Jewish Genealogical Terminology

Jewish Genealogical Terminology

Ashkenazic: since the 16th century, the name applied to the Jews from central and eastern Europe - ancestors of the vast majority of Jews in the United States; they moved from northern France to Germanic cities along the Rhine, then to central and eastern Europe, where they found settlements of Jews who emigrated long before from Babylon and Palestine. Yiddish is an Ashkenazic invention; a mixture of Hebrew , German, and Slavic languages.

Chassidm: a sect of Jews who were followers of the Ba'al Shem Tov. There are Chassidic dynasties which have detailed genealogical charts from the days of the founder to the present. A good source for this would be The Unbroken Chain by Neil Rosenstein.

Chevra Kadisha: Jewish burial society; literally "holy friends" who prepared the body for burial; lists of members in many German communal histories.

Dayan, Dayen: rabbinic judge; every dayan was a rabbi, but not every rabbi was a dayan.

Galizianer: Galician Jews from Austria-Hungary, some parts of Poland. Galizianers have a distinct way of pronouncing Hebrew and Yiddish.

Gibborim Society: old name for workers with the New York City Department Of Corrections. See Maccabees Of NewYork (new name). **See also Shomrim Society.

Jeckes or Yekke: A colloquial (sometimes derogatory) term for German Jews among Jews. Only a German Jew would be allowed to call another German Jew that with impunity!; comes from formal attire that the German Jews used to wear i.e., suits with well-fitting "jackets" and the name suggests "Teutonic", "Pedantic", or "Rigid".

Kohan, Levi, & Israel: the division of the tribes of Israel between the descendants of Moses and Aaron (Kohan & Levi) and the rest of the Jews (Israel). The designation of Kohan of Levi is passed down from father to son and will generally be found on tombstones (Kohan designated by a symbol of two hands in the spread fingered gesture of priestly blessing; Levi designated by the symbol of a pitcher because the priestly assistants traditionally washed the hands of priests).

KZ: koncentrationslager (concentration camp).

Landsleit: persons from the same area of Europe; they would form Landsmansshaftn groups. LANDSMAN is singular.

Litvak: usually someone from Lithuania.

Maccabees Of New York: New designation for workers of Jewish ancestry with the New York Department Of Corrections. **See also Shomrim Society.

Ner Gonen: New York Transit Authority Policeman. ** See also Shomrim Society.

Ner Tamid: New York Fireman.** See also Shomrim Society.

Pale Of Settlement: area to which Jews were confined after the three partitions of Poland between Russia, Austria, and Prussia in 1771, 1793, and 1795. Catherine II, who hated all non-Christians, especially the Jews, found herself with a large Polish Jewish population, and restricted them to the "Pale" (which means a boundary). This area was mostly the Baltic States and the Ukraine, and a portion of what had been Poland.

Reb: frequently found before a man's name; it simply means "Mr" and should not be confused with "Rabbi"; sometimes found on tombstones.

Rebbe: teacher, learned man, also Chassidic term for Rabbi; most often one with "smichah" (ordination) from a yeshiva or religious school.

Sephardic: Jews from Portugal, Spain, and southern France, also from North Africa and Turkey. They pronounce Hebrew in the ancient tradition (Israel has adopted the Sephardic pronunciation); their version of Yiddish is Ladino (Hebrew mixed with Spanish); as in old Spanish, Ladino uses an F or G instead of the H (fablar instead of hablar); often omits the H at the beginning of a word (ermano instead of hermano); replaces N with M (muestros for nuestros); uses S instead of Z and C; and never uses a double R, changes the double ll of Spanish to a Y (caballero becomes cabayero).

Shomrim Society: If your Jewish ancestors were employed by a law enforcement agency, either in Philadelphia or New York, chances are they belonged to such a society, the Jewish Fraternal Order For Police & Fire Departments. Shomrim is the Hebrew word for guardian and today there are 27 national Shomrim Societies. Shomrim of Philadelphia began a newsletter The Herald around the 1950's, which highlighted their members with genealogical facts (birth year, birth order, residence, schools, military tour, occupations, nicknames, honors, hobbies, family histories, and miscellaneous tidbits.

Shtetl: generally means a small village, but some shtetlach (plural) were not so small; they were more like cities and towns, and had yeshivas (rabbinical colleges or seminaries; in the U.S., a secondary Hebrew school) and other centers of Jewish learning. Remember to be flexible with the spelling of the town since name changes over time were common. Consult gazetteers or maps of the year you are researching. Boundaries frequently changed with each new political regime.

Yahrzeit/Yortzeit: the anniversary of someone's death; one can often find information from Yahrzeit in synagogues, including the name of the deceased's father (and sometimes mother), and who gave the information (usually a child) as well as where the deceased person is buried.

Source: Zachor Et Ha-Dorot: Remember The Generations by Carol Davidson Baird, staff writer for the Family Tree-Ellen Payne Odom Genealogy Library Newsletter.