Goldfoot Genealogy

Nadene Goldfoot                                             

Helping a young first cousin once removed to do research on her genealogy via the internet, I told her about our connection to the Kalonymos family that I had been told were on our family tree.  My young cousin wanted verification, facts for proof.  This family was so important to our Ashkenazi line,  which went back, it was said, to Hillel and Rashi who had a pedigree to King David.  Rashi's tree can be found in Dan Rottenberg's book, FINDING OUR FATHERS.

He wrote on page 255, "Kalonymus--Prominent family from 8th century, Italy and 10th century Germany.  JE has a family tree and 12 biographies.  LBI also has a family tree relate to Ullstein.  Also see JE articles on  David ben Jacob Meir, David ben Kalonymus, David Kalonymus of Naples, and Mayence (Mainz) and see EJ article on Eleazar ben Judah of Worms.  Related to Salman, Darshan and Jaffe."  (JE=Jewish Encyclopedia,, LBI=Leo Baeck Institute, EJ=Encyclopedia Judaica.)  

 Kalonymos or Kalonymus (Hebrew: קָלוֹנִימוּס Qālōnīmūs) is a prominent Jewish family who lived in Italy, mostly in Lucca and in Rome, which, after the settlement at Mainz and Speyer of several of its members, took during many generations a leading part in the development of Jewish learning in Germany. The family is according to many considered the foundation of Hachmei Provence and the Ashkenazi Hasidim.

A genealogy tree from 1080 has been developed.  Our group of DNA testers on Family Tree DNA have discovered that Kalonymos is one of the founders of the Halpern & Branches group.  It's an important surname for many of the Jewish people who are doing genealogy research.  

I finally got so curious that I used Kolonymos in Family Tree DNA where I have my test and up came someone with Klonymus Kalman.  We connected and messaged.

I just now discovered right on Wikipedia, 2 rabbis, related to each other.  Rabbi Klonymus Kalman Epstein born in Nowy Korczyn (Neustadt), Poland, 1753 – Kraków, 1825) son of Aaron Halevi Epstein, descendant from the Prophet Samuel and King David. ;  was a rabbi and Kabbalist, one of the great leaders of the Chassidic movement, known as the Maor Vashamesh (מאור ושמש) after his sefer.

 Rabbi Shapira's only son, his daughter-in-law, and his sister-in-law were killed during the Nazi aerial bombing of Warsaw in September, 1939. After the invasion of Poland, Rabbi Shapira was interned with a few of his hasidim in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he ran a secret synagogue. He invested enormous efforts in maintaining Jewish life in the ghetto, including arranging for mikveh immersions and kosher marriages. Rabbi Shapira was able to survive in the ghetto until its liquidation, avoiding the tragic deportations to Treblinka in the summer of 1942, because of the support of the Judenrat. Like other notables, he was given work at Schultz's shoe factory—a path to ongoing survival.

After the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising was crushed in 1943, Rabbi Shapira was taken to the Trawniki work camp near Lublin. Although offered the opportunity to escape from the concentration camp, he apparently refused. Following the Jewish uprising in the Treblinka death camp (August 2, 1943) and in Sobibor extermination camp (October 14, 1943), there was increasing concern among the Nazi authorities that there would be further outbreaks of violence at other concentration camps. For this reason, Aktion Erntefest (Operation Harvest Festival) was launched. During this operation, carried out on November 3, 1943, all the remaining Jews in Trawniki, including Rabbi Shapira, were shot to death.

Resource:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klonimus_Kalman_Epstein

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalonymus_Kalman_Shapira

Finding Our Fathers-a guidebook to Jewish genealogy by Dan Rottenberg

Labels: Ashkenazim, genealogy, Kalonymus Kalman Shapira, Klonimus Kalman Epstein, Poland, Rabbis

# posted by Nadene Goldfoot @ 8:45 AM