Parashat Tzav (Parah): My Jewish Journey
It was one of the greatest and longest journeys I’ve ever taken and it didn’t even require me to leave my study.
On the Fast
of Esther, I was waiting for the broadcast of the Shema prayer (live-streamed
from the Kotel/Western Wall) to begin. As
I was fasting, I was happy to engage in some soul-searching, commensurate to
the significance of the day.
Some
people engage in hobbies like golf and photography (which according to many
sources is the UK’s most expensive pastime).
My choice is genealogy. I have the
‘My Heritage Complete Subscription’ package, which fortunately renews in
August, so I have some time to save up!
Back to
my journey…I recently discovered that I am a seventh-generation descendant of the
highly respected Rabbi Yechezkel Landau on my mother’s maternal line. As well as being the Chief Rabbi of Prague in
the 18th century (he died in 1793), he is called the Noda Biyehuda (The
Known One of Judah) after his renowned two-volume work which provided Halachic
Responsa for almost every area of Jewish Law (you can find out more at: https://tinyurl.com/22jh8az5).
His
rulings are still used today and when I mention that I’m his descendant, I’m
met with raised eyebrows amongst my contemporaries. He’s that important!
When
discussing his own antecedents and, by extension mine, he said that he was a
direct descendant of Rashi. I set about
investigating the family line linking me to one of our greatest commentators.
An early
discovery in my online journey on the website enabled me to locate the ship’s
manifest for my father and grandparents’ journey from Antwerp to New York in
1940. This was a thrilling find, even
though they spelled my dad’s name as ‘Isidor’ without the final ‘e’.
Back to my ancestral roots.
Previously,
I had managed to pursue Rabbi Landau’s family tree to about 1580 CE and had
come to a brick wall which often happens in these searches. I decided to try a different tack this time. You click on a person’s name and a host of
links appear, having been assembled from hundreds of different family trees. You can then compare these, granted that
there are numerous errors in the spellings of names and accuracy of dates. I managed to find a site that looked
relatively trustworthy and clicked on the link that would bring up the current
person’s profile, along with a link to his father, mother, spouse and children.
You can
see an example below:
Clicking on
his father’s link took me back a generation and before I knew it, I had reached
his Great-Grandmother Gittel, who was born in Krakow and was the daughter of a
Cohen, by the name of Rabbi Yosef HaCohen Katz.
I should also add that Rabbi Landau was a Levi through his father’s side. However, the Cohen path was the one I pursued
and followed back through the centuries via Macedonia and Istanbul to Salonika
in Greece in the 16th and 15th Centuries. My ancestor Rabbi Akiva Hoken Katz
known as the ‘Alter (the revered Elder) of Salonika was born in Toledo in 1360
and died in Salonika in 1450. I presume
this was probably due to the persecution that led to the Inquisition just over
forty years later. His ancestors had lived in Toledo for hundreds of years as
was demonstrated through following his paternal line.
This,
however, was not the end of the journey.
I clicked and clicked my way back through Jewish history, encountering
my direct ancestors who included a number of Gaonim, namely the Presidents of
the prominent Yeshiva of Sura in Babylon and their forebears whose names I
recognised from the Talmud (such as Hiya bar Abba HaCohen, Abba Bar Abba and
his son, Shmuel Bar Abba.)
How far
back would this dynasty stretch? My
heart was literally thumping at a thunderous rate as I entered the era of the Second
Temple and came across Rabbi Elazar ben Azarya (who we mention at the Sedarim)
and three generations of priests who died in the First Jewish War of 66-70 CE,
which ended with the destruction of the Temple.
I felt a genuine pang of sadness knowing that here I was, their
descendent, reconnecting with them through this extraordinary quest. However, nothing prepared me for what was
about to transpire, as I clicked on the father of Meshulam and realised that he
was none other than Ezra HaSofer – Ezra the Scribe who is credited with saving
the Jewish people after their return to Israel with those who had been exiled
to Babylon during the period of the destruction of the first Beit
Hamikdash (Temple). It literally brought tears to my eyes.
More
clicks and I realised that I am directly descended from the 18 High Priests who
served under the Judean Kings. This
inevitably led to their ancestors culminating with Aharon, the son of Amram and
Grandson of Levi. By the end of the
exercise, I had traced my ancestral line back to Adam and Eve, which is a mere 125
generations! 32 pages in all which I am
happy to share with you if you wish.
To say
that I am overwhelmed is an understatement.
If that weren’t enough, I also managed to follow The Noda BiYehuda’s
father’s line all the way to our ancestor, Rashi. One of his four daughters, Yocheved, married
into the family.
What does
all of this mean?
Nearly
six decades ago my mother, who was in the early stages of pregnancy, won a
competition to visit Israel. Due to the
outbreak of the Six Day War, she had to delay her trip but following the reunification
of Jerusalem, she found herself standing in front of the Kotel (Western Wall) a
few hundred metres from the Temple where her and by extension, my ancestors,
the High Priests, had carried out the Avodah (holy work in the Temple). She promised herself that if the child she was
carrying would be a boy, he would celebrate his Bar mitzvah at the Wall. Thirteen-and-a-half years later, I had that
honour. For as long as I can remember, I
have been fascinated by the structure of the Beit Hamikdash and the work of the
Cohanim therein. I believed that this
was due to my having visited the Kotel in utero. I now
feel that the souls of my Priestly antecedents were calling out to my mother and
reminding her of the eternal chain that was travelling through Jewish history
from their era to ours - at the Kotel which lies below the holiest place on
earth in our religion.
We have
just started reading Sefer Vayikra, the Book of Leviticus, which provides
intricate details regarding the sacrifices and the Avodah that my (and some of
your) ancestors carried out for hundreds of years. The book itself is known as ‘Torat Cohanim’
or ‘Laws of the Priests’. Towards the
end of Parashat Tzav, the Torah describes Hashem’s instructions to Moshe on how
to consecrate Aharon and his sons for their Priestly duties. Moshe carries out the commandments to the
letter and Aharon, my 100th direct ancestor, became the very first Cohen.
In our
age, it is difficult to understand the meaning behind many of the commandments
and rituals described in Sefer Vayikra and why this integral part of our
religion was so important in the evolution of Judaism. Conducting this research has enabled me to
connect with my past in a way that I couldn’t have foreseen when, sitting in my
study on a fast day, I clicked on some links in a website using the technology
that we all take for granted.
My
discovery has been extraordinary but at the same time, very humbling.
I had a friend that told me something years ago which has stayed in my memory. He said that ‘Yichus’, which is the Hebrew word for lineage, are like potatoes because “the best parts are underground!” I believe that each of us is the culmination of the ancestry that preceded our entry into the world. We hope that the positive choices we make and the actions we do will mean that we may too be counted as worthy successors of their legacies.
We should
try our best to ensure that one day, we will be the ‘potatoes’ that our
descendants look to for inspiration. Some
of my ancestors carved their names and reputations into the annals of Jewish
History. I am so honoured to be the
current link in this particular chain but, at the end of the day, I know that it
is the next generation that matters even more.
I am a
descendant of Avraham Avinu stretching back 106 generations. It is to the 107th and future generations
that we need to look for encouragement as our journey as a people has only just
begun. With all that history behind us,
I have a strong feeling that they will do us proud.
They have
a lot to live up to and no doubt, numerous hurdles to overcome but as my, and
by extension, your ancestry demonstrates, the Jewish people are eternal - just
like the lights of the Menorah that my ancestors lit in the Temples thousands
of years ago.
Comments
Post a Comment