Goldfoot Genealogy

Nadene Goldfoot                                   

RASHI, famous biblical and Talmudic commentator whose thoughts are in our prayer books b: 1040 in Troyes, France, d: 1105 France Studied in the Rhineland  Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki (ben Isaac) =RASHI

   
   I woke up with an idea brewing in my head.  It finally bubbled up and I knew what to search.  When I had spoken with my 3rd cousin, Stanley Goldfoot, many years ago in Jerusalem, he had mentioned that he thought the Goldfoot line was related to the Gaon of Vilna, a Lithuanian Rabbi of great esteem of the Mitnaggedim branch of Jewish thought.  Goldfoot or the original name of Goldfus is not listed as a descendant of the Gaon in Chaim Freedman's book, ELIYAHU'S BRANCHES, the bible of genealogy for the Gaon.  I surmised at the time that Stanley's connection must have been from his mother's side.  She was a Tavriger.  I promptly put aside the thought that we might be connected.
                                                                       

Rabbi Samson Wertheimer b: 1658 Worms, Germany; d: 1724 Vienna, Austria Nephew of Samuel Oppenheimer

We already belong to Halpern and Branches, a DNA group of people  on Family Tree DNA that have found out their connection to Rabbi Samson Wertheimer who led to RASHI who also led to King David.  I wondered today if it were possible to have roots with both of these famous rabbis.

Another route to RASHI, I was told, was through the surname, Rubenstein.  I'm not sure which one is the common ancestor.  Rabbi Wertheimer was one route the group had discovered and another was Rubenstein.

There was a Rabbi Isaac Rubinstein b: 1880-d: 1945.  In 1906 he was appointed as the rabbi in Vilna by the government.  In 1920 he was made Minister of Jewish Affairs in the Lithuanian government.  Vilna, a center of Jewish learning in Lithuania, was annexed to Poland in 1922.  Rubinstein was elected to the Polish Senate where he fought for Jewish rights. until the Nazis came.  He became joint chief rabbi of Vilna in 1928.  Then Soviet Russia annexed Lithuania in 1940.  Rubinstein left the country then for New  York and taught at the Rabbi Isaac ElhananYeshivah. 
                                                                             
My family tree has an extensive history of Stanley's family who left Lithuania at about the same time my grandfather, Nathan Abraham Goldfus did.  Stanley's mother's history of Tavriger is found only in Ireland, where Stanley's parents and my grandfather also lived after leaving Lithuania;  mine being a very short period there.  A Tavriger was married to a Reubenstein, not a Rubenstein.  That spelling doesn't come up much anymore if ever.
                                                                             
I checked my matches on Family Tree DNA and lo and behold, I had 8 matches of Rubenstein; 2 males and 6 females of which all were 5th cousins except for a male and female 4th cousins.   Then I found that I matched 5 Rubinsteins of which 4 were 4th cousins and one was a 5th.            They probably gave us more paths to RASHI.  However, my 1st cousin, daughter of my father's sister, had 13 Rubenstein matches; seven 4th cousins and five 5th cousins.   She also matched 15 Rubinsteins.                                               

The Gaon of Vilna b: 1720 in Lithuania d: 1797 in Vilna, Lithuania Claimed descent from King David

  One of her Rubenstein 5th cousins bore this exciting information:  that she was a descendant of the Gaon of Vilna. She also had Katzenellenbogen on her tree.   

Katzenellenbogen  is an important surname and is found in the book by Dan Rottenberg, FINDING OUR FATHERS-a guide to Jewish Genealogy.  In this book on page 11 is chart B with RASHI's traditional ancestors.  On page 12 is chart C with Rashi and his Descendants.  On page 13 is chart D of the Luria family showing an unbroken line almost back to RASHI.  On page 14 is the last chart of E, showing how he families Rashi, Treves, Luria, Minz, Katzenellenbogen, WAhl, Drucker, Horowitz, Isserles and even Karl Marx are all related to each other.  

The relationship to the Gaon of Vilna also includes: Claire Oppenheim and Nora Oppenheimer. Also, there are 4 Rubensteins listed in Freedman's book that connect to the Gaon.   

  Rabbinical families tended to intermarry if they were within distance and in the same generations.  With traveling in today's world, we are brought together and have wonderful ancestry to mix with each other.  While not from rabbinical families, my aunt and her husband married, not ever knowing that they were distantly related. He just managed to get out of Germany in 1939 and our family had left Germany possibly by the 1500's when we could have entered Lithuania.   This was discovered through a tool on GedMatch through her daughter's DNA.  I wonder if I"ll match someone related to the Gaon of Vilna.  


                                                                   

David ruled from 1010 BCE to 970 BCE over Israel. He took over from King Saul. That's over 3,000 years ago.  He was Jesse's 8th son and was from the tribe of Judah while King Saul was from the tribe of Benjamin.

Several roads lead to being the descendants of King David.  "Most families claim descent from King David through Rashi. Several families claim descent "ben akhar ben"(father to son) in a direct line, most notably the Dayan, Shealtiel and Charlap/Don Yechia, families*."Hillel, Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Yehuda Hanasi, Yochanan Hasandler, Rashi, the Rambam and Yosef Karo as well as the more contemporary gedolim like the Baal Shem Tov, the Breslevor Rebbe and the first Lubavicher Rebbe, Shneur Zalman of Liadi, to name but a few have traced their family back to King David.

Wives of David, King of Israel,  

1  [1] King of Israel David b: in 1000 BCE Bethlehem d: in 960 BCE Occupation: King of Israel
.. +Bathsheba b: in Giloh, Judah
*2nd Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Ahinoam of Jezreel
*3rd Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Michal the First, Daughter of Saul
*4th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Abigail b: in Carmelite
*5th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Maachah Fromgeshur
*6th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Merab
*7th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Haggith
*Partner of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Abital
*8th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:
.. +Eglah
*9th Wife of [1] King of Israel David:

.. +Maacah


Research:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashi
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Finding Our Fathers by Dan Rottennberg
Eliyahu's Branches by Chaim Freedman 
http://eliyahusbranches.blogspot.com/2011/02/ancestry-of-gaon-of-vilna-descent-from.html
http://www.davidicdynasty.org/*
Tanakh, the Stone Edition (bible)