Maryland: Sephardic genealogy, Sept. 9

The Jewish Genealogy Society of Greater Washington is welcoming one of my favorite people - Dr. Jeffrey S. Malka - who will speak on "Sephardic Genealogy: Resources, Similarities and Differences."

The meeting begins at 1 p.m. Sunday, September 9, at Congregation Beth El in Bethesda, Maryland.

A researcher and award-winning author, Jeff will discuss getting started in Sephardic
Jewish genealogy, where the records are found and surnames. Particularly relevant resources for pre-expulsion Spain will be identified. He will discuss the similarities and differences between Sephardic and Eastern European Jewish genealogy, as well as the role and uses of DNA and the differences between Sephardim and Ashkenazim.

A retired professor of orthopaedic surgery, he wrote the prize-winning book "Sephardic Genealogy: Discovering your Sephardic Ancestors and their World" (Avotaynu, 2002) and is the creator of JewishGen's Sephardic SIG website based on his own popular Sephardic Genealogy Resources website.

Descended from a long line of Sephardic rabbis going back to 14th century cabbalists and authors (as well as Catalan blacksmiths and money lenders), Jeff is one of the pioneers of Sephardic genealogy in the U.S. and a well known lecturer on this topic. He was an invited lecturer at The Library of Congress and has also presented at several IAJGS conferences, the Washington Jewish Historical Society and Jewish genealogy societies in the U.S., Canada and Spain.

For directions and more information, visit www.jewishgen.org/jgsgw/

On a personal note, I attended his Barcelona presentation last year, along with nearly 100 others representing a cross-section of that Jewish community and other interested individuals. Jeff focused on the evolution of Sephardic Jewish names, illustrated with his own family's Spanish archival documents.