San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society

01/13/2026

Uploaded a couple of videos to the SFBAJGS YouTube channel!

Share your videos with friends, family, and the world

01/12/2026

New video on Youtube of a great talk today

Susan Rosin, the volunteer head of the JewishGen Yiskor book project and JewishGen Press, discusses the history of Yizkor books, where they started, and how ...

10/24/2025

In-person hands-on workshop!

Digitize Your Photos for Free
Sunday, November 26, 2025
1:00-3:00 p.m.
Oakland FamilySearch Center
4766 Lincoln Avenue, Oakland, California

The FamilySearch Center is on the right as you enter the Temple grounds. It is in the Visitors Center on the lower level.

Get started on your family albums for the holidays and for your genealogy research.

Staff will demonstrate the free resources that allow you to digitize photos, CD's, tapes, and objects.

RSVP to [email protected]

A flyer for the event is at

10/17/2025

Free Zoom presentation

How to Research Your Jewish Ancestors in the UK
Jeanette R. Rosenberg OBE, speaker
Sunday, October 19, 2025
1:00-2:30 p.m. Pacific Time

This is an introductory talk about researching Jewish genealogy in the UK. The talk covers immigration to the UK and all the major records sources, from vital records and census through to other records available. Some of the records are specifically Jewish sources and others are not. The talk covers England and Wales, as well as Scottish and Irish records.

Jeanette R. Rosenberg OBE is a professional genealogist and member of the UK Association of Genealogists and Researchers in Archives. She holds a Postgraduate Diploma in Genealogical Studies from Strathclyde University. A popular and knowledgeable Jewish/general genealogy speaker around the UK and abroad, Jeanette regularly researches at German archives and participates in local history seminars. Jeanette leads for the Jewish Genealogical Society of Great Britain (JGSGB) on education/mentoring, exhibitions, outreach, and social media and chairs JGSGB’s German SIG. A JewishGen GerSIG Director from 2009–2019, Jeanette previously led on GerSIG’s IAJGS conference arrangements. She is the genealogy representative on the ITS Oversight Committee, strategically managing Britain’s copy of the ITS Arolsen Archive.

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZ0qdeGorD8qHtAU_NdOhmCN_R6N8HfSxWFA

09/08/2025

Free Zoom presentation!

San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society
Marisa Louie Lee, speaker
Monday, September 8, 2025
5:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Exploring the National Archives Website for Family History Research

This presentation will explain the ins and outs of federal government records and show you some of the great family history resources on the National Archives website. We'll explore the online catalog and learn how to make connections between the catalog with what's online at Ancestry, FamilySearch, and elsewhere.

Marisa Louie Lee is a professional researcher who specializes in federal government records. Having worked for the National Archives in San Francisco, she is intimately familiar with navigating the National Archives catalog and related online databases.

https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZMkcuqvqTIuE9PTh32qOrRQ4IKkDrwZEwkw

09/01/2025

In November and December, we will elect a President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer for a two-year term, 2026-2027. You may nominate yourself or someone else. The Nominating Committee is especially looking for candidates for Treasurer. To nominate yourself or someone else, DM the organization on Facebook messenger or send an email to: [email protected].

07/21/2025

Free Zoom presentation!

San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society
Steve Morse, speaker
Monday, July 28, 2025 (rescheduled)
4:00 p.m. Pacific Time

One Step Webpages: A Hodgepodge of Lesser Known Gems (revised)

This is a brand-new revised sequel to the Potpourri talk. The One-Step Website has too many utilities to be covered in a single talk, and many of them found their way to the cutting room floor when the Potpourri talk was being edited. Several of those are quite useful, however. This talk describes those gems that you might not otherwise be aware of. They range from problems with genealogical searches and cursive writing, to problems with accented characters, to problems with large numbers, and many other gems as well.

Steve Morse is the creator of the One-Step Website, for which he has received both the Lifetime Achievement Award and the Outstanding Contribution Award from IAJGS, the Award of Merit from the National Genealogical Society, the first ever Excellence Award from the Association of Professional Genealogists, and two awards that he cannot pronounce from Polish genealogical societies. In his other life Morse is a computer professional with a doctorate degree in electrical engineering. He has held various research, development, and teaching positions, authored numerous technical papers, and written four textbooks and holds four patents.

This is a brand-new revised sequel to the Potpourri talk. The One-Step Website has too many utilities to be covered in a single talk, so many of them found their way to the cutting room floor when the Potpourri talk was being edited. Several of those are quite useful, however. This talk describes th...

05/04/2025

Free Zoom presentation!

San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society
Monday, May 5, 2025
4:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Using Archives to Fill the Gaps in Your Ancestor’s Timeline, by Melissa Barker

Do you have gaps of missing information in your ancestor’s timeline? Using archives and the records they hold can fill in those gaps. Learn about unique records that are found in archives that will help tell your ancestor’s story and add information to your ancestor’s timeline.

Melissa Barker is a Certified Archives Manager and Public Historian currently working at the Houston County, Tennessee Archives & Museum. She is known as The Archive Lady in the genealogy community. She writes a popular blog titled A Genealogist in the Archives. She has been a professional genealogist for the past 19 years with expertise in Tennessee records. She has been researching her own family history for the past 34 years.

Do you have gaps of missing information in your ancestor’s timeline? Using archives and the records they hold can fill in those gaps. Learn about unique records that are found in archives that will help tell your ancestor’s story and add information to your ancestor’s timeline. Speaker Melissa...

03/27/2025

San Francisco Bay Area Jewish Genealogical Society
Sunday, April 6, 2025
1:00 p.m. Pacific Time

Oral History: Interviewing Family Members
Speaker Basya Petnick

The interview is an essential part of any oral history project. This presentation will focus on key questions about planning and conducting the interview itself. We will discuss defining the goals of your oral history project and then creating broad topics and questions to align with your stated goals. We will examine how an interview compares to a good conversation and how genealogy and oral history complement each other. Finally, we will review strategies and techniques for interviewing older individuals and the ethical considerations that are needed for your project.

Basya Petnick is the founder and owner of Books & Lives, which has received numerous commissions to conduct oral history projects in the Bay Area and beyond. She has partnered with the University of California at Berkeley on three projects focused on Jewish narrators and roughly a hundred other projects. For eight years, she served as co-director of the Legacy Oral History Program of the Museum of the Performance & Design, where she used oral history practices to document music, theater, and dance artists in the Bay Area. Petnick also served as Director of the 75th Anniversary Alumni Memoir Project for San Francisco Ballet.

Register at
https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYsc-2rrDkuHtNVYnXaA6Bw9Ae0QIV1GZE2

This Zoom presentation is free and open to all interested individuals.

The interview is an essential part of any oral history project. This presentation will focus on key questions about planning and conducting the interview itself. We will discuss defining the goals of your oral history project and then creating broad topics and questions to align with your stated goa...

03/15/2025

We were very happy to host Daniel Horowitz of MyHeritage yesterday at the Oakland FamilySearch Library for a presentation on MyHeritage Advanced Features and Technologies. Daniel allowed us to record his presentation, which is now available on our YouTube channel until June 13.

Check out the latest MyHeritage innovations to expand your research! Explore advanced features that will enhance your family tree and make the most of your ...

02/26/2025

Monday, March 10, 2025
via ZOOM
5 pm to 6:30 pm, Pacific Time
FREE, Virtual, and Open to all

Jewish Fraternal Organizations of the Early 20th Century
Speaker: Hal Bookbinder

Register here:

Our ancestors created a wide variety of organizations to provide mutual support, from religious to social, educational, insurance, and burial services. “Landsmanshaftn” brought together individuals who originated from the same town or area. Other Jewish fraternal organizations were organized int...

01/27/2025

On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, we remember the six million Jewish victims of the Shoah and millions of other victims of N**i persecution. This solemn day honors the lives lost and the communities destroyed.

January 27th was designated by the United Nations General Assembly as International Holocaust Remembrance Day to commemorate the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau on January 27, 1945. This year, we commemorate the 80th anniversary of this pivotal moment in history, a reminder of the horrors of unchecked hatred and the enduring strength of those who survived.

On this day, we honor the victims by reading their names, lighting candles in their memory, and committing to learn more about the Holocaust. Knowledge is the most powerful tool we have in preventing history from repeating itself.

We encourage you to explore the resources available through JewishGen, including our Holocaust Database (https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Holocaust/) and our online Yizkor book translations (https://www.jewishgen.org/Yizkor/translations/), to learn more about the victims as well as Jewish life before, during, and after the Holocaust.