Nadene Goldfoot
Rivlin (Hebrew: ריבלין) is a primarily Jewish family with origins in Austria and Eastern Europe, which became established in early 19th century Palestine (now Israel). There are also branches of the family in several other countries.
The Rivlin family originated in Vienna, Austria and has over 50,000 members. The name Rivlin was derived from the descriptive name of a prominent Torah scholar called Moshe "Rivkes" or "Rivkesh" (b. circa 1600), i.e., Moshe “of Rivka” (Rebecca). This ancestor was author of the commentary Be'er HaGolah on the Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish Law). The name Rivkesh led to Riveles, and that led to Rivlin.
The first Rivlin to go to what is now Israel (then an Ottoman province) was Hillel Rivlin, who immigrated in 1809 to Jerusalem. In the following years, many more Rivlins arrived in the country. The Rivlins are now one of the oldest and largest Ashkenazi families in Israel.
Hillel Rivlin of Shklov (Hebrew: הלל ריבלין; 16 September 1757–- 2 June 1838 and the Hebrew date 2 Tishrei 5518–9 Sivan 5598) was a close disciple of the Vilna Gaon. Along with some other pupils of the Vilna Gaon, he is credited with having revitalized the Ashkenazi community in what is now Israel (then the Ottoman province of Damascus Eyalet), by immigrating to Jerusalem in 1809.
Hillel Rivlin's father was Rabbi Binyamin Rivlin of Shklov, the cousin and student of the Vilna Gaon.
Rivlin married Zipora, the daughter of Moshe Yozal in Hever. Their son, Rabbi Moshe Rivlin, was the rabbi of the Ashkenazi community in Jerusalem from 1840 to 1846. Rivlin's son-in-law was the philanthropist and businessman, Shmarihu Luria of Mohilev, the father-in-law of Rabbi David Friedman of Karlin and Yehiel Michal Pines.
Rivlin's descendants, starting with his great-grandson Rabbi Yosef Rivlin, were among the first settlers to live outside the walls of the Old City of Jerusalem. He is considered one of the patriarchs of the Rivlin family.
In 1782, when the Gaon of Vilna realized he would not be able to immigrate to the Land of Israel, he appointed Hillel Rivlin to head the "Chazon Zion" movement which helped organize Jews from Belarus to immigrate to Israel.
Twenty-Seven years later, which is a whole generation, by 1809, Rivlin, as the head of a group of the students of the Gra, immigrated to the Land of Israel.
Any Rivlins in Israel since 1809 are most likely carrying the genes of the Gaon of Vilna. That would have occurred before the 1st Aliyah. The influx of immigrants into the
He was also the author of the esoteric text known as Kol HaTor, that describes the 999 footsteps of the Messiah's arrival. Until approximately the 1980s the book was preserved only in manuscript form, when it began to be published in stages.
The Rivlin family has established itself in various large cities throughout the world. The diaspora occurred in the mid-19th century and early 20th century. Members of the Rivlin family can now be found in most major cities of the United States, Paris, Leeds, London, Rio de Janeiro, parts of Mexico, Australia, Norway, Ireland and South Africa.
The Rivlin family has held major reunions in Jerusalem in 1980 and 2009. These reunions drew thousands of family members to Jerusalem. A film,The Tribe, in 1983, was made about the 1980 reunion by Lilly Rivlin. 2,500 members attended in 1980, the year I had made aliyah. We were in Haifa then, and didn't run into them.
It's one of the few families that my family has not connected with though my grandparents were from Lithuania, nor were they near to Vilna. Mine were from Telsiai. Evidently we weren't in Vienna, Austria, either. Other people were connected to the Gaon of Vilna, though.
One very famous Israeli is former president of Israel, Reuven Rivlin. Reuven "Ruvi" Rivlin (Hebrew: רְאוּבֵן "רוּבִי" רִיבְלִין [ʁeʔuˈven ʁivˈlin] (
listen); born 9 September 1939) is an Israeli politician and lawyer who served as the tenth president of Israel between 2014 and 2021. He is a member of the Likud party. Rivlin was Minister of Communications from 2001 to 2003, and subsequently served as Speaker of the Knesset from 2003 to 2006 and 2009 to 2013. On 10 June 2014, he was elected President of Israel. His term ended on 7 July 2021.
His parents were Rachel "Ray" Rivlin and Yosef Yoel Rivlin. Yosef created the first Hebrew edition of the Quran and was a candidate for president of Israel in 1957 before withdrawing in favor of the incumbent Yitzhak Ben-Zvi.
Rivlin attended Gymnasia Rehavia high school, and served in the Intelligence Corps of the Israel Defense Forces. During the Six-Day War, he fought with the Jerusalem Brigade and accompanied the Paratroopers Brigade as an intelligence officer. After military service, he studied law at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Rivlin argues for a Greater Israel that would embrace all people and give the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza full Israeli citizenship. He is also a strong supporter of minority rights, particularly for Arab Israelis. He supports the one-state solution to the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, or rather, did then. How he would vote today needs asking.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hillel_Rivlin
https://www.lillyrivlin.com/the_tribe_1983.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reuven_Rivlin
Eliyahu's Branches by Chaim Freedman
