The Maharal of Prague's Descent from King David

The Maharal of Prague’s Descent from King David

Chaim Freedman, Petah Tikvah, March 2006.

Published in "Avotaynu" Volume XXII Number 1, Spring 2006

Rabbi Yehudah Leib[i] the son of Betzalel (circa 1522-1609), known as the “Maharal of Prague”, was one of the world’s most famous rabbis. Revered during his lifetime and by many until this day, the Maharal wrote many scholastic works. Several families claim descent from him, a fact of special importance to them since the Maharal also is widely believed to descend from King David.

Rabbi Meir Perels of Prague created a genealogy of the Maharal’s family, Megilat Hayukhsin[ii], in 1727 (some say 1717). The book was not published until 1853 and since then genealogists generally have accepted Perels’ claims, many incorporating Perels’ findings into their own works.

An exception to the believers in Perels’ claim was Prague historian Otto Muneles who discovered (in the early 1950s) that Perels’ claim was invalid since it was based on an erroneous copying of the date of death on the tombstone in Prague of the Maharal’s supposed great-great-grandfather Yehudah Leib (Liwai) the Elder. Perels recorded the date in Hebrew as the Hebrew year corresponding to 1439/1440.

Muneles’ examination of that tombstone shows that the date corresponds to 1539. Since the Maharal, also named Yehudah Leib, bore the same name as Yehudah Leib the Elder, and since the Maharal was born about 1522, he could not have borne the same name as a living ancestor. Soon thereafter, critical rabbinic genealogist, Rabbi Shlomo Englard of Bnei Brak, Israel, examined Muneles’ claims and, by studying sources described below, determined that Muneles’ claims were valid.

If the basis for the claim to Davidic descent of the Maharal is the text of the tombstone of Yehudah Leib the Elder (called in Hebrew Hazaken) then this would indicate that the Maharal may not be descended from King David at all. The consequences of such a finding would seem to sever all the descendants of the Maharal from their assumed Davidic descent. Such a circumstance would be particular serious for many famous rabbinic families whose ancestors wrote in many rabbinic works and genealogies of their Davidic descent, based on Perels’ work.

I have studied Muneles’ and Englard’s analyses of the situation and find them valid in negating the basis of Perels’ claim. On the other hand, my study of a number of rabbinic genealogies, written independently of Perels’ book, show that the Maharal indeed was descended from King David, but through a different line from that claimed by Perels. The descendants of the Maharal may breathe a sigh of relief; their illustrious ancestry has been salvaged.

An Alternative Line from the Maharal to King David

Prior to publication of Perels’ work a tradition existed that the Maharal was a descendant of Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi (died 217 C.E.), of the House of Hillel, who was of Davidic descent. These genealogies list the Maharal's father Betzalel and Chaim of Worms, and do not include Yehudah-Leib (Liwai) of Prague. The genealogies also do not trace the ancestry through the much-disputed line back to Hai Gaon and thence to the Exilarchs and King Solomon. Rather they state descent from Yehudah Hanassi, without listing the intervening generations.

The problem of the ancestry of the Maharal of Prague was debated on Jewishgen in 2002 when Daniel Polakovic, of the Jewish Museum in Prague posted the following:

“There was a great discussion on this forum about the reliability of Perles's book "Megillat Yuhasin" on the roots of the MaHaRaL of Prague. One of the problematic points was a gravestone of "his relative" Yehuda Loeb the Elder. Since I work in the Jewish museum of Prague, I've had access to the archives of the Prague Hevra Kadisha from the 17th-20th century. Among these documents are the transcriptions of the gravestones of the old Jewish Cemetery of Prague. I've done this repeatedly and so far about 12,000 gravestones have been copied.Naturally, the gravestone of Rabbi Yehuda Loeb "the Elder" mentioned by Perles was found, and it still stands up to present time. The inscription is almost identical with Perles's version except for the dating (not 1440 but 1540) and the last line of the gravestone which was romantically improved for this purpose (a passage about the descendant of Davidic royal dynasty). I assume that these lines in Perles's book aren't his alone, but only the addition from the beginning of the 19th century (probably of Polish origin), because this book was not edited for the first time until 1864.
The photo of the above mentioned gravestone is available for inspection at http://www.geocities.com/danpolak/liva2.jpg It originated from the 1950s, at that time a full setof pictures of gravestones from this cemetery were taken”

Figure 1. Tombstone of Rabbi Yehudah Leib (Liwai) the Elder in the ancient cemetery in Prague.

The year is partially obscured by vegetation so Polakovic excavated the base of the tombstone to reveal the essential line where the date can be seen clearly:

The date on the bottom line is "shin" (the Hebrew year 5300) which corresponds to1539/40, The inscription is identical with that copied by Muneles in his book in 1955[iii].

Some Important Facts:

The Maharal died in 1609 at the age of 97 or 87 [iv]. Thus he was born about 1512 or 1522.
He was born in Posen, not Prague. His father Betzalel and grandfather Chaim lived in Worms as did his uncle Yaakov. Neither his father nor grandfather is buried in Prague.

Someone named Yehudah Leib the Elder died in Prague in 1539. His tombstone includes the inscription "descended from Yishai", which was the name of King David’s father.

Perels wrote a genealogy of the Maharal in 1727, that is, 118 years after the Maharal’s death. The book was published in Zolkiew, Poland, but not until 1853 (and then in Warsaw in 1864).

Perels wrote that Chaim, the grandfather of the Maharal, Khaim was a grandson of the above Yehudah Leib the Elder who was buried in Prague, and that, therefore, the descent of the Maharal's family from King David was proven by the inscription on Yehudah Leib the Elder’s tombstone.


Figure 2. Megilat Yukhsin by Meir Perels.

Translation:

There was one man who was called Reb Chaim Worms. And he lived in the Holy Community of Virmeiza[v]. And the man was Kosher and a famous righteous one. And the head of his line of descent was his father’s father. He was called by his name Reb Yehuda Livai the Elder[vi] and on the stone tablet of his tombstone is engraved this language. Our teacher the Rabbi Reb Yehuda Livai and this is to Yehudah. To Torah and certification. Wise of the secrets. Uprooter of mountains and cedars. Proficient in Shas[vii] of the Talmud. And there was nobody to be found in the entire world in sharpness and proficiency and memory. And he is of the trunk of the pedigreed Geonim[viii] whose lineage is from David the son of Yishai. And the rest of the titles which are written about him I did not want to copy. And he was called to the dwelling above in the year five thousand and two hundred[ix] of the Creation. And to this day the above tombstone is in the Holy Community of Prague in the House of Life[x]. And his grandson Reb Chaim had three very important sons Reb Betzalel and Reb Yaakov and Reb Helman.

The date given by Perels is incorrect. Muneles and Polakovic found that the date of death on the Yehudah Leib’s tombstone was in the month of Kheshvan in the year "shin" (5300) not "resh" (5200) as claimed by Perels. That is 1539 not 1440.

Muneles copied the inscription as he saw it before he published his book in 1955[xi].

Figure 3. Transcription by Muneles of the tombstone in Prague of Rabbi Yehudah Leib the Elder

Translation:
Our Teacher the Rabbi Reb Liva
A lion’s whelp of Yehudah: In Torah and certification: He was engaged in them all his days: Charity he gave to the poor of his nation: And he was of the trunk of the Geonim: His deeds were fitting: Wise of the secrets: He was proficient in the six orders[xii]: He departed at a ripe old age” ….. about him …. Will drop ….. Yishai….Cheshvan Shin[xiii] according to the lower detail[xiv]. May his soul be bound up in the bond of life.

Muneles claims that Perels’ book raises many doubts, because of the date discrepancy with the existing stone and because its location is in an area that did not belong to the cemetery in 1439/40. Further evidence arises from David Gans’ book Tzemakh David (1543) in which Gans writes that he saw the tombstone of Avigdor Kara. Since Kara’s tombstone is located next to that of Yehuda Liva and since Gans took a particular interest in the Maharal of Prague, one might expect Gans to comment on the adjacent tombstone of Yehuda Liva if he believed that Liva was an ancestor of the Maharal.

Shlomo Englard, an authority on critical rabbinic genealogical evaluation, also questioned the authenticity of Perels’ claims[xv]
Translation of Englard’s article:
“In all the genealogies which are in our hands the Maharal of Prague is descended from his grandfather[xvi] Our Teacher the Rabbi Reb Livai the Elder of Prague, who was of the trunk of the Geonim whose lineage was from David the son of Yishai. There are those who added (on their own authority) that his lineage goes back to Reb Hai Gaon the son of Sherira Gaon, whose lineage goes back to the kingdom of the House of David. Great doubt should be cast upon this.”

Englard quotes the claim of Perels, noting that it was not published until 1853.

“In these lines Rabbi Perels connects the lineage of the Maharal of Prague to Yehuda Livai the Elder and upwards in holiness to King David of blessed memory. Thenceforth all the genealogies copied [Perels].”

Englard further states that the tombstone referred to by Perels still stands in the ancient cemetery of Prague, and the inscription is quoted in Gal Ed[xvii] and in Muneles’ book on the inscriptions in the Prague cemetery[xviii], with certain variations from Perels’ transcription. Botyhbooks quote the year “Shin” [1539] and not “resh” [1439/1440] as claimed by Perels, the critical discrepancy. Muneles points out that the section of the cemetery where the tombstone stands was not part of that cemetery in the year 1440. Englard draws the conclusion that the Maharal, whose name was Yehudah Leib (or Liva) was aged either 97 or 87 when he died in 1609, and therefore born well before Yehudah Leib the Elder died. Since they bore the same personal name, and since Ashkenazi Jewish naming practice forbids the naming of a child after a living ancestor, then the Maharal could not have been descended from Yehudah Leib the Elder.

Englard debates Muneles’ claims as to the reason Perels erred in the year 1439, doubting that it was done deliberately in order to connect the Maharal’s family with Prague and with King David. Perels was a noted scholar and official of the community, and he would not have dared to perpetrate such a forgery, since it could be checked at any time by anyone who visited the cemetery. Englard surmises that Perels either erred in his transcription or received a copy from some other person. Englard further propounds that Perels heard of a tradition that the Maharal was descended from someone called Yehudah Leib who lived a considerable time earlier and presumed that this forebear was the so called Yehudah Leib the Elder. A further discrepancy in Perels’ transcription is that the tombstone recorded descent from David the son of Yishai. Examination of the tombstone will see reference to “Geonim”[xix] and then an area of the tombstone which is damaged and mostly illegible, with only the word “Yishai” discernable”. But perhaps the words preceding “Yishai” were discernable in Perels’ time.

However close examination of the photograph after Polakovoc's excavation shows that the word is not "Yishai" at all, put the end of the word "Khamishi", the Hebrew for the fifth day, namely Thursday. This is followed by the date 25th of Kheshvan.

Englard continues with his critique of the Maharal claim to Davidic descent by drawing attention to later works that incorrectly claimed that all the generations prior to Yehudah Leib the Elder were known back to Hai Gaon. Prominent among these works is Weinstok’s Mekor Niftakh Lebeit David[xx] [A source opening to the House of David] and Shapira’s “Mishpekhot Atikot Beyisarel [Ancient Families in Israel][xxi]. All modern genealogists have accepted these incorrect claims which Englard suggests may have been fabricated by some unknown writer. The names linking Hai Gaon with Yehudah Liva the Elder first appeared in Kol Beramah (Jerusalem 1911).

In another article [Tsfunot #11) Englard quotes from Beit Aharon (Berlin 1829) the genealogy of Rabbi Mirels of Shwerin which says: “On his mother’s side the Gaon Reb Leib (of Krakow) was a grandson of the Gaon Maharal of Prague who was of the family of Rashi and Rabbi Yokhanan the Sandlar.

Figure 4. Extract from an article by Englard.

This source shows that even prior to the publication of Perels’ genealogy in 1853, traditions existed of the Maharal’s descent from the House of David, not through Yehudah Leib the Elder or Hai Gaon, but through Rashi (1040-1105) and his ancestor Yokhanan the Sandlar (died 140 C.E.). Yokhanan was a descendant of House of Hillel as was Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, who Beilinsohn and others also claimed was the Maharal’s ancestor.

Proof of the date of death of Yehuda Leib the Elder already appeared in Gal Ed[xxii] by Lieben published in Prague in 1856. A chronological list of tombstones does not include a Liwa or (Yehudah Leib) in the year “resh” (1439/40)

Figure 5. Gal Ed, Lieben, Prague, 1856, chronological list of tombstones.

However there is a “R. Lowe” listed who died in the year “Shin” (1539).

Biographical notes about the Maharal of Prague (#8 on page 2 of Gal Ed) refer to: “Jehuda son of Betzalel son of Chaim”. No mention is made of Chaim’s parentage or ancestry , as he might have been expected to do if he knew any earlier names, such as Yehudah Leib the Elder.

Figure 6. Gal Ed, Lieben, Prague, 1856. Biographical notes about the Maharal of Prague.

The Maharal held the position of Landesrabbiner of all Moravia from 1553. Therefore, even if his date of birth (c.1522) might be claimed to be wrong, such that he might have been born after the alleged death of Yehudah Leib Hazaken in 1539, the Maharal would then have been aged 13, and would have been too young to hold such a position.

Brief details of “Lowe” are given #53 on page 37 of Gal Ed

Figure 7. Gal Ed, Lieben, Prague, 1856. Biographical notes about Rabbi Yehudah Leib (Lowe) the Elder.

No connection is claimed with the Maharal, and that part of Lowe’s tombstone claimed to indicate Davidic descent, is not mentioned. But he Lowe is described as “learned and descended from famous rabbis”.

Perhaps the family of the Maharal had a tradition they were descended from King David, and this tradition existed before Moshe Perels wrote his genealogy of the Maharal in 1727. The family did not know the details of the generations prior to the Maharal's grandfather Chaim of Worms. It is possible that it was known that the Maharal was named after an ancestor called Yehudah Leib. When Perels wrote his genealogy of the Maharal, he sought ancestors in the Prague cemetery and assumed that Yehudah Leib the Elder was an ancestor of the Maharal.

Possibilities for Perel’s error

Perhaps Perels saw the tombstone during a visit to the cemetery, but did not copy the exact details of the inscription. Later he may have sent somebody to copy the tombstone and that person erred in the date. Possibly the lowest line of the tombstone where the date appears was partially covered in mud thus obscuring part of the letter shin (1539), and what remained visible of the letter was misread as resh (1439), thus allowing, according to Perels, the possibility that Yehudah Leib the Elder was an ancestor of Yehudah Leib the Maharal, which could not be so had Perels read the date as shin (1539).

Evidence of a tradition of Davidic descent can be found in several sources that apparently were unaware of Perels’ incorrect claim.

The earliest of these sources dates from 1851:

Figure 8. Megilat Yukhsin , Beilinsohn, Moshe Eliezer, Odessa 1851[xxiii]

Translation:
Yehuda Liva son of Reb Betzalel, called by the scholars Maharal of Prague and his lineage is until the holy Tanna Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi of blessed memory.

This lineage is repeated in a source from 1863

Figure 9. Megilat Yukhsin , Beilinsohn, Moshe Eliezer, Odessa 1863 [xxiv]
Translation:
the authorized Gaon and head of all the children of the Exile, the G-dly man, Marana Yehuda Liva son of Reb Betzalel son of Reb Chaim, known by the scholars, and his lineage is until the holy Tanna Reb Yehuda Hanassi of blessed memory as explained in the book Marot Hatzovot[xxv], and Arkhei Hakinuim[xxvi] – and until King David, peace be unto him.

Figure 10. Zikhron Lemoshe Moshe Rashkes, Odessa 1873.

Translation of last few lines:
Tzvi Saba son of Yosef Yoshke, Av Beit Din of Lublin, grandson of the great eagle, the absolute Gaon, head of the Exile, marana[xxvii] Liva son of Betzalel, of blessed and holy memory, known by the name Maharal from Prague. And his lineage is from the holy Tanna Reb Yehudah Hanassi as explained in the books Arkhei Hakinuim, Marot Tzovot.

Rashkes’ terminology seems almost identical to that used by his relative Beilinsohn in his 1851 and 1863 genealogies. Notable by his absence is the so-called Yehudah-Leib (Livai) the Elder. It seems, therefore that neither Beilinsohn nor Rashkes were aware of Perels’ book published in 1853 and 1864. Yet they were aware, independently, of a tradition of descent of the Maharal from King David through Yehudah Hanassi, the editor of the Mishnah.

In the genealogies he published after 1893, however, Beilinsohn changed his story and introduced Yehuda Leib the Elder as the grandfather of Chaim of Worms. He gives Yehuda Leib’s date of death as the year resh (1439)

For example:

Figure 11. Megilat Yukhsin of the Aleksandrov Family , Beilinsohn, Moshe Eliezer, Odessa 1893

Translation of last few lines:
Yosef Yoshke, Av Beit Din of Lublin, descendant of the great eagle the authoritative Gaon, the G-dly head of all the exile, Marana ve rabana Yehuda Liva son of Betzalel, Av Beit Din of all the kingdom of Moravia and Prague ……..known as the Maharal from Prague of blessed memory, son of the Rabbi Khaim of Vermeisa of blessed memory, grandson of the Gaon, nobleman of the Torah, Marana Yehuda Livai of Vermeisa, of blessed memory, died in Prague in the year Resh, and his lineage goes back to the holy Tanna rabeinu Yehuda Hanassi who is descended from the house of our lord David the King…

Note that although Beilinsohn accepts Perels’ incorrect version, Beilinsohn still maintains that descent from King David was through Yehudah Hanassi and not Hai Gaon, the erroneous (or fraudulent) genealogy given by Weinstok.

Requirement for Further research

Further research that might clarify the descent of the Maharal should include books written by close relatives of the Maharal to ascertain whether they referred to their ancestry from King David. Books researched so far by this author include many of the Maharal’s books as well as two books written by his brother Chaim Igeret Hatiyul (published in Lemberg in 1864) and Sefer Hakhaim. None of these works refer to the ancestry of the authors. Nor does the extensive inscription on the tombstone of the Maharal in the Prague cemetery.

Conclusion

Perels’ error in the date of death of Yehudah Leib the Elder does not necessarily eliminate the possibility that the Maharal descended from King David, in some way other than through the so-called Yehudah Leib the Elder. Many indicators point to a tradition of descent from Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi, of the House of Hillel, who descended from King David’s son Shefatiah, and not through Hai Gaon who was descended from King Solomon. Unfortunately the names of the Maharal’s ancestors between his grandfather Chaim of Worms and Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi are not recorded in any known source.

References

1. Rabbi Shlomo Englard of Bnei Brak, Israel. A descendant of prominent rabbinical families, Rabbi Englard has devoted his scholarly research to the task of verifying traditional lines of descent of the famous rabbinical families. To this purpose he has reanalyzed the sources quoted by the authors of rabbinical genealogies as the basis for the lines of descent presented by them. Englard has checked these claims through independent research of additional sources. Painstaking comparison and analysis of rare texts, rabbinical compositions, recorded tombstone inscriptions have led Englard to conclude that the some of classical “ authorities” erred in confusing the identities of rabbis of the same name; used invalid dates of birth and death, which are incompatible with calculated historical time frames, and presented material which conflicts with facts presented in other verifiable sources.

Englard has published the results of his research in a number of articles in the journal Tsfunot. See the article about by Neil Rosenstein “Englard’s Articles on Questions in Rabbinic Genealogy”, Avotaynu, Volume XII, Number 1, Spring 1996.

2. Beilinsohn, Moshe Eliezer, author of Megilat Yukhsin, Shelomei Emunei Yisrael
a series of booklets published in Odessa from 1851 until the early 1900’s providing very detailed genealogical material for mainly Belarus rabbinical families. Since the author included all the members of a family known to him, this is a valuable source not only for rabbis, but also for their non-rabbinic descendants.

Principle families include Heilprin, Luria, Beilinson, Katz, Maharal of Prague, Raskin, Gunzburg, Mirkin, Rozenberg, Reichenstein, Dubnov, Tumarkin, Vilda, Kisin, Alexandrov, Margolis, Simchovitch, Ettinger, Brauda, Sirkin, Frumkin, Kazarnovsky, Freides, Zeitlin.

3. Muneles, Otto author of Ketovot Mibeit Ha'almin Hayehudi Ha'atic Beprag (Inscriptions in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Prague), Jerusalem 1988.
Muneles, who lived in Prague wrote his book in Czech, Hebrew and German versions. The Czech version was published in 1955. The Hebrew version was smuggled out of Czechoslovakia to Israel in 1966, shortly before Muneles died. But it remained unpublished until 1988.

Notes
[i] Yehudah Leib is one of the many extant variant spellings of his name. Other authors refer to him as Liwai, Liva, Loew, Loeb.
[ii] Megilat Yukhsin, Perels, Meir, written 1727 , or 1717 in Prague, and first published in 1853 in Zolkiev and again by Noakh Chaim Levin in Warsaw in 1864.
[iii] Muneles, Otto, Jerusalem 1988 Ketovot Mibeit Ha'almin Hayehudi Ha'atic Beprag (Inscriptions in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Prague).
[iv] Shem Vesheerit Katz, Krakow, 1895, page 9. Dor Yesharim. Katz, Berdichev, 1898, page 28.
[v] Virmeisa is a variant form of the town Worms in the Rhineland, Germany.
[vi] In Hebrew “Hazaken”.
[vii] Shas - acrostic for the six orders of the Mishnah
[viii] Geonim – Talmudic sages.
[ix] Resh = 1439/1440, depending on the month. From Muneles transcript of the tombstone and its photograph, it is known that the month was Cheshvan. Therefore the year “resh” corresponded to 1439.
[x] Cemetery.
[xi] Muneles, Otto, Jerusalem 1988 Ketovot Mibeit Ha'almin Hayehudi Ha'atic Beprag (Inscriptions in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Prague).
[xii] Six orders of the Mishnah..
[xiii] Five thousand two hundred = 1539.
[xiv] Abbreviation commonly found on tombstones whereby the letter “Hei” , five thousand is left of the date.
[xv] Tsfunot #12" reprinted in England's collection of his articles, Bnei Brak 2004.
[xvi] General term for `ancestor’ and not necessarily `grandfather’.
[xvii] Gal Ed, Lieben, Koppelmann, Prague 1856.
[xviii] Muneles, Otto, Jerusalem 1988 Ketovot Mibeit Ha'almin Hayehudi Ha'atic Beprag (Inscriptions in the ancient Jewish cemetery in Prague).
[xix] Geonim – Talmudic sages.
[xx] Makor Niftakh Lebeit David. Weinstok, Moshe Yair. Israel 1969.
[xxi] Mishpakhot Atikot Beyisreal [Ancient Families in Israel]. Shapira, Yaakov Leib, Israel 1981.
[xxii] Gal Ed Lieben, Koppelmann, Prague 1856
[xxiii] Manuscript provided by Rabbi Shlomo Englard.
[xxiv] Printed version of the same genealogy, held by the great-grandfather of the late Rabbi Shmuel Gorr.
[xxv] Marot Hatzovot, Moshe Zeev Wolf of Tiktin and Bialystok, Grodno 1810.
[xxvi] Arkhei Hakinuim, Yekhiel Heilprin, author of Seder Hadorot. 1769.
[xxvii] Marana – a term of honor.

The Chacham Tzvi - was he descended from King David ?

The Chacham Tzvi – was he descended from King David ?

Chaim Freedman, Petah Tikvah, Israel, January 2006.

Rabbi Tzvi Hersh Ashkenzy, 1660-1718, known as the “Chacham Tzvi”, was the son of Rabbi Yaakov Ashkenazy, a son of Rabbi Benyamin Zev Zak of Vilna.

Yaakov Ashkenazy was married to Nechamah, the daughter of Rabbi Efraim Hakohen of Vilna, the author of “Shaarei Efraim”.

Several books claim that the wife of Benyamin Zak was a daughter of Rabbi Yaakov of Lublin, the father of Rabbi Avraham Yehoshua Heshel, known as “Reb Heshel of Krakow”.

If this was so, then the Chacham Tzvi would be descended from Rashi and thence from King David through Yaakov of Lublin’s relationships with various families of Rashi Descent.

Rabbi Shlomo Englard (Bnei Brak, Israel), an authority on Rabbinic genealogy, specialising in identifying errors in printed genealogies, disputes the claim that the Chacham Tzvi’s
paternal grandfather was a daughter of Yaakov of Lublin. Englard presents convincing and decisive arguments to support his claim.

Another claim which might have provided the Chacham Tzvi with Davidic descent is that his maternal grandfather, Efraim Hakohen was descended from Efraim Fishel a son-in-law of Rabbi Shlomo Luria the “Maharshal” who was descended from Rashi. Englard denies this relationship.

The wife of the Chacham Tzvi, Sarah, was a daughter of Rabbi Meshullum Zalmen Mirels Neumark. An erroneous claim by several genealogists was that a female ancestor of Meshullum Zalmen’s was a daughter of Rabbi Efraim Zalmen Schorr, whose wife was a Katzenellenbogen and thereby of Rashi and Davidic descent. Englard brings evidence to disprove this claim.

One source, “Elef Margaliot” by Rabbi Meir Wunder includes a genealogical table of the Mirels-Neumark-Teomim-Frankel family indicating descent from Rashi. However no evidence of this claim is presented.

Englard published his arguments in “Tzfunot” #13 and in a collection of his articles published by Tzfunot Yuchsin Institute, Summer 2004.

I have checked Englards sources and researched over twenty books which include details of the personalities referred to above. My conclusions agree with Englard and I can see no way by which the Chacham Tzvi or his wife were descendants of Rashi and King David. Furthuremore I have seen no such claim by his descendants in the books which they wrote, for example the Chacham Tzvi’s son Rabbi Yaakov Emden (the “Yavetz”).

Of course, it is highly likely that all Ashkenazy Jews are descended from Rashi, as well as all Jews living in Germany and France at Rashi’s time. This is based on mathematical calculations of probability.

The descendants of the Chacham Tzvi might be consoled by what the Baal Shem Tov is claimed to have said about the family: that they are one of the three families who are “clean” generation after generation. (“Binyan Ariel” P. Mayers, Haag, Holland, published in Jerusalem in 2005).

Komisaruk Family - first 8 generations

Komisaruk Family – first eight generations

Prepared by Chaim Freedman, Petah Tikvah, March 2007

1) Yosef (Josel) (Halevy) pre-surname, b. c.1695 in probably Lithuania,[1] d. before 1765 in probably Rassein, Lithuania.

Yosef (Josel) is the earliest known ancestor of the Komisaruk family in a direct male line of descent. His name was discovered in the 1765 census of the city Rassein (currently Raseiniai), Lithuania where it appears as the patronymic of his son Meir.At that time Jews did not bear surnames but Yosef was identifiable through the overlap of details on subsequent census lists until the family adopted the surname Komisaruk in the early nineteenth century. The first documented record of the surname is the 1816 Revision List (census) for the town Rassein, where Yosef's grandson's name appears as David Komisaruk.

Yosef was a Levite, a descendant of the ancient Biblical tribe of Levi, son of the Patriarch Yaakov (Jacob). This tribe was not assigned a specific district of residence in ancient Eretz Yisrael, but was dispersed throughout all the tribes as it was the duty of the Levites to carry out special religious and communal functions, in particular, to assist the Kohanim (Priests) in the rites of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.Knowledge of one's Levitical descent was passed down orally from father to son through the generations, was inscribed on tombstones, and written in official documents such as marriage certificates. The most frequent use was when a person was called up to the Torah reading in the synagogue. In the case of Yosef's son Meir, he would have been summoned to the Torah reading by the name " Meir ben Yosef Halevy". Thus the identity of Levitical families was well known in the community, despite about one hundred generations which separated them from their Biblical ancestors. Civil secular records in Polish, Russian or Ukrainian usually did not include reference to Levitical status.

DNA testing establishes that the Komisaruk family belongs to haplogroup R1a1 which is common to most Ashkenazi Levites.

The early eighteenth records of the ancestry of the Komisaruk family are written in Polish as Lithuania was then under Polish control until annexed by Russia in 1795. Thereafter records are in Russian,

The geographic origins of the ancestors of the Komisaruk family prior to Yosef has yet to be researched which is likely to be very difficult if not impossible due to the absence of surnames.

According to the memoirs of Norman Mendelson " I don't know how many years the family lived in Lithuania but it is presumed that we, after dispersal, finished up in Spain and, then, when the inquisition started, we travelled to Lithuania. From our branch in Lithuania we could boast a few famous rabbis - in my family we're noted for our rabbis". It remains to be seen whether there was an oral tradition of Spanish origins or whether this was a generalisation.

2) Meir (Major/ Mejer) (Halevy) pre-surname, b. c.1720 in probably Lithuania.[2]


Meir's name appears as the patronymic of his son "Dawid Meyerowicz" in the 1784 Census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, in that section relating to the village Girtagola (currently Girkalnis), District of Rassein, Vilna Province. It was customary in Lithuania/Poland or Russia and those territories under its influence, to refer to people by their first name together with that of their father. Surnames were adopted in the Russian empire after legislation in 1804. Since Meir lived and probably died prior to that date, he bore no surname, yet he can be identified in documents by connection with his son David who apparently was the first member of the family to adopt the surname "Komisaruk".

Meir's date and place of death have yet to be established. He can be identified in the 1765 census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania as "Major Joselowicz", the only person in the district of Rassein whose personal name coincided with the patronymic of his son David Meirowicz and indeed he had a son David who appears in the 1765 census, together with his wife Khana, which was also the name registered for David's wife in the 1784 census. At that time Meir was living in Rassein city. At some subsequent date his son David moved to the village of Girtagola, as recorded in the 1784 census.

According to the 1765 census Meir had children other than David, but their subsequent surnames, which apparently differed from that adopted by David, have yet to be established by comparison between the 1784 and 1816 censuses.

Biographical information has not been discovered yet in archival resources in Lithuania, but may be sought in the Lithuanian Historical Archive in Vilna (Vilnius). Oral family tradition claims descent of the Komisaruk family from a line of rabbis and communal leaders. Meir's family appears as the third family of 180 who are recorded in the entire Rassein district. Those families recorded at or near the begining of the list were usually influential in the community.

He married Beyla pre-surname.

Beyla: Identified by name as the wife of "Major Joselowicz" in the 1765 census. A great-grandaughter was named after her as seen in the 1816 census in Rassein city.


3) David Komisaruk,[3] b. c.1747 in Rassein, Lithuania.

His name was discovered from the patronymic used with his sons' names in various Rassein records, the earliest being the 1816 Revision List for Rassein city. There is no relevant "David father of Leib, Berel and Velvel" on the 1784 Rassein city census. But, although this list preceeds the adoption of surnames, it is possible to identify this exact family configuration in the 1784 census in Girtagola village. When David died has yet to be discovered; he does not appear in the 1816 list for either Rassein or Girtagola.

He married Khana ?.[4]

Khana: Her name appears in both the 1765 and 1784 censuses as the wife of David. Therefore Khana and David were married before 1765 but had no children at the time of the 1765 census. Their eldest son Leib Komisaruk was born in 1773, so it is reasonable to assume that there were earlier children who perhaps died or there were daughters who were married before 1784.


4) Dov Ber (Berel) Komisaruk, b. 1776 in Girtegola, Lithuania,[5] d. 1843 in Rassein, Lithuania.[6]

Oral tradition held that Berel came from a prominent family of scholars and communal leaders in Kovno. Lithuanian records prove that the family came from the city Rassein which was located in Kovno Gubernia (province).When the Jews were compelled to adopt a surname in 1804 Berel and his brothers or their father registered their surname as "Komisaruk". Later generations used various forms of this name: Komisaruk, Komesaroff, Komisar, Comisaroff, Comisarow. A full explanation of the reason for these variations and the historic basis for the family's activities in Rassein can be found in "Our Fathers' Harvest" (Chaim Freedman, Israel 1982, supplement 1990.)

Berel Komisaruk and his family appear to have held a license to farm taxes which the local Jewish community was obliged to pay to the Russian government. In their case the particular tax was that due to the supply corp of the army, the Komisariat. This was probably the origin of this surname.

Tradition claims some relationship with the famous Soloveitchik family of Kovno. Other than their common Levitic descent, this has not been established. The Soloveitchik family was amongst the founders of the Kovno community in the early 18th century.

The 1816 Revision List for Rassein city includes two family groups with heads of family Leib, son of David Komisaruk and Velvel, son of David Komisaruk. Under the family group of Leib, who was missing in 1816, appears his brother Berel, son of David Komisaruk. Since Berel's son Zalmen appears under his father's family group, and it is noted that he "came from over the border in 1812" this seems to indicate that the family moved around between Rassein, nearby Girtagola, as indicated by the 1784 census, and perhaps other places. Berel was not registered in his own right as a family head, probably due to his recent arrival in Rassein.

The Komisaruks appear in two different sections of the 1816 census. Velvel appears under the main category of "Meshchani" - burghers or city citizens, whereas Leib and Berel appear under the small category "Rukidelniki" which is a currently obsolete term indiacting "craftsmen". While tradition tells of the family's activities as tax farmers and rabbis, it appears that some of them engaged also in some type of craft.

Although there was some indication in oral traditions that Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen Komisaruk's father's name was "Zev or Velvel", all official records list his name as "Berel". His full Hebrew and Yiddish names were most probably "Dov Ber."

Rabbi Dov Ber and Ester Komisaruk were the common ancestors of three families: Komisaruk (Komesaroff), Zhmood and Grinblat, although the Grinblat family have yet to be identified in Lithuanian archival records.

Records where the name of Berel Komisaruk appears:

1784. Census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Rassein district, Girtagola village: appears as the second son of "Dawid Mejorowicz".

1816. Revision List of the town of Rassein, Rassein district: Appears under the Head of Household, "Leib, David son Komisaruk", his elder brother.

1846. List of people who did not, or were not expected to pay their taxes. The reason given in Berel's case was that he "died in 1843". The recording of his name "Berel Davidovitch Komisaruk" in this list facillitated bridging between earlier documents bearing that name and later ones referring to his son Zalmen as "Zalmen Berelovitch".

1847/8.Lists of Rassein Jews who applied and were approved to become farmers in Novorussia (south-east Ukraine) where Berel appears as the patronymic of his son "Zalmen Berelovitch Komisaruk".

1848. List of tax payers in Rassein where Berel appears as the patronymic of his son "Zalmen Berelovitch Komisaruk".

The memoirs of Norman Menelson include information conveyed to him by his grandmother Beila Reeva Komesaroff: "We came from Lithuania. From our branch in Lithuania we could boast a few famous rabbis. Rabbi Ber was our noted man. He was such a great rabbi that people came from all over to hear his opinion and evaluation on questions".

Further evidence of the Komisaruk family's involvement in religious and scholastic life in the Rassein community can be found in the records of the allocation of funds collected from the Jews in the Box Tax: In an article written by Anatoly Chayesh (Jewish historian living in St.Petersburg) on the subject of the collection and application of the "Box Tax" in the Russian Tsarist Empire, ("Box Tax Paperwork Records as a Source of Information About the Life of Jewish Communities and Their Personal Structure" - translated from Russian and published in the Litvak Special Interest Group Online Journal) appear details of a number of community projects in Rassein which were allocated funds by the governmental tax authorities. The first of these was for a "praying school", that is a "Beit Midrash":

"On the 25th of August in the year 1850, item 12580, on the yard of the property of the Jew Komisaruk, called Khayei Adam"

From this information we can learn that the Komisaruk family operated a "Beit Midrash" (a place of learning and prayer) on it own property. This may explain why in the records of the 1848 Box Tax there are two entries for the payment by Berel Komisaruk's son Zalmen, one larger payment probably for his house and another smaller payment probably for the property of the Beit Midrash. The name given to the Beit Midrash "Khayei Adam" was the name of a book written by Rabbi Avraham Danzig, the father of Berel Komisaruk's brother-in-law Yitskhak Danzig of Vilna. The use of this name was very common in many European communities as it indicated that that book in particular was studied by the scholars in those Batei Midrash. Although the above grant from the Box Tax is dated from 1850, when Berel Komisaruk was already dead and when his son Zalmen had already moved to the Ukraine, the Beit Midrash may have been in operation for some years previously, and continued to be managed in 1850 by those Komisaruks who remained in Rassein, namely Zalmen's son Yankel, and his cousin Sender Komisaruk.

He married Ester Vilner, b. 1777 in Serhei, Lithuania,[7] (daughter of Yehudah Leib Vilner and Wife of Serhei) d. c.1860.

Ester: The personal names of the parents of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Komisaruk were not recorded clearly in family tradition. However, given the prevalence of the name Ester amongst her descendants, together with the fact that her mother was the daughter of Ester Jaffe, it seemed likely that this was the name of Shlomo Zalmen's mother.This was confirmed by the 1816 Revision List for Rassein city which recorded her name as "Estera, aged 39". Women were recorded in the 1816 list without their patronymic.

Ester's identity as the daughter of Rabbi Yehuda Leib of Serhei was established as follows. Oral tradition conveyed by several of the branches of the descendants of Berel Komisaruk claimed descent from the Gaon of Vilna. An independent source is the memoirs of Marcus Joseph Weinkle who was personally acquainted with Rabbi Pinkhas Komisaruk (lived 1830-1897). Weinkle records in his memoirs that Rabbi Pinkhas claimed descent from the Gaon: "Feigel married Wolf Komisaruk, a Rabbi's brother, descended, as it is said, from the great Jewish scholar, the Gaon of Vilna."

The exact nature of the link between the two families was established by an inscription in an old book passed down through the generations of the Komisaruk family. This was a copy of "Khokhmat Adam" dating from the early 19th century. Next to the name of the author, Rabbi Avraham Danzig, was a faded handwritten inscription in Hebrew "Av Dodi" meaning "the father of my uncle". Other family inscriptions establish that the book was brought from Lithuania by Ester's son, Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen Komisaruk, when he settled in the Ukraine in about 1847/8.

The father of one's uncle could either be one's grandfather, in which case he would have been referred to as such, or the father of one's aunt's husband. Since Avraham Danzig's son Yitskhak was married to Gittel, a daughter of Yehuda Leib of Serhei, the second son of the Gaon of Vilna, it can be established that this was the link between the family of the Gaon and the Komisaruk family. Given that the Danzigs were not Leviim and that the Komisaruks were, and following research of the other children of Avraham Danzig, Shlomo Zalmen Komisaruk's mother Ester had to be a sister of Gittel Danzig, and thereby, a grand-daughter of the Gaon of Vilna.

Some material about the relationship was sought in the archive of Benyamin Rivlin (Jerusalem) which includes a file of material on the family of the Gaon of Vilna. This material includes copies of lists prepared by Rabbi Eliyahu Landau (a great-great grandson of the Gaon) who was the major source for that section pertaining to the Gaon in Eliezer Rivlin's genealogy "Sefer Hayakhas". The names and number of the daughters of Yehuda Leib of Serhei is ambiguous. Landau wrote several versions of his lists, which state that Yehuda Leib had four daughters and not two as recorded in "Sefer Hayakhas". One version indicated a son-in-law Velvel, which might have supported an early tradition in the Komisaruk family for that name. No one list included all the daughters of Yehudah Leib and at least six were identified in "Eliyahu's Branches."

Discovery in Ukrainian and Lithuanian archives of documentation firmly establishes the names of Shlomo Zalmen Komisaruk's parents as Berel and Ester. The name Ester passed down tin the family to two of Ester Komisaruk's grand-daughters: Ester Luban, daughter of Rabbi Pinkhas Komisaruk, and Ester Pogorelsky, daughter of Pinkhas's brother Velvel Komisaruk, both of Grafskoy, Ekaterinoslav (Ukraine).

5) Shlomo Zalmen Komisaruk,[8] b. 1798 in Girtegola, Lithuania,[9] d. 1853 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia.[10]

Like his ancestors, Shlomo-Zalmen was both a scholar and active in communal activities. The written sources refer to him as Rabbi, as related orally by his descendants as well as an inscription in the book "Khokhmat Adam" where his son refers to him as "My father, my teacher,our teacher the Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen of blessed and righteous memory". He was presumably named after his mother's uncle Rabbi Shlomo-Zalmen of Vilna, the Gaon's eldest son.

Shlomo Zalmen's movements during his early years are difficult to trace from the available records. He is recorded in the 1816 census of Rassein city as the then only child of Berel and Ester Komisaruk. A note is appended to his name "came from over the border in 1812". He probably spent his youth in his father's town Girtegola, then moved to Rassein in 1812 when he married Yokhved, a daughter of Rabbi Menakhem-Mendel of Girtegola and Rassein. Where he was immediately prior to 1812 that might qualify as being "over the border" remains to be seen. One can theorise that at the age of Barmitzvah (13) he was sent to learn with his scholarly maternal grandfather Rabbi Yehudah Leib in Serhei ( son of the Gaon of Vilna) which was in the Province of Suwalki. This practice was repeated in later generations where members of the Komisaruk family were sent to study in other towns.

In Rassein Shlomo Zalmen was apparently involved in the Polish revolt of 1831 since Rassein was one of the main garrisons of the Russian army. Shlomo-Zalmen was said to have held the official position of "Commissioner of Supply" to the army. He so excelled himself in the collection of supplies for the army that he was awarded a gold medal. Research in the Historical Archive of Lithuania in Vilna (Vilnius) are being carried out to trace some record of these activities.


Shlomo Zalmen appears in a list of property owners in Rassein in 1846 who housed Kheders. There were three entries for "Zelman Komiseruk" (sic) for three Melamdim whose Cheders he housed. This may mean that he owned three properties or that he had a large house which had the space to house three Cheders.

In 1847 Rabbi Shlomo-Zalmen joined a group of eleven families from Rassein which applied to take up the offer of Tsar Nicholas the First to settle on the land in the south-eastern Ukraine. The object of this offer was to develop the recently acquired region of Novorussiya (New Russia), as well as relieving the overcrowding of Jewish urban settlement. To entice the Jews to take up the offer, they were exempted from military service. This fascinating episode in Jewish history is covered in detail in "Our Fathers' Harvest" (Chaim Freedman). "Zalmen son of Berel Komisaruk" appears in a list of farmer applicants in 1847 and in another list from 1848 of those families approved to settle in Novorussia. Zalmen also appears in a list of tax payers in Rassein in 1848, so he must have settled his debts before leaving the city. In the list of Box tax payers Zalmem's name appears twice with different payments of tax. This probably indicates that he owned two taxable properties n which tax was stated as "house 1.16 rouble" and "0.15 rouble".

Initially Shlomo-Zalmen was the sole Rabbi ministering to 2,500 settlers on the first six Jewish agricultural colonies established in Yekaterinoslav Government. The Rassein settlers were allocated to the seventh colony Grafskoy which was established between 1847 and 1848. Since Shlomo-Zalmen died in 1853 he barely managed to establish his family in Grafskoy. His great-grandson Khaim-Velvel (William) Komesaroff of Melbourne claimed to recall Shlomo-Zalmen's tombstone in Grafskoy. The cause of death was probably one of the cholera or scurvy epidemics rampant at the time, which extracted a heavy toll from the vulnerable pioneer settlers.

The order of Shlomo-Zalmen's children by oral tradition was thought to be: Pinkhas, Leibl, Velvel and the fourth son whose name was not recalled. The 1858 Revision List in Grafskoy gives the order as: Leibl, Pinkhas and Velvel. The fourth son, Yaakov or Yankel was not recorded as he remained in Lithuania, as indicated by the 1858 Rassein Revision List. The 1847 and 1848 farmer lists give the order as in the Grafskoy list. The identity and position of Yankel as the second-born son is established by his age in the 1858 Rassein Revision List.

Despite his untimely death and the absence of written records of his scholarship, Rabbi Shlomo-Zalmen's heritage was proudly recalled by his descendants.

He married Yokhved Fridgut, b. 1798 in Rassein, Lithuania,[11] (daughter of Menakhem Mendel Fridgut) d. c.1880 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia.

Yokhved: Her father is recorded amongst the scholars of Rassein:


"In the days of the Gaon, our teacher Rabbi Dov-Ber (Rabinowitz), Av Din, there lived in our city the great Rabbi, the saint, the Kabbalist, our teacher the Rabbi Menakhem-Mendel of blessed memory of Rassein, who was Shokhet and examiner (of meat) of the Holy Community of Girtegola, region of Rassein. Twenty years before his death he left the labour of Shekhita and settled in our city to study in the Great Beit Hamidrash. He passed away in the year 5596 (1836) and his honoured resting place is in the old cemetery."

Rassein was a centre for mystic study because a noted Kabbalist, Rabbi Shmuel Hekhassid, conducted a study circle there until his death in 1826. So it is likely that Rabbi Menakhem-Mendel, who is referred to as a Kabbalist, studied with him for a period of ten years.

Yokhved is recalled by her family as having been instrumental in the decision to leave Lithuania when the opportunity arose to settle in the Ukraine. This was due to her concern that her sons be saved from the government agents who kidnapped Jewish boys and handed them over for military service.

There is a conflict between the above biography claiming Yokhved's father was Menakhem Mendel, and the 1858 Revision List from Grafskoy which shows her patronymic as "Leib". The configuration of personal names Mendel and Pinkhas in the Komisaruk family correlates with the Fridgut family of Rassein. This has yet to be documented.

The earliest documentation of Yokhved is the 1816 Revision List for Rassein city which gives her age as eighteen. The 1858 Grafskoy Revision list also confirms her year of birth as 1798, the same date of birth as her husband Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen Komisaruk. Yokhved probably died in the 1880's when several descendants were named after her.





6) Pinkhas Komisaruk, b. 1830/32 in Rassein, Lithuania,[12] d. 1897 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia.[13]

The fact that Pinkhas was born in Rassein was established by the discovery of a history of Rassein (see sources) where Pinkhas appears in the category of notables who were born in Rassein but lived elsewhere. This source also identifies his maternal grandfather and his father Shlomo Zalmen. Indeed had it not been for the discovery of this book, the family's connection with Rassein might never have been known and the family's earlier history never uncovered, as oral travdition told of the family's origin as Kovno (Kaunas). This referred to the province of Kovno in which the city Rassein was located.

A brief biography appears in the history of Rassein:

"The rabbi, the great luminary, our teacher the Rabbi PINKHAS KOMISAR from the city of Rassein, who was Av Din and Shokhet in Grafskoy, a Jewish colony in the Government of Yekaterinoslav, died in the year 5657, (1897) 27th Adar, aged 67. Son of our outstanding teacher Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen from the city of Rassein who died in the year 1848. Reb Shlomo Zalmen was the son-in-law of the great Rabbi, the Kabbalist, our teacher Rabbi Menakhem Mendel from Rassein who was Shokhet in the Holy Community Girtegola and afterwards left the labour of Shekhita and sat learning in our city in the Great Beit Midrash 20 years until his last day and died in 5596 (1836). His honourable resting place is in the old cemetery."

There are several errors in this information. Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen did not die in 1848 but in 1853 in Grafskoy. The error may have been made by the author of "Ir Rassein" who found no further reference to Shlomo Zalmen in Rassein after 1848, by which time he had emigrated from the city.

The identity of Rabbi Shlomo Zalmen's father-in-law Menakhem Mendel clashes with the patronymic applied to Zalmen's wife Yokhved in the 1858 Grafskoy Revision List.

Rabbi Pinkhas obtained his rabbinic learning initially in Lithuania and from his father. He was also trained as a Shokhet. Following the death of his father, the religious leadership of the colonies was thrust upon him at a young age. Despite the promised exemption from military services, when the Crimean War broke out in 1854 Rabbi Pinkhas, being the eldest son, was conscripted. He served in the supply corps and thereby was able to care for the dietary needs of the Jewish troops by obtaining live cattle for Shekhita. Even in the confusion of battle Rabbi Pinkhas sought out Jewish troops for prayer and dedicated himself to comfort the wounded and bury the dead.

Upon his release from the army Rabbi Pinkhas took up farming his share of the family allotment together with his brothers. Each held 40 desyatins.He toiled in the fields by day and studied and taught by night. Only when his sons were old enough to take over was he free to act as full time Rabbi.

Whilst following the Lithuanian system of interpretation of religious law, Rabbi Pinkhas always took into account the needs of his people, seeking to ease any economic burden on poor families.

During the pogroms of the 1880's Rabbi Pinkhas was renowned for his selfless dedication to helping the suffering. Whenever news arrived of a pogrom he rode off to tend the wounded and conduct funerals for the victims. During his army service he had learnt the rudiments of medical care and acted as a "Feldsher" (medical orderly) since qualified doctors rarely were available to tend the Jews. During one Yom Kippur he interrupted services in the synagogue in order to give medical aid to a sick woman.

Having lost his wife in childbirth he remarried twice since tradition required the Rabbi of a community to be married. Rabbi Pinkhas met an untimely death contracting pneumonia after falling into his well whilst trying to draw water to feed the animals. This was indicative of his concern for others since, although no longer involved in farming, he decided to save the family the trouble of rising early in the cold winter and took upon himself the task.

His funeral was long remembered by people who came from the colony regions. Thousands attended, including sixteen Rabbis from the district who had come to pay homage to this renowned scholar and devoted leader. Stories of Rabbi Pinkhas' activities were related by the following generations and this author remembers listening to his grandparents relate the tales of their beloved grandfather.

Rabbi Pinkhas' obituary appeared in the Hebrew newspaper Hamelitz:


"GRAFSKOY: (a Jewish colony in the Government of Yekaterinoslav). - the 27th day of Adar Rishon was for us a day of mourning and grief because on it departed to his eternal life in the sixty seventh year of his life, the great Rabbi, Av Din of this place, our Rabbi Pinkhas Komisarov who officiated to the glory of our colony in the position of rabbi and Shokhet and examiner more than thirty years. Great honour was shown him upon his death, all the Rabbis of the surrounding colonies gathered and came to pay him their respects and to eulogise him according to the law. He was great in Torah and Fear of Heaven, and in peace and honesty led his brethren the farmers. Peace be to his dust and may his soul be bound up in the bond of everlasting life. Kalman Bruser."

(The author of this obituary, Kalmen Bruser, was a son of David Moshe Bruser whose family also originated in Rassein and settled in Grafskoy.)

Whilst Rabbi Pinkhas left no written record of his scholarship, several books which belonged to him were saved from destruction during the revolution, and these bear his signature. A treasured memento of him is in daily use by this author: his Tefilin which were inherited by his grandson Shlomo Zalmen Komesaroff (Kaye) of Melbourne and in turn by this author.

Pinkhas's grandson Mordekhai (Mottel/Mark), a son of Rabbi Zalmen Komisaruk of Vasilkovka, mentions his grandfather in his memoirs:

"The first of our ancestors who I remember was my father's father, the grandfather Pinkhas, by him there were three other brothers, of whom I only knew the great-uncle Velvel. Other brothers, that means my great-uncles with the names Yaakov and Zalmen, I did not see. One of them was in Kovno, and the grandfather Pinkhas and the great-uncle Velvel lived in a Jewish colony in Yekaterinoslav Government, Mariupol district. The colony was called Grafskoye, or No. 7 (all 17 colonies which were situated in Yekaterinoslav Government had a number). The grandfather Pinkhas was a Shokhet and a Rabbi, and his sons, that means my uncles, father's brothers, worked the earth like peasants and the great-uncle Velvel with his sons Berel and Meir also initially worked the land, only later did Berel opened a small store, and Meir was living by the work of the land.

When I was 6 years old I remember that they brought to grandfather Pinkhas a painted tree with branches, the tree began with the great-grandfather who was called Mendel. From there it went to his sons Pinkhas, Velvel, Yaakov and Zalmen. Only in my memory remains only the grandfather Pinkhas with his four sons Shlomo Zalmen (this was my father) with his brothers Mendel, Simkha and Meir. What I am writing about is only the roots which came out from the grandfather Pinkhas with his brother Velvel. (On the tree were only male people)."

There are several errors, namely that Pinkhas's father was not Mendel, but Zalmen and Pinkhas had another brother who lived in Grafskoy, Leibl.

" We came to colony Grafskoy, there did the grandfather Pinkhas live, the grandfather Pinkhas I remember that he always used to go around with a black scarf tied to his cheek, I don't know the reason. He was an angry Jew. The parents went away to the village Vasilkovka, Pavlograd district, and I remained living in the colony learning from the Gemorah melamed. I used to “eat kest” by uncle Simkha, and the brother by the uncle Mendel. The grandfather Pinkhas used every Shabbat to hear us, and never was he satisfied. He used to say it was a waste of the fees paid for our lessons. Later I wanted to travel home and I remember that uncle Mendel harnessed his horse and a droshky and on Sukkot we came home"

Mottel's impressions of his grandfather Pinkhas are in sharp contrast to others of his cousins, particularly Mendel's son Zalmen and Meir's daughter Khana-Reizel (later married and lived in Melbourne, Australia. They spoke of their grandfather Pinkhas with great affection. Mottel's attitude was perhaps a forerunner of his later revolt against traditional Shtetl education to the exclusion of any secular study. Indeed he was representative of many of his generation who yearned to be part of the open secular Russian society, restricted as it was in many ways to Jews.

Rokhel Luban (daughter of Avrom Hillel and Dina Namakshtansky) wrote about her maternal grandfather in her memoirs:

"Grandfather Rabbi Pinkhas didn't live very long. It was a cold winter. Grandfather did not want to wake the children so they could give food and water to the horses and cows. He got up and dressed warmly. In the barn he gave them all food. But they wanted to drink. He took the bucket with a rope out to the well to draw water. It was very slippery; it was a heavy frost and in the evening when they had drawn water from the well, some spilt out. As it was a very cold night, it froze and became very slippery. It was impossible to stand properly as Grandfather lowered the bucket and filled it with water. When he pulled up the bucket, it pulled him over into the well.

He began shouting for help. They couldn't find a rope. Everyone was so confused that they couldn't think clearly. In the same house with Grandfather lived Grandfather's brother (# Velvel) and he had a shop for farmers' supplies. But there was no rope. Grandfather called from the well:" You stand in the middle of the ocean and you ask for a drop of water."
When they pulled him out of the well they quickly brought a doctor. But he was too chilled and they could not save him. Seventeen rabbis from the surroundings came to the funeral. All the children from the places where they lived, together with many householders, came to pay their respects for the father.

For my mother it was the worst. When she was born and lost her mother, Grandfather used to sit all night with the Gemorrah in his hand (# studying), swinging the cradle. My mother knew how to `Pasken' all the `Sheylahs' (# make decisions of religious law)."

He married (1) Khaya-Sarah Levin, b. 1834 in Salant, Lithuania,[14] (daughter of Meir (Markus) Levin and Rakhel ?) d. 1873 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia.[15]

Khaya-Sarah: Khaya Sarah's patronymic recorded in the 1858 Grafskoy Revision List, was Meir. Meir must have died by 1858 since in that year a grandson was born and named after him, Meir son of Pinkhas.

There were relatives of the Levin family living in the same district as the Komisaruks. In the memoirs of Mottel (Mark), son of Rabbi Zalmen Komisaruk of Vasilkovka, he mentions that he presented himself to the military conscription office in 1887 accompanied by his first Zalmen Komisaruk (son of Menakhem Mendel) and a son of Meir Levin. Records of donations to Eretz Yisrael (published as "Shemesh Tsedakah") record one Simkhah son of Tsvi Hersh Levin of Mariupol on several occasions in the 1890's and early twentieth century. One of Pinkhas Komisaruk's sons was also named Simkha, which may further indicate a relationship between the two families. Furthermore Rokhel Luban stated that her grandmother was "Khaya Levin from Mariupol".

The 1858 Revision List from Nechaevka records Levins who came from Salant, Lithuania in 1846.
The tax records from Salant Lithuania record these Levins who settled in the Ekaterinoslav colonies in 1846.

It would seem that Marcus, son of Simkha Levin who left Salant in 1846 and settled in the Yekaterinoslav colonies, was Meir the father of Khaya-Sarah Levin/Komisaruk.

Khaya-Sarah Komisaruk died in childbirth when her daughter Dinah was born.

Oral family history records very little about Khaya-Sarah except for mention of her in the memoirs of her granddaughter Rokhel Namakshtansky (Berchansky/Luban). After the Russian Revolution disease was rampant and Rokhel fell ill with typhus. She had a dream:

"I see in the corner by my sister's bed standing my grandmother Khaya, Mama's mother whom she never knew since she died when she had my mother. She stands dressed in her white clothes (shroud), alone, a little one. She says ` You my child must live. You are a mother with a little child' And she took and tied the cord and said `You musr carry on. I want you to stay on this earth'. I trembled and threw off the blanket. I made an undertakimg that even if in the morning my temperature was forty two I would not die. And so it was; it was the crisis of my life."

The comment "a little one" may be an indication of the hereditary trait among many of Khaya-Sarah's descendants who were short in height, particularly her daughter Dina, Rokhel's mother. Her memory was perpetuated by the naming of the first child of most of her children "Khaya" or "Khaim".

He married (2) Second-Wife ?, divorced.

Second-Wife: Was married to Rabbi Pinkhas after the loss of his first wife in childbirth. This was arranged since tradition obliged a Rabbi to be married. The second wife resented the step-children and was caught trying to poison her husband. They were divorced and her name is not recalled.

He married (3) Bassie ?.

Bassie: A widow with a son from a previous marriage. Devoted to her husband and willingly took upon herself the upbringing of his six orphans together with their one child in common. Using a Halakhic ruse to avoid his eldest son being conscripted in place of Bassie's retarded son, Pinkhas invoked a 'Tnai Get', a provisional divorce, should this happen. However this backfired, and he had to honour the divorce. The couple lived separately, but Bassie still cared for the children.


7 -1) Meir Komesaroff, (son of Pinkhas Komisaruk and Khaya-Sarah Levin) b. 1858 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia,[16] d. 1907 in Andreyevka, Tav. Ukraine.[17]

Left Grafskoy due to insufficient land for four brothers and settled in his wife's village Andreyevka. Made a living as a butcher together with his wife's brothers (his cousins) of the Zhmood family. Travelled around the villages buying and selling cattle and meat. Very religious yet tolerant of Christian neighbours, even befriended priests. Died of grief shortly after his beloved wife's untimely death. Recalled as a gentle and kindly man.

He married Tybel Zhmood, b. c.1866 in Andreyevka, Tav. Ukraine,48 (daughter of Koppel Zhmuydya (Zhmood) and Deverah Yovel) d. 1907 in Andreyevka, Tav. Ukraine.[18]

Tybel: Died of complications of childbirth ten days after giving birth to her daughter Khayalah. Recalled as a pious and loving mother to her large family who were left orphaned.

8) Khana-Reizel (Anna Roza) Komesaroff, b. 1887 in Andreyevka, Tav. Ukraine, d. 26 May 1955 in Melbourne, Vic. Australia, buried in Fawkner Cemetery, Melbourne, Australia.

Secular education Gymnasium Mariupol and Berdyansk (taught by B.Mosensohn, Zionist leader). Adored by her family and highly respected by all who came into contact with her, she was the eternal peacemaker, keeping the family together. The epitome of the Jewish homemaker, she kept open house for her family and friends. Exhibited a personal wisdom and love of Jewish tradition. Always available to give advice and help the needy. After Khana Reizel's untimely death,her family held fond memories of a kind and gentle lady.

She married Shlomo-Zalmen (Komesaroff) Kaye, in 1907 in Grafskoy, Yek.Russia, b. 25 January 1886 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia, (son of Menakhem Mendel Komisaruk and Beila-Reeva Pogorelske) d. 8 April 1958 in Melbourne, Vic. Australia, buried in Fawkner Cemetery, Melbourne, Australia. See below


7 -2) Menakhem Mendel Komisaruk,[19] (son of Pinkhas Komisaruk and Khaya-Sarah Levin) b. 1864 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia,[20] d. 1919 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia.[21]

Farmed a half share (20 desyatins) of his father's land in Grafskoy. Worked very hard by day and then spent long hours at night studying. Skilled with his hands, he built his own house next to that of his father. Was adept at houskeeping. Limped due to an accident. A strict father who carried out his religious duties with dedication and expected the same of his children. Proud to own part of Russian soil, a rare achievement for a Jew.Died of throat cancer; his grave was marked by a simple fence post due to wartime hardship.

He married Beila-Reeva Pogorelske, b. 1865 in Kobilnye, Yek. Russia,[22] (daughter of Zev Pogorelske and Khaya Sarah Gordon) d. 1935 in Melbourne, Vic. Australia.

Beila-Reeva: Brought up on the Jewish colony Kobilnye (Sladkovodnaya) where her father was a butcher. Orphaned from her father at age eleven, her mother moved to the small town Tsarakonstantinovka. A very pious woman, dedicated to her family. Endured the hardships of the Civil War and the loss of her husband until the family escaped from Russia in 1922. Settled in Melbourne. Recalled by her grandchildren as being always occupied with needlework or studying the religious books used especially by women.


8) Shlomo-Zalmen (Komesaroff) Kaye, b. 25 January 1886 in Grafskoy, Yek. Russia, d. 8 April 1958 in Melbourne, Vic. Australia, buried in Fawkner Cemetery, Melbourne, Australia.

Received a traditional education in Cheder, as well as benefiting from the spiritual influence of his grandfather Rabbi Pinkhas Komisaruk, the Rabbi of Grafskoy. Excelled at his studies and so was sent at age ten to his uncle Rabbi Zalmen Komisaruk, the Rabbi of Vasilkovka where he intensified his studies for a year.

Due to overcrowding in his parent's home, Zalmen was sent in 1897 to live with his aunt Ester Luban who had lost all but one of her children. There he experienced the Chassidic practices of his uncle Rabbi Khaim Moshe Luban, in contrast to the Lithuanian influence of his home. Zalmen was very attached to the family, particular his cousin Alter with whom he grew up. He lived with the Lubans in Mikhailovka and Melitopol until his marriage in 1907. He worked for a prominent Jewish retailer, Rosenshein in Melitopol. In 1905 Zalmen was sent by the firm to Harbin, Manchuria to investigate misappropriation by army officers of supplies sent by the firm to support the troops during the Russo-Japanese War. He was present in Melitopol when the firm was attacked by revolutionists in the 1905 Revolution.

After his marriage to his beloved cousin Khana Reizel, Zalmen established a wholesale leather business in Berdyansk with a partner Avraham Lamdansky. He was obliged, together with his wife, to care for her orphaned siblings after the early death of her parents. Due to the threat of imminent conscription into the Russian army, an experience which exposed Jews to violent anti Semitism, Zalmen and his family emigrated to Australia in 1913.

After the initial difficulties of a new immigrant in a strange land, Zalmen established a chain of retail drapery shops in a number of country towns as well as in Melbourne. Operated the Klinker Knitting Mills in partnership with the Ellinson family, then opened a retail drapery business 'The Major Distributors'.

Zalmen was active in the Jewish community: supporter and Life Governor of Mount Scopus College, involved in Zionist organisations, synagogues. He preserved the orthodox traditions of his forebears and regularly attended Carlton Synagogue, East Melbourne Synagogue of which he was Vice-President, and then the Melbourne Hebrew Congregation. He encouraged his children and grandchildren to accompany him to synagogue. Jewish festivals and family occasions were often celebrated by large gatherings of the family at Zalmen and Khana Reizel's home.

Zalmen and Khana Reizel were highly respected in the Jewish community. Their home was open for many communal functions and hosted overseas emissaries. They were considered by their siblings as heads of their family since they were each the eldest. Zalmen assisted his brother Yaakov Leib Mendelson in the difficult struggle to bring their mother and siblings out of Russia after the Revolution.

Zalmen's devotion to his wife was so profound that after her untimely death he could not reconcile himself to his loss, a common phenomenon in the Komesaroff family. He went to live with his daughter Tessie, but soon suffered a stroke and was ill for two years until his sad demise.

When Zalmen Komesaroff's son Myer anglicised his surname after qualifying as a doctor,Zalmen did not wish for the family to have different surnames, so he and his sons Peter and William also changed their names to Kaye.

Date of death on tombstone is 19th Nisan. It should be 18th Nisan.

He married Khana-Reizel (Anna Roza) Komesaroff, see above
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[1] Birthdate extrapolated from succeeding generations. 1765 Census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Province of Vilna, City of Rassein.
[2] Rassein District Census 1784: Girtegola list, Dawid Meirowicz, father of three sons Leiba, Berel and Welwel. 1765 census, Rassein City: "Major Joselowicz".
[3] Rassein District Census 1784: Girtegola list, Dawid Meirowicz, father of three sons Leiba, Berel and Welwel.
[4] Rassein District Census 1784: Girtegola list, Dawid Meirowicz, father of three sons Leiba, Berel and Welwel. Wife Channa.
[5] Census of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, 1784, Rassein district, Girtegola village list: "Dawid Meirowicz, wife Khana, sons Leib, Berel and Velvel".
[6] Rassein town list of non-tax payers in 1846 states Berel Komisaruk died in 1843.
[7] Birthdate estimated on the basis of her children's and siblings' estimated birthdates.
[8] Rassein City Box Tax 1848 - appears on this list despite the fact that the family migrated to the colonies in 1846. Maybe he left property in Rassein, with his son Yankel, who paid it in 1848.
[9] Freedman, Menakhem Mendel (Neville) of Melbourne - family trees drawn up by him according to his grandmother Khana Reizel Komesaroff. Birthdate according to 1858 census,.
[10] Markovitch, Moshe. "Lekorot Hair Rassein Urabbaneha". Warsaw 1913.pp11,29 gives death date as 1848. This conflicts with the 1858 census in Grafkoy which records his date of death as 1853.
[11] Markovitch, Moshe. "Lekorot Hair Rassein Urabbaneha". Warsaw 1913. pp.11.29 Birthdate according to 1816 & 1858 census. The 1858 census records her father as Leib.
[12] Markovitch, Moshe. "Lekorot Hair Rassein Urabbaneha". Warsaw 1913.p.29,b.1830 According to the 1858 census in Grafskoy, he was born in 1832.According to his obituary in Hamelitz he was born in 1830. 1848 farmer list - age 18.
[13] "Hamelitz" - Hebrew newspaper - 1897, issue of 20th Adar Sheni; actual date of death: 26th Adar Rishon. William Komesaroff (Melbourne) recalls the tombstone in a place of honour in the front row of the Grafskoy cemetery.
[14] Zeligman, Yisrael."Megilat Yukhsin".Latvia c.1939 Birthdate according to 1858 census in Grafskoy.
[15] List of Yahrtseits - compiled by Rokhel Luban and held by her daughter Clara Berchansky, Petah Tikvah, Israel.
[16] No photograph exits of Meir and Tybel Komesaroff since Meir objected to being photographed for religious reasons. Birthdate and sibling order according to 1858 census in Grafskoy.
[17] Freedman, Tessie. Melbourne, Australia. as conveyed by her parents.
[18] Kogan, Khaya-Sarah - extensive correspondence with Chaim Freedman.
[19] Photograph of wooden gravemarker (proper tombstone unobtainable during the Civil War) given by Khaim-Velvel (William) Komesaroff of Melbourne to the author together with other such photos sent from Grafskoy to Australia.
[20] Freedman, Tessie - Melbourne, Australia - conveyed her parents' recollections of her grandfather. as did Khaim-Velvel (William) Komesaroff who, being the youngest son, was very attached to his parents.
[21] Photograph - held by author - taken with family group next to the section of the colony's tree plantation owned by Menakhem Mendel. The photograph was taken on the day his son Shlomo Zalmen left for Australia in 1913.
[22] Komesaroff, Khaim Velvel (William) of Melbourne, Australia Recollections of his early life in Russia, conveyed verbally to the author.

Tessie Freedman (Komisaruk) ancestry to 10 generations

John Freedman ancestry

Jane Freedman ancestry

Chaim Freedman great-great-great-grandparents

Descent of Rashi

Rashi Family

Treves Family

Shapira Family

Luria Family

Katzenellenbogen Family

Quint and Lemky Families

Zmood Family

Super Family

Komisaruk Ancestry

Komisaruk Ancestry

1. Yosef Halevy pre-surname c.1695

2. Meir c.1720 m: Beyla

3. David Komisaruk c.1747 m: Khana

4. Rabbi Dov-Ber (Berel) 1776-1843
m: Ester grand-daughter of
Vilna Gaon (1720-1797)


Discovered in 18th/19th century records
--------------------------------------------------------
Known from Oral History


5. Rabbi Shlomo-Zalmen 1798-1853 m: Yokhved

6. Rabbi Pinkhas 1830/32 -1897 m: Khaya-Sarah Levin

7. Menakhem-Mendel 1864-1919 m: Beila-Reeva Pogorelsky

8. Shlomo-Zalmen Komesaroff 1886-1958 m:Khana-Reizel Komisaruk.

9. Tybel (Tessie) 1909-1996 m: Yaakov-Reuven (John) Freedman 1910-1999

10. Khaim Koppel (Keith)b 1947 m: Sheindel (Jane) Berliner

11. Avigayil-Khana b 1980

Jaffe Family Ancestry

Jaffe family – misinterpretation of the sources

Chaim Freedman, Petah Tikvah, Israel February 2007.

The Jaffe family holds a tradition of descent from Rashi and thereby from King David.

However, I don't believe that the tradition of descent from Rashi is valid.



I"ve studied many sources and there is no convincing evidence.

I studied the late Dr. Paul Jacoby's Jaffe files, held by the National and University Library at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

Jacoby proposes theoretical links, for some of which he uses the terms:


 "Traditional descent from Rashi claimed for the earliest (or anyway for some later) members of the Jaffe family. See para ........[blank] of the Introductory Notes." The introductory notes are missing from the file.

"revolving sequence of given names"
"mere phantom created by a confusion with"
"Jaffe family is conjectured exclusively by way of .."
"gave rise to an erroneous version"

This is hardly conclusive evidence.
Despite Jacoby's reservations above, people have claimed that he proved the descent of the Jaffe family from Rashi.

I believe that the confusion arose from Levinstein's comment on page 154 of "Ir Tehilah" (Feinstein, A.L. Warsaw 1885) where he states that Yekhiel Mikhel Epstein was a son-in-law of Mordekhai Jaffe the Levush, and the son-in-law of Yekhiel-Mikhel was Avraham Heilprin who was a descendant of Elkhanan of the Baalei Hatosafot, who was descended from Rashi. But that does not mean that the Levush was descended from Elkhanan.










It is probably this comment which H. Rosenthal misread and made the statement which appears in the Jewish Encyclopedia (Funk and Wagnall 1903).



But even there Rosenthal casts doubt on the Jaffe tradition of Rashi descent stating "Levenstein's conclusions, however, have not yet been substantiated". Yet others adopted this to claim that the Jaffes are of Rashi descent.

Furthermore, having studied Jacoby's comments about the theoretic ancestors of the Levush ( and other Jaffes) I do not see proof of descent one from the other, nor that they used Jaffe as a surname.

The Levush refers to himself as "I the sewer Mordekhai, called Jaffe (or good looking) son of Adoni Avi Hekhasid Reb Avraham"He does not ascribe any rabbinic titles to his father, hardly in keeping with the identification of his father as a great scholar in Prague.Jacoby's Jaffe file is full of such terms as " revolving sequence of given names", "not as a family name", "mere phantoms created by confusion with", "father's name not certain".

So, I doubt that there was A Jaffe Family as such before the Levush's descendants adopted the surname, as did others, who may or may not be related to each other.

I consulted the authoritative rabbinical critical genealogy expert Rabbi Shlomo Englard and he likewise has not seen any proof of Jaffe descent from Rashi.

I have studied many sources, the majority of which do not claim Rashi descent for the Levush or the Jaffe family.

However I can "save" the Rashi descent of Hevron Jaffes. They are descended from the "Or Yisrael", Rabbi Yisrael Jaffe who was descended from the Kalmankes-Jaffe family of printers of Lublin. This family was not descended from the Levush, but rather from Mordekhai Zinger ben Moshe Jaffe whose wife Falka was a daughter of Yoel Zinger, whose wife was a daughter of Yitskhak Klauber, whose wife was a daughter of Eliezer Lipman Shrentzels whose wife Dreizel was a daughter of Yekhiel Luria, descended from Rashi.

So the Hevron Jaffe’s family tradition of descent from Rashi, was through one branch of the Jaffe family which was descended through various marriages from the Lurias and Rashi. Thus, although the entire Jaffe family is not descended from Rashi,this particular branch, through fortuitous shidukhim (match-making), is so descended.