Genealogist Sarina Roffé will present a talk titled “A Guide to Sephardic Genealogy” at the Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019, meeting of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois. Her presentation will begin at 2 p.m. at Temple Beth-El, 3610 Dundee Road, Northbrook, Ill.

Sarina Roffé is a professional genealogist, editor of Dorot: The Journal of the Jewish Genealogical Society (of New York), and founder of the Sephardic Heritage Project. She is responsible for translation and databasing of marriage and brit milah records on JewishGen.org.

While on the board of governors of JewishGen, she acquired several databases of Sephardic records, including cemetery records from Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, and Argentina. She serves on the IAJGS board of directors and presents often at IAJGS International Jewish Genealogy Conferences. Sarina has completed over a dozen genealogies. 

She is co-chair of the Brooklyn Jewish Historical Initiative, the first organization to document Brooklyn’s Jewish past. In addition, Sarina’s cookbook, Backyard Kitchen: Mediterranean Salads, and her Sarina’s Sephardic Cuisine iPhone cooking app are a testament to her commitment to furthering Sephardic culture through food. She has written hundreds of articles, chapters in books, and papers.

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois is a non-profit organization dedicated to helping members collect, preserve, and perpetuate the records and history of their ancestors. JGSI is a resource for the worldwide Jewish community to research their Chicago-area roots.

The JGSI motto is “Members Helping Members Since 1981.” The group has more than 300 members.

The JGSI meeting facilities at Temple Beth-El will open at 12:30 p.m. for those who want to use or borrow genealogy library materials, get help with genealogy websites or ask genealogical questions from genealogy expert volunteers before the main program begins at 2 p.m. For more information phone 312-666-0100.

JGSI members also have access to useful and informative online family history research resources, including a members forum, more than 40 video recordings of past speakers’ presentations, the free searchable JGSI Jewish Chicago Database, monthly JGSI E-News, quarterly Morasha JGSI newsletter, and much more.

Monthly meetings feature informative speakers as well as access to an 800-volume genealogy research library and expert volunteer genealogy help desk.

The JGSI library has more than 800 volumes of interest to Jewish family historians. Many are available for borrowing by JGSI members for a limited time. All are available for perusing from 12:30 to 1:55 p.m. at each regular monthly meeting.

At each regular JGSI meeting, the help desk operates from 12:30 to 1:55 p.m. Member volunteers access online databases and answer genealogical questions one-on-one for members and visitors as time allows.