Hollander Waas Jewish Heritage Services was founded in 2019
Caitlin Hollander
Caitlin Hollander has always had a thirst for knowledge and a love of stories. Along with a passion for history and her inquisitive nature, this has led her to never stop seeking answers, even to questions that seem nearly impossible to satisfy. Of course, the eternal question became the one that she most doggedly pursued: Where do I come from? Her love of knowledge and refusal to give up not only led her to answers, but to a love of genealogy itself.
Caitlin graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in anthropology with a minor in history from Florida International University, as well as academic certificates in Jewish studies and Holocaust and genocide studies, the latter of which she intends to pursue a master’s degree in. She is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society, and the Jewish Genealogical Society of New York, among others, and also works as a forensic genealogist specializing in high value estate cases in New York, Queens, Kings, and Nassau Counties. In addition, her citizenship reclamation work has been featured in Family Tree Magazine, The Times of Israel, and the South Florida Sun Sentinel, among other publications.
Michael Waas
Ever since he was a young child, Michael Waas has been interested in history and the world around him. Following a conversation in high school with his cousin about family lore that the famous union leader Samuel Gompers was a cousin , he began his journey into genealogical and historical research. That beginning led him to the path where he is today: Michael is a Heritage Professional specializing in historic preservation and multidisciplinary research into the Portuguese Jews and Ottoman Jewry.
He received his Bachelors Degree in Anthropology with a specialization in Historical Archaeology from New College of Florida, and the subject of his Senior Thesis was "The Archaeology of Ethnogenesis of the Seminole People of Florida," under the direction of Dr. Uzi Baram. Michael recently completed his Masters Degree in the Department of Jewish History at the University of Haifa under the direction of Dr. Ido Shahar and Dr. Shai Srugo. The title of his thesis was “Istorya i oy: A comparative study on the Development of Jewish Heritage of Three Jewish Communities of the former Ottoman Empire.” In addition, he has been volunteering with AvotaynuDNA since 2016, where he is the anthropologist and historian of the research.
Michael is a member of the Association of Professional Genealogists, the Society for Sephardic Studies, the Association for Jewish Studies, and the European Association for Jewish Studies.
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