With the yizkor memorial service fast approaching on the last day of Passover, April 13, The CJN Daily felt it appropriate to shine a light on the cemetery project undertaken by Montreal’s Jewish Genealogical Society. For years, the group’s main researchers, now led by Gary Perlman, have been lovingly cleaning, photographing and investigating nearly 80,000 people buried in Jewish cemeteries in his city and elsewhere in Quebec. A retired software developer, Perlman, who turns 67 this week, also posts this data online for posterity, so families can find out more about their ancestors. And fixes thousands of mistakes. It’s a massive project that involves graves on Mount Royal dating back to the 1800s as well as the largest cemetery, the Baron de Hirsch in Snowdon—and others include more recent burials located just outside of Montreal, including in Duvernay, Dollard and Beaconsfield. What connects them all is the shared story of the history of Jews in Canada. Some tragic stories bring Perlman to tears—and he joins The CJN Daily to describe this sacred work and share his itinerary for this spring and summer.

What we talked about

Find graves and research about Jewish burials in Montreal and the province of Quebec on the JGS of Montreal website
Read a profile of Gary Perlman in The CJN from 2019
Research your ancestors buried anywhere in the world with the Jewish Gen Online Worldwide Online Burial Records

Credits The CJN Daily is written and hosted by Ellin Bessner (@ebessner on Twitter). Zachary Kauffman is the producer. Michael Fraiman is the executive producer. Our theme music is by Dov Beck-Levine. Our title sponsor is Metropia. We’re a member of The CJN Podcast Network. To subscribe to this podcast, please watch this video. Donate to The CJN and receive a charitable tax receipt by clicking here.

Why this cemetery researcher is preserving the history of 80,000 Jews buried in Quebec