The Y-DNA Genetic Signature and Ethnic Origin of the Twersky Chassidic...
Throughout the centuries, the Jewish people have always prided themselves on their yichus (lineage, distinguished birth, or pedigree). Yichus was especially important for rabbinical families, and many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Personal Journey: The Early Badrians of Oberschlesein
I have known about my family history since childhood, but only segments of it. My parents, Lothar and Irma Gärtner (nee Badrian) migrated to Australia from Nazi Germany in 1938, the only passengers on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A New Genealogy for Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
In the past years, a wealth of 18th and 19th century Jewish genealogical resources have become available for Bohemia, the western half of Czechia (the new name for the Czech Republic, formerly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Personal Journey: In Search of the Lost Life and Art of Marie Rosenthal Hatschek
About 20 years ago I was contacted by a man I didn’t know who wanted to share a family history with me, and also pay me a visit. I was back East and he was out West, but he was on a personal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baghdadi Female Given Names -A Crowd-Sourced Fragmental List
Source: Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, Or Yehuda, Israel Little attention was dedicated so far to the research of female given names of the Jews in the Levant. The most recent dictionary by the late...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sephardi Tombstones found in Suriname – Index of Surnames
For the benefit of the genealogical community, AvotaynuDNA team member Rachel Brown has compiled an alphabetized index of all surnames found in the outstanding volume Remnant Stones: the Jewish...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The 20th Century Jewish Community of Havana, Cuba
The organized Jewish community in Cuba lasted about 50 years during the first half of the 20th century and was composed of three essentially separate groups, the North Americans, the Sephardim and the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Personal Journeys: Cousin Hillary Rodham Clinton
At my home, we refer to Hillary Rodham Clinton as Cousin Hillary. More precisely, the correct term would be step-cousin. Detailed research demonstrates that Hillary’s grandmother married my father’s...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Personal Journeys: Finding Mr. Katz
This article is a sequel to my earlier article in Avotaynu Online, entitled “From One Photograph to Journeys of Research and Discovery,”, in which I described how I uncovered and researched the...
View ArticleThe Y-DNA Genetic Signature and Ethnic Origin of the Twersky Chassidic...
Throughout the centuries, the Jewish people have always prided themselves on their yichus (lineage, distinguished birth, or pedigree). Yichus was especially important for rabbinical families, and many...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Personal Journey: The Early Badrians of Oberschlesein
I have known about my family history since childhood, but only segments of it. My parents, Lothar and Irma Gärtner (nee Badrian) migrated to Australia from Nazi Germany in 1938, the only passengers on...
View ArticleClik here to view.
A New Genealogy for Rabbi Isaac Mayer Wise
In the past years, a wealth of 18th and 19th century Jewish genealogical resources have become available for Bohemia, the western half of Czechia (the new name for the Czech Republic, formerly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Personal Journey: In Search of the Lost Life and Art of Marie Rosenthal Hatschek
About 20 years ago I was contacted by a man I didn’t know who wanted to share a family history with me, and also pay me a visit. I was back East and he was out West, but he was on a personal...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Baghdadi Female Given Names -A Crowd-Sourced Fragmental List
Source: Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center, Or Yehuda, Israel Little attention was dedicated so far to the research of female given names of the Jews in the Levant. The most recent dictionary by the late...
View ArticleClik here to view.
Sephardi Tombstones found in Suriname – Index of Surnames
For the benefit of the genealogical community, AvotaynuDNA team member Rachel Brown has compiled an alphabetized index of all surnames found in the outstanding volume Remnant Stones: the Jewish...
View ArticleInferring Sephardic Origins for Rabbi Meir Katzellenbogen from his Published...
Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen, the Maharam of Padua, remains an influential religious and historical figure both for his contributions to Talmudic and rabbinical interpretation and for his role as the...
View ArticleIndex of Jewish Surnames Found in 20th Century Cairo
The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable surge of publications, both academic and literary, about Jewish life in Egypt during the 20th century. The latest is the Ph.D. thesis by Dr.Liat Maggid...
View ArticleGuiding Principes of the Avotaynu DNA Project
The AvotaynuDNA-sponsored Genetic Census of the Jewish People enters its third year with active DNA testing being carried out within Jewish communities on six continents. As described previously in...
View ArticleDNA Testing for Newbies
DSo, you have made a lot of progress on your family tree and you ask, “What can DNA testing do for me?” In this short essay, I won’t answer your question by delving into the fascinating details of...
View ArticleClik here to view.
The Genetic Origins of Ashkenazi Jews
This article is based upon a presentation given at the Orlando IAJGS conference in July 2017—Ed. Ashkenazi Jews (from the Hebrew word for “German”) are the largest of the Jewish groups and number some...
View Article