Jewish genealogy

The following article is an excerpt from a chapter of our forthcoming book: "The Shpoler Zeida – The Life, Legends, and Descendants of the Grandfather of Shpola."  The chapter is entitled: "Mysteries of the Shpoler Zeida Family."

Our decade-long genealogical research has been a dedicated pursuit to construct a family tree for a figure of profound importance in Chassidic history. This individual, born three centuries ago, is Yehuda Leib of Shpola (c. 1725–1811), a revered tzaddik known as the Saba Kadisha (Hebrew for “Holy Grandfather”) or the Shpoler Zeida (Yiddish for “Grandfather of Shpola”). His influence and teachings have left an indelible mark on Chassidic history, making our research all the more significant.

Our research has led us to identify over 5,500 descendants of the Shpoler Zeida. However, our journey was not without its share of enigmas and complexities. The intricate web of family connections, the gaps in historical records, and the challenge of verifying oral histories have all contributed to the depth and complexity of our research.

A particularly intriguing challenge was the discovery of fifteen families who claimed descent from the Shpoler Zeida, yet the specifics of their lineage remained unknown.  This lack of documentation has veiled their proud heritage in a cloak of uncertainty, shrouding their connection to the Shpoler Zeida in mystery.  As their lines of descent from the Shpoler Zeida were unknown, we have come to refer to them as the “Mystery Families.”

This article delves into the intriguing mystery of the Beletsky family (including the Belasco, Bell, Bruskin, Gellard, Goldberg, and Polis branches), who claim descent from the Shpoler Zeida.  The mystery involves how their earliest known Beletsky ancestor, Leiba Beletsky (1782–1846), and his wife, Risya (1789–bef. 1848), are connected to the Shpoler Zeida.

In this comprehensive research study on the Beletsky family's descent from the Shpoler Zeida, we painstakingly traced family records, cross-referencing them with historical documents and oral histories.  We believe that the available historical and genealogical evidence is sufficient to support the Beletsky family’s plausible line of descent from the Shpoler Zeida through his son Yaakov and the marriage of Yaakov’s daughter Risya to Leiba Beletsky and to connect them to the Shpoler Zeida family tree.

What’s so special about tombstones?  Why have Madeleine and her Evangelical Christian colleague, Mikulas Liptak, in Slovakia, spent six years and counting, gathering information on ‎tombstones in the Spis Region of Slovakia?  Jewish families often migrated there ‎from Galicia in the 19th Century.‎ Find out what they discovered, what the difficulties were and continue to be, and what you can look for in your own research.‎  Find out what the six most common family names were and the first names of ‎men and women, derived from 5000 records of information in 20 towns in the ‎Spis Region.‎  Also see samples of the art of the engravers and imagery on tombstones.‎  Learn what methods and reference materials are helpful ‎to decipher and translate findings.‎

This is an update to earlier material used at International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) conferences.  This material was available for attendees in Warsaw, Poland, August 2018.  It may either update or correct previous handout material for those needing help in extracting information from the inscriptions on tombstones (matzevot, in Hebrew).

If you are a Jewish genealogist, chances are you have encountered the dreaded brick wall – the seemingly impenetrable barrier beyond which lie untold generations of unknown ancestors who represent a proud Jewish heritage that has become shrouded in mystery.

As Jewish genealogical researchers, we wondered what it would be like if we tried to surmount some of these brick walls.  Could it be done, and if so, how?  We decided to embark on such a research project by focusing on fifteen "Mystery Families" who all shared one thing in common – they all claimed descent from Yehuda Leib of Shpola, better known as the Shpoler Zeida, a revered 18th-century tzaddik and early Chassidic leader in the Russian Empire.

The traditional genealogical research methods employed, combined with modern genetic genealogy techniques, and the many lessons learned through the research of these fifteen mystery families, representing hundreds of Jewish surnames and lines of descent, are universal in nature and have widespread applicability to Jewish genealogy. For this reason, we are making this invaluable information available to the wider Jewish genealogical community.

This is an expanded and improved version of my previous "Reading Jewish Tombstones for Dummies."  This might prove more helpful in understanding what might be found on Jewish tombstones and how to decipher some of the Hebrew lettering by yourself.  This handout accompanied recent presentations I gave at IAJGS conferences.

A visit to Kezmarok, a small town and its Jewish cemetery in Slovakia where ancestors once lived, yields amazing genealogical discoveries. Eventually, with the aid of many non-Jews, the cemetery is cleaned and made ready for further data gathering of entire cemeteries in the region.

What is it about Jewish genealogy that makes it so challenging and difficult?  Why do so few Ashkenazi Jews have family trees and paper trails?  Are autosomal DNA and Y-DNA tests as useful for tracing Jewish ancestry as for other groups?

As someone who has been successful at tracing his family’s Jewish ancestry back to the Middle Ages, and has conducted numerous Y-DNA studies of rabbinical lineages, while encountering his share of genealogical challenges along the way, I thought that it would be useful to share some of my experiences and insights regarding these very important questions.

In this article, the main factors that are responsible for making Jewish genealogy so challenging are divided into ten main categories: (1) the destruction of Jewish records; (2) the difficulty in finding surviving Jewish documents; (3) language barriers; (4) the history of Jewish surname adoption; (5) the nature of the Jewish surname adoption process; (6) the Americanization of Jewish surnames; (7) Jewish endogamy; (8) the historical lack of family trees and paper trails; (9) the Holocaust; and (10) the Jewish immigrant experience in America.

It is only by fully understanding the challenges, problems, and difficulties faced by Jewish genealogists that effective strategies can be devised to deal with these issues and to find solutions.

Sokolov I. Russian and foreign tea-trade companies on the tea-market of the Russian Empire: 1790-s – 1920-s (their trade marks, seals and terminology). – Moscow, 2013. – 203 p. – ISBN 978-5-9973-2501-5

This guide is a list of the most significant Tea Trading Firms of the Russian Empire of all forms of property: Trading Houses, Partnerships, Sales Offices, Joint-stock Companies, Consumption Companies, etc.
The firms of employers from different ethnic groups (Russian, Jewish, migrants from France and Germany, employers from Caucasus and Central Asia) are viewed.
The information on the change of the names of some Tea Trading Firms in the period of theirs activity is presented. There are not only the official names in the book but also everyday, conversational and common versions.
The handbook contains the identifier of trademarks of Tea Trading Firms and includes a lot of illustrations. There is a list of sources on the history of tea and tea-trade in Russia at the end of the book. The great part of the book is devoted to the section of terminology of Russian tea-trade of the XIX – the beginning of ХХ centuries.
The book will be useful for historians, economists, sociologists, cultural studies scholars, antiquarians and collectors, workers of food-processing industry, students of local lore, teachers of secondary and higher educational institutions, specialists in the field of advertising and genealogy.

CONTENIDO
La presente guía ofrece una lista de compañías distribuidoras del té de mayor renombre del Imperio Ruso que pueden ser identificadas según el tipo de propiedad como Casas Comerciales, oficinas de ventas, sociedades comanditarias, anónimas y de consumo.
En la guía se someten a examen  compañías  pertenecientes a empresarios que representan varios grupos étnicos: rusos, judíos, naturales de Francia y Alemania, de  Cáucaso y Asia Central.
Se  da  información sobre el cambio de denominación de algunas compañías durante el tiempo de su actividad. Además de las denominaciones oficiales se dan a conocer nombres de uso corriente, coloquiales y tergiversados.
La guía cuenta con un índice de marcas comerciales de una serie de compañías distribuidoras del té y dispone de un gran número de ilustraciones. En la parte final del libro se da la bibliografía y se citan libros  dedicados a la historia del té y de la venta de éste en Rusia. Una parte importante del libro contiene terminología en el ámbito de la distribución del té usada en Rusia en el siglo XIX y a principios del siglo XX.
El libro será útil a los historiadores, economistas, sociólogos, culturólogos, anticuarios y coleccionistas, trabajadores de industria alimenticia, etnógrafos, profesores de enseñanza media y superior, expertos en publicidad e genealogía.