Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto

Artificial Intelligence SIG Q&A Workshop
2026-04-23 19:00 - 20:30 (America/Toronto) | Virtual
Discover the Magic of the AI SIG: Bringing Our History into the Future
Have you heard the buzz about artificial intelligence (AI) but aren’t sure what it means for your family tree? The AI special interest group (SIG) is a new collaborative hub where we demystify the latest technology together.
We bridge the gap between “high-tech” ideas and the practical ways they can help you find your family. We skip the technical jargon and focus on knowledge exchange—sharing how tools like Large Language Models (LLMs) [often called “smart assistants” or “chatbots”] can breathe new life into your research.
This AI SIG meeting may include discussions on:

Hands-on Demos: See real-world showcases of how AI reads difficult handwriting (paleography) in English, Yiddish, Hebrew, or the multiple other languages of Europe and the Middle East.
Privacy & Security: Learn the “golden rules” of AI privacy—how to use these tools safely without compromising your family’s private data or DNA results.
Problem Solving: Participate in peer-to-peer troubleshooting to move past technical hurdles.
Advanced Techniques: Learn about meta-prompting (the art of giving the AI a specialized “role” or “expert persona”) to get much more accurate research results.
Enhancing Memories: Learn how to clear up blurry family photos or organize decades of notes in seconds.

Lead instructor Arthur Sissman acts as your personal “guide on the side” while our AI chatbot serves as the “sage on the stage.”

Celebrate Successes: Show the group what worked! Your breakthroughs provide a blueprint for others to follow.
Troubleshoot Failures: Hit a wall? Bring your “stuck” prompts and let Arthur and the Chatbot analyze the “why” to find a solution in real-time.
Interactive Growth: Move from a passive observer to an active participant in the future of genealogy.

In this month’s workshop, Arthur will demonstrate how to use NotebookLM.
AI SIG lecture presentations are open and free to the public; this workshop, however, is designed for in-depth, hands-on interaction among participants and is, therefore, reserved for JGS Toronto members only.
On Zoom only
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FAQ for this program:

Who may register for this program? Members only
Is it being recorded? Yes
Who may view the recording? Members only

IAJGS Artificial Intelligence for Jewish Genealogy Virtual Summit
2026-04-26 12:30 - 16:30 | Virtual
The International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) presents the AI for Jewish Genealogy Virtual Summit — a focused 4‑hour deep dive with two expert talks, a practitioners panel, and live audience Q&A.
Program topics + speakers + registration details coming soon.

MyHeritage SIG: What’s Brewing at MyHeritage? A Sneak Peek with Founder and CEO Gilad Japhet
2026-04-29 19:30 - 21:00 | Virtual
Please join us for an informative and engaging session as we bring you up to date with the latest developments from MyHeritage, as recently announced at RootsTech in March.
MyHeritage continues to evolve at a rapid pace, introducing innovative tools and technologies that are transforming the way we research and preserve our family histories. In this special session, you will hear from MyHeritage founder and CEO, Gilad Japhet who will provide an overview of the company’s newest features and advancements.
This presentation will highlight:

Powerful new research tools designed to enhance your family history discoveries
The latest developments in DNA analysis and matching
Cutting-edge AI features that are changing the landscape of genealogical research
Insights into the vision and future direction of MyHeritage
A preview of exciting innovations still to come

Whether you are a seasoned MyHeritage user or just beginning your genealogical journey, this session will offer valuable insights and practical knowledge to help you make the most of this dynamic platform.
We are especially pleased to share this presentation that was originally delivered in–person only at RootsTech and was not made available online—until now.
On Zoom only
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FAQs for this program:

Who may register for this program? Public
Is it being recorded? Yes
Who may view the recording? Members only

DNA Special Interest Group
2026-05-03 10:30 - 12:00 | Virtual
Our DNA Special Interest Group (SIG) offers an interactive forum where participants can learn how to use DNA as a tool for Jewish genealogy. Each session is self-contained and focuses on real case studies, practical tips, and guidance from our experts. Whether you’re just getting started with DNA testing or have been working with your matches for years, you’ll gain valuable insights you can apply directly to your own research.
You are welcome to join any or all of the sessions. No prior attendance is required, and every program is designed so that both new and returning participants can benefit fully.
Our DNA SIG Leaders:
Gil Bardige (Chicago, Illinois) has been a genealogist for over 40 years and a genetic genealogist since 2007. He has tested at the four major testing companies and is the co-administrator of three projects at FTDNA, including Jewish R1B and R-A11711 Subclade Projects. Gil is chair of the Columbus Ohio JGS, a volunteer at IAJGS Conferences (including the Program Committee), and director of the mentoring program. Over the last five years, he has regularly helped people navigate their DNA matches by speaking at dozens of Jewish genealogical societies. After his presentations, people often say: “Thank you, Gil, I am no longer confused!”
Arthur Sissman (Naples, Florida) has been engaged in family history genealogy since 1999 and genetic genealogy (DNA) since 2015. Arthur has built over 60 family history trees for his various family surname lines. In addition, he has tested his autosomal DNA at all the major DNA testing companies, and his Y-DNA and MtDNA at FamilyTreeDNA. Using his “3-Legged Stool Protocol” — focusing on surname, place, and DNA — Arthur has found previously unknown relatives and built a tree out to 1500 from Galicia/Romania, with over 50+ DNA matches across all branches. For information on Arthur’s Jewish Genealogy SIG monthly meetings and scheduled workshops, email genresearch13@yahoo.com.
Submit Your DNA Questions
Here’s your chance to send in your DNA-related inquiries to our experts, who are here to aid your research. When you submit your questions, there might be a request for consent to potentially share your screen, DNA match names, and family tree members. This sharing enables others to learn from the techniques used by our experts.
Please be sure to include comprehensive details with your question, highlighting your previous research. You’ll find the questionnaire form available on the registration page — please send your submissions in advance. This deadline ensures that our maven can contact you for any extra information, if required.
On Zoom only
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FAQ for this program:

Who may register for this program? Public
Is it being recorded? Yes
Who may view the recording? Members only

Board Meeting
2026-05-11 19:30 - 21:30, 2026-06-08 19:30 - 21:30

Victoria Day
2026-05-18

Erev Shavuot
2026-05-21

Shavuot
2026-05-22 - 2026-05-23

Artificial Intelligence Special Interest Group
2026-05-28 19:00 - 20:30 | Virtual
Unlock the Power of Our New AI Resource Library
Join the JGS Toronto AI SIG for a special workshop introducing our brand-new AI Resource Library available through the JGS Toronto website.
This session will demonstrate how to effectively use:

Our growing library of AI prompts
The AI guidebook and instructional materials
Research and genealogy related AI resources
Best practices for getting the most useful results from AI tools

Although the resource materials themselves will be publicly accessible, this interactive workshop is exclusively for JGS Toronto members.
Members attending the workshop will receive:

Step by step instruction on how to use the library
Guidance on accessing and adapting prompts effectively
Live demonstrations
Ask questions and learn practical techniques directly from our AI SIG leader, Arthur Sissman

If you want to learn how to make AI work for your genealogy and research needs, this workshop is an excellent place to begin.
On Zoom only
Register for this Program (members only)

FAQs for this program:

Who may register for this program? Members only
Is it being recorded? Yes
Who may view the recording? Members only

Annual General Meeting
2026-05-31 10:30 | Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M5N 1V8, Canada
The annual general meeting (AGM) of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto will be held on Sunday, 31 May 2026 at 10:30 a.m. ET
The meeting will take place at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Avenue, North York, Ontario and will also be conducted via Zoom.
We encourage your attendance and participation!
The AGM will be immediately followed at 11:00 a.m. by our May program featuring Peter Jassem, former chair of the Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada, who will be speaking on researching Shoah victims and survivors.
Advance registration is not required to attend the Annual General Meeting and/or Peter Jassem’s presentation in person. For participation via Zoom, register here:
Register for Zoom participation

Annual General Meeting Information
JGS Toronto’s officers and directors are elected annually at each Annual General Meeting to serve a one-year term through the following year’s AGM. According to the society’s By-laws, a maximum of fifteen (15) directors is permitted. We encourage and welcome your nominations for positions on the board of directors. Nominations should include the name of the person being nominated and, if applicable, the position for which the nomination is being made. Nominations must be accompanied by the agreement of two members (not including those who are part of the nominee’s family membership) in good standing making the nomination. Please send nominations for board positions by e-mail to the chair of the Nominations Committee, Sue Diamond-Gardner, at sdiamond@jgstoronto.ca by Friday, 08 May 2026 at noon.
The agenda for the annual general meeting appears below. Members wishing to ask questions at the AGM on matters set out in this agenda should address them in advance to president@jgstoronto.ca by Monday, 25 May 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
If you are unable to attend the annual general meeting in person or via Zoom and wish to appoint a proxyholder to represent you, please download and complete the Designation of Proxyholder form and submit it to secretary@jgstoronto.ca no later than Monday, 25 May 2026 at 5:00 p.m.
A summary of the 2025 financial statements will be presented during the meeting and will also be available to review in the Members area of the JGS Toronto website prior to the meeting, as will the minutes of the 2025 annual general meeting. Copies of the financial statements and meeting minutes may also be requested via e-mail from secretary@jgstoronto.ca.
Please note that, in accordance with the society’s By-laws, only members of JGS Toronto entitled to vote at the meeting will be admitted to the annual general meeting. The Shaarei Shomayim meeting room and Zoom session will open to the public immediately following adjournment of the AGM and prior to Peter Jassem’s presentation.

Annual General Meeting Agenda
10:30 a.m. — members only

Call to Order
Approval of the Agenda
Approval of the Minutes of the Annual General Meeting of 18 June 2025
President’s Report
Volunteer Recognition
In Memoriam
Treasurer’s Report

Approval of 2025 Financial Statements
Appointment of Auditor for 2026
Approval of Membership Dues for 2027

Nominations and Election

Report of the Nomination Committee
Election of 2026-2027 Board of Directors

Adjournment

Program
11:00 a.m. — public
Researching Shoah Victims and Survivors – Peter Jassem

In person at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Avenue, North York and on Zoom.
Register for Zoom participation

FAQ for this program:

Who may register for this program? Members only
Is it being recorded? Yes
Who may view the recording? Members only

Researching Shoah Victims & Survivors
2026-05-31 11:00 - 12:00 | Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M5N 1V8, Canada
Peter Jassem will describe his research on more than sixty victims and survivors of the Shoah, all of whom were close relatives on his father’s side. He will explain how he documented the circumstances of their deaths or survival, verified vital records, collected photographs, and traced the postwar experiences of those who survived. While his focus is on Poland, where all of the individuals he researched lived prior to the Holocaust, many of the resources and methodologies he used are applicable to research on former Jewish citizens of other European countries.
The presentation will be richly illustrated and will be recorded for the benefit of members.
Peter Jassem is a Polish-born architect who, upon discovering his Jewish roots in adulthood, embraced his new identity and dedicated decades of his life to Jewish genealogical research and volunteer work.
He served as a board member of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto) [now JGS Toronto] for some time, chaired the programming of the 22nd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy held in Toronto in 2002, for which he was praised by the Jerusalem Post, and has contributed articles to Shem Tov.
For more than 15 years he chaired the Polish-Jewish Heritage Foundation of Canada, and for 18 years served on the Board of Jewish Records Indexing–Poland, helping to build one of the world’s most significant Jewish genealogical resources. He currently chairs the Canadian Friends of the POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw. Over the years, Peter has organized landmark cultural programs, Holocaust education initiatives, exhibitions, and community events.
Recently, his research has focused on the wartime fate and experiences of the extended family of his Jewish father. This work led to the submission of dozens of Pages of Testimony to Yad Vashem and he has begun work on a book documenting their history.
Peter’s contributions have been recognized with numerous honours, including the Knight’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Poland for building bridges of understanding and respect between Jewish and Polish communities, and the Sovereign’s Medal for Volunteers, awarded in Canada for his dedication to preserving the lessons of humanity and tolerance learned from Holocaust survivors.
In person at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Avenue, North York and on Zoom.
Register for this Program

FAQ for this program:

Who may register for this program? Public
Is it being recorded? Yes
Who may view the recording? Members only

Ontario Ancestors (OGS) -- Virtual Conference 2026: From Steamships to Microchips
2026-06-12 - 2026-06-14 | Virtual
The Ontario Ancestors (Ontario Genealogical Society) 2026 Virtual Conference: From Steamships to Microchips will be held 12-14 June 2026.
Be prepared to enjoy three days filled with presentations to assist you with your genealogical and family history research. The conference kicks off Friday evening with an exciting keynote presentation and on Saturday and Sunday you will be able to choose from 20 exciting presentations given by Canadian and international speakers. Both days will offer you two streams of sessions, from which you can choose your preferences: one for ‘microchips’: artificial intelligence and other technology and the other for ‘steamships’: immigration and transportation. Session recordings will be available for viewing until 20 July 2026.
The price for a conference pass is $89 for OGS members or $99 for non-members. A $10 early bird registration discount is available through 30 April 2026.
For more information, visit the OGS conference website.

Brick Walls and Breakthroughs
2026-06-17 19:30 - 21:00 | Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Ave., Toronto, Ontario, M5N 1V8, Canada
The Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto will once again be hosting our extremely popular annual Brick Walls and Breakthroughs meeting on Wednesday evening, 17 June 2026. This program features stories by our members who share their challenges, techniques, and solutions that led to research breakthroughs.
In person at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Avenue, North York and on Zoom. Advance registration is not required for in-person attendance. For participation via Zoom, register here:
Register for Zoom participation

1. Discovering My Great Grandmother’s Maiden Name
Speaker: John Diener
When John Diener began researching his maternal ancestry in the 1990s, he quickly encountered a dilemma. Believing that his great-grandmother Rivkah Wiseberg’s maiden name was Kahansky, he soon discovered a number of discrepancies in the documentation. His extensive research revealed that her name was not what he and the rest of his family had always thought. Discovering the truth led Diener to dozens of relatives on a whole new, previously unknown branch of his family tree.
John Diener has been researching his family roots for more than 30 years. He has served as vice-president of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Ottawa, Co-Chair of Jewish Memorial Gardens in Ottawa and is currently the president of the Ottawa Jewish Historical Society. He has also served on the board of Gesher Galicia and has recently joined the board of the National Holocaust Monument Committee.

2. My Relative, Sandy Koufax
Speaker: David Price
As one of our most prolific members and researchers, David Price continues to discover more and more connections to relatives throughout the world. For this year’s Brick Walls and Breakthroughs presentation, David relates how after many years of speculation, he has finally confirmed his family’s relationship to the great Dodgers pitcher Sandy Koufax.
David Price has been a member of JGS Toronto since 1998. He spent over 30 years as a translator for JRI-Poland and the Polish LDS microfilms. He currently volunteers in our Mentors and Mavens program and is always willing to lend a hand.

3. Tracking Down the Memories of Jewish Rouyn-Noranda
Speakers: Rosalie Mednick Nepom, Harvey Korman, Esther Korman-Verred and Sol Mednick
From the 1920s through to the 70s, the northern mining Quebec town of Rouyn-Noranda had a small but vibrant Jewish community. During the pandemic in 2020, a group of ex-residents got together to develop a definitive volume about their home town.
JGS-Toronto member Rosalie Mednick Nepom and her brother Sol Mednick along with cousins Harvey Korman, Esther Korman-Verred and retired dentist, Dr. Isaac Katz embarked on a quest to compile a group of over 40 stories to preserve the history and first person memories of the now vanished local Jewish population.
With the help of former JGS Toronto president Bill Gladstone, they were able to research and locate many former residents (or their descendants) and elicit their fond recollections. In 2023, they published “The Jewish Community of Rouyn-Noranda: The Life and History of a Small Jewish Community in Northern Quebec.”
In this special presentation, Rosalie, Harvey, Sol and Esther will detail the challenges and brick walls they encountered and how they captured the stories of this lost community.
After the meeting, copies of their book will be available for sale.

4. Family Artifacts in Plain Sight Yield Genealogical Breakthroughs
Speaker: Jerry Scherer
For JGS Toronto Board member Jerry Scherer, one of the most extraordinary discoveries of his genealogical journey was not found in an archive, a database, or a distant cemetery. It was an artifact sitting in his own home. One remarkable story of survival, finally unlocked with the help of artificial intelligence (AI). Where did it come from? What does it reveal? And why does it still matter today? Come listen and find out.
Jerry is a long time member of JGS Toronto and was named the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) Volunteer of the Year for 2024. He specializes in using AI to help researchers locate records, clarify family lines, and preserve history for future generations.

In person at Shaarei Shomayim Congregation, 470 Glencairn Avenue, North York and on Zoom. Advance registration is not required for in-person attendance. For participation via Zoom, register here:
Register for Zoom participation

FAQ for this program:

Who may register for this program? Public
Is it being recorded? Yes
Who may view the recording? Members only

Labour Day
2026-09-07

Erev Rosh HaShanah
2026-09-11

Rosh HaShanah
2026-09-12 - 2026-09-13

Erev Yom Kippur
2026-09-20

Yom Kippur
2026-09-21

Erev Sukkot
2026-09-25

Sukkot
2026-09-26 - 2026-10-02

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation
2026-09-30

Shemini Atzeret
2026-10-03

Simchat Torah
2026-10-04

Thanksgiving
2026-10-12

Remembrance Day
2026-11-11

Erev Chanukah
2026-12-04

Chanukah
2026-12-05 - 2026-12-12

Christmas
2026-12-25

Boxing Day
2026-12-26
