Since the Institute opened in January 2006, it has made considerable progress.
Its strides forward can be summed up in the following headlines:
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A well-attended international symposium was held in September 2006, thus putting
the Institute on the academic map.1
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Prominent scholars have been brought into the Institute’s activities.
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In the years 2007, 2008 and 2009 grants were made for innovative research projects
in the field of Jewish genealogy, both “pure” and “applied”.2
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At present, 12 projects of different kinds are in progress, at various levels of
maturity.
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One of these projects has inspired a technological breakthrough in the field of
soundexing.3
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Algorithms for the merging of genealogical datasets (burial and civil records) were
successfully tested.4
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“Academic guidelines” for 1-year BA and MA courses in Jewish Genealogy were developed;
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A standard for recording names, dates and places in genealogical databases was proposed.5
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Recommendations for ethical standards in Jewish genealogy are being elaborated;
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A glossary of genealogical terms in Hebrew is being produced;
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Several academic articles about the Institute’s work and research have been published;
-
A precedent-setting panel, wholly devoted to Jewish genealogy, was sponsored by
the Institute at 15th Congress of the World Union of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem
August 2009), thus according a measure of academic recognition to Jewish genealogy
as sub-branch of Jewish Studies for the first time.6
-
The Institute will sponsor a 2nd panel on Jewish genealogy at the 9th
Congress of the European Association of Jewish Studies (Ravenna, July 2010).
Click here
for an article by Neville Lamdan, containing a progress report on the Institute’s
activities (2007-2008), as published in AVOTAYNU,
XXIV, 1, pp. 4-7
Click here
for the Institute’s 2009 Annual Report
Click here
for the Institute’s 2010 Mid-Year Report
Click here
for an article by Neville Lamdan, on progress in the development of academic Jewish
Genealogy, as published in AVOTAYNU, XXV,
2, pp. 3-8
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1 For the 2006 International Symposium, see
the EVENTS section of this website.
2 For the Institute’s ongoing projects, see
the RESEARCH section.
3 For the “Phonetic Matching” soundex system
(BMPM), see the TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES section.
4 For the “Matching Datasets” system, see the
TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGIES section.
5 For the proposed “Data Entry” system, see
the STANDARDS section.
6 For the Institute’s panel at the WUJS Congress,
see the EVENTS section.