Sunday, September 01, 2013
DNA Connections to King David, Rashi, Isaac of Worms, Talmudists of Lithuania, Germany and France
Nadene Goldfoot
To be related through DNA to RASHI, one of the most famous of rabbis, is quite a thought. Legend is that he was a descendant of the royal family of King David (1010-970 BCE). How can people learn such things?
A group has been created on Family Tree DNA, Halpern and Branches, that have connected members back all the way to Rashi, a famous Rabbi born in 1040 in Troyes, France and died July 13, 1105 in Troyes, France. He was the son of Yitzchak Ben Shlomo of Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany who died in 1060 in Worms. Rashi's grandfather was Shalma Tzarfali born about 1000 CE. He had been a scholar and wine merchant. Rashi's income was from the vineyard. He was a French rabbinical scholar and studied in the Rhineland of Germany and had his own school there. France had been home to Jews before 70 CE when Jerusalem was attacked and destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish position there faced hardships with the development of Christianity with Church councils taking steps to enforce the conventional anti-Jewish codes. Many Jews had settled here for purposes of trade, importing foreign luxuries and establishing new communities up the Rhone Valley and into Champagne. After 1096, French Jews were attacked by the Christian Crusaders. Rashi is well known for his commentaries on the Bible and the Babylonian Talmud. He was born into the Rishonim Period of 1000 to 1500 CE of revered rabbis. We are now connected to this group because of some of the segments of our DNA on our 23 chromosomes match other people with connections from genealogies. .
It is said that the first Jews to settle in Worms were the Benjamites, descendants from the tribe of Benjamin.That goes back a long ways since Moses lived from 1391-1271 BCE and the 12 tribes were about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan just as he died. Since a connection was made with Worms, Germany, we are also connected to another famous rabbi, Isaac of Worms (Baruch ben Isaac c 1200 who was a Tosafist and codifier, born in Worms, a town in Rhein-Hesse, Germany. He lived at Regensburg and sometimes was called by either name. We can also be connected to Rabbi Samson Wertheimer (1658 -d Vienna 1724) of Worms, Germany. His best friend was Samuel Oppenheimer (1630-1703), the great financier. Oppenheimer's nephew was Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664-1736). He was also born in Worms and was a rabbi in Nikolsburg and also in Prague starting in 1702. He had built up a huge library and was considered a bibliophile. Because Prague had censorship, he kept his books in Hanover, Germany.
The Jewish community of Worms was annihilated in the First Crusade, but it re-established shortly afterward and was again destroyed in the Black Death outbreaks of 1349. The Jews were expulsed in 1615. The people found were massacred by soldiers of Louis XIV in 1689. Its cemetery dated from the 11th century while its synagogue originally was built in 1034. Close to it is the "Rashi Chapel" of 1624 and the ritual bath of 1186 which had stood until they were destroyed in November 1938 at the onset of WWII. After the war they were reconstructed. The 1933 community of Jews of 1,200 were killed by the Nazis. It's a miracle that some of the descendants had survived.
Through having the familyfinder test at familytreedna, my brother and I were informed that we had segments of our dna that connected to people in their group. A thorough search was done by the investigators of the project and sure enough, we were. A first cousin then was also familyfinder tested whose mother was a Goldfoot, a sibling of our father, matched more people than we did who were already found to be connected to the group. Our grandfather, Nathan Goldfoot, had married Hattie Jermulowske of Suwalki, Poland, and we carry her genes as well, so as a Goldfoot, so I cannot say whether these genes of ours were from one or the other side. Now I'd love to have a Jermulowske cousin tested.
This group is found to be also connected to other Talmudists such as Rabbi Jehiel Ben Solomon Heilperin (c 1660-1746) a scholar from Glusks (White Russia) and in 1711 from Minsk, Belarus much later. He had a wide secular education and was a student of Kabbalah as well. This has led to finding families with surnames such as Alpern, Guggenheim, Halpern, Rubenstein and Wertheim who are found to be connected. The American, Meyer Guggenheim (1828-1905), famous for establishing a very successful and philanthropic family must have an ancient rabbi as his origins, for they also have matching dna. I found a Rabbi Isaac Rubinstein (1880-1945) who might be related. In 1906 he was the rabbi in Vilna, Lithuania and by 1920 was the minister of Jewish affairs in the Lithuanian government. Vilna was annexed to Poland in 1922 and he was elected to the Polish Senate where he fought for Jewish rights until the Nazis came in. He was an ardent Zionist. The Soviet Russia then annexed Lithuania in 1940 and he moved to New York where he taught in a yeshivah.
The surname of Wertheim, Wertheimer, Wertheimber are all taken from the town of Wertheim in Baden, Germanay. Wertheimer family trees beginning in 1588 have been found. The family has a family crest. They are related to Samson, Katz, Oppenheim, Oppenheimer, Arnstein and many others that have been found.
Heilprin is a German name derived from the town of Heilbronn in Wurttemberg. Not all Jews bearing this surname are related as many Jews of Austria, Germany and Russia took this name and others similar to it when they were ordered to take family names in about 1800. They actually had to buy them. However, 4 distinct branches have been found. Jewish Encyclopedia has charts for 3 branches. Many Heilprins in Russia claimed in 1900 descent from the 4th branch. The oldest branch dates back to Zebulon Heilprin of the 16th century whose son, Moses of Brest-Litovsk was the father in law of Samuel Edels. Another branch comes from the Lithuania Rabbi Jehiel Heilprin, a descendant of Rabbi Solomon Ben Jehiel Luria (1510-1573) , known as the Maharshal, a codifier who traced his genealogy back through RASHI. He was found in many Lithuanian and Polish communities, the last being in Lublin. A Heilprin branch is also related to the BAAL SHEMTOV, Israel Ben Eliezer c 1700-1760) founder of Hasidism who was born in Podolia, region in S.W. Ukraine; formerly a region of S.E. Poland, passing to Russia in 1793. He was known for his miraculous cures. .
Our own personal Goldfus history from Telsiai, Lithuania from Stanley Goldfoot handed down to him was that the family was also connected to the Vilna Gaon, Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman of Lithuania (1720-1797), where the Goldfus clan lived. Elijah's father was Shlomo Zalman of Vilna b: 1695 and d 1756. Jews were reported to be in Lithuania by 1321. This must be because in 321CE, the emperor Constantine issued regulations of Jewish communities that were in Germany. Jews had been in Germany as Roman soldiers serving in Roman garrisons, either forced or by choice. Barbarians invaded the land. In the 8th and 9th century, the Carolingian royal house adopted a pro-Jewish policy and encouraged the settlement of Jews in order for Germany to develop trade.
By 1398 a group of Karaites lived in Troki, France. They were Jews who had split off from the main group who did not agree with the Oral Law. The Spanish Inquisition of 1492 had a great effect on the world Jewry and the attitude of their host country, so that by 1495 we find 10,000 Jews moving into Vilna, Grodno and Kovno. By 1529 they had a charter guaranteeing freedom of movement and employment and soon were excelling in foreign trade and tax-farming. From 1566 to 1572 our ancestors had to wear the Jewish badge and face the unfairness of not being allowed to bring in witnesses in giving evidence in court, thus not being treated like other citizens.
There are genealogies which show connections. During the days of the 2nd Temple, a Cohen had to have a genealogy to prove he was indeed who he said he was in order to serve. A genealogy of this group was from a written genealogy tracing back to Zebulon Eliezer without gaps showing that 2 Halpern families came from the same family and even seem to have the Ydna haplogroup of G2C. A Rabbi Meir Wunder documented facts at the time. We have lost much of our knowledge due to WWII, and it is wonderful to find these old family trees as well as to be able to use DNA to clinch facts of family connections.
This group is one of many sources that proves the history of Ashkenazi Jews of a people taken to Rome after 70 CE's fall of Jerusalem from the Roman attack who then later made their way to France and Germany. It was there that a Goldfus family took on their German-Yiddish surname before people were required to do so in Eastern Europe. They brought their family and their surname up to Poland/Lithuania with them. I am finding that once a rabbi has established himself and keeps a genealogy, his children have followed his footsteps so that this dedication is often continued even to this day within the family.
Resource: http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-house-of-rashi/
Eliyahu's Branches by Chaim Freedman
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Halpern and Branches Group
http://www.geni.com/projects/Revered-Rabbis-Kabbalists-Sages-Torah-Scholars-and-Luminaries-of-Renown/1052
http://www.chabad.org/libraryarticle_cdo/aid/11229/jewish/Rabbii-Samson-Great-Escape.htm
http://www.geni.com/people/Rashi-%D7%A8%D7%A9-%D7%99/6000000006709501378
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15013-worms
Finding Our Fathers-a guidebook to Jewish genealogy by Dan Rottenberg.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_15889.html
http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Y-DNA_project_help
To be related through DNA to RASHI, one of the most famous of rabbis, is quite a thought. Legend is that he was a descendant of the royal family of King David (1010-970 BCE). How can people learn such things?
A group has been created on Family Tree DNA, Halpern and Branches, that have connected members back all the way to Rashi, a famous Rabbi born in 1040 in Troyes, France and died July 13, 1105 in Troyes, France. He was the son of Yitzchak Ben Shlomo of Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany who died in 1060 in Worms. Rashi's grandfather was Shalma Tzarfali born about 1000 CE. He had been a scholar and wine merchant. Rashi's income was from the vineyard. He was a French rabbinical scholar and studied in the Rhineland of Germany and had his own school there. France had been home to Jews before 70 CE when Jerusalem was attacked and destroyed by the Romans. The Jewish position there faced hardships with the development of Christianity with Church councils taking steps to enforce the conventional anti-Jewish codes. Many Jews had settled here for purposes of trade, importing foreign luxuries and establishing new communities up the Rhone Valley and into Champagne. After 1096, French Jews were attacked by the Christian Crusaders. Rashi is well known for his commentaries on the Bible and the Babylonian Talmud. He was born into the Rishonim Period of 1000 to 1500 CE of revered rabbis. We are now connected to this group because of some of the segments of our DNA on our 23 chromosomes match other people with connections from genealogies. .
It is said that the first Jews to settle in Worms were the Benjamites, descendants from the tribe of Benjamin.That goes back a long ways since Moses lived from 1391-1271 BCE and the 12 tribes were about to enter the Promised Land of Canaan just as he died. Since a connection was made with Worms, Germany, we are also connected to another famous rabbi, Isaac of Worms (Baruch ben Isaac c 1200 who was a Tosafist and codifier, born in Worms, a town in Rhein-Hesse, Germany. He lived at Regensburg and sometimes was called by either name. We can also be connected to Rabbi Samson Wertheimer (1658 -d Vienna 1724) of Worms, Germany. His best friend was Samuel Oppenheimer (1630-1703), the great financier. Oppenheimer's nephew was Rabbi David Oppenheim (1664-1736). He was also born in Worms and was a rabbi in Nikolsburg and also in Prague starting in 1702. He had built up a huge library and was considered a bibliophile. Because Prague had censorship, he kept his books in Hanover, Germany.
The Jewish community of Worms was annihilated in the First Crusade, but it re-established shortly afterward and was again destroyed in the Black Death outbreaks of 1349. The Jews were expulsed in 1615. The people found were massacred by soldiers of Louis XIV in 1689. Its cemetery dated from the 11th century while its synagogue originally was built in 1034. Close to it is the "Rashi Chapel" of 1624 and the ritual bath of 1186 which had stood until they were destroyed in November 1938 at the onset of WWII. After the war they were reconstructed. The 1933 community of Jews of 1,200 were killed by the Nazis. It's a miracle that some of the descendants had survived.
Through having the familyfinder test at familytreedna, my brother and I were informed that we had segments of our dna that connected to people in their group. A thorough search was done by the investigators of the project and sure enough, we were. A first cousin then was also familyfinder tested whose mother was a Goldfoot, a sibling of our father, matched more people than we did who were already found to be connected to the group. Our grandfather, Nathan Goldfoot, had married Hattie Jermulowske of Suwalki, Poland, and we carry her genes as well, so as a Goldfoot, so I cannot say whether these genes of ours were from one or the other side. Now I'd love to have a Jermulowske cousin tested.
This group is found to be also connected to other Talmudists such as Rabbi Jehiel Ben Solomon Heilperin (c 1660-1746) a scholar from Glusks (White Russia) and in 1711 from Minsk, Belarus much later. He had a wide secular education and was a student of Kabbalah as well. This has led to finding families with surnames such as Alpern, Guggenheim, Halpern, Rubenstein and Wertheim who are found to be connected. The American, Meyer Guggenheim (1828-1905), famous for establishing a very successful and philanthropic family must have an ancient rabbi as his origins, for they also have matching dna. I found a Rabbi Isaac Rubinstein (1880-1945) who might be related. In 1906 he was the rabbi in Vilna, Lithuania and by 1920 was the minister of Jewish affairs in the Lithuanian government. Vilna was annexed to Poland in 1922 and he was elected to the Polish Senate where he fought for Jewish rights until the Nazis came in. He was an ardent Zionist. The Soviet Russia then annexed Lithuania in 1940 and he moved to New York where he taught in a yeshivah.
The surname of Wertheim, Wertheimer, Wertheimber are all taken from the town of Wertheim in Baden, Germanay. Wertheimer family trees beginning in 1588 have been found. The family has a family crest. They are related to Samson, Katz, Oppenheim, Oppenheimer, Arnstein and many others that have been found.
Heilprin is a German name derived from the town of Heilbronn in Wurttemberg. Not all Jews bearing this surname are related as many Jews of Austria, Germany and Russia took this name and others similar to it when they were ordered to take family names in about 1800. They actually had to buy them. However, 4 distinct branches have been found. Jewish Encyclopedia has charts for 3 branches. Many Heilprins in Russia claimed in 1900 descent from the 4th branch. The oldest branch dates back to Zebulon Heilprin of the 16th century whose son, Moses of Brest-Litovsk was the father in law of Samuel Edels. Another branch comes from the Lithuania Rabbi Jehiel Heilprin, a descendant of Rabbi Solomon Ben Jehiel Luria (1510-1573) , known as the Maharshal, a codifier who traced his genealogy back through RASHI. He was found in many Lithuanian and Polish communities, the last being in Lublin. A Heilprin branch is also related to the BAAL SHEMTOV, Israel Ben Eliezer c 1700-1760) founder of Hasidism who was born in Podolia, region in S.W. Ukraine; formerly a region of S.E. Poland, passing to Russia in 1793. He was known for his miraculous cures. .
Our own personal Goldfus history from Telsiai, Lithuania from Stanley Goldfoot handed down to him was that the family was also connected to the Vilna Gaon, Elijah Ben Solomon Zalman of Lithuania (1720-1797), where the Goldfus clan lived. Elijah's father was Shlomo Zalman of Vilna b: 1695 and d 1756. Jews were reported to be in Lithuania by 1321. This must be because in 321CE, the emperor Constantine issued regulations of Jewish communities that were in Germany. Jews had been in Germany as Roman soldiers serving in Roman garrisons, either forced or by choice. Barbarians invaded the land. In the 8th and 9th century, the Carolingian royal house adopted a pro-Jewish policy and encouraged the settlement of Jews in order for Germany to develop trade.
By 1398 a group of Karaites lived in Troki, France. They were Jews who had split off from the main group who did not agree with the Oral Law. The Spanish Inquisition of 1492 had a great effect on the world Jewry and the attitude of their host country, so that by 1495 we find 10,000 Jews moving into Vilna, Grodno and Kovno. By 1529 they had a charter guaranteeing freedom of movement and employment and soon were excelling in foreign trade and tax-farming. From 1566 to 1572 our ancestors had to wear the Jewish badge and face the unfairness of not being allowed to bring in witnesses in giving evidence in court, thus not being treated like other citizens.
There are genealogies which show connections. During the days of the 2nd Temple, a Cohen had to have a genealogy to prove he was indeed who he said he was in order to serve. A genealogy of this group was from a written genealogy tracing back to Zebulon Eliezer without gaps showing that 2 Halpern families came from the same family and even seem to have the Ydna haplogroup of G2C. A Rabbi Meir Wunder documented facts at the time. We have lost much of our knowledge due to WWII, and it is wonderful to find these old family trees as well as to be able to use DNA to clinch facts of family connections.
This group is one of many sources that proves the history of Ashkenazi Jews of a people taken to Rome after 70 CE's fall of Jerusalem from the Roman attack who then later made their way to France and Germany. It was there that a Goldfus family took on their German-Yiddish surname before people were required to do so in Eastern Europe. They brought their family and their surname up to Poland/Lithuania with them. I am finding that once a rabbi has established himself and keeps a genealogy, his children have followed his footsteps so that this dedication is often continued even to this day within the family.
Resource: http://www.jewishhistory.org/the-house-of-rashi/
Eliyahu's Branches by Chaim Freedman
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Halpern and Branches Group
http://www.geni.com/projects/Revered-Rabbis-Kabbalists-Sages-Torah-Scholars-and-Luminaries-of-Renown/1052
http://www.chabad.org/libraryarticle_cdo/aid/11229/jewish/Rabbii-Samson-Great-Escape.htm
http://www.geni.com/people/Rashi-%D7%A8%D7%A9-%D7%99/6000000006709501378
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/15013-worms
Finding Our Fathers-a guidebook to Jewish genealogy by Dan Rottenberg.
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/judaica/ejud_0002_0016_0_15889.html
http://www.isogg.org/wiki/Y-DNA_project_help
Labels: Ashkenazis, Baal Shem Tov, dna, France, genealogy, Germany, Halpern, Jehiel Heilperin, Rabbis, Rashi, Wertheim, Worms
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Hello Nadene,
Congratulations on your magnificent Isaac of Worms web site!
BEST, Andi Alpert Ziegelman
Haifa, Israel
PS - I'm going to write you an email.
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Congratulations on your magnificent Isaac of Worms web site!
BEST, Andi Alpert Ziegelman
Haifa, Israel
PS - I'm going to write you an email.
<< Home
