Jane Rothstein was named president of the Jewish Genealogy Society of Cleveland, replacing Dr. Deborah A. Katz, who recently retired as president and first vice president for programming. Rothstein also serves as the second vice-president for membership and manages the genealogy’s library collection, which is housed at Congregation Mishkan Or’s Hartzmark Library.

During her terms as an officer, Katz initiated a technology review that resulted in a redesigned website and a robust back-end structure for managing membership, finance, communications and other important functions, according to a news release. She hosted a Zoom-based presentations by local and national experts on genealogical subjects. She organized the celebration of the 40th anniversary of the genealogy department’s founding, initiated a series of small in-person discussion groups and co-organized the genealogy society’s first community family history and genealogy open house, held in August, the release stated.

Rothstein grew up in University Heights and Beachwood, the daughter of Daniel and Mary Ann (Friedman) Rothstein, and graduated from Beachwood High School in 1987. She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree at Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., Master of Arts degree in U.S. history at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and Master of Library and Information Science degree in library science and archives management at Long Island University in Brooklyn, N.Y. She also pursued doctoral studies in American Jewish history at New York University.

She has taught Jewish studies at New York University, the Center for Jewish History, Texas Christian University and the National Havurah Committee’s Summer Institute and worked in the archives of the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Public Library. She is the librarian and archivist at Congregation Mishkan Or, positions she previously held at The Temple-Tifereth Israel.

As president, Rothstein’s top priority is to help build and strengthen the genealogy society’s volunteer base: to work with members to identify volunteer opportunities that reflect their interests and skills, according to the release. The genealogy society will continue to offer world-class programming through Zoom and focus on partnerships with the broad Cleveland and Jewish genealogy-related communities, the release stated.

The genealogy society’s current membership is 223, about a third of whom are from outside Ohio, according to the release.

“Woman in Gold” with Randy Schoenberg, presented in partnership with Case Western Reserve University’s Siegal Lifelong Learning program will be held at 7 p.m. Nov. 6.

Schoenberg, an attorney, genealogist and filmmaker will discuss his work as the attorney for Maria Altmann in her quest to recover family treasures looted by the Nazis in World War II, including the so-called “Woman in Gold,” painter Gustav Klimt’s famous “Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.”

To register for the free program, visit http://shorturl.at/f2Vpm.

For membership and general information, visit our website at: http://jgscleveland.org.