See Also

• A list of 1,362 surnames, see Surnames in Indexes to Meorei Galicia.
• A list of 324 cities and towns, see Towns in Indexes to Meorei Galicia.
• Meorei Galicia: Encyclopedia Lekhakhmei Galicia (Encyclopedia of Galician Sages), by Rabbi Meir Wunder: a review by Chaim Freedman; a description of this five-volume work, including translation of part of the Auerbach family entries.

Introduction

Meorei Galicia: Encyclopedia Lekhakhmei Galicia (Encyclopedia of Galician Sages) contains extensively detailed genealogies of Galician rabbinical families, arranged alphabetically by surname according to the Hebrew alphabet. Most family sections include a genealogical chart. For prominent rabbis of each family biographical material is included, in particular, rabbinical compositions, responsa correspondence, and photographs. Updated information concerning current generations is included. Many sources are quoted for each family as well as extensive bibliography. This impressive and scholarly work is one of the most extensive and reliable sources of rabbinical genealogy written in the twentieth century.

A Galician Chassidic Jew wearing a traditional long black coat and shtreimel (a round fur-trimmed hat of sable or mink, worn by Chassidim on Shabbos, Yom Tov, and other important occasions).

The author, Rabbi Meir Wunder, is chairman of the Institute for the Commemoration of Galician Jewry, whose aim is to perpetuate the heritage of Galician Jewry through the collection, preservation, and classification of documented material gleaned from libraries, archives, private collections, and interviews. The Institute's main achievement is the published five-volume Meorei Galicia.

It is important to note that Wunder did not exhaust all possible variant spellings of surnames transliterated in the indexes to the five volumes. While perusing the surname index, the reader should keep in mind that some surname spellings are not those most commonly known. The following table shows some examples.

Cities and Towns

Galicia formed part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Today, Galicia is divided between southern Poland and western Ukraine. Some of the larger cities and towns in this region include:

Krakow (Cracow), Poland
Przemysl (Pshemishl), Poland
Tarnow, Poland
Brody (Brod, Prode), Ukraine
Drogobych (Drohobicz), Ukraine
Kolomyya (Kolomea), Ukraine
Ivano-Frankivsk (Stanislawow), Ukraine
Lviv (Lwow, Lemberg, Leopol), Ukraine
Ternipol (Tarnopol), Ukraine

Resources

• Wunder, Meir. Meorei Galicia: Encyclopedia Lekhakhmei Galicia (Encyclopedia of Galician Sages). Vols. 1-5. Jerusalem: The Institute for the Commemoration for Galician Jewry, 1978-1997. (in Hebrew, with English indexes)
• To locate this resource, see How to Locate Rabbinic Information Sources in Libraries and Archives.
• For more information about Galician rabbis, see the Bibliography and Links sections.
• For information on researching Jewish roots in Galicia, visit the Gesher Galicia web site.
• The Jewish Records Indexing-Poland / Polish State Archives (PSA) AGAD Archives Project: indexing the 19th century Jewish vital records of 86 towns and villages in the former Galician Province. Search the Jewish Records Indexing-Poland database.
• Map of Galicia from an 1882 atlas.

Contributors

The contributions of the following individuals are very gratefully acknowledged.

• Rabbi Meir Wunder, for permission to reprint material from Meorei Galicia.
• Chaim Freedman, for the description of Meorei Galicia.
• Judy Wolkovitch, for proofreading the list of surnames.
• Dr. Neil Rosenstein, Ilan Ganot, and Edward Goldstein for their assistance.