Legal
Terms & Submissions
Terms governing use of the Jewish World Records website and registry, and the terms that apply to record submissions, supporting evidence and supplied media.
Version 1.0 — September 2026
Part A
Terms of Use
How this website and the registry may be used, and the basis on which JWR publishes records.
1. Who operates this website
This website is operated by Jewish World Records (“JWR”, “we”, “us”), an independent records registry that identifies, verifies, documents and celebrates extraordinary Jewish achievements, heritage and communities worldwide.
JWR is being established as a not-for-profit institution. Nothing on this website should be read as a statement that a nonprofit corporation or charitable entity has already been incorporated or registered; the operating legal entity will be named here once that status is confirmed.
Enquiries about these Terms may be sent to jewishworldrecords@gmail.com.
2. Acceptance of these terms
By accessing or using this website you agree to these Terms. If you do not agree, please do not use the website.
These Terms apply to browsing the registry, making a record submission, submitting a challenge to a record, and any other correspondence sent through this website. Part B below applies specifically to record submissions.
3. What this website is for
The registry and its pages are provided for information, education, journalism, research and historical record. They are not professional, legal, medical, financial or safety advice, and are not an encouragement to attempt any activity.
You may read, cite and quote published record information for ordinary personal, educational, journalistic and research purposes, with attribution to Jewish World Records and the relevant Official Record ID.
4. Editorial and research discretion
JWR decides how the registry is built: which categories exist, how a record is defined and worded, what evidence is required, who is named as holder, and whether a record is published, corrected, superseded, revoked or left unpublished.
That discretion is exercised under the documented verification standard described on the Verification & Standards page. A record is the outcome of a review, not a service provided to an applicant.
5. Record status is not permanent
Records rest on the evidence available at the time of review. Historical and community records in particular may be incomplete, contested or capable of refinement as new evidence emerges.
A published record may be CORRECTED where its documentation is refined, SUPERSEDED where a greater verified achievement is recognised, or REVOKED where the evidence underpinning it is disproven. A superseded record remains a legitimate historical record: supersession is not revocation.
Every official record carries a permanent Official Record ID. The identifier is never reassigned, reused or deleted, and it remains the stable reference for citation, certificates and validation, even if a record's title, holder details or supporting documentation are later refined.
The registry preserves record history. JWR does not silently rewrite the past.
6. Inclusion is not endorsement
Publishing a record says that JWR verified an achievement against its standard. It is not an endorsement of the holder's views, conduct, beliefs or affiliations, and it does not mean JWR recommends, sponsors or approves anything else about them.
Please do not present a JWR record, listing or certificate as an affiliation with, or endorsement by, JWR beyond what the record itself states.
7. Independence
Jewish World Records is an independent organization and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, endorsed by or acting on behalf of Guinness World Records or any other record-certification organization unless explicitly stated.
Verification decisions are made on the evidence. Sponsorship, donation, media attention, public pressure or personal relationships do not create, alter or protect a record.
8. JWR intellectual property
The Jewish World Records name, the JWR emblem, the registry structure, record documentation authored by JWR, certificates and website content are the property of JWR or its licensors.
Systematic copying, scraping or republication of the registry as a whole, or use of the JWR name, emblem or certificates in a way that implies a recognition or endorsement that has not been granted, is not permitted.
9. Certificates
A JWR certificate records the state of a record at the time it was issued, and any certificate can be checked against the registry at the public validation page for its Official Record ID.
Please do not alter, forge or present a certificate in a misleading way, and do not rely on a certificate for a record that has since been corrected, superseded or revoked as though it still described the current position.
10. Acceptable use
You agree not to submit false, misleading, fabricated or plagiarised material; not to impersonate another person or institution; not to attempt to access internal, staff or unpublished areas of the system; not to interfere with the website's operation or security; and not to use the site's forms to flood, harass or abuse the team or other users.
JWR may refuse, suspend or withdraw engagement with any person who abuses these Terms, and may correct or remove content accordingly.
11. External links
The registry cites external sources and may embed third-party media such as YouTube videos. Those sites and services are not controlled by JWR, and JWR is not responsible for their content, their availability, or their own terms and privacy practices.
12. Corrections and challenges
If you believe a published record contains an error, or that a stronger candidate exists, please raise it through the corrections and challenges process described on the Corrections & Challenges page. Every submission is tied to an existing Official Record ID, is decided on the quality of the evidence, and any resulting change is recorded in the record's history.
13. Availability
This website is provided as it is and as it is available. JWR aims to keep the registry online, but does not guarantee continuous, uninterrupted or error-free access, and may suspend, relocate or change the website at any time.
14. Limitation of liability
To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, JWR is not liable for indirect, incidental, special or consequential loss, or for loss of profit, reputation, opportunity or data, arising from use of this website, from reliance on registry content, or from a verification decision.
Nothing in these Terms excludes liability that cannot lawfully be excluded.
15. Privacy
Personal data submitted through this website is handled in accordance with the JWR Privacy Policy, which forms part of these Terms.
16. Changes to these terms
JWR may update these Terms. The version and date shown at the top of this page always identify the text currently in force, and continued use of the website after an update constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms.
If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the remaining provisions continue in full force.
Part B
Record Submission Terms
What applies when you propose a record, supply evidence, or send JWR photographs, video or other media.
1. What a submission is
Making a submission begins a review. It does not create a record, does not reserve a claim, and recognition is never guaranteed. JWR may decline any submission without giving reasons, and may decline to define a category at all.
Evidence of Jewish connection or eligibility supplied by a submitter is review input only. It is never, by itself, proof of eligibility, and it never automatically verifies or publishes anything.
2. Honesty and accuracy
Submissions must be honest and accurate to the best of your knowledge, and you must be entitled to share what you send.
Fabricated, falsified or altered documents and evidence are prohibited, as is plagiarised material, or the submission of someone else's achievement without their knowledge or authority.
3. JWR's own research
JWR conducts its own research and is not limited to what a submitter supplies. In the course of a review JWR may:
- contact institutions, archives, rights holders and independent experts;
- search for earlier or competing candidates and for credible counter-evidence;
- ask the submitter for further information or clarification;
- assess the claim against sources the submitter has not supplied.
4. Wording, category and classification
JWR may revise the proposed wording, category, classification, measurement basis or description of a record so that it matches the way the registry defines and compares like claims.
A submission may therefore be recorded differently from the way it was proposed, placed in an existing category, or left unclassified. Where a review cannot be resolved on the evidence supplied, it may be closed.
5. What becomes public
Information about an approved record may become public, including the record title and definition, the achievement, the holder or holders named in the record, the measurement or basis, and the sources marked as public evidence.
Private contact details are not automatically published. Correspondence, internal notes, private evidence and material not marked as public source evidence stay outside the public record pages.
Publishing a record is not a licence to publish everything supplied with the submission.
6. Media rights for submissions
If you supply photographs, video or other media for publication:
- you must own sufficient rights to it, or be authorised by the rights holder, to provide it for publication — including any permission needed from people who appear in it or whose work it contains;
- ownership remains with the rights holder unless a transfer is separately agreed in writing;
- where submitted media is approved for publication, you give JWR a non-exclusive, worldwide, royalty-free permission to use it on the website, on the record or holder profile, in certificates, in editorial communications, on social media and in reasonable promotion of the registry;
- where a narrower written permission applies — a single use, a required credit line, an expiry date — that narrower permission governs;
- attribution is preserved where it is legally or contractually required.
7. Media whose rights are unclear
Media is published only where its rights position is clear. Where it is not, the material is held for internal verification and is not published, or is withdrawn once a concern is raised. See the Copyright & Media Rights page for how JWR handles a rights concern and what a rights decision does not decide.
8. Fees and independence of decisions
JWR does not charge a fee to make a submission or a challenge, and payment can never influence a verification decision. If optional paid services are introduced in future, they will be described separately and will remain independent of verification outcomes.
9. Minors
Where a record concerns a person under 18, the submission must be made or expressly authorised by a parent or legal guardian. JWR applies additional care to the publication of information about minors and may limit the personal details shown publicly.
Questions about these terms
For anything not covered here, use the correspondence form and select the subject closest to your question, or write to jewishworldrecords@gmail.com. To raise a factual correction or a challenge to a record, use the Corrections & Challenges page instead.