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Jacobi Papers
 
Dr. Paul Jacobi (1911-1997) bequeathed to the Jewish National and University Library the results of his lifelong researches on about 400 rabbinical and other prominent Jewish families. His findings on 110 of those families are typewritten and loosely bound as monographs. Some of these are small and contain a mere 50 names, while others, such as the Horowitz, Spiro and Jaffe families, contain more than 2000 names. This group of 110 studies were included in the Index of Dr. Paul Jacobi’s Monographs, prepared for the IAJGS Conference on Jewish Genealogy in Jerusalem in 2004. The balance of his studies, relating to almost 300 families, are still in handwritten form, awaiting deciphering and indexing.

Each monograph comprises one family through the male line from its earliest known progenitor, duly listing spouses as well as the known descendants of such daughters as were married to husbands, whose own families lack a specific monograph. Each monograph begins with "General Notes" explaining the family name, its historical and geographical origins and the family's inter-relationships with other families (shown sometimes in charts called “excursus”). In addition, the monographs include bibliographies, indices of the given names of the particular family examined and of the affiliated families within that monograph.

Most important for genealogists are the "Tables (charts) of Descent" and the "Biographical Notes" on every known member of the family and his or her spouse(s). These Notes include all family names and surnames (frequently more than one) and given names (sometimes up to five), which were written in the German transliteration from Hebrew, Yiddish or other languages. Then the dates of birth, residence and death are given, as well as the person's publications, if any, and finally the bibliographical and other sources for information on each person. Sometimes more than a page is devoted to a single individual, while others may have just one line or sometimes an abbreviated note – "p.d." [provenance doubtful].

In researching so many families, sometimes going back more than 15 generations, Dr. Jacobi employed system of tables (charts) based on his unique approach of so-called absolute generations, uniform for every family and era. According to Jacobi's scheme, these generations began in the year 1035. The first was numbered 32 and subsequent generations carried descending numbers, following each other at 30 year intervals (generation 1 is dated 1965). At the same time, each numbered generation was projected to cover a life span of 75 years – thus generation 32 extended from 1035 to 1110 (and, as a practical example, Rashi, the great biblical and talmudical commentator who lived from 1040 to 1105, was situated in that generation); while generation 1 stretches from 1965 to 2040.

The Charts comprised of a Main Table = (M), in which the earliest progenitors of the family are listed. This is followed by Side Tables = (S1) or (S2), and so on, according to number. Within each generation all siblings of the wider family clan, are listed next to each other.

Sources:

The main sources listed by Dr. Jacobi in his work were:

i. Oral family traditions – an important source, but not always reliable.
ii. Government Archives – important but generally begin only in the 18th century.
iii. Mohel (circumcision) Registers – exact but not detailed.
iv. Marriage Registers – exist in few places (most important from Berlin 1720-1813)
v. Pinkasim of Chevrot Kadisha (Burial Society Registers).
vi. Community Registers
vii. Property Ledgers of religious institutions and endowments.
viii. "Memor" Books – City, Community or Regional Memorial Books.
ix. Tombstones (as recorded in books about the inscriptions on tombstones in cemeteries).
x. Rabbinical Responsa (religious rulings) books.
xi. Genealogical Treatises of high scientific standards.
xii. Genealogical Records and Pedigree books.

Click here for more details on Paul Jacobi and his work.