The JGS Toronto Resources section highlights the projects and public datasets that we have developed to expand access to our Society’s resources. The listings include information about our cemetery and memorial plaque projects, our quarterly journal that has been published since 1985, our library, a database of passenger information (the Rotenberg Ledger), as well as recordings of our public programming, and other supports for members. These resources are available on this website or are shared with partner organizations. The names of these partners are shown in brackets in the titles of those projects. All of these resources are publicly accessible, free of charge, with the exception of recordings of past presentations and the most recent four issues of Shem Tov. Upon joining JGS Toronto, they will also be available to you.  

Artificial Intelligence Resources

This growing public resource is designed to help genealogists, researchers, and family historians make practical use of artificial intelligence tools in their research and writing projects.

The AI resource library includes:

  • A growing collection of ready to use AI prompts for genealogy and research
  • AI guidebooks and instructional materials
  • Research resources and practical examples
  • Prompt writing techniques and best practices
  • Tips for improving AI generated results
  • Educational materials for beginners and experienced users alike

Whether you are exploring AI for the first time or already experimenting with advanced tools, the library offers practical resources to help you work more effectively, efficiently, and creatively.

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Books: Tracing Our Roots

“Tracing Our Roots, Telling Our Stories”, published 2011, Jewish Genealogical Society of Canada (Toronto)
“Tracing Our Roots, Telling More Stories”, published 2025, Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto

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 our Society’s 25th anniversary, forty-four of our members shared stories of family, migration, found cousins, loss and discovery, and life in the old country and in our new country, Canada. While the book is now out of print, a copy is available in our Library collection at the Toronto Reference Library and copies are also available for loan at the Toronto Public Library. Read a blog post by Shelly Sanders reviewing the book.

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).

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Cemetery Records (JewishGen)

The Cemetery Project is one of the oldest projects, beginning with the creation of the Society in 1985. Members of JGS Toronto  document the burials in the earliest Jewish cemeteries in Toronto, beginning with the Pape Avenue (Jew’s) Cemetery, first by manually transcribing the information recorded on the headstones, and later by photographing the headstones. This information is made available via the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR), a database of names and other identifying information from Jewish cemeteries and burial records worldwide, from the earliest records to the present. JOWBR’s aim is to catalogue extant data about Jewish cemeteries and burial records worldwide.

The Cemetery Project now maintains and updates the burial records for the twelve Toronto-area Jewish cemeteries (over 85,000 records and corresponding photographs to-date), as well as Jewish cemetery sections in fifteen other cities in Ontario (over 4,000 records and photographs as of 2013). Volunteers document the burials in each cemetery section and photograph and transcribe the headstones for updates to JOWBR.

  • The twelve Toronto Jewish cemeteries included in our project are:
  • Bathurst Lawn Memorial Park
  • Beth Tzedec Memorial Park
  • Dawes Road Cemetery
  • Holy Blossom Memorial Park
  • Jones Avenue Cemetery
  • Lambton Hills Cemetery
  • McCowan Road Cemetery
  • Mount Sinai Memorial Park
  • Pape Avenue Cemetery
  • Pardes Chaim Cemetery
  • Pardes Shalom Cemetery
  • Roselawn Avenue Cemetery

Cemeteries in other Ontario cities (does not include those maintained by JGS Hamilton or JGS Ottawa) are:

  • Beth Jacob Congregation of Kitchener-Waterloo                       Kitchener
  • B’nai Israel Cemetery                                                                      St. Catherines
  • Duffin Meadows Cemetery – Sections 2, 10 & 12                      Pickering
  • Elgin Mills Cemetery – Oraynu Congregation                              Richmond Hill
  • Innisvale Cemetery – Am Shalom Congregation                         Innisfil
  • Krugerdorf Hebrew Cemetery                                                        Krugerdorf
  • Little Lake Cemetery – Beth Israel Synagogue                           Peterborough
  • Lundy’s Lane Cemetery – Jewish Section                                   Niagara Falls
  • Meadowvale Cemetery – Solel Congregation of Mississauga  Brampton
  • Mount Hope Cemetery – Beth David                                            Brantford
  • Or Shalom Cemetery                                                                      London
  • Parkview Cemetery – Temple Shalom                                          Waterloo
  • Restmount Temple Israel Cemetery                                             London
  • Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery                                                      Windsor
  • Sons of Jacob Memorial Park                                                        Belleville
  • Temple Beth El Cemetery                                                              Windsor
  • Woodlawn Memorial Park – Beth Isaiah Congregation              Guelph

 

As genealogists , we know how valuable these records can be, particularly for future generations looking for clues to their family heritage. If you are interested in helping to crop and resize photos to meet JOWBR submission standards, or to take photographs of headstones at local cemeteries, please contact [email protected].

For information regarding a Toronto or Ontario Jewish burial, or to request a headstone photograph, please first consult JOWBR at https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Cemetery/ [free registration to the JewishGen website is required] to locate the burial information (if it exists). If so, please note the cemetery and section names, as well as the plot information, and e-mail your request to [email protected]. In response, we will send you any existing photos in response, or if we do not have a photo in our files, we will try to fulfill your request in a future cemetery visit. There is no charge for this service, although donations at jgstoronto.ca/donate are appreciated. Permission is granted to add photos which we have provided – with attribution (e.g., “Courtesy of JGS Toronto”) – to your family tree and/or other relevant websites.

 

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JGS Toronto Library Collection

JGS Toronto Library (Toronto Reference Library)  

Our library contains many volumes of local Jewish family history, Who’s Who in Canadian Jewry, genealogical research guides, titles on Jewish surnames, numerous Yizkor books, and chronicles of the Holocaust. In addition, items relevant to Jewish communities in Canada, United States, and Europe enhance the collection.

The collection is housed at the Toronto Public Library, in the Toronto Reference Library, at 789 Yonge Street, just north of Bloor Street. It is a reference, non-circulating collection, and is held in closed stacks on the 2nd floor in the Humanities and Social Sciences Department.

To view the holdings of the JGS Toronto’s Library Collection, click on the Subject, Title and Author tabs shown below. However, to appreciate the full extent of the important genealogical resources that are available, plan a visit to the JGS Toronto’s Library Collection.

“Cataloguing website in progress.”

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Memorial Plaques

Memorial Plaques (JewishGen) 

The JewishGen Memorial Plaques Project (MEMPLAQs) is a searchable database of names and other identifying information from Jewish synagogue and memorial records (“Yahrzeit Plaques”) worldwide. It is a compilation of two linked databases: a database of memorial plaques, and a database of information about each synagogue. The Memorial Plaques Project’s aim is to catalogue data about Jewish synagogue and memorial records worldwide. You may find the MEMPLAQs records at https://www.jewishgen.org/databases/Memorial/:

JGS Toronto participates in the JewishGen MEMPLAQs project and the data we collect is incorporated into the relevant JewishGen “All Country” Databases. As of January 2021, we have provided 5,066 memorial records for five Toronto area synagogues to JewishGen’s website.

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Mentors and Mavens (members only)

Mentors and Mavens

Are you new to genealogy? Have you hit a brick wall?  Do you need assistance with a translation? We are here to help you!

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto has many knowledgeable members who can offer fellow members one-on-one genealogy mentoring by phone or email. We will try to provide guidance to enable you to further your research by directing you to specific methods and useful tips and websites. This support is available for current JGS Toronto members only. If you are not a member, you may join or renew online (need improved link).

For help, please contact [email protected]

  • to be matched with a mentor or maven – please send a short description of your request
  • to volunteer to be a mentor or a maven – please state your area of expertise/knowledge

 

 

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Past Presentations and Workshops

Past Presentations and Workshops

Audio and video recordings of previous presentations and workshops since 2018 are accessible to members of our Society. They include recordings of monthly programming and Special Interest Group meetings.

If you are not a member, you may join our Society and have access to presentations that cover a wide range of topics of interest to genealogists.

The recordings are available for those presentations where speakers gave permission to upload distribute recordings. Please note that the material is only for educational purposes and for the personal use of members of the JGS Toronto and may not be distributed to others.  https://jgstoronto.ca/past-presentations-workshops/page/2/

A sampling of past presentations includes:

 

 

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Polish Records Translation Project

Polish Records Translation project

The JGS Toronto Polish Records Translation Project funds and manages the translation of Jewish vital records from Poland. The translation of these vital records is a valuable service, as it helps genealogists use essential information about their ancestors, which is normally available only in the language of its creation. Without translation, many genealogists are unable to read or use these Russian or Polish language records. After translation, the records are available to all researchers, online and free of charge, in collaboration with JRI-Poland.

A link to all available records at JRI-Poland is: https://jri-poland.org/jriplweb.htm

To date, our project has funded the translation of selected records for the following 14 Polish towns or cities, including: Bedzin, Bialobrzeg, Czestochow, Kielce, Kosow Lacki, Lipsko, Lodz, Piaseczno, Plonsk, Przytyk, Radom, Radoszyce, and Sosnowiec.

Charitable donations by Canadians to support this project are eligible for tax receipts acceptable to the Canada Revenue Agency. You may donate here: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/charities/jewish_genealogical_society_of_toronto/

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Rotenberg Ledger

Rotenberg Ledger
This valuable resource for Jewish genealogists with roots in Toronto was indexed by JGS Toronto. The Rotenberg Ledger provides passenger information for people, many of Jewish origin from Central and Eastern Europe, traveling to Toronto between 6 June 1911 and 19 January 1915. The information contained in the ledger can include the names of purchaser of the ticket(s) and the passenger(s), ages of children, points of embarkation and debarkation, passenger line, Toronto address, cost of voyage etc.

Members of JGS of Canada (Toronto) photographed over 800 pages and entered the index of names into a spreadsheet which is available online at https://jgstoronto.ca/research/rotenberg-ledger/

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Shem Tov – Past Issues

Shem Tov is the award-winning quarterly newsletter of the Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto. Back issues of the newsletter dating back to the very first newsletter printed in 1985 can be accessed on our website.

  • Members have access to all indexed issues, via the Members Area on this website. Recent issues are available here, while back issues are available here.
  • Non-members may look at past issues for FREE, with the exception of the past 4 issues (one year) here. To see more recent issues, you must be a member of JGS Toronto: Click here to read more about becoming a member.
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Special Interest Groups

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto’s special interest groups (SIGs) and networking forums allow members with particular interests to share knowledge, ideas and information. Our SIGs help you connect with other members of JGS Toronto who have similar goals and challenges. Multiple SIGs have been established: Global Heritage (geographic focus, including Poland, Ukraine, and others), Software (MyHeritage and Family Tree Maker), DNA, and Artificial Intelligence.

Although our SIG meetings were historically held in person, we have now moved our SIG programs to virtual meetings and presentations in order to better serve our local and global membership.

Most special interest groups meetings are open to the public, however workshops and special presentations may be restricted to members of JGS Toronto. To join JGS Toronto, complete the form on our Become a Member page.

Read more about our SIGs at https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XcK1ydfrGjqhqcNqWuWFIlaf41LMajyO/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=114579112302851043665&rtpof=true&sd=true

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Toronto Jewish Families History Project

Toronto Jewish Families History Project – Goldenberg Scrolls (MyHeritage)

The Jewish Genealogical Society of Toronto, in partnership with MyHeritage, has created a searchable on-line database of more than 2,700 names taken from the family trees recorded by the late Toronto physician, Dr. Henry Goldenberg.

The Goldenberg scrolls were the first component of our Toronto Jewish Family History Project. Many years ago, during the mid 1900’s, the late Dr. Henry Goldenberg (1918-2001), a highly respected physician in Toronto, asked many of his Galician-born patients about their family histories and sketched out their family trees on long sheets of paper from his medical office.

 

Our project is based on the hypothesis that many of the early Jewish families in Toronto were related and that they form the backbone of that community. One of our primary aims is to make available important sources of genealogical information to further our knowledge of the genealogical and historical roots of Toronto Jewry. The main years of our study are from 1890 to the present as we find descendants of our original residents and demonstrate their growth in the community, the continent, and around the world.

To view our database please click here. Enjoy!

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