JewishGen Education - About Us

In the Genealogy World, did you know that only JewishGen has a fully structured Jewish Genealogy curriculum with twenty-three classes in its course catalog? Did you know our workbook authors and instructors teach you how to search databases filtered through a Jewish Lens?

The JewishGen Education Department's mission is to help researchers trace and preserve their ancestral roots through individual mentoring, collaboration, genealogically sound and tested methods, and targeted research techniques.

Keywords in our educational philosophy: Discovery, Connection, Collaboration

JewishGen offers online interactive courses, on-demand self-paced workbooks, and targeted Research Guides. To avoid frustration and to meet the needs of a varied student group, instructors design classes to meet a student's research needs.

JewishGen Education's volunteer staff and their specialtiess

Instructors: Lisa Curran (New York Research), Larry Fagan (DNA), Margie Geiser (Research Planning), Barbara Krasner (Creative Writing), Amy Mitchell (Let’s Get Organized), Hap Ponedel (Maps of Eastern Europe), Barbara Rice (Galicia, Ukraine, JRI-PL, Immigration), April Stone (Hungary, Romania, Sub-Carpathia, Book Publishing from Ancestry.com), Marion Werle (Latvia, Canada, Narrative Report Writing)

Team Teacher: Susan Rand-Lakritz (Israel and Holocaust)

New Volunteer: Susan Schlichting

Editors: Amy Mitchell, Wendy Starr

Accountant: April Stone

Webmaster: Alan Raskin

How do we work?

You are the researcher. We are the guide.

We suggest a path. You do the walking.

JewishGen is not ‘one teaching method fits all!’

Covid has taught us that students like to work independently and at their own pace. Maybe they want to buy the course book and open the pages to lessons filled with new exercises and assignments. Perhaps they want a private tutor, leading or following, one step at a time.

Special Services are a call away

Students who work hard on a genealogy project might just want to pick up the phone and Zoom chat with an expert. Do you long to have a conversation about a stuck place? Want to start a new plan? Maybe you want to find out what sources to put on your to-do list. Sometimes the brick wall is an elusive passenger record. We offer Virtual Conversations and By the Week at your convenience.

Peer Collaboration

All of us have learned from our journeys into family research. JewishGen is built upon peer knowledge and peer sharing. We are all learners, and we all have nuggets to share with each other. Experience this when you take a class. JewishGen Education offers a unique experience in peer collaboration. Check out the Research project on Immigration. Or look at the Savvy Searcher - A Case Study for how we can learn from each other.

New Coming 2024

• e-Gallery – student publications
• An Interactive Lecture Series
• Hire Us
  • to create a Family History Book
  • for professional research advice

What do you want to learn?

Organization, How to Plan, Jewish Records, Family Search, Family Trees, Beginners, Software, Writing and Publishing, Google, Subscription Databases, DNA Testing, Methods and Tools, Fundamentals A-Z (Genealogical Standards, Citations, and Proofs) JewishGen's Resources?

• Find a Class - Search and Sort
• To view the current offerings
• Make contact with the Education department

Any Questions, Just Ask

Nancy Holden
Director of Education

Adapted from "JewishGen's Hidden Gem", JewishGen Newsletter, 2023.