Where to Find Jewish Birth, Marriage, and Death Records

If you’ve ever tried to trace Jewish ancestors, you already know the feeling: excitement mixed with a little overwhelm. Names change, borders move, languages shift, and records aren’t always where you expect them to be. The good news? Jewish birth, marriage, and death records do exist in many places—you just need to know where (and how) to look.

Here’s a friendly, practical guide to the most reliable places to find Jewish vital records, whether you’re researching relatives from Europe, the U.S., or beyond.

Civil Registration Records (The Gold Standard)

In many countries, governments began recording births, marriages, and deaths in the 19th century. These civil records often list parents’ names, ages, occupations, and places of origin—genealogy gold.

• Eastern Europe: Look for records from towns in Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary, and the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.
• Where to find them: National and regional archives, online databases, and digitized collections.
• Tip: Jewish records may be mixed in with non-Jewish ones, so don’t skip a collection just because it isn’t labeled “Jewish.”

Synagogue and Religious Records

Before civil registration—or alongside it—synagogues kept their own records. These can include birth registers (often tied to circumcision records), marriage contracts, and burial information.

• Marriage records: Ketubot (Jewish marriage contracts) sometimes survive in archives or family collections.
• Burial records: Chevra Kadisha (burial society) records may note death dates, Hebrew names, and fathers’ names.
• Cemeteries: Tombstones often provide Hebrew dates and patronymics not found elsewhere.

Jewish-Specific Genealogy Databases

Several platforms focus specifically on Jewish records, saving you hours of guesswork.

• JewishGen: A cornerstone of Jewish genealogy, offering town databases, vital record indexes, and translations.
• JRI-Poland: An essential resource for Polish Jewish birth, marriage, and death indexes.
• Yad Vashem: While best known for Holocaust records, Pages of Testimony sometimes include birth and death details.

U.S. Records and Immigration Sources

If your ancestors immigrated, American records can help fill in missing pieces.

• Vital records: State and city birth, marriage, and death certificates.
• Naturalization papers: Often list birth dates and towns.
• Passenger lists: May confirm family relationships and places of origin.

Think Creatively—and Patiently

Jewish records don’t always live in one neat place. A birth might appear in a civil ledger, a synagogue register, and later on a tombstone. Names may be spelled five different ways. Dates may disagree.

That’s normal. Jewish genealogy is part detective work, part puzzle, and part patience. Every record you find adds another thread to your family’s story—and over time, those threads start to weave together into something truly meaningful.

And remember: even a single birth, marriage, or death record can open the door to generations you never knew existed.

Preserve Jewish Heritage — Join and Support Our Mission

As technology advances, so does our ability to trace Jewish ancestry across generations and continents. Our nonprofit Jewish genealogy organization in Colorado is dedicated to helping individuals explore, document, and preserve their family stories — stories that might otherwise be lost.

Your membership and donations make this work possible. Together, we can connect families, honor our ancestors, and strengthen our shared heritage.

Join us today or make a tax-deductible contribution to help continue this vital mission of Jewish genealogical discovery.