. The locale where the JGS meets will determine if they require Kosher or not. While the Temple where JGSCV meets does not require the cookies to be Kosher, we bring Kosher cookies—our choice.
How each person responds to their own religious activities is personal, and is not, in my opinion, something that the various JGSs should get involved with.
There is no policy nor would there be. That is up to each individual JGS as to how they function, just as Alan Greenberg form Montreal replied.
Jan Meisels Allen President, Jewish Genealogical Society of the Conejo Valley and Ventura County
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Re: PETASKIN/ PETOSKI
sngreenberg@...
On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 08:20 PM, Larry Rabyne wrote:
Try searching on the last name only. Put in Pet? And see what comes up. Her first name may have been something other than Eva in Lithuania. My Aunt Eve was Rivka. GOOD HUNTING SUSAN Greenberg Cleveland, OHIO
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Re: Jewish Hungarian baron?
#hungary
Vivian Kahn
Sara Just asks whether there are lists of Hungarian Jewish nobles. Wikipedia has published a list of Hungarian Jewish nobility at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_Jewish_nobility#Hungarian Examples include Baron Hermann Groedel, Mor Lipot Herzog, and Theodore Wolfner. Raphael Patai writes about this in his critical work, The Jews of Hungary: HIstory, Culture, Psychology. According to Patai, during the period 1824-1918, 346 Jewish families, comprising about 20 percent of total ennoblements, were given a place name with which yo preface their family name as an indication of noble rank. Prominent (mainly Jewish) bankers and industrialists were awarded with nobility, but their social status remained inferior to traditional aristocrats. Noble titles were abolished only in 1947, months after Hungary was proclaimed a republic.
Vivian Kahn, Oakland, California JewishGen Hungarian Research Director
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Re: Still seeking immigration information Kaminsky
Andrea Dechter
My GGM was Chana Kaminsky. She immigrated to the US in 1913. She was from Zhitomyr.
-- Andrea Dechter ar3j@... Coral Springs, FL Researching: FEUERMAN, FIREMAN, FROST, SANDLER, KAMINSKY, KAMINSKA
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Re: SIG emails
Dick Plotz <Dick@...>
Write to support@..., like always.
But the SIGs are functioning normally, and have not moved to the new platform. Your SIG lists probably just haven't had any posts for a while. Dick Plotz Providence RI USA On Wed, Oct 16, 2019 at 10:08 PM Davida Handler <davidahandlernv@...> wrote:
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Re: Jewish Genealogical Society Meetings 212877614
Evelyn Filippi
I called let mesageno onecalled me back…how do i speak to someone
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Re: Convention syllabus
Robinn Magid
Dear Gayle et al.,
The IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy "syllabus" has not existed for several years as a paper notebook. Instead, the conference websites have a program feature that includes the schedule, summary abstracts of all presentations, and handouts that are downloadable to all the applicable presentations. There are even speaker biographies (with color photographs)! -- much better! The program details and handouts are available through the conference websites as long as they are operational. I tested a couple of old IAJGS conference sites, and I see that the program schedules are still active for www.iajgs2019.org, IAJGS2018.org, IAJGS2017.org, IAJGS2016.org Once on the website, click on the "Program" icon on the menu bar. Then chose "Program and Schedule" and you will see a screen similar to the one below:  Roll further down the screen and you will get the programming - in order. You can also use a search feature to look by author, presentation titel or search by subject... Here is a typical page from a past IAJGS conference. You can click on anything that appears in blue type. Note that the red pdf button would be clickable from your iPad and you can download the handouts pretty simply!  Sorry you've missed some conferences, but please come to the IAJGS 2020 San Diego Conference to be held August 9-14, 2020 in (you guessed it) San Diego, California! Powerpoint usable slide announcing our conference is attached to this email! Welcome to the 21st Century!🖖 All the best, Robinn Magid Chair, IAJGS 2020 San Diego Conference -- Robinn Magid Berkeley, California Robinn.Magid@...
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Re: Jewish Genealogical Society Meetings
Alan Greenberg
Who would set such a policy? The only thing uniting individual societies is the IAJGS and it does not set rules for its member societies. Each sets its own rules, presumably in accordance with its own members wishes.
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
Alan Greenberg Montreal, Canada -- Sent from my mobile. Please excuse brevity and typos.
On October 16, 2019 5:02:16 PM EDT, "rochel613 via Groups.Jewishgen.Org" <rochel613=yahoo.com@...> wrote:
Is there a policy, and if so, what is it, regarding the holding of Society meetings on Jewish holidays? I have noticed numerous times that meetings or activities are held either on Shabbat or lesser celebrated Jewish holidays such as the upcoming Shemini Atseret. This is disconcerting to those of us who are excluded from participating.
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Re: JewishGen Discussion Group Update
Robyn Dryen
I absolutely agree with Dick Plotz. The pretty colours and fancy fonts are simply click-bait - they have added NOTHING to the content quality. In fact, the Discussion List has degenerated into nothing more than Facebook chat. We are seeing something that is all about "modern???" marketing techniques - if you get 100 clicks, one might sign-up and contribute. If there is a need for more paying members or for members to give more, this is not the way to achieve that end. For those of us who have been around long enough to recognise the stalwarts - those mavens who have both the expertise and care enough to share their knowledge - it is tragic to see their pleas dismissed. Who is going to provide the wise counsel if they unsubscribe? Robyn Dryen Sydney, Australia (I'm still old-fashioned enough to believe signing a post matters)
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Re: JewishGen Discussion Group Update
pweinthal
Hi
toggle quoted messageShow quoted text
This email browser is set to read plain-text messages - formatting, HTML code, accents, non-Roman alphabets, emojiis, etc., will not display. Numerous # marks are now popping up in many subject lines for no obvious reason. I'm not following the new structure. Instead of a chronological list of messages received and identified by sender (which is critical information), there are 'topics' followed by URLs and then something called New Replies which don't seem to correspond to anything. Relevancy is probably the reason people may not be joining the discussion group. Far too many posts from newbies who haven't done even the most basic research and think everything is available on-line, and a few people who post 'do-you-know' queries for every name in their tree. Giving you time to works out the bugs, -Pat
-----Original Message-----
From: Avraham Groll <agroll@...>
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Re: Digests vs Daily Summary
Sheldon Dan <sheldan1955@...>
I think that the fact that the new digests are sent out after 12 posts was a problem at first. Because the Discussion Group was being relaunched, many more posts were being sent every day. My observation was that the old daily digest usually had between 1-20 posts per day. Now consider, say, 72 posts the first day this format was implemented. That would mean SIX e-mails that day. Yes, that was annoying, and I think a lot of us were overwhelmed.
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Re: Comments about format change
Sheldon Dan <sheldan1955@...>
It is possible that sometime in the future the two logins could be combined and we might use the e-mail and one password. Maybe the researcher number can then be retired as a login ID and used as it probably was intended.
Hang in there. I know it sounds frustrating to many "old-timers" (I am 64, but I have adjusted to the need for the computer), but hopefully things will be less painful to those users who have had so much trouble with the new format of JewishGen. I understand the problems of a new look--we will all eventually get used to it. -- Sheldon Dan sheldan1955@...
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PETASKIN/ PETOSKI
Larry Rabyne
I hit a brickwall seeking info on my paternal grandmother, Eva PETOSKIN Rabinovitz. Eva was born in Vilna around 1893-96. She emigrated to the U.S. in 1914 and married Sam Rabinovitz on October 22, 1916 in Chicago, Il. She lived in Chicago until her death in 1944. She had 9 children. She had two sisters, Molly Petosky GORDON and MARY (Meryl?) Potasey KANIUK. The Gordons lived in Chicago and moved to Waukegan. The Kaniuk’s lived in a near west suburb of Chicago. Eva name on the marriage license is Pitoski or Petoski. Various birth certificates give the maiden name of Petosky. Social security shows the name as Petaskin. I am unable to locate any immigration records for EVA and searches of the Jewishgen database have been unsuccessful. Larry RABYNE ALTER, FELDBLUM, KUPERBERG, RABINOVITZ, PETOSKIN, LINDENBAUM
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