## ***Researching the Sephardic Communities of the Ottoman Empire***## ***Sephardic World YouTube premiere, Sunday 11 August 2024***Jonathan McCollum’s presentation to our patrons last Sunday goes on general release this Sunday. The YouTube premiere is on Sunday 11 August 2024, at 11am in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 4am the next morning in Sydney. Watch this talk at: https://www.youtube.com/@SephardicGenealogyThe video will remain available on our YouTube channel after the premiere.Researching the Jewish communities in the Ottoman Empire has always been challenging. Our presentation by ***Jonathan McCollum*** will cover the use and accessibility of records from the Ottoman Empire for research into Sephardic families and communities.The discussion will include a review of imperial records in Ottoman Turkish and some record sets available in Ladino (Judeo-Spanish).**Jonathan McCollum, Ph.D.** is the content manager for the MENA region at FamilySearch and a visiting scholar at Brigham Young University where he leads the BYU/FamilySearch Ottoman Palestine Family History Project. He specialises in the history of the Middle East and the Ottoman Empire. After completing his BA (2004) and MA (2007) in history at BYU, Jonathan worked in the field of education in Turkey and Qatar for several years before returning to graduate school at UCLA, where he obtained his PhD in 2018.***Databases of the Jewish cemetery of The Hague now online***The first Sephardic Jews came to The Hague in the 17th century. Many of them were involved in diplomacy and trade. In the 18th-century Sephardic and Ashkenazi community life developed. Synagogues and schools were built, and charities were established. A burial ground was procured, in Scheveningen. Unusually, the burial ground was shared by Sephardim and Ashkenazim. The cemetery is still in use and can be visited.In 1983 a Foundation for the Maintenance of the Jewish Burial Ground in The Hague was established. From 1984 to 1992 the cemetery underwent restoration. Alongside the restoration, all gravestones were cleaned, photographed, and described, maps were made. The registers of graves from both communities were indexed. All the information about each grave was recorded on grave forms. The photographs of gravestones were put on cards with next to it the translation into Dutch of the text.Until recently the grave forms, the photographs, and the transcription of the grave inscriptions, and indexes, and maps could only be accessed by a visit to the Municipal Archives of The Hague. Recently, all that has been put online.https://encr.pw/65nAnFollowing the link will get you to the archives of the Foundation. Click on: “Uittreksels en indexen bij de begraafadministratie en de grafzerken”. Numbers 1, 2,, 3 have indexes on the given name of the deceased, on the given name of the father of the deceased, and on the surname of the deceased. Number 4 is a chronological list of those buried. The grave forms can be found under numbers 5-26. The maps are in number 28, and the cards with photographs and translations of the grave inscriptions are under numbers 49-78. Number 27 is an instruction for accessing it all, in Dutch.Ton finds using the indexes or the chronological list rather cumbersome. Luckily there is a simpler way to go about it. You can go the website of the Foundation.https://www.joodsebegraafplaats.nl/#:~:text=U%20bevindt%20zich%20op%20de,begraafplaats%20is%20in%201694%20gesticht.In the tabs right under the title, you will find; "Over de begraafplaats". Under that tab, you will find “Geschiedenis”(history) and Register. The register has an overall index of all the graves.https://www.joodsebegraafplaats.nl/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Index-Namen-Begraafplaats-rev-27-januari-2022.pdfThe column Zerknummer (Grave number) refers to the cards with photographs. The column Formulier refers to the number of the form. Both columns have gaps if there is either no gravestone or if there is nothing in the grave registers of the Jewish communities.***Can you Volunteer or Donate?***The Sephardic Genealogical Society is looking for volunteers. If you have skills and time to spare, please complete our questionnaire. We are particularly looking for people with video editing, fundraising, and web design experience.We rely on the support of our patrons. If you can support our work by donating as little as $5/month, please visit our Patreon page. We have a number of projects that require more substantial support. Please let us know if you can help.***Join our new WhatsApp channel***We have set up a WhatsApp channel to better help communication with supporters. If you have WhatsApp, please follow the channel.https://www.whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaHxAjhJ93wTMhWkTF0i***From the Sephardic Archives***The Golden Path: Maimonides Across Eight Centuries. The story of Maimonides and his legacy crosses centuries, continents, and cultures. This talk explored the life and impact of this multifaceted luminary through material objects, including manuscripts and rare printed books.David Sclar studies Jewish history and culture in the early modern period. He is currently Department Guest at Princeton University, and he has held fellowships at Harvard, Princeton, Oxford, the University of Toronto, and elsewhere. Watch here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOLPDXykKE