Upcoming Monthly Meetings
Available to JGSSN meeting attendees: private access to the resources of the FamilySearch Center!
The FamilySearch Center resources will be available for JGSSN use after the meeting until 4:00 p.m.! Those resources include free access to a variety of genealogy programs, such as Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, Newspapers.com, and many others. In addition, the library will make their document, photo, slide, audio and video scanners available. Bring in your family memories and convert them to digital files. See the attachment for a list of the resources. Library staff will be available to assist.
The FamilySearch Center resources will be available for JGSSN use after the meeting until 4:00 p.m.! Those resources include free access to a variety of genealogy programs, such as Ancestry.com, MyHeritage, Newspapers.com, and many others. In addition, the library will make their document, photo, slide, audio and video scanners available. Bring in your family memories and convert them to digital files. See the attachment for a list of the resources. Library staff will be available to assist.

lvfsl_web_programs_and_scanning_resources.pdf |

October 15, 2023: Guest speaker Avraham Groll will present "JewishGen"
Zoom: This lecture will be via Zoom
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Zoom link will be sent with the registration confirmation
Members: To RSVP, click here (free for members)
Non-members: To pay the $5 admission, click here and then click here to register.
"Introduction to JewishGen and Jewish Genealogy"
JewishGen.org is one of the most important and most visited Jewish genealogy websites in the world. As the "Global Home for Jewish Genealogy" it offers access to millions of records, important search tools, education resources, extensive community and historical information, and access to a global community of passionate researchers dedicated to Jewish life. In this presentation, Avraham Groll will discuss common challenges and obstacles that people encounter when researching their family history, and how JewishGen can help.
About Avraham Groll
Avraham Groll has a passion for connecting people with their Jewish roots. As Executive Director of JewishGen, he has partnered with a dedicated team of volunteers to position JewishGen as the premier resource for Jewish genealogical research, and he continues to drive innovation and expansion in order to meet the evolving needs of the global Jewish Genealogical community. Avraham has a diverse educational background that includes an MBA from Montclair State University, an MA in Judaic Studies from Touro College, a certificate in Jewish Executive Leadership from Columbia University, and a BS in Business Administration from Ramapo College. His two years of study at Yeshiva Ohr Yerushalayim in Israel have also informed his approach to leadership, community building, and dedication to preserving our collective Jewish family history and heritage.

November 12, 2023: Guest speaker Robinn Magid will present "Getting the Most fromo JRI-Poland.org"
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Las Vegas FamilySearch Center, 509 S 9th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Members: To RSVP, click here (free for members)
Non-members: To pay the $5 admission, click here and then click here to register.
"Getting the Most from JRI-Poland.org"
If your ancestors lived in the current or former Polish territories, then the new JRI-Poland.org website and database can help you learn more about your Jewish family and understand their lives within a historical context. From individual to family, from family to Jewish Community, JRI-Poland helps researchers find pertinent data, understand it, and use it to their best adavantage. Join us for a lively presentation and whirlwind tour of the JRI-Poland website and database. Learn where to focus your attention and learn best practices from a long-time JRI-Poland insider. Ample time will be included for a question-and-answer session.
About Robinn Magid
Robinn Magid is the Assistant Director of JRI-Poland.org and a recent recipient of the IAJGS Lifetime Achievement Award. Robinn recently became the project manager of the JRI-Poland “NextGen Project” to redesign the JRI-Poland website, database and search engine. She a frequent speaker and writer on Jewish genealogy topics.
Robinn's genealogical work resulted in her being recognized by the City of Lublin, Poland - her granmother's hometown - with a medal in 2017 from the mayor for inspring the future and cultural identity of that city of 340,000 people on Lublin's 700th birthday.
Robinn has spoken at many IAJGS conferences on behalf of JRI-Poland and has served as the chair of two groundbreaking conferences: IAJGS 2018 Warsaw, Poland conference, and the IAJGS 2020 Virtual Conference on Jewish Genealogy. She is a member of the San Francisco - Bay Area JGS and has spoken to her group and to other societies. Robinn and her husband have raised four wonderful kids and recently became grandparents.

December 10, 2023: Members-only Holiday Brunch
Time: TBD
Location: Sahara West Library, 9600 W Sahara Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89117
To RSVP, click here

January 21, 2024: Guest speaker Todd Knowles will present "Finding Your Jewish Ancestors in FamilySearch.org"
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Las Vegas FamilySearch Center, 509 S 9th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Members: To RSVP, click here (free for members)
Non-members: To pay the $5 admission, click here and then click here to register.
"Finding Your Jewish Ancestors in FamilySearch.org"
For more than 125 years, FamilySearch and its predecessors have been gathering, preserving and sharing genealogical information worldwide. Through the website www.familysearch.org, researchers all over the world have free access to billions of records. This presentation will help the attendees find the records of their Jewish ancestors within the records of FamilySearch.
About Todd Knowles
W. Todd Knowles is an Accredited Genealogist who currently serves as a Deputy Chief Genealogy Officer at FamilySearch, where he has been employed for over 25 years. His personal family history story began at the age of 11, when he first discovered his own Jewish heritage. That journey, which led to the Knowles Collection, still continues today. The Knowles Collection is comprised of 6 databases which contain the records of over 1.5 million Jews. The collection is available free of charge at www.familysearch.org. The collection also has a blog which provides updates on the records (knowlescollection.blogspot.com). Todd is a past President of the Utah Jewish Genealogical Society (UJGS) and currently serves as a Trustee of the International Society for British Genealogy and Family History (ISBGFH).

February 25, 2024: Guest speaker Daniel Horowitz from MyHeritage will present TWO topics
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Las Vegas FamilySearch Center, 509 S 9th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Members: To RSVP, click here (free for members)
Non-members: To pay the $5 admission, click here and then click here to register.
"How AI Can Help Genealogists" = Lecture #1 at 1:30 p.m.
MyHeritage has been leveraging AI to bring the past to life since long before DALL-E and ChatGPT. Learn how to utilize MyHeritage’s revolutionary features to experience your family history in a whole new way, and enjoy a peek into the future of AI-assisted genealogy.
"When There's a Will, There's a Way" = Lecture #2 at 2:45 p.m.
When Daniel was asked to review the will of a distant relative to help find that person’s descendants, he utilized a number of tools and strategies to crack the case and find the people he was looking for. Come learn how you can do the same.
About Daniel Horowitz
Daniel is the Expert Genealogist from MyHeritage. He speaks at genealogy conferences around the world. He has been dedicated to genealogy since 1986. He was the teacher and the study guide editor of the family history project “Searching for My Roots” in Venezuela for 15 years. Daniel is involved in several crowdsource digitization and transcription projects and holds a board level position at the Israel Genealogy Research Association (IGRA).

March 17, 2024

March 17, 2024: Guest speaker Michelle Metz will present "A Life Well Lived is the Best Revenge"
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Las Vegas FamilySearch Center, 509 S 9th St, Las Vegas, NV 89101
Members: To RSVP, click here (free for members)
Non-members: To pay the $5 admission, click here and then click here to register.
"A Life Well Lived is the Best Revenge"
Join us for a captivating lecture as we delve into the remarkable life journey of Michelle Metz, who was born in France during the Nazi occupation. She faced early adversity as her parents and aunt were arrested when she was just six months old in June 1944, ultimately being sent to Auschwitz and other concentration camps. Fortunately, she survived with the help of Resistance fighters and her grandparents.
About Michelle Metz:
After the war, Michelle moved to New York in 1951, where she eventually obtained a B.A. in Linguistics and a M.S. in Communication Disorders. She settled into a successful career in public relations, linguistics, and employee benefits, all while raising 2 children. Now retired, she splits her time between Las Vegas and Oregon, where her children and grandchildren reside.

May 19, 2024: Guest speaker Susan Dubin will present "Not Like Sheep: Resistance During the Holocaust"
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Temple Beth Sholom, 10700 Havenwood Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89135
Members: To RSVP, click here (free for members)
Non-members: To pay the $5 admission, click here and then click here to register.
"Not Like Sheep: Resistance During the Holocaust"
Although facing a formidable enemy with the odds stacked against them, people DID fight the Nazis in any way they could. From joining the resistance and fighting with the Partisans to refusing to give up their customs and ceremonies to continuing to care for others and express their own desire for culture through art, music, and literature, resistance wore many faces. For the Jewish people, just surviving was an act of resistance. There were several German attempts to fight against the Nazis as well. In this presentation, we will explore the different ways people resisted and learn about some individuals who played significant roles.
About Susan Dubin:
Susan Dubin is the library and education consultant to the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center located in Las Vegas. This position led her to work with the World Federation of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, Generations of the Shoah International, and Association of Holocaust Organizations in organizing their international conferences. As a library and education consultant, she provides classes for Clark County School District teachers and students in Holocaust education. In addition, she organizes community events that feature authors, artists, and musicians. Kol Isha: Poems in the Voices of Women from the Bible was her first book. She has five other titles which include Book of Ruth, A Passover Haggadah in Poems, Katzele and the Silver Candlesticks, Jewish Stories and Poems All Around the Year, and The Story of Esther. Susan was the recipient of the Dorothy Schroeder Award and Fanny Goldstein Award for contributions to the field of Judaica Librarianship as well as the Milken Family Foundation Distinguished Educator Award. In 2020, she was named Jewish Educator of the Year for the state of Nevada. She is listed in Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who of American Women
May 19, 2024: Guest speaker Susan Dubin will present "Not Like Sheep: Resistance During the Holocaust"
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Temple Beth Sholom, 10700 Havenwood Lane, Las Vegas, NV 89135
Members: To RSVP, click here (free for members)
Non-members: To pay the $5 admission, click here and then click here to register.
"Not Like Sheep: Resistance During the Holocaust"
Although facing a formidable enemy with the odds stacked against them, people DID fight the Nazis in any way they could. From joining the resistance and fighting with the Partisans to refusing to give up their customs and ceremonies to continuing to care for others and express their own desire for culture through art, music, and literature, resistance wore many faces. For the Jewish people, just surviving was an act of resistance. There were several German attempts to fight against the Nazis as well. In this presentation, we will explore the different ways people resisted and learn about some individuals who played significant roles.
About Susan Dubin:
Susan Dubin is the library and education consultant to the Sperling Kronberg Mack Holocaust Resource Center located in Las Vegas. This position led her to work with the World Federation of Jewish Child Holocaust Survivors and Descendants, Generations of the Shoah International, and Association of Holocaust Organizations in organizing their international conferences. As a library and education consultant, she provides classes for Clark County School District teachers and students in Holocaust education. In addition, she organizes community events that feature authors, artists, and musicians. Kol Isha: Poems in the Voices of Women from the Bible was her first book. She has five other titles which include Book of Ruth, A Passover Haggadah in Poems, Katzele and the Silver Candlesticks, Jewish Stories and Poems All Around the Year, and The Story of Esther. Susan was the recipient of the Dorothy Schroeder Award and Fanny Goldstein Award for contributions to the field of Judaica Librarianship as well as the Milken Family Foundation Distinguished Educator Award. In 2020, she was named Jewish Educator of the Year for the state of Nevada. She is listed in Who’s Who in Education and Who’s Who of American Women
Finding the Las Vegas FamilySearch Center and where to park:
Click here for directions.
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