Posts by Michael Waas
138 posts
In case you missed my lecture, you can see the recording here. The lecture deals with the typical kind of registers in the Ottoman Archives that may survive with genealogical details.
Καλησπέρα σε όλους! *The synagogue in Veroia (source: *[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Synagogue_in_Veria.jpg](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:The_Synagogue_in_Veria.jpg)*)* **Summary: **The Sephardic Research Division is pleased to add its latest entry to the JewishGen Greece Database: The Male Census of Veroia, Greece from 1254 AH (1838-1839 CE). There are 80 records in this colle...
Now it's my turn to formally rebut the nonsense from the weekend. For JewishGen, as Associate Director of the Sephardic Research Division, I have written a short piece on why Columbus was neither Jewish nor was what the "researcher" did remotely close to good scientific, historical, nor genealogical practice.
A little further afield than the usual fare here but we at the Avotaynu DNA Project are pleased to share our preliminary findings on the Kaifeng Jewish community, connecting them to the global Jewish community. Kaifeng falls under the global Sephardic halakhic tradition.
Of interest for Medieval Spain, the Notary College of Catalunya has been digitizing their medieval archive spanning the 13th-16th centuries. They just added another batch bringing it to over 500,000 images online. It can be accessed here:https://arxiu.colegionotarial.org/DocumentoHappy hunting to the medievalists
I will be lecturing on March 7th at 2 PM EST as part of JewishGen Talks about the Izmir Jewish community, its history and genealogy, and a discovery that I made in the Ottoman Archives last year of a rare surviving register from the first census of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1830s that contained a surprise: surnames! Hope to see you there.
I know for many of you with Eastern Sephardi roots in Greece, pursuing your genealogy there can be daunting as for many communities, the archives available are fragmented and dispersed across the world. I wrote an article about pursuing your genealogy in Greece, including a case study from my own family. Let me know what you think!
Received this in my inbox today in case there is someone interested:**The Salti Institute for Ladino Studies at Bar-Ilan University will award up to two research grants topostdoctoral researchers seeking to focus on subjects related to Ladino language, literature andSephardic culture. The grants will be awarded for the academic year (2023-2024) and are aimedat encouraging and advancing a young gen...
Sad to share the news that Dr. Tamar Alexander passed away today. Dr. Alexander has been a key figure in the study and perpetuation of Ladino/Djudeo-Spanish. She leaves a wonderful legacy behind.
Adam Brown, Lea Coryell, and myself are pleased to share the first product of more than 6 years of careful research and collaboration, about our discovery of the surprising origins of a distinguished Colonial New Jersey family that fought alongside George Washington, the Coryells. This study has combined traditional genealogical and historical research with cutting edge YDNA research.
This one-day conference is taking place in November. Should be fascinating!
I am happy to share this exciting news from my friend Dr. Dov Cohen. His dissertation documenting the entire corpus of Ladino/Judeo-Spanish literature has been published and is available through Yad Ben Zvi in Jerusalem. It is only in Hebrew but documents more than 4,000 pieces of literature!
Sharing this exciting news from Devin E. S. Naar:A new position at the University of Washington has opened up: Assistant Professor in Jewish Cultures, Literatures, and Languages of the Eastern Mediterranean. Ladino a plus!Please feel free to share to any friends who might be qualified for the position! The details are in the link below.
Abraham Mendes o Casadinho, a man who didn’t quite fit the mold of 17th-century Portuguese Jewry in Amsterdam. Mark Te Pon has been researching this very interesting case, utilizing a variety of sources, including communal records from the Mahamad, municipal records, and legal archives. Happy to have assisted his research!
Our ancestors were complicated people, many of whom were even rough around the edges. Here is a story about how unconventional sources in the Amsterdam Archive brought to light not only an individual nearly forgotten to time, but a story of just how people always are people. Ton Tielen assisted with some of the research on this rather amusing and interesting episode of Portuguese Jews in the 1660s...
Great news to share: the Jewish Cemeteries in Turkey database has finally been published, after more than 30 years of waiting. H/t to Baris Telimen for alerting me.Have fun:
I wanted to share this survey going around from Michael Twitty, a wonderful chef and investigator of African and Jewish culinary heritage and tradition. We have more than a few members here who are a part of the African Sephardic Diaspora so I wanted to make sure this was shared here, so that your voices may be included in this.
I know many are fascinated by the history of our community, particularly as it relates to the genealogy and history of the conversos and the Inquisition. In my article today, I provide some historical background and explore one such New Christian family. This is the first part of an ongoing series on New Christians and genealogy. Next one coming up soon will be following one such family from life ...
I wrote an article giving some historical background and information on the Inquisition and genealogy. Florbela Veiga Frade you may find it of interest, I also explore some of the Inquisition processos of a family of surgeons in the 16th century. Happy for any feedback!
In this time of pandemic, it is always interesting to see how doctors practiced medicine in the past
Prepping for my lecture in May for the Global Nação conference in New York, I stumbled upon this really neat death record from Portugal, which has the notation "era de nação". Other records use this and Cristão Novo/a to mark Jews in the parish record. It's something I haven't really come across before but found the details here beautiful.
FYI this may be of interest for people to submit papers for:
An almost forgotten note to the tragedy of Salonika in the Shoah.
FYI the Amsterdam Archive is back to normal for the Portuguese registers.