When searching for a relative or a certain person who immigrated to Mandatory Palestine or who came to Israel after its independence, the place to go is MyHeritage, since its list of transcribed records will be most helpful to find the information needed much faster. The first thing to do is to go to the following link to access MyHeritage’s collection of Israeli immigration lists:
After loading the collection, the different search options will appear on the left side of the screen and a description of the collection on its right side. It is possible then to enter the first name and last name of the immigrant in question, preferably in Hebrew, in the search engine. Other personal details about the immigrant may be added on the search parameters such as birth year, departure place, arrival date and place, gender, residence, father, mother and spouse, in case the immigrant has a very common name. This is recommended especially to avoid obtaining too many results for the name being researched.
One example that can illustrate this is when searching for the immigration record for Mr. Shalom Zysman (who became later a member of the Knesset between 1951 and 1955, and Ramat-Gan deputy mayor in 1955) within the collection of records available at MyHeritage.
After writing the name of the person we are looking for, Shalom Zysman in our case, the next step is to scroll down and click on the orange button “Search”.
This search action will be able to return nine different results, among which we will see the option below that shows an immigration record for one person named Shalom Zysman, who was born around the year 1913, who arrived to Tel Aviv on March 26th, 1934, onboard of the ship “Carnaro”.
Before opening the record itself, it’s important to add that all results show the same details such as birth, arrival and ship, and some of them even add “relatives”, which may help in deciding which of the search results is the correct one.
It is possible to read more details of the record by clicking on the orange button that reads “View records”. The record will open in two parts: a top part and a bottom part; on the top one the immigration record will be transcribed and on the bottom part, the original scan with the immigration details will appear.
Here, users have the option to zoom in and out by clicking on the bottom right icons of plus (+) and minus (-), as well as the option to open the record on full-screen by clicking on the top right white square with diagonal arrows. The full-screen feature allows for printing and downloading the record, by using the following icons that will appear on the top right of the screen.
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Contents of immigration recordsContents of immigration records
As previously mentioned, the immigration records contain the first and last names of the immigrant, age, birth year, country of origin, immigration date, place the immigrant immigrated to, immigration ship, various relatives and the type of immigration certificate. Depending on the time the record was created, the information contained may include different fields.
These immigration records are actually immigration lists in Hebrew with the names of the immigrants that came legally to Mandatory Palestine and later to the State of Israel, as well as those already residing there that were returning from a trip, and also tourists.
These immigration lists are usually divided in two parts: 1) the top part which contains the title, date and place of the immigration, the name of the ship, and the steamship line; and 2) the bottom part, which contains the details of those arriving on the mentioned ship.
In this specific immigration record the top part contains the title “IMMIGRATION AND WORK DEPARTMENT OF THE JEWISH AGENCY FOR THE LAND OF ISRAEL”. Then, the place where the registration took place is indicated. In this case it says “IMMIGRATION OFFICE IN: TEL AVIV”. It is then followed by “SHIP: CARNARO” and “DATE: 26.3.1934”. Under the name of the ship is written “NAME OF THE COMPANY: LLOYD TRIESTINO”. Between the top and bottom part of the document is a fixed table with the following details from left to right: 1)Number, 2) Surname, 3) Name, 4) Age, 5) Category 6) Relatives in the Land of Israel and their address, and 7) Comments.
Underneath, the passengers are listed according to the details mentioned on the table. Normally on top of the list is also mentioned whether the passengers are immigrants, returning or tourists. In this case, on top of the list is written “IMMIGRANTS”, and only the first five details from the table are answered below.
For example, here we can see some of the immigrants listed as following:
- 22) Dancyger, Shimale, 35, C
- 23) Wainberg, Shlomo, 29, B3
- 24) Weis, Irena, 27, C
- 25) Zysman, Shalom, 21, C
- 26) Zchucnicki, Moshe, 21, C
The category of immigrant or type of immigration certificate that the person received is here marked on the far right by letters and numbers, according to:
- Category A: Individuals with their own assets; this group included 1) so-called capitalists with equity of £1,000; 2) professionals with £500 in cash; 3) craftsmen with at least £250 in cash; 4) pensioners with a minimum pension of £4 per month; 5) persons who practice a 'rare' occupation which is little represented in the country and have a minimum net worth of £500.
- Category B: People with a secure livelihood; this group included 1) orphans under the age of 16 whose subsistence is secured by public institutions; 2) persons of religious professions; 3) students and pupils whose livelihood is secured until they practice their profession.
- Category C: This group included workers between 18 and 35 (possibly 45) years old
- Category D: Requested people: This group included 1) wives, children and parents who may be permitted to immigrate if their requesting relatives living in Palestine can prove that they are able to support themselves; 2) special workers whom companies can request permission to allow to immigrate in exceptional cases.[1][2]
According to this classification, we understand that Mr. Shalom Zysman, who is number 25 in the list, immigrated to Mandatory Palestine under Category C which as mentioned above, includes workers between 18 and 35 years old.
Now, let’s take a look at another immigration list from a different time and compare between them. Here’s one from 1937. As it can be seen in the image shown to the right, here the page looks slightly different when compared to the previous one, since the writing and the details are arranged in a dissimilar manner. For example, in the first immigration list, the title was in big letters on the top, while here, it's written on smaller letters on the top right side, as is the registration place. It then includes a title in thicker font in the top middle of the document that reads “LIST OF IMMIGRANTS THAT CAME TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL”. Underneath, on the same line, the date appears on the right, then the name of the ship in the middle and the name of the shipping company on the left.
Just as shown in the first immigration list, the second record is also followed by a fixed table with eight details, instead of seven and which are arranged from right to left, instead of left to right, as follows:
- Serial number
- The family
- The name
- Age
- Category
- Permit number
- The relatives in the Land of Israel and their address
- Comments
Another type of immigration list from 1949 that looks also a little different from the others is this one, in which there’s no mention of the Jewish Agency whatsoever, but simply is titled “List of Immigrants that arrived on 8.6.49 on the ship ‘Neptunia’ from America”. Moreover, the table of details has also changed and includes different parameters such as the ones indicated below; the inclusion of the membership number of the kupat cholim is probably due to the increase in the coverage of the Health Maintenance Organizations across the Yishuv.
- Serial number
- Family name
- First name
- Age
- Name of father/mother
- Country of origin
- Number of Health Maintenance Organization [HMO]
- Number of Immigrant Certificate
- To be sent to [address]
On another immigration list from 1920, as shown on the right, the table of details is even shorter, to the point of only including:
- Surname
- First name
- Age
- Number of people
- Occupation
From these facts, we can conclude that the Jewish Agency used different templates throughout the years for the registration of Jewish immigrants, adding more details with the years as more information became generally available. However, on many occasions the clerks of the Jewish Agency didn’t even fill in all the information as they should have, and only wrote the names of the immigrants in Hebrew, which could be crucial for the identification of these immigrants and would enrich their family research.
Explore more about immigration records in IsraelExplore more about immigration records in Israel
- Israel Immigration Lists at MyHeritage
- MyHeritage Publishes Exclusive Huge Collection of Israel Immigration Records on the MyHeritage blog
- Following Your Family’s Immigration Trail on MyHeritage on the MyHeritage Knowledge Base
- Genealogical Resources on Immigrants to Eretz Yisrael available on the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee