Goldfoot Genealogy

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                      

Many Jews can claim a connection to Rashi, the famous biblical commentator (1040-1105).
                                                                           
We've had the discovery that our DNA connects to Rabbi Samson Wertheimer or his brother (1658-1724) who was born in Worms, Germany.  He in turn connects to Rashi who is descended from King David.

 Worms turned out to be a center of rabbis who studied and debated together.  Jews had lived in this town since the 10th century, which was in the 900s.  Emperor Henry IV in the 11th century, in return for financial assistance, rewarded the Jews with privileges of living there in 1074 and 1090 by granting them freedom of commerce, security of property, and imperial protection.  But...the community was completely destroyed in the FIRST CRUSADE.  After being reestablished it was again destroyed in the BLACK DEATH OUTBREAKS of 1349. They were expulsed in 1615!  Restrictions were imposed on Jews in 1641, just before Wertheimer's birth.  They saw the massacre of Jews by the soldiers of Louis XIV in 1689.    He had gone to Vienna in 1684 to join the bank of his uncle, Samuel Oppenheimer, and soon became a court banker.  Wertheimer was a relative of Rashi, the famous biblical commentator whose comments are found in the Talmud and Rashi descended from King David.  In 1933, there were 1,200 Jews living here, but  all life ended with the Nazis.

Rashi, an abbreviation for Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki, which means Ben Isaac-the son of Isaac, was born February 22, 1040 and died July 13, 1105,  in Troyes, France.  He studied in the Rhineland (Germany) and established a school in Troyes.  He made a living from his vineyard.  His commentaries were used as the basis for later scholars such as Nahmanides and Ibn Ezra in how they interpreted the Torah-both written and oral law (Pentateuch refers to -written law only).

When the Temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE, Jews fled.  One group went from there to Rome, and from Rome to France.
                                                                                 

Hillel-1st century BCE, founder of the House of Hillel born in Babylonia Settled in Palestine and did manual labor  while a student with the famous Shemaiah and Avtalyon, became president of Sanhedrin, known for his humility and leniency.

King David lived from about 1043 BC to 973 BCE.  A descendant was Hillel, The Great who lived from 70 BCE to about 10 CE.  His descendant was Simeon Ha-Nasi.  The next descendant was Rabbi Gamliel, the Elder (early 1st century who was President of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem and grandson of Hillel. He brought about the betterment of the legal position of women.  Christians say he was the teacher of Paul Three generations later we find Hohanan Ha-Sandalar of Egypt living in the 2nd century CE.  His descendants were Joshua, Jochanan, Nachman, Jose, who was the author of Luleiot Hashor,  Yanai, Rabbi Mananaigaon, Rabbi Jose of Constantinople, Ha-Gaon Rabbi Abraham, Rabbi Aaron-a renowned doctor,
 and Ha-Gaon Rabbi Eliakim.  This carries the family to 20 later generations of Rashi.

Finally we get to Solomon, Isaac, and then Solomon (Rashi of Troyes, France (1040-1105).  Isaac and his wife, Abun,  had a daughter who gave birth to Rashi.  Isaac's son was Simon the Elder.  Rashi's descendants were Isaac (Ribam) who left 7 children: of which Samuel Spira begat Solomon Spira in the 14th century which led to the Luria family, the Meir Katzenellenbogen family, the Jehiel Heilprin family, etc.  Samuel Spira had a daughter who married into her relative's family, Abraham Treves who died after 1384.  The Treves family were followed by the Dreyfus family.

Rashi had another daughter, Mirium,  who married  Judah ben Nathan.  Their descendants were YomTov (YomTov Ben Isaac of Joigny, France who died in 1190 in York, England and was a tosaphist and liturgical poet.  He died in the York massacre on the Sabbath before Passover, March 16, 1190, when the Jews were headed by YomTov and were besieged in the Castle Keep by a bloodthirsty mob and killed one another rather than surrender.  This rabbi wrote the hymns used for the eve of the Day of Atonement.   His descendants continued the line with Judah, Isaac, and down to Judah Sir Leon of Paris (1166-1224).  His descendants were Rabbi Joseph Treves of Marseilles, France in the 14th century, Mattithiah Treves of Provence (1325-1387), and his sons were: Abraham Treves who died after 1384 and had been married to cousin Samuel Spira's daughter.  Also, 2 more sons were Johanan Treves who died in 1439 and Joseph Treves of Paris who died in 1429.
                                                                       
The most famous of the Luria family was Isaac ben Solomon, Rabbi,  known as "Ashkenazi" (Ari-the Lion) (1534-1572), a Palestinian kabbalist. He was born in 1534, in Jerusalem, Palestine, Ottoman Empire—died August 5, 1572, in Safed, Syria  [now Zefat, Israel]), eponymous founder of the Lurianic school of Kabbala (Jewish esoteric mysticism). (note: We Jews were now living in our own country that had been renamed by the Romans to Palestine, so now all our relatives were Palestinians).  This didn't change until May 14, 1948, when Israel was rebirthed ). It is also said that both his parents were Germans, so that's why he would have been called the Ashkenazi.   He was  educated in Egypt.  He lived in Safed (the city I lived in for 4+ years) from 1570 till death 2 years later.  "Luria’s father was an Ashkenazi (a German or Polish Jew) who died when Isaac was very young, while his mother was a Sephardi (of Iberian-North African Jewish stock) with family in Egypt. .they went to Egypt after his father's death, which would have been in 1540. .  Isaac's mother's brother was " Mordecai Frances, a wealthy tax-farmer.  As a child, Luria was described as a young genius, “a Torah scholar who could silence all opponents by the power of his arguments,” and also as possessed of divine inspiration."  
                                                                                       

Rabbi Isaac ben Solomon Luria A book about him is Window of the Soul: The Kabbalah of Rabbi Isaac Luria, 1534-1572 :  Selections from Chayyim Vital, More

This famous man became renowned for his ascetic life and saintly character.  His identification of ancient graves in the Galilee conferred on them sanctity which has persisted to the present day among the Orthodox.  His teachings received by his disciples orally, were posthumously recorded by his pupil, Hayyim Vital.  Luria's teaching deeply influenced subsequent mystical thought.  Luria's personality was the subject of many legends.  He had launched a neo-kabbalistic movement which had a big impact on Jewish life, especially in the Mediterranean area and in Europe.  "Luria died in an epidemic in the summer of 1572 and was buried in Safed."

Solomon "Shlomo"  ben Jehiel Luria was known as the Maharshal (1510-1573) in Brest-Litovak, Lithuania was also a rabbi and codifier who officiated in several Lithuanian and Polish communities such as Lublin.  His ideas showed his independent and he gave critical views which made him many opponents, but the greatness of his learning was undisputed.  He had criticized the Shulhan Arukh for relying on codifiers instead of going to the source-the Talmud, which he regarded as the sole halakhic authority. He  was one of the greatest Polish Talmudists. His family had migrated from Germany to Poland and had sent the young boy to the Yeshivah of Lublin, where he studied together with the famous ReMO, Rabbi Moshe Isserles, under Rabbi Shalom Shacne, the founder of this first Talmudical academy in Poland.  His line going back to his father was Jehiel Luria, then to Abraham who goes back to Jehiel Luria who died 1470 (we name after deceased relatives), then to Aharon, then Nathanial, Jehiel, and Solomon Spira of the 14th century and descendant of Rashi whose daughter, Miriam had married Samson Luria.  


This continues, but I'm going to skip down to Abraham Luria, son of Jehiel Luria ancestor of the Maharashal (1510-1573).  Jehiel Luria had a daughter who married Isaac Katzenellenbogan.  Their ancestors were Meir Katzenellenbogen of Paduda (1482-1565), Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen of Padua, Italy (1521-1597), Deborah Drucker who married Saul Wahl of Brest-Litovsk (1541-1617), Hinda Horowitz who married Meir Wahl Katzenellenbogen of Brest-Litovsk, and Nessla who married Moses Cohen of Luck who had a daughter who married Aaron Lvov of Trier  (Treves)- a town in Germany where Jews had settled in 1066 that died in 1712 who was the great great great grandfather of KARL MARX (1818-1883) father of Communism.                                                                          
Karl Heinrich Marx was a German social philosopher with Jewish parents in Prussia, but they had  abandoned Judaism before his birth and had him baptized (entering into Christianity) at the age of 6. Their town of Trier "Treves" had been under the authority of the Bishop until 1794.  In 1096, the Jews suffered martyrdom or became converted.  Many would return to Judaism 5 years later.  The Jews here rose to importance in the 13th century which culminated in the elevation of individuals to positions in the 14th century which was unparalleled in Germany.  During the Black Plague of 1349, the Jewish community was destroyed.  After the Jews returned in the 1350's, they were expelled again in 1418, and then returned again in 1500.  They were regarded as a juridical unit and would receive charters for usually 12 years at a time. In 1933, 800 Jews were living in Trier.  By 1990, there were a few dozen.

Karl's assumption of Marxism was that history was essentially the account of class struggles between the oppressing and the oppressed.  He had no expert knowledge of any Jewish problems because he studied none of them.  His attitude towards Jews was with antipathy and contempt.  He described Judaism and the Jews like those used by anti-Semites.  From 1848, his idea of Jews that lasted was as a financial reactionary group only.  This is what happened by leaving Judaism.  It shows that our character is not all in the genes, but also what we learn.  That's why we were given the 10 Commandments-to learn the ethics we follow.  That wasn't enough.  Then we were given 613 more laws to be followed-the same number as we have bones in our body.  Judaism hasn't had many converts, but we've had some.
                                                                         
King David was the great grandson of Ruth, the Moabite, a convert to Judaism and beloved by Jews.  Her first husband, Mahlon, a Jew,  died, and then she went to live with her mother-in-law, Naomi, who was Jewish.  They returned to Bethlehem where she remarried Boaz, a kinsman of Naomi's.  Hence, Ruth's son was Oved, and Oved had Jesse, and Jesse's son was David.  Out of the past 6 ancestors, one was not Jewish, so he was 5/6th Jewish by DNA and one part Moabite.  Moab was the country of Southern Transjordan, kindred to the Israelites and descended from Lot, Abraham's nephew.  They spoke the language that was the same as biblical Hebrew.  This heritage didn't affect David one bit-more to the betterment of his character.

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Finding Our Fathers-a guidebook to Jewish genealogy by Dan Rottenberg
Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull's paper: The Y-DNA Genetic Signature and Ethnic Origin of the Katzenellenbogen Rabbinical Lineage 
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/112518/jewish/Rabbi-Shlomo-Luria.htm
http://www.britannica.com/biography/Isaac-ben-Solomon-Luria
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/biography/Luria.html
http://www.eilatgordinlevitan.com/kurenets/k_pages/luria.html pictures and list of Luria members
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Luria