Sephardic Genealogy

04/07/2025

Sephardi Spaces: Researching Sephardic Migration

This Sunday, Dr Shai Cohen’s talk will introduce Sephardi Spaces, a research project launched in 2023 that traces the migrations of Sephardic families from the Iberian Peninsula to their global diasporas. Combining historical scholarship with digital mapping, the project seeks to understand how Sephardic identity has evolved across different geographies and generations. A central element is an interactive GIS-based platform that allows users to explore these movements in spatial and cultural terms, offering new ways to visualise continuity and change within Sephardic traditions, languages, and communal life.

Dr Cohen brings to this work a wide-ranging scholarly background that bridges early modern Iberian literature, Jewish-Christian relations, and digital humanities. A Senior Lecturer at the University of Miami and Director of its AI and Humanities Lab, he has published on political satire in Habsburg Spain, converso identity, and cultural hybridity. His current work integrates AI and extended reality (XR) technologies to preserve and interpret Sephardic heritage. Sephardi Spaces exemplifies this interdisciplinary approach, offering both historical insight and contemporary relevance in understanding how diasporic identities are shaped and redefined over time.

Patrons can join us live on Sunday 6 July 2025, at 11 noon in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 4am the next morning in Sydney. Patrons will receive a link in a separate email. Everyone else is invited to watch the YouTube premiere the next week.
https://www.youtube.com/c/SephardicGenealogyAndHistory

If you are not yet a patron and would like to support our work, you can join us here: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi Even $5 a month or a single payment of $60 for a year makes a meaningful difference and gives you the chance to put your questions directly to leading experts in the field.

01/07/2025

https://youtu.be/DG0Fd9PYhpA

In this deeply moving talk, Chantal Clabrough traces the 2,000-year history of Jews in Algeria through the intimate lens of her grandfather’s life. His story...

19/06/2025

Finding Myself: Sephardic Roots in Algeria

At this Sunday’s meeting Chantal Clabrough will trace Jewish life in Algeria since the Expulsion, combining historical overview with her own family story dating back to the 1700s through her grandmother's lineage. Her presentation covers the antisemitism Algerian Jews faced, her grandfather's WWII internment, and the Algerian War of Independence that forced her family to flee to Canada in 1957—illuminating both the broader North African Jewish experience and the personal stories of displacement and survival.

Chantal Clabrough is a history teacher who received the 2023 Governor General of Canada Award for Excellence in Teaching History and authored the forthcoming A Pied Noir Cookbook: French Sephardic Cuisine from Algeria. She works with the Montreal Holocaust Museum and Vimy Foundation of Canada.

Patrons can join us live on Sunday 22 June 2025, at 11 noon in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 4am the next morning in Sydney. Patrons will receive a link in a separate email. Everyone else is invited to watch the YouTube premiere the next week.
https://www.youtube.com/c/SephardicGenealogyAndHistory

If you are not yet a patron and would like to support our work, you can join us here: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi Even $5 a month or a single payment of $60 for a year makes a meaningful difference and gives you the chance to put your questions directly to leading experts in the field.

17/06/2025

Watch this talk at:

Increasingly, Sephardic researchers are able to identify the names of ancestral towns and villages in Portugal. Yet few of us have experience navigating Port...

06/06/2025

Researching Sephardic Ancestors in Portugal with Tombo.pt

Increasingly, Sephardic researchers are able to identify the names of ancestral towns and villages in Portugal. Yet few of us have experience navigating Portuguese archives, especially Catholic parish and notarial records where so much essential information lies hidden. In this talk, João Ventura, creator of tombo.pt, will introduce the structure of Portuguese archives, explain how to locate and interpret parish registers and other documents, and show how tombo.pt can simplify and guide your search. Whether you are new to Portuguese records or have already begun exploring, this session will provide the knowledge and tools needed to continue your research in Portugal with confidence.

João Ventura was born in the Algarve and trained as a computer scientist, applying his skills in the European aerospace sector before turning to family history. Frustrated by the fragmented nature of Portuguese records, he created tombo.pt—a free, independent guide that consolidates access to digitised parish books and archival resources from all 22 Portuguese district archives, including the Azores and Madeira. Now based in Germany, João has spent nearly two decades tracing his own Portuguese ancestry. When not improving tombo.pt or researching archives, he is also a scuba diving instructor and contributor to open-source software projects.

Patrons can join us live on Sunday 8 June 2025, at 11 noon in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 4am the next morning in Sydney. Patrons will receive a link in a separate email. Everyone else is invited to watch the YouTube premiere the next week.

If you are not yet a patron and would like to support our work, you can join us here: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi. Even $5 a month or a single payment of $60 for a year makes a meaningful difference and gives you the chance to put your questions directly to leading experts in the field.

29/05/2025

Tackling Genealogical Uncertainty with Autosomal DNA MatchingHow far can you push autosomal DNA research? Normally only used for close relatives, in this pre...

23/05/2025

Fintas, Promesas, Imposta: Taxing the Portuguese Nation in Early Modern Amsterdam

In early modern Amsterdam, the Jews of the Portuguese Nation were allowed to govern much of their communal life—building a synagogue, running schools, administering poor relief, and maintaining a Beth Din with power to fine or exclude. To fund this autonomy, the community levied taxes: fintas, promesas, and possibly uniquely Sephardic, imposta. These were imposed on members. Ton Tielen will show how these taxes offer an insight into the economic and social fabric of Amsterdam’s Sephardic Jews.

Ton Tielen is a well-known personality in the world of Sephardic genealogy. He co-founded this series of meetings, the Sephardic Genealogical Society, the Sephardic Research Foundation, and The Sephardic Diaspora group on Facebook. He is also a trustee of A Nação Hebraica. He formerly served as archivist of the Netherlands Red Cross.

Patrons can join us live on Sunday 25 May 2025, at 11 noon in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 4am the next morning in Sydney. Patrons will receive a link in a separate email. Everyone else is invited to watch the YouTube premiere the next week.
https://www.youtube.com/c/SephardicGenealogyAndHistory

If you are not yet a patron and would like to support our work, you can join us here: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi. Even $5 a month makes a meaningful difference and gives you the chance to put your questions directly to leading experts in the field.
https://www.patreon.com/c/sephardi

09/05/2025

Fun with Autosomal DNA? - Tackling Genealogical Uncertainty with Autosomal DNA Matching

How far can you push autosomal DNA research? Normally only used for close relatives, in this presentation Julian Land will show how he identified family connections 11 generations ago. While complex, this methodology can open up new possibilities for autosomal DNA research.

Julian Land trained in theoretical physics and mathematics followed by a thirty-year career in commercial client relations with Australia’s national science research corporation, CSIRO. He descends from the Lousada family and runs the popular www.barrow-lousada.org website.

Patrons can join us live on Sunday 11 May 2025, at 11 noon in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 6am the next morning in Sydney. Patrons will receive a link in a separate email. Everyone else is invited to watch the YouTube premiere the next week.

If you are not yet a patron and can support our work, please sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi. As little as $5/month makes a huge difference to our work and gives you the opportunity to put your questions directly to world experts.

27/04/2025

25/04/2025

Merchants, Migrations, and Memory:
The Pariente Family from Tetuan to Nice

Jacob Marrache traces the Pariente family's journey across the Mediterranean. Beginning in 18th-century Tetuan. He tracks their establishment as merchants in Tangier, Gibraltar, London, Nice and Livorno while navigating war, exile, and changing empires. Using censuses, legal records, notarial deeds, and family petitions, the talk reconstructs a network built on trade, diplomacy, and kinship.
Jacob Marrache is a genealogist focused on the Moroccan-Jewish diaspora. As well as his Adafina brand, he is an admin of NAJMA, the Moroccan-Jewish group, and a Geni.com curator. His work includes publishing on Tetuan's Jewish history, transcribing Tangier cemetery and Mogador's Beth Din registers. Gibraltar-born and resident in London, Jacob works as an Operations Manager for Playtech.

Patrons can join us live on Sunday 27 April 2025, at 11 noon in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 6am the next morning in Sydney. Patrons will receive a link in a separate email. Everyone else is invited to watch the YouTube premiere the next week.

If you are not yet a patron and can support our work, please sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi . As little as $5/month makes a huge difference to our work and gives you the opportunity to put your questions directly to world experts.

28/03/2025

The Shamama Case: Debating Jewish Identity

In the winter of 1873, Nissim Shamama, a wealthy Jew from Tunisia, died suddenly in his palazzo in Livorno, Italy. Nissim’s death initiated a fierce lawsuit over his large estate. Before Nissim’s riches could be disbursed among his aspiring heirs, Italian courts had to determine his nationality. Was Nissim an Italian citizen? A subject of the Bey of Tunis? Had he become stateless? Or was his Jewishness also his nationality? Determining Nissim’s nationality produced a decade-long legal battle involving Jews, Muslims, and Christians across the Mediterranean. The study of this lawsuit helps us rethink the history of belonging through the stories of those whose very existence challenged emerging conceptions of modern citizenship.

Jessica Marglin is Professor of Religion, Law, and History, and the Ruth Ziegler Chair in Jewish Studies at the University of Southern California. She earned her PhD from Princeton and her BA and MA from Harvard. Her research focuses on the history of Jews and Muslims in North Africa and the Mediterranean, with a particular emphasis on law. She is the author of Across Legal Lines: Jews and Muslims in Modern Morocco (Yale University Press, 2016) and The Shamama Case: Contesting Citizenship across the Modern Mediterranean (Princeton University Press, 2022).

Patrons can join us live on Sunday 30 March 2025, at 11 noon in LA, 2pm in NYC, 7pm in London, 8pm in Paris/Amsterdam, 9pm in Jerusalem, and 6am the next morning in Sydney. Please note that clocks will have gone forward in Europe, so we shall be back to the usual time for American friends. Patrons will receive a link in a separate email. Everyone else is invited to watch the YouTube premiere the next week. https://www.youtube.com/c/SephardicGenealogyAndHistory

If you are not yet a patron and can support our work, please sign up here: https://www.patreon.com/sephardi . As little as $5/month makes a huge difference to our work and gives you the opportunity to put your questions directly to world experts.

23/03/2025

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BG2gtlC7Yb0

The early history of Sephardim in Italy is often overlooked. While the well-known communities of Venice and Livorno are widely studied, they were preceded by...