Members Helping Members Since 1981

Are you researching Jewish family history and looking for a Chicago area network of experts and enthusiasts?

We help members collect, preserve, and perpetuate the records and history of their ancestors and serve as a resource for the worldwide community to research their Chicago area Jewish roots.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois (JGSI) is a non-profit, volunteer-driven organization established in 1981 and now with over 300 members. JGSI is a member of IAJGS, the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies.

Stanley Diamond to present update on JRI-Poland on Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021

Jewish Records Indexing-Poland’s founder and executive director, Stanley Diamond, will present “JRI-Poland Update and More” for the Sunday, Jan. 24, 2021, virtual meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois. His live streaming presentation will begin at 2 p.m. Central Standard Time. (A separate JGSI members-only genealogy question-and-answer discussion time will start at 1 p.m.)

To register for the webinar, go to: https://jgsi.org/Events-calendar. After you register/RSVP, you will be sent a link to join the meeting. This webinar will be recorded so that JGSI’s paid members who are unable to view it live will be able to view the recording later.

This will be a rare opportunity to get deep inside the story of Jewish Records Indexing-Poland (JRI-Poland), an award-winning international project to create Internet-searchable access to the Jewish vital records of Poland.

More details on Programs page.

Photo expert Ava ‘Sherlock’ Cohn to speak Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021

Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois member Ava “Sherlock” Cohn will present a webinar called “Clued-In: Interpreting Real Photo Postcards from the Diaspora” at 1 p.m. CST, Sunday, Feb. 21, 2021, for the JGSI virtual monthly meeting. After her talk, from about 2:30 to 3:30 p.m., Ava will speak about a limited number of old family photos submitted by JGSI members to info@jgsi.org by Jan. 20. For more details about this special event, see https://jgsi.org/event-3980888.

A great honor in memory of Peggy Morrow: Morasha, the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois newsletter formerly edited by the late Peggy Morrow z"l and designed by Marcia Hirsch, won the first-place award for newsletters in the International Society of Family History Writers and Editors’ 2020 Excellence in Writing Competition. Morasha is now edited by Dale Amdur and designed by Marcia Hirsch. Congratulations to all JGSI volunteers who regularly contribute to Morasha!

JGSI members are invited to write articles for Morasha, JGSI's newsletter. If you have an interesting family story or genealogical find, please send an article about it to morashaeditor@jgsi.org.