About
Established in 1985 as a registered charitable organization, JGS Toronto provides a forum for the exchange of genealogical knowledge and information through this website and also via its newsletter, Shem Tov, its collection of books at the Toronto Reference Library, regular monthly presentations, workshops, and Special Interest Groups.
In 2025, we celebrated the Society's 40th anniversary with a gala celebration. You can view the legacy video which was shown at the gala on our YouTube channel.
What's New
Jewish Genealogy + AI: An Interactive Show-and-Tell Workshop
Have you ever wondered what AI could actually do with your great-grandmother’s passenger manifest — or that headstone you can’t quite read?
Browse the free AI guidebooks and prompts available through JGS Toronto and, if you have 15–30 minutes to spare, try something before we meet.
Click on the More Information button for details and registration link.
Date: Thursday 25 June 2026
Time: 7:00 pm ET
Location: Online via Zoom
This interactive workshop is open only to members of JGS Toronto.
Gert Rogers z"l
It is with profound sadness that we advise our members and friends of the death of Gert Solnik Rogers z”l on Tuesday, 21 April 2026, in Toronto.
Gert had been a member of JGS Toronto since November 1987 and served in numerous roles, including as the society's president from 1998 through 2001.
Spotlight
For over forty years – since March 1985 – the members of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto have been gathering to share stories and to assist one another in discovering their own family histories. Along the way, they have shared research techniques, discovered sources of information, and have documented their Jewish family histories that contribute to the worldwide collection of Jewish genealogical data.
In 2011, on the occasion of the Society’s 25th anniversary, we published Tracing our Roots, Telling our Stories. Forty-four of our members shared stories of family, migration, cousins, loss and discovery, and life in the old country and in their new home, Canada.
In 2025, we celebrated our fortieth anniversary and we were pleased to share more accounts from our members of the results of their family history research: Tracing Our Roots, Telling More Stories. Thirty-six authors have shared personal stories that will hopefully inspire each of us to trace our own roots and tell our own stories.
Copies of Tracing Our Roots, Telling More Stories are available for purchase for $40 each. The books can be picked up at a future JGS Toronto in-person event or can be shipped to you (additional charges apply).
Shem Tov
Shem Tov is our award-winning quarterly newsletter, published since our inception in 1985. Past issues are accessible to all our visitors. Current issues are available only to members of JGS Toronto and can be accessed from the Members page.
Articles in the March 2026 issue:
- Yad Vashem: Finding Relatives Lost in the Holocaust
- The Museum of Jewish Heritage in New York launches online access to its permanent collection
- Transmitting Family History
- For Those with Connections to Vienna
... and more!
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Upcoming Events
Artificial Intelligence Special Interest Group
Jewish Genealogy + AI: An Interactive Show-and-Tell Workshop Have you ever wondered what AI could actually do with your great-grandmother's passenger manifest — or that headstone you can't quite read? Browse the free AI guidebooks and prompts available through JGS Toronto and, if you have 15–30 minutes to spare, try […]