Tuesday, August 27, 2019
Genealogy: Tracing Back to 1000-1600's: Before Rabbi Samson Wertheimer Through Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull's and Dr.Jeffrey Briskman's Extensive Research
Nadene Goldfoot
Dr Jeffrey Mark Paull, my 4th cousin found through DNA studies from Family Tree DNA out of Houston, Texas originally, and Dr. Jeffrey Briskman,, my 5th cousin, have tracked rabbinical dynasties stemming from RASHI, the great biblical commentator who was born in Treves, France in 1040, dying in 1105 and studied in the Rhineland. They did it with a combination of DNA studies and found genealogical lines that rabbis kept and still exist today. One of their papers that caught my eye presented on Acadamia Edu's website was Connecting to the Wertheim-Giterman Rabbinical Lineage through Y-DNA."
Rabbis had followers and became very well known. They would marry into other families of well-known rabbis. Thus dynasties were created, just like kings of countries. Records were kept. This all started before Europe's leaders created the need for surnames. Many of these rabbis had started having surnames before the law of having surnames were started. Much of our lines were started in what became Germany.
Through the DNA study group of Halpern & Branches on FTDNA led by Andi Ziegelman and Sandy Aaronson, I found out that I not only matched Andi as 3rd cousin, but our line from grandparents Nathan Abraham Goldfus (Goldfoot) and Zlata Jermulowske connected to Rabbi Samson Wertheimer's brother, most likely. Rabbi Samson Wertheimer, born in 1658 in Worms, Germany and died in 1724 in Vienna, Austria, was the nephew of Samuel Oppenheimer. The surname of Wertheim and Wertheimer lives on today and several have taken DNA tests, finding their Y haplogroup and and also finding all the people that match their DNA segments like me. So has Oppenheim and Oppenheimer.
Rabbi Samuel Oppenheimer was born in 1630 and died in 1703. He was the 1st Jew to settle in Vienna after the 1670 expulsion order, and was the agent and financier of King Leopold I , helping to finance his wars with the Turks and the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1697 he was accused of conspiring to murder his rival (and books leave out the fact that this rival was his nephew) Samson Wertheimer. He was imprisoned until vindicated. Oppenheimer liberally supported the poor, scholars of Judaism and the Hassid movement to settle in Palestine. So if Wertheimer is related to Oppenheimer, then we are, too!
Since DNA testing is new, I cannot even imagine the person to person connection to RASHI, but these genealogies are showing the way to him. Paull and Briskman are the closest to finding many of them.
I match 4 Wertheimer men of which 2 are shown to be identified as coming from my father's side of the family. I also match 3 Oppenheimers of which 2 are women who are identified as coming from my father's side of the family. My brother matches 3 Wertheimer men, a 4th and 2 5th cousins. He also matches a male 3rd cousin Oppenheimer and a 5th cousin female Oppenheimer. DNA gets more interesting if all siblings get tested as they will vary in who they match. It opens the possibilities of who a family is related to. There are differences in the siblings in gender and age, and I believe this also affects the genes they have inherited.
FTDNA shows a male or female icon telling you what side of the family they were found. DNA scientists are marvelous today!
Paull and Briskman studied the Savran-Bendery Hassidic Dynasty. It includes the Wertheim rabbinical dynasty that starts with Rabbi Aryeh Leib Wertheim of Bendery and the Giterman rabbinical dynasty, starting with his brother, Rabbi Moseh Tzvi Giterman. Wertheim was born in 1772 in Savran, Odessa, Ukraine and Bessarabia. Bessarabia was a Province, formerly Romanian, now in the Moldavian and Ukrainian Republics. Jews were living there when Bessarabia was annexed to Russia in 1812. Between 1839 and 1858 they were forbidden to live within 50 versts of the frontier and, in common with gypsies, could not be government officials. It was an area of much anti-Semitism. That's part of the Pale of Settlement that Russia created and held.
I have gone back to: Descendants of Iones Jonah Goldfus to Nathan Abraham Goldfus, my grandfather
1 Iones Jonah Goldfus b: Abt. 1730 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania d: 1813 in prob. Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania
It's exciting to imagine all these people that lived before I did and what happened to them. I love this wonderful long line of people that I inherited my genes from.
Dr. Briskman's recent ancestors came from Belarus, formerly known by its Russian name Byelorussia or Belorussia (Russian: Белоруссия), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Minsk was its capital. Yet we connect somehow with the Goldfus line of Telsiai, Lithuania. People did move about. Some of Dr. Paull's ancestors came from Ukraine. Quite a few of my matches came from there, also a part of the Pale of Settlement.
I've found one major match to my brother David from Lithuania who had a Goldfus female on his tree that connected to our line. He's also a writer, Hon. Grant Arthur Gochin. His recent family was from Lithuania and he wrote about how they fared during the war there; not good at all, and the troubles he has had since then. David and Grant are 4th cousins. Grant's family also went from Lithuania to South Africa, like our 2nd-3rd cousin, Ian Goldfoot. Our families do get separated, don't they? That's the beauty of DNA testing; you might find some.
Another paper that just came out by Paull and another of my DNA matches, Janet Billstein Akaha with a 4th male, and a 5th male and female Billstein, is also loaded with the genealogy of Wertheimer. It's titled, Using Autosomal DNA Analysis to Connect Rabbinical Lineages: A Case Study of the Wertheimer and Wertheim Dynasties
The 2 Wertheimers used today for DNA testing/findings were Dr. Michael Aaron Wertheimer and David Wertheimer, who happen to be on the list of my family members-
1. Victor Sharpe has Dr. Michael Aaron Wertheimer as 4th cousin. David Wertheimer is his 5th cousin. Victor has 8 Wertheimers on his list of matches.
2. Dr. Sandra Oster finds Dr. Michael Aaron Wertheimer as 4th cousin and David Wertheimer, her 4th cousin as well. She has 9 Wertheimers on her list.
3. Art Bloom also has Michael Aaron as a 4th cousin and David Wertheimer as a 5th cousin as well as 4 others, making 6 Wertheimers on his list.
4. Ian Goldfoot, our 2nd cousin doesn't have Michael or David, but has a total of 7 others, four 4th cousins and three 5th cousins.
5. My brother, Dr. David Goldfoot, has Michael Aaron as a 4th cousin and two other 5th cousins, totaling 3 Wertheimers.
6. My cousin Don Eichman has two 5th cousin Wertheimers,
7. I have David Wertheimer as 4th cousin, another 4th and two 5th cousins, totaling 4 Wertheimers.
This may not be a triangulation for all of us, as the DNA segments have to be at the or among the same segment beginning and ending points, but we certainly hobnobbed with the best of rabbinical genes.
https://www.academia.edu/3877962/Using_Autosomal_DNA_Analysis_to_Connect_Rabbinical_Lineages_A_Case_Study_of_the_Wertheimer_and_Wertheim_Dynasties?email_work_card=view-paper.
Resource: https://www.academia.edu/9277136/Connecting_to_the_Wertheim-Giterman_Rabbinical_Lineage_through_Y-DNA
https://www.geni.com/people/R-Aryey-Leib-Wertheim-Bender-Admur-Bendery-Bender/6000000013392891832
https://www.surnamedna.com/?articles=y-dna-of-the-savran-bendery-chassidic-dynasty
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus
 |
| RASHI-Remembered in Israel, image on a postal stamp Prayer books are filled with his comments Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki-ben Isaac born in Troyes, France 1040 His genealogy showed a direct line to King David Genealogies were a requirement of sitting in the Sanhedrin, the Supreme Court of their day, a group of 71 rabbis. The Head person was called the NASI, usually a descendant of Hillel from the 1st century BCE who founded the school, House of Hillel, born in Babylonia. He had been president of the Sanhedrin. He's remembered for his Golden Rule: "Do not do unto others that which you would not have them do unto you." Before 70 CE they met in the 2nd Temple in Jerusalem. |
Rabbis had followers and became very well known. They would marry into other families of well-known rabbis. Thus dynasties were created, just like kings of countries. Records were kept. This all started before Europe's leaders created the need for surnames. Many of these rabbis had started having surnames before the law of having surnames were started. Much of our lines were started in what became Germany.
Through the DNA study group of Halpern & Branches on FTDNA led by Andi Ziegelman and Sandy Aaronson, I found out that I not only matched Andi as 3rd cousin, but our line from grandparents Nathan Abraham Goldfus (Goldfoot) and Zlata Jermulowske connected to Rabbi Samson Wertheimer's brother, most likely. Rabbi Samson Wertheimer, born in 1658 in Worms, Germany and died in 1724 in Vienna, Austria, was the nephew of Samuel Oppenheimer. The surname of Wertheim and Wertheimer lives on today and several have taken DNA tests, finding their Y haplogroup and and also finding all the people that match their DNA segments like me. So has Oppenheim and Oppenheimer.
Rabbi Samuel Oppenheimer was born in 1630 and died in 1703. He was the 1st Jew to settle in Vienna after the 1670 expulsion order, and was the agent and financier of King Leopold I , helping to finance his wars with the Turks and the War of the Spanish Succession. In 1697 he was accused of conspiring to murder his rival (and books leave out the fact that this rival was his nephew) Samson Wertheimer. He was imprisoned until vindicated. Oppenheimer liberally supported the poor, scholars of Judaism and the Hassid movement to settle in Palestine. So if Wertheimer is related to Oppenheimer, then we are, too!
Since DNA testing is new, I cannot even imagine the person to person connection to RASHI, but these genealogies are showing the way to him. Paull and Briskman are the closest to finding many of them.
I match 4 Wertheimer men of which 2 are shown to be identified as coming from my father's side of the family. I also match 3 Oppenheimers of which 2 are women who are identified as coming from my father's side of the family. My brother matches 3 Wertheimer men, a 4th and 2 5th cousins. He also matches a male 3rd cousin Oppenheimer and a 5th cousin female Oppenheimer. DNA gets more interesting if all siblings get tested as they will vary in who they match. It opens the possibilities of who a family is related to. There are differences in the siblings in gender and age, and I believe this also affects the genes they have inherited.
FTDNA shows a male or female icon telling you what side of the family they were found. DNA scientists are marvelous today!
Paull and Briskman studied the Savran-Bendery Hassidic Dynasty. It includes the Wertheim rabbinical dynasty that starts with Rabbi Aryeh Leib Wertheim of Bendery and the Giterman rabbinical dynasty, starting with his brother, Rabbi Moseh Tzvi Giterman. Wertheim was born in 1772 in Savran, Odessa, Ukraine and Bessarabia. Bessarabia was a Province, formerly Romanian, now in the Moldavian and Ukrainian Republics. Jews were living there when Bessarabia was annexed to Russia in 1812. Between 1839 and 1858 they were forbidden to live within 50 versts of the frontier and, in common with gypsies, could not be government officials. It was an area of much anti-Semitism. That's part of the Pale of Settlement that Russia created and held.
I have gone back to: Descendants of Iones Jonah Goldfus to Nathan Abraham Goldfus, my grandfather
1 Iones Jonah Goldfus b: Abt. 1730 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania d: 1813 in prob. Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania
and
Descendants of Abram Wolf Jarmulowicz to Zlata Jermulowske, my grandmother
1 Abram Wolf Jarmulowicz b: 1827 in Lazdzieje, Suwalk Gubernia, Lithuania d: in Lazdzieje, Suwalk Gubernia, Lithuania
.. +Aronowicz b: in Szczuczyn, Poland d: in Lazdzieje, Suwalk Gubernia, Lithuania
Dr. Briskman's recent ancestors came from Belarus, formerly known by its Russian name Byelorussia or Belorussia (Russian: Белоруссия), is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, and Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Minsk was its capital. Yet we connect somehow with the Goldfus line of Telsiai, Lithuania. People did move about. Some of Dr. Paull's ancestors came from Ukraine. Quite a few of my matches came from there, also a part of the Pale of Settlement.
I've found one major match to my brother David from Lithuania who had a Goldfus female on his tree that connected to our line. He's also a writer, Hon. Grant Arthur Gochin. His recent family was from Lithuania and he wrote about how they fared during the war there; not good at all, and the troubles he has had since then. David and Grant are 4th cousins. Grant's family also went from Lithuania to South Africa, like our 2nd-3rd cousin, Ian Goldfoot. Our families do get separated, don't they? That's the beauty of DNA testing; you might find some.
Another paper that just came out by Paull and another of my DNA matches, Janet Billstein Akaha with a 4th male, and a 5th male and female Billstein, is also loaded with the genealogy of Wertheimer. It's titled, Using Autosomal DNA Analysis to Connect Rabbinical Lineages: A Case Study of the Wertheimer and Wertheim Dynasties
The 2 Wertheimers used today for DNA testing/findings were Dr. Michael Aaron Wertheimer and David Wertheimer, who happen to be on the list of my family members-
1. Victor Sharpe has Dr. Michael Aaron Wertheimer as 4th cousin. David Wertheimer is his 5th cousin. Victor has 8 Wertheimers on his list of matches.
2. Dr. Sandra Oster finds Dr. Michael Aaron Wertheimer as 4th cousin and David Wertheimer, her 4th cousin as well. She has 9 Wertheimers on her list.
3. Art Bloom also has Michael Aaron as a 4th cousin and David Wertheimer as a 5th cousin as well as 4 others, making 6 Wertheimers on his list.
4. Ian Goldfoot, our 2nd cousin doesn't have Michael or David, but has a total of 7 others, four 4th cousins and three 5th cousins.
5. My brother, Dr. David Goldfoot, has Michael Aaron as a 4th cousin and two other 5th cousins, totaling 3 Wertheimers.
6. My cousin Don Eichman has two 5th cousin Wertheimers,
7. I have David Wertheimer as 4th cousin, another 4th and two 5th cousins, totaling 4 Wertheimers.
This may not be a triangulation for all of us, as the DNA segments have to be at the or among the same segment beginning and ending points, but we certainly hobnobbed with the best of rabbinical genes.
https://www.academia.edu/3877962/Using_Autosomal_DNA_Analysis_to_Connect_Rabbinical_Lineages_A_Case_Study_of_the_Wertheimer_and_Wertheim_Dynasties?email_work_card=view-paper.
Resource: https://www.academia.edu/9277136/Connecting_to_the_Wertheim-Giterman_Rabbinical_Lineage_through_Y-DNA
https://www.geni.com/people/R-Aryey-Leib-Wertheim-Bender-Admur-Bendery-Bender/6000000013392891832
https://www.surnamedna.com/?articles=y-dna-of-the-savran-bendery-chassidic-dynasty
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarus
Labels: dna, Dr. Jeffrey Briskman, Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull, Eastern Europe, Giterman, Grant Gochin, Lithuania, Openheimer, rabbinical lineages, Wertheimer, Y-DNA lines
