I joined MyHeritage as a subscriber in 2018, and have had a wonderful experience using it to research my own family tree and to assist others as a “search angel.” It’s my favorite online resource for genealogy research.

MyHeritage made it easy for me to build my tree. With help from “Smart Matches” and “Instant Discoveries,” I added new family members—plus parents, spouses, siblings and children—with matches to historic records and other family trees. Most of my ancestral lines are documented back five generations; many extend to the 1700s, and a handful back to the 1500s.

I didn’t do it alone! MyHeritage lets me invite relatives to help with adding names to the tree, without purchasing their own subscriptions. Here are two ways we collaborate:

• MyHeritage lets me invite trusted family members to access my tree and help with adding names and correcting errors, at zero cost to them, and no extra cost to me. Each one has their own private log-in and password. I can invite any living person on my tree via either email or text message.

• MyHeritage invites everyone—EVERYONE!!!—to upload their DNA profiles from other sources and get a new list of matches, all at no cost. Having lots of known family members in the database makes it easier for me to identify unknown matches. I can also upload and manage DNA profiles for those who prefer that option.

Plus, MyHeritage offers great tools for comparing DNA matches and sorting out who’s connected to whom. And if anyone needs to create a DNA profile, MyHeritage offers great discounts on DNA tests, too.

While these features make MyHeritage a useful site for any researcher, it’s a particularly great resource for Jewish genealogy. The company is based in Israel and has a base of over a million users there, plus many more members across the Jewish world. Most members generously share their family trees with other members, though info for living persons is kept private. The site’s19.8 billion searchable records include data licensed from JewishGen and LitvakSIG. Names can be entered in Hebrew, Russian, Ukrainian, or even the Greek alphabet for searches and family tree entries. If you prefer English, transliteration works fine, too.

I have had great luck using MyHeritage messaging to reach out to DNA matches. When I posted my mother’s DNA profile to MyHeritage in 2023, we were delighted to discover a second cousin she had never met, living in Belgium, and we had a great meeting with her and her family via video. And I was delighted to find several historic figures on the family tree. A Nobel Prize winner… a celebrity talk show host… a Rhodes Scholar… and a distinguished professor of mathematics, just to name a few.

When I was in Ljubljana, Slovenia on sabbatical in January, I met a DNA cousin there who is a conceptual artist whose work is inspired by physics. Did I mention that I am a physicist? What a cool cousin to know. It’s these unexpected family connections that make Jewish genealogy my favorite hobby.

In my role as a volunteer “search angel,” I aim to use the power of search to reconnect families that have been torn apart by challenging circumstances. I have used DNA matches plus family tree records to solve several “missing dad” cases: an adoptee from rural Tennessee; the son of a UK sperm donor; and the daughter of a scoundrel who used false names and married/abandoned multiple wives. In each case, MyHeritage was a key tool for gathering DNA matches and assembling family trees to identify the missing father.

More recently, I’ve used MyHeritage to help a friend’s son prove that he is descended on his maternal line from an Orthodox Jewish great-great-grandmother, so a Chabad rabbi would consent to marry him to an Orthodox bride. I’ve helped another friend determine that her father was not the son of the man who raised him, but is instead the son of his mom’s first husband, a person no one in the family ever mentioned. Next I found her father’s half brothers, a whole branch of her family that she had never met.

This summer, with MyHeritage and other sources, I helped a retired faculty colleague trace his paternal line back to a small town in Wales. Next, I helped a visiting Jewish grad student from Mexico document her Polish grandparents and other ancestors, so she can apply for Polish citizenship.

   
AI Time Machine, from MyHeritage.com, imagines Robin (fictitiously!) as a Russian Tsarina, a British woman of the 1930’s, a simulated Klimt painting, and a woman of 1920’s.

MyHeritage has many more fun features. I can print family trees in a variety of formats, which make great gifts. There are also online tools to enhance, colorize, and even animate old photos. My favorite is the “AI Time Machine” that has pictured me above—fictitiously, of course—as a Russian Tsarina, a 1930’s British lady, a simulated Klimt painting, and with a hairstyle from the 1920’s.

I am excited to serve as JGSCleveland’s liaison to MyHeritage, and I was thrilled when the company made us a great offer, allowing new subscribers to sign up for a year with a 50% discount. Plus, for each new subscriber, MyHeritage will make a generous donation to JGSCleveland, and the board is offering a free JGSC membership, too. The offer is available until August 22. Sign up here: http://tiny.cc/JGSC

If you are curious to explore what MyHeritage can do for you, please come see me at our Open House on August 11, 2024, and we can try some searches. I’ll be at the “Ask the Experts” table and we’ll have some laptops set up for visitors. I look forward to seeing you there!