Nadene Goldfoot
The Maharam of Padua name was first used after the family of Meir Katzenellenbogen moved to Padua Italy. It was a Rabbinical family descended from 12 Jews who settled in the town of Katzenelenbogen in Hesse-Nassau, Germany in 1312. "Count Diether of Katzenelnbogen received permission from Emperor Henry VII. to keep twelve Jews at Katzenelnbogen; and Ludwig the Bavarian in 1330 permitted Count Wilhelm and his heirs to keep twenty-four Jews in their dominions (Böhmer, "Regesten," No. 501; Wiener, "Regesten," pp. 23, 33). " To keep; to allow them to live on their property, is what keep would mean. In those days, Jews were a man's "Property."
"A 2016 pioneering research study conducted by Drs. Jeffrey Mark Paull, Neil Rosenstein, and Jeffrey Briskman, utilizes Y-DNA testing in conjunction with existent family pedigrees, oral histories, and historical migration patterns, to conclude that the Katzenellenbogen lineage is of Sephardic origin."
Wouldn't this mean that in 1312 the 12 Jews were coming from Spain to Germany to seek a better more friendly land to live in? Events were starting in the Middle Ages in Spain by then showing anti-Semitism. " Jews in Islamic-occupied Spain, Al-Andalus, were designated as dhimmis, (2nd class with restrictions) and, despite occasional violent outbursts such as the 1066 Granada massacre, they were granted protection to profess their religion in exchange of abiding to certain conditions that limited their rights in relation to Muslims. Although the good relations the Jews had with their Christian neighbors, especially in the 14th century antisemitism was rising. Blood libel accusations were spreading and decrees were imposed on the Jewish people.
1492 was the climax in anti-Semitism with the edict that Jews had to convert to Christianity or leave the country. This decision had really started long before with many acts. The Katzenellenbollens had the foresight to get out and seek better pastures. Thus they tried the other way, the way to the Rhineland, Germany. "In 1492, via the Alhambra Decree, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered the expulsion of a disputed number of Jews from the country, ranging from 45,000 to 200,000, and thus put an end to the largest and most distinguished Jewish community in Europe."
The situation peaked with the massacres of 1391, in which entire communities were murdered and a lot were forcibly converted.
They have had thousands of descendants and huge family connections throughout Europe and America.
Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen was born in 1482, just 10 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He died in 1565. He was a Talmudist that was born in Germany but studied in Poland. He became the rabbi that officiated in Padua, Italy. Rabbi Meir was an outstanding codifier and was extensively consulted on halakhic problems.
What does a codifier do? This refers to the Laws of Moses as found in the Torah. The Talmud has been accepted as the code book for the regulation of Jewish life. We have 2 Talmuds; the Babylonian one and the Palestinian one. The Talmuds are a collection of the records of academic discussion and of judicial administration of Jewish Law by generations of scholars and jurists in many academies in more than one county. Meir put them in a better filing system.
By 2 of the following generations, the family had moved into Poland, and probably then into Lithuania. Lithuania then became an important center of Jewish learning.
"Saul Wahl Katzenellenbogen (1541–1617) was a wealthy and politically influential Polish Jew who is said to have briefly occupied the throne of Poland on 18 August 1587. He has historically borne the nickname, Le roi d un jour (king for a day)." He had a son, Meir Wahl. Saul's father was Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen. Wahl had thirteen children, including the renowned Polish rabbi, Meir Wahl Katzenellenbogen
His being king for a day comes from our folklore as follows from the Jewish Encyclopedia:
He finally decided to appeal to Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen, the rabbi of Padua. Katzenellenbogen received him with marked respect, treated him very kindly, and provided him with the means to return to Lithuania. When the time for departure came the prince asked the rabbi how he could repay him for his kindness. To allow Radziwill to repay the favour, Shmuel asked that he help find his son Saul, who years before had left to study in a yeshiva in Poland. Upon his return to Poland he inquired at all yeshivas until he found Saul in Brest-Litovsk. Radziwill was impressed with Saul's intellect and offered to board him in his own castle, where Saul could pursue his studies. Radziwill's court personnel were similarly impressed with Saul, and his reputation spread throughout Poland." Wouldn't this be where the story, the Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain comes from?
We Jews from this part of Europe, where Poland and Lithuania were a part of Russia's Pale of Settlement, originally probably came from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Simeon. Jews of the 2nd Temple period spoke of themselves as being either Kohanim, Levites and Israelites. The Israelites were then made up of these 3 tribes as 9 of the rest of the 12 had been taken away by the attack on them by the Assyrians earlier. The Tribe of Judah (from which the name "Jews" comes from, was of the southern tribe remaining with part of Benjamin and some of Simeon, and the Assyrians had taken the 9 others of the Northern kingdom of Israel.
I wonder if all the people of the Katz surname are related to this line? One of my 1st cousins is related to 118 Katz people.
Research: Finding Our Fathers-A GUIDEBOOK TO JEWISH GENEALOGY, by Dan Rottenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Wahl
(Böhmer, "Regesten," No. 501; Wiener, "Regesten," pp. 23, 33). in http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9238-katzenellenbogen
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/katzenellenbogen
https://avotaynuonline.com/2019/04/inferring-sephardic-origins-for-rabbi-meir-katzellenbogen-from-his-published-philosophies/
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| Here is Hesse-Nassau in red within the Kingdom of Prussia, within the German Empire. Hesse was a state in Western Germany and Jews lived there from the late 1100s. |
"A 2016 pioneering research study conducted by Drs. Jeffrey Mark Paull, Neil Rosenstein, and Jeffrey Briskman, utilizes Y-DNA testing in conjunction with existent family pedigrees, oral histories, and historical migration patterns, to conclude that the Katzenellenbogen lineage is of Sephardic origin."
Wouldn't this mean that in 1312 the 12 Jews were coming from Spain to Germany to seek a better more friendly land to live in? Events were starting in the Middle Ages in Spain by then showing anti-Semitism. " Jews in Islamic-occupied Spain, Al-Andalus, were designated as dhimmis, (2nd class with restrictions) and, despite occasional violent outbursts such as the 1066 Granada massacre, they were granted protection to profess their religion in exchange of abiding to certain conditions that limited their rights in relation to Muslims. Although the good relations the Jews had with their Christian neighbors, especially in the 14th century antisemitism was rising. Blood libel accusations were spreading and decrees were imposed on the Jewish people.
1492 was the climax in anti-Semitism with the edict that Jews had to convert to Christianity or leave the country. This decision had really started long before with many acts. The Katzenellenbollens had the foresight to get out and seek better pastures. Thus they tried the other way, the way to the Rhineland, Germany. "In 1492, via the Alhambra Decree, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella ordered the expulsion of a disputed number of Jews from the country, ranging from 45,000 to 200,000, and thus put an end to the largest and most distinguished Jewish community in Europe."
 |
| Barcelona, 1391 Massacre of Jews |
The situation peaked with the massacres of 1391, in which entire communities were murdered and a lot were forcibly converted.
They have had thousands of descendants and huge family connections throughout Europe and America.
Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen was born in 1482, just 10 years before Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He died in 1565. He was a Talmudist that was born in Germany but studied in Poland. He became the rabbi that officiated in Padua, Italy. Rabbi Meir was an outstanding codifier and was extensively consulted on halakhic problems.
What does a codifier do? This refers to the Laws of Moses as found in the Torah. The Talmud has been accepted as the code book for the regulation of Jewish life. We have 2 Talmuds; the Babylonian one and the Palestinian one. The Talmuds are a collection of the records of academic discussion and of judicial administration of Jewish Law by generations of scholars and jurists in many academies in more than one county. Meir put them in a better filing system.
By 2 of the following generations, the family had moved into Poland, and probably then into Lithuania. Lithuania then became an important center of Jewish learning.
"Saul Wahl Katzenellenbogen (1541–1617) was a wealthy and politically influential Polish Jew who is said to have briefly occupied the throne of Poland on 18 August 1587. He has historically borne the nickname, Le roi d un jour (king for a day)." He had a son, Meir Wahl. Saul's father was Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen. Wahl had thirteen children, including the renowned Polish rabbi, Meir Wahl Katzenellenbogen
His being king for a day comes from our folklore as follows from the Jewish Encyclopedia:
 |
| "Mikołaj Krzysztof Radziwiłł (4 February 1515 – 28 May 1565), nicknamed The Black (Lithuanian: Juodasis), was a Polish-Lithuanian noble who held several administrative positions within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Voivode of Vilnius, Grand Lithuanian Chancellor, and Grand Hetman of Lithuania." |
"At a point in his life, Lithuanian noble Nicholas Radziwill, wishing to do penance for the many atrocities he had committed while a young man, undertook a pilgrimage to Rome in order to consult the pope as to the best means for expiating his sins. The pope advised him to dismiss all his servants and to lead for a few years the life of a wandering beggar. After the expiration of the period prescribed, Radziwill found himself destitute and penniless in Padua, Italy. His appeals for help were heeded by nobody, and his story of being a prince was received with scorn and ridicule."
He finally decided to appeal to Samuel Judah Katzenellenbogen, the rabbi of Padua. Katzenellenbogen received him with marked respect, treated him very kindly, and provided him with the means to return to Lithuania. When the time for departure came the prince asked the rabbi how he could repay him for his kindness. To allow Radziwill to repay the favour, Shmuel asked that he help find his son Saul, who years before had left to study in a yeshiva in Poland. Upon his return to Poland he inquired at all yeshivas until he found Saul in Brest-Litovsk. Radziwill was impressed with Saul's intellect and offered to board him in his own castle, where Saul could pursue his studies. Radziwill's court personnel were similarly impressed with Saul, and his reputation spread throughout Poland." Wouldn't this be where the story, the Prince and the Pauper by Mark Twain comes from?
 |
| Jews of Lithuania who have to wear the star of David. The Germans are inside the country already. |
We Jews from this part of Europe, where Poland and Lithuania were a part of Russia's Pale of Settlement, originally probably came from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Simeon. Jews of the 2nd Temple period spoke of themselves as being either Kohanim, Levites and Israelites. The Israelites were then made up of these 3 tribes as 9 of the rest of the 12 had been taken away by the attack on them by the Assyrians earlier. The Tribe of Judah (from which the name "Jews" comes from, was of the southern tribe remaining with part of Benjamin and some of Simeon, and the Assyrians had taken the 9 others of the Northern kingdom of Israel.
I wonder if all the people of the Katz surname are related to this line? One of my 1st cousins is related to 118 Katz people.
Research: Finding Our Fathers-A GUIDEBOOK TO JEWISH GENEALOGY, by Dan Rottenberg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saul_Wahl
(Böhmer, "Regesten," No. 501; Wiener, "Regesten," pp. 23, 33). in http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9238-katzenellenbogen
https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/katzenellenbogen
https://avotaynuonline.com/2019/04/inferring-sephardic-origins-for-rabbi-meir-katzellenbogen-from-his-published-philosophies/
I am a descendant of Count Dieter Katzenelnbogen. He is the royal person who asked Emperor Henry VII if he could keep 12 Jews in his kingdom. I was wondering why he would want 12 Jews to live there if there was so much antisemitism. Is it possible that he might have been a Jew but kept it a secret?
ReplyDeleteAll I know is that Katzenellenabogen is a rabbinical family descended from 12 Jews who settled at the town of Kastzenellenbogen in Hesse-Nasau, Germany in 1312 with thousands of descendants and huge family connections throughout Europe and America. Read more about it in the book, FINDING OUR FATHERS-A GUIDE TO JEWISH GENEALOGY by Dan Rottenberg. I don't think he needed to keep it a secret. It was the Spanish Jews who were forced to keep their religion a secret or be killed.
ReplyDelete