In the Spring 2008 issue of AVOTAYNU, in an article that focuses on tombstone identification, Professor Daniel Wagner highlights the integration of “family data from different sources and databases from different repositories” (“Tombstone Identification through Database Merging”). In a similar vein, this article, illustrated by four examples, discusses the integration of JRI-Poland records with published facts of rabbinic genealogy from other multiple sources. Although presented to the researcher as a single database, the JRI-Poland data is contributed by multiple volunteers. The database includes family data from many different sources, and accuracy varies from record to record. Unlike most Jewish genealogy, rabbinic genealogy is generally compiled from extensive, non-civil rec-ords available from published book sources, unpublished manuscripts, pedigree charts, community pinkassim (record books), and other sources. A few examples demonstrate that:
- If sufficient manpower were available, the integration of JRI-Poland records with known facts of rabbinic genealogy would correct numerous record entry errors, allow family groupings to be more complete, and significantly reduce time and expenditure needed to obtain the actual records for further study and information.
- Rabbinic genealogical resources are numerous and also not always accurate. JRI-Poland records can greatly augment rabbinic genealogy, helping to resolve questions of accuracy in many rabbinic lineages.
Example One: Cracow
Descendants of one branch of the Horowitz rabbinical family claim descent from Rabbi Menachem Nachum Horowitz, chief rabbi of Pruszkow, brother of two famed Hasidic rabbis, Rabbi Samuel Shmelke Horowitz of Nikolsburg (1726–78) and Rabbi Pinchas Horowitz (1730–1805), author of the Hafla’ah. This family branch bases its claims on a genealogical manuscript from Cracow, handwritten in Hebrew probably in the 1920s. On the first two wide lines, it says “Jehiel David, dayan (rabbinic judge) here in Cracow, son of Moshe Shmelke, son of [Jacob] Yokel, son of Nachum, son of Zvi Hirsch of Czortkow.”
Although it also includes some errors, the accompanying JRI-Poland table sheds important light on the inaccuracy of this Horowitz lineage. The first set of entries shows the 1820 Cracow marriage of Jehiel David Horowitz, son of Moses Shmelke and Esther, daughter of Pinchas (Pinkus), to Beila Feigel, daughter of Jacob and Keila. The Hebrew manuscript (second paragraph) states that she was Feige Beila, daughter of (Jacob) Yokel (Horowitz), son of Abraham Aryey (Horowitz), son of Isaac (Horowitz), son of Yokel (Horowitz) of Glogau, brother of Zvi Hirsch of Czortkow. (The switch in position of the given names from Beila Feigel to Feigel Beila is not uncommon in records such as these.)
Thus, from published sources, we can confirm that Beila’s maiden name indeed was Horowitz, and not, as is often the case in the JRI-Poland records, simply a recording of the husband’s surname, especially the names of parents on birth records. From JRI-Poland, we learn that Keila is the given name of Jacob’s wife and that Jehiel David was the correct name. Some published sources give the name as Michael David because Michel, the kinnui (nickname) for Jehiel, was confused with the entirely different name, Michael.
The second set of Cracow entries shows that Jehiel David (now called David Michel) was born in 1806 to a father “M.” son of Smelki (Shmelke or Samuel) and mother Ester, in house #58. In fact, the father actually is M(oses) Smelki and the father’s father is Schachna (as will become apparent below). For the next entries, if one does not study the family as a group, an important bit of family data is lost as a result of misplaced data. One notes that “daughter” has a father Samuel and mother Ester Golde. In actuality, the surname is Goldes and the mother’s father is Pinkas or Pinkus (see below). In addition, the JRI-Poland records indicate that Ester Pinkas was a sister of Marya Pinkas, and that both married into the Horowitz family. The exact male relationships are unknown, but they probably were brothers or cousins.
The third set of Cracow entries further supports the accuracy of the JRI-Poland records and the need to correct the traditional Horowitz family lineage. The 1802 Cracow marriage is of Moses of house #58, son of Schachna Horowitz, to Ester, daughter of Pinkas Goldes. Moses’ second name erroneously is recorded as part of his father’s name.
In sum, although this family’s tradition traces back to prominent members of the Horowitz family, the exact lineage remains to be proven.
Example Two: Warsaw
JRI-Poland records for Warsaw for 1840 record the birth of a grandson of the famous rabbi, Baruch Frankel-Teomim of Leipnik, author of Baruch Ta’am (died 1828). One cannot, however, discover this link from these records alone. The connection reveals itself only when one looks at the entire family group of entries and compares it to published sources. Synthesis of the two sources shows that Juda Kamioner (also Kaminer) was born in 1804, but only registered in 1840 to Majer Chilel (Jehiel) and his deceased wife Rebeka “Frailet.” Rabbinic sources supply additional details and thus clarify JRI-Poland deficiencies. Jocheved Rebeka Frankel (not Frailet) died young in 1834 in Plonsk. These details become important when we consider that descendants of this family include the Ger Hasidic dynasty, that Meir Jehiel was the brother-in-law of the founder of the Sanz Hasidic dynasty, and that other prominent personalities, such as Helena Rubinstein, descended from Rabbi Baruch Frankel-Teomim.
Example Three: Rzeszow
Tracing the rabbinical Wallerstein line from Rzeszow, we note the births of several children of Chaim (son of Judah Leib) Wallerstein and his wife Chane/Chaia Gutt, who in two entries is listed (see attached chart) as “Gross,?” “blank,” and “illegible.” Through careful editing, such records would have been easy to correct—with resultant reduction of inaccuracies in the datebase. The researcher would have also been able to clarify whether the given name is Chane or Chaia. Further, the records of the house numbers clearly show errors, such as 52 versus 92 and 192 and 36 versus 56. Chaim and Chane/Chaia were the parents of Rabbi Joshua Heschel Wallerstein (1846–1904), who succeeded his father as chief rabbi of Rzeszow and was the author of Kerem Yehoshua published Lvov, 1899. Rabbi Wallerstein was known for his help to women in the position of agunah (a woman who remained “chained” in marriage, unable to get a divorce as her husband either refuses or cannot be found).
Another important piece of evidence—house numbers from the Rzeszow records—shows that, based on the recorded house numbers in JRI-Poland, Chaim Wallerstein had a sister Blima who married Chaim Strizower and who also had children born into that household. Published rabbinical sources only record one child of Judah Leib Wallerstein—Chaim, father of his prominent rabbinical grandson, Joshua Heschel. This deduction, that Chaim had a sister, Blima, is supported by the fact that both Chaim and Blima had a daughter, Shifra (born 1852 and 1851, respectively), named after their great-grandmother, Shifra, mother of Judah Wallerstein, father of Chaim and Blima.
Example Four: Kalisz
One of Poland’s leading 19th-century rabbis was Haim Eleazar Waks (Wachs), 1822–89, chief rabbi of Kalisz from 1862–81 and author of Nefesh Chaya. He married twice into important rabbinical families—Halberstam (from Sborow) and Trunk (from Kutno) and had children with both wives, including prominent American families and the New York Amshinover Rebbe, Rabbi Isaac Kalish (died 1993). Rabbi Joseph Kalish is his son and successor.
A JRI-Poland database search for Rabbi Waks in Kalisz, however, yields nothing. Additionally, published rabbinic sources support the fact that Rabbi Waks should certainly be found in the JRI-Poland records work. In 1868, Rabbi Waks married a second time, to a woman whose surname was Trunk. Indeed, when the JRI-Poland Kalisz marriage records are searched for the surname Trunk, the rabbi does appear, but placed in the wrong column of data. The problem is that Rabbi Waks is recorded as Chaim Leijzer Waks Gerymter, with Gerymter as the surname. Gerymter, a variant of the modern German word geruehmter, is derived from the old German bereuhmter and signifies a famous or illustrious man of importance. Thus, the Waks surname is swallowed up in the wrong data column. When merged, the data from these two different sources, the published rabbinic books and the JRI-Poland database, significantly complement each other. The published texts lack the marriage date (1868) and the fact that Rabbi Waks’ second wife was a divorcee. The whole idea here is that I did not know she was a divorcee before the JRI records revealed that fact.
Unfortunately, because of the error in undertanding/recording, Gerymter now is (erroneously) included in the list of all surnames contained in Jewish civil records for the town of Kalisz.
Conclusion
Rabbinic sources focus only on information relevant to the spiritual realm. As a result, they may not mention the given name of a wife or daughter except as, for example, the daughter of Rabbi So-and-So or wife of Rabbi So-and-So. The JRI-Poland database helps to shed light on the not-so-spiritual information important to the genealogist or historian, including given names, divorces, early deaths of infants and children, occupations, names of the children, or siblings of rabbis who did not make a rabbinical career, and so forth. All that remains is for the researcher to be a detective trying to discover this “hidden material” and carefully analyze the databases with a view to understanding how human data entry errors must constantly be in the forefront of the mind in order to glean as much data as possible.
Neil Rosenstein is the author of numerous works including the Lurie Legacy; Unbroken Chain; Latter Day Leaders, Sages and Scholars; The Gaon of Vilna and his Cousinhood; and others. He recently published The Grandees of New Jersey: Naar; Baiz; Peixotto; Pretto; and Seixas families; and Saul Waul, the Polish King or Lithuanian Knight.
