Sephardic Genealogical Society

The Sephardic Genealogical Society exists to promote, encourage and support research into Iberian Sephardic ancestry. Sephardic Jewish genealogy overlaps with other Jewish genealogies, as well as those of Spain, Portugal, the Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds.

Can you volunteer some time? We are especially looking for people with professional skills in web development, social media, fundraising, video editing and Big Data. Please answer our questionnaire.

The Sephardic Genealogical Society are considering holding a Sephardic symposium in the summer of 2025 in Lisbon. Should it happen, this event will be for patrons and invited guests only. Join our mailing list to keep up-to-date.

Goals

The Sephardic Genealogical Society seeks to:

Encourage people with Sephardic origins to research their family histories.
Provide free educational resources on Sephardic history and genealogy for everyone.
Offer a fun and supportive community to both beginners and experienced researchers.
Support the highest possible research and ethical standards.
Encourage the preservation of historic archives relevant to Sephardic history.
Build bridges to those in related fields of study.
Offer a distinctive Sephardic voice within the world of Jewish genealogy.
Offer a Jewish voice in the worlds of Iberian, Mediterranean and Atlantic genealogy.
Be a pioneer in applying new technologies to genealogy.
Be supportive and respectful of the Sephardic community and tradition.

Our Projects

The Sephardic World series of free online lectures allows non-academics to hear experts speakers on Sephardic genealogy, history and culture. You can watch recorded videos here.
We are training artificial intelligence software to transcribe 17th and 18th Century Portuguese-language manuscripts, starting with the early Accounts Books of the London congregation. The research is freely accessible on the A Nação Hebraica website.
Our first Geographical Information System (GIS) project is currently in stealth mode. It will be made public in 2024. It will present complex information in an accessible format.
The Avotaynu DNA Project has our active support in developing a library of yDNA from men of known patrilineal Sephardic ancestry. This enables research beyond the capacity of the archives.
The Sephardic Genealogical Society is building a family tree of the early modern Western/Portuguese Sephardic diaspora, employing new technologies.
We urgently seek funds to digitize at-risk genealogical records and to record tombstones in certain Arab countries.
Digitization projects in Israel, Germany and the United States need funding.

We are happy to provide our services for free to everyone, but they are not without cost to us. To provide us with monthly or annual financial support, please click here. If you can offer substantial support to help us finance our important work in preserving and sharing Sephardic Jewish heritage, please contact us at the email address below.

We now also have a WhatsApp channel.

Email: society@sephardicgenealogy.com