Tips on finding and searching Jewish records on Ancestry

A member of Philadelphia's Jewish genealogical society passed along these search tips from Crista Cowan on finding and searching Jewish records on Ancestry:

1. Go to: Ancestry.com/Jewish

2. Don't fill out search fields yet.

3. Scroll down to the bottom past the search fields to see a list of available records.

4. You can click on a specific database to search only that one. Or,

5. When searching all collections, consider using the asterisk (*) for first or last name to increase your chances of finding entries. Example: s*l can pick up "Samuel" as well as "Shmuel" or "Sol" or other names.

6. Don't use only birth year since it might not be correct and can limit search results.

7. You can also go to the Card Catalog and enter Jewish in the Keyword field.