This morning I was reading the latest digest from the JewishGen.org mailing list and there was a great announcement yesterday.  In case you missed it, there is now a great resource to add to your educational arsenal.  I have been a member (off and on) of the JGSNY and I have found it to be a fantastic resource.  I don’t have a NY connection on my Jewish side, but their programs, publications, and access to Jewishdata.com has made it a really great value for anyone with Jewish ancestry.  Best of all the society now has many podcasts of past presentations available for FREE on their website.  I know I’ll be spending some time in the next month listening to those!  Check it out for yourself and if you enjoy their content- join the society.  They are a great group with an excellent newsletter.

Subject: Announcing new website for JGS of New York (JGSNY)
From: “Steve Stein” <steinsteve@verizon.net>
Date: Sun, 29 Nov 2015 16:12:20 -0500
X-Message-Number: 4

This is to let the JewishGen community know that the Jewish Genealogical Society, Inc., a.k.a. JGS of New York, now has a totally revamped website. We have kept all the content of our old site, fixed a couple of problems, and added some new and exciting features as well, both for the genealogical community at large, and specifically for our members. To access the site, type www.jgsny.org/index.php (it will shortly be just www.jgsny.org, as it was before).

Among the new features:

— We have more than 30 audio podcasts of programs given between 2009 and 2013 (i.e. two years old or more) available for streaming. That number continues to grow as we continue to gather and edit more past recordings. These podcasts are available FREE OF CHARGE. They cover detailed “how to” talks, book presentations, panel discussions, synagogue tours, and a variety of historical or other background subjects. Most are of general interest to the community at large; some relate specifically to the New York area. Many of the speakers are well-known people in the Jewish genealogy community, such as Phyllis Kramer, David Kleiman z”l, Hadassah Lipsius, Karen Franklin, Valery Bazarov, and Warren Blatt.

— More recent podcasts, as well as recent PDFs of issues of Dorot, our quarterly newsletter, are available to members

— Missing back issues of Dorot are now available

— The membership signup and renewal process is greatly improved

— The site is much more navigable; especially New York area data that we have compiled and made available over the years is much easier to find

For those of you who were missing our Burial Societies Database, which has been broken for about a year, that search has been restored. It will shortly be enhanced to provide more accurate data than was available previously, due to extensive data cleanup in the interim. The database has more than 10,000 entries, each entry representing a specific society located in a specific New York area cemetery, optionally with an associated town, region, and/or country.

Other resources, such as a database of Brooklyn Naturalizations; information on repositories in New York and New Jersey; information on New York area Jewish cemeteries; and a listing of the vast collection of Family History Library/LDS microfilms residing on permanent loan at the Center For Jewish History’s Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute, continue to be available for FREE on the site.

We invite you all to come visit our new site and get reacquainted with us and what we offer. A more detailed description of the new site can be found under the Membership menu, at “Welcome To the New JGSNY.ORG.” And please consider joining, and/or coming to one of our monthly programs!

Much thanks to Kate Kleiman at Heritage Muse for leading the effort to implement our new site and our new membership software.

Steve Stein, JGS(NY) Executive Council