Meetings
JGSWS meets in the auditorium of the Stroum JCC on the second Monday of each month, September through June, at 7 PM, unless noted otherwise. The Stroum JCC is located at 3801 East Mercer Way, Mercer Island WA 98040. Admission is free for JGSWS members, $5 for nonmembers.
**Please have your photo ID to enter the building**
NEXT MEETING: May 12, 2008
at Ezra Bessaroth Synagogue,
5217 S. Brandon Street, Seattle 98118
(Entrance is on Wilson Ave. S., just south of S. Brandon St.)
Note special location for this event. See map and driving directions.
"Sephardic Genealogy Resources and the Historical Importance of Ancient Sephardic Surnames," presented by
Jeffrey Malka
The presentation will include an overview of Sephardic genealogy resources, what they have in common with traditional Ashkenazi genealogy resources, and how they differ. Because Sephardic surnames are often so ancient, they are very important to Sephardic genealogy. Records and other resources in various selected countries include the vast volume of pre-expulsion Spanish documents, with illustrations that demonstrate how useful and relevant these are in documenting the persistence of old surnames. Also shown will be tools that help decipher the marked differences in Hebrew script found in Sephardic documents that make them undecipherable, even to native Hebrew speakers born in Israel and to most academics.
This event is cosponsored by JGSWS, Ezra Bessaroth, and Sephardic Bikur Holim.
All are welcome! Invite your friends. Refreshments will be served.
ABOUT OUR SPEAKER
A retired professor of orthopedic surgery, Dr. Jeffrey Malka is the author of the award-winning book Sephardic Genealogy: Discovering Your Sephardic Ancestors and Their World (Avotaynu, 2002) and the creator of JewishGen's Sephardic SIG website based on his own popular Sephardic Genealogy Resources website, SephardicGen.com. Descended from a long line of Sephardic rabbis going back to 14th century cabbalists and authors (as well as Catalan blacksmiths and money lenders), he is one of the pioneers of Sephardic genealogy in the United States and a well-known lecturer on the subject. Dr. Malka has been an invited lecturer at the Library of Congress, several IAJGS annual conferences, the Washington Jewish Historical Society, and numerous Jewish Genealogy Societies in the U.S., Canada, and Spain.
For more information, please e-mail programs@jgsws.org.
FUTURE MEETINGS:
June 9: Topic to be announced
OTHER EVENTS:
See the Events page.