Rashi's Genealogy Back To King David

 Nadene Goldfoot                                          

Rashi is a name in most all Jewish prayer books. He was a major commentator of the Torah (Pentateuch) and the Tanakh (Old Testament).  His name is an abbreviation for Rabbi Solomon Yitzhaki which means "ben Isaac" who lived from 1040 and died in 1105.  He was a French rabbinical scholar who studied in the Rhineland (Germany).  Rashi returned to his native city of Troyes where he had established his own school.  His livelihood was from  his vineyard.  

People wrote to him from all over with questions and his decisions have been preserved in the works of his pupils. Rashi's commentaries served as the basis for later scholars such as Nahmanides and Ibn Ezra in their interpretation of the  Torah .   

His genealogy was very important to him and to his descendants for he kept it, and it led to King David.  Back in 1040 when he was born, the world Jewish population numbered  1 million people and remained that number till 1700.   By 1939, there were 16.7 million Jews in the world.  With the Holocaust taking 6 million, by 1946, there were 10.8 million Jews in the world.  Many of us can claim Rashi as a descendant including myself.  

Keeping a genealogy tree was an important exercise for many Jews because one could not partake in the Sanhedrin without proof of one's genealogy.  That was a pre-requisite.  The Sanhedrin was made up of 71 members.  The head person was called the Nasi, who in later history was to be a descendant of Hillel. This ended before the end of the 4th century CE when Romans had taken over everything.  

The book, Finding Our Fathers-a guidebook to Jewish genealogy by Dan Rottenberg, has in it a chart F of  The Dynasty of David on pages 56 and 57.  It lists Jesse as the father of David.

His chart B is Rashi's Traditional Ancestors.  Rashi's tree connected first to the very famous Hillel the Great (70 BCE to 10 CE).  He was a scholar and founder of the school known as the "House of Hillel" and the ancestor of a dynasty of patriarchs which held office until the 5th century.  Hillel was born in Babylonia but was able to settle in Palestine and earned a slender living by manual labor while studying with the great teachers, Shemaiah and Avtalyon.  He was appointed president of the Sanedrin and together with Shammai, constituted the last of the pairs (Zugot) of scholars.  He was noted for his humility and tendency to leniency.  Most all cases were decided by the House of Hillel.  It's like they were debators.  

Hillel the Elder (הלל הזקן) 110 BCE-10 CE. was a famous 

Jewish religious leader, one of the most important figures in 

Jewish history. Hillel was born in Babylon. Josephus ("Vita," § 

38) speaks of Hillel's great-grandson, Rabban Shimon ben 

Gamliel I, as belonging to a very celebrated family.

• Hillel descended from the Tribe of Benjamin on his father's side, and
• from the family of David on his mother's side. He's known for his Golden Rule comment:  "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn." - Babylonian Talmud, Sabbath 31:1 -

• 
  Hillel and Shimon, Gamliel and Shimon ruled their 

  presidency, one hundred years "before" the Temple.
  

  Meaning that Hillel [the Elder] and 3 generations of his 

• descendants presided over the Sanhedrin, for 100 years 

• while the Temple still stood. They were the LAST ones 

• before it was destroyed in 70 CE.

The tree starts with King David and wife Abital (1043-973 BCE)  to Shephatiah, who was David's 5th son and was born in Hebron (2 Samuel 3,4) ;  then down 900  years to Hillel The Great (70 BCE-10CE) and then to Simeon Ha-Nasi.  

This led to Rabbi Gamaliel The Elder(early 1st century) President of the Sanhedrin at Jerusalem, grandson of Hillel.  He's even mentioned in the New Testament as the teacher of Paul (Act 22:23.  In 3 generations, we come to Johanan Ha Sandalar of Egypt (2nd century CE).  His descendants were  Joshua, then Jochanan, than Nachman, then Jose (author of "Luleiot Hashor." That led to Yanai that led to Rabbi Maniana Gaon and that led to Rabbi Jose of Constantinople, and that led to Ha-Gaon Rabbi Abraham and that led to Rabbi Aaron (renowned doctor) and that led to Ha-Gaon Rabbi Eliakim.  

20 generations pass by and we come to Solomon and then Isaac and then Solomon who is Rashi= Rabbi Solomon {Yitzhaki} (ben Isaac)of Troyes, France (1040-1105).  

Chart C is of Rashi and His Descendants.  Chart D is of the Luria Family---An Unbroken Line almost back to Rashi.  Chart E is a simplified chart showing how the Families of Rashi, Treves,  Luria, Minz, Katzenellenbogen, Wahl,  Drucker, Horowitz,  Isserles and even Karl Marx are all related to each other.  

Rashi family tree  from (https://www.loebtree.com/rashi.html)

Each item on this list represents a generation.

107. Shlomo ?
     
108. Itzhak TZARFARTI (d. Abt 1060 Worms, Germany) married ?? KALONYMOS sister of R. Simeon the Great of Mainz, and daughter of Itzhak KALONYMOS (d. 960 Mainz) son of Rabbi Abun KALONYMOS son of Meshulam KALONYMOS son of Klonimus KALONYMOS son of Moshe KALONYMOS (d. 870 Lucca, Italy, d. 940 Mainz, Germany) son of Kalonymos son of Meshulam KALONYMOS son of Kalonymos BEN YEHUDA.
     Itzhak TZARFARTI rRefused to sell a jewel he owned as a decoration for the Madonna. Although the local Christians were willing to pay a great price for it, he preferred to throw it away rather than see it become a part of idolaterous worship. As a reward, he was granted a son of the calibre of Rashi, who became a living spirtual jewel. One day when Rashi's mother was pregnant with him, she was almost run down by a crusader, but a niche opened up miraculously in a nearby wall and she was able to shelter there. This wall later become a well-known landmark.
     
109. [1] Rashi: Rabbi Solomon ben Isaac (b. 1040 Troyes/Champagne, France, d. 1105 Troyes/Champagne, France) married Batisaak daughter of Isaak BENABUN. They lived in France. Rashi wrote well known concise commentary on the bible. Three daughters:
     • [4] Jochaved (below)
     • [3] Miriam Miriam married R. Yehuda ben Natan (RIBAN) (b. 1065).
       • [6] R. Tosafist Yom Tov of Falais (b. 1090 Falais, d. 1140)
         • [14] Dolce (d. 1196 Erfurt, Germany) m. Eliezer. Contact Andi Zeigelman zieg_exp@netvision.net.il
         • [15] Rabbi Yehuda (b. 1115) father of [28] Yitzhak (b. 114x?) father of [34] Yehuda Shir Leon of Paris (1166-1224) father of the [38] wife of [39] Ashkenazi Matityahu, II TREIVISH (TREVES).
     • [2] Rachel married Eliezer Belle Asses JOCELIN. Son: Rabbi Shemaya JOCELIN
     The three daughters were scholars in their own right, helped their father with his writings, and at least one of which wore tefilin.
     Schlock Rock wrote a song about Rashi.

     Who was born in France and sent to Yeshiva
     studied in Worms and on his return
     he founded a school and wrote commentaries?
     Everyone knows it's Rashi.
     Whose words are written under the Chumash,
     the inside of every page of Talmud?
     Whose three daughters married great scholars?
     Everyone knows it's Rashi.
     And Rashi was so concise, and in his own script did write.
     And if you want to know why just look inside.

     
     
110. [4] Jochaved BAT SALOMON (b. 1065 Troyes, France) married Rabbi Hayashish Meir ben Samuel (b. 1065 Mainz, Germany, d. 1135).
     • [7] Ribam (Rabbi Isaac II ben Meir) (b. Ramerupt, d. Regensburg, Germany)
     • [8] Hanah or Hanale(b. 1080) married Shmuel ben Simcha.
     • [9] Yaakov (Rabbenu Tam) (b. 1096 Ramerupt, France, d. 9 Jun. 1171 Troyes, France) m. Miriam bat Yosef. Yaakov remarried. Thanks to their descendant [688] Benjamin ANGEL Benjamin.Angel at cec.eu.int for information on the descendants of RASHI. (The bracketed numbers are references to his list of 1,612 descendants of RASHI.)
     • [10] Shlomo  [Samuel ben Meir] 1069-after 1135, a French tosaphist; son-in-law of Rashi, originally from lorraine, he settled in Worms and later removed to Ramerup5t where he established his own school.  His son, Rabbi Tam, quotes his tosaphot. 
     • [11] Miriam m. ??? son of Simcha ben Samuel.
     • Rashbam (Shmuel)(b. 1080 Ramerupt, France, d. 1158)
     Jochaved remarried ???.
     
111. [7] Isaac BEN MEIR (RIBAM) (b. Ramerupt, d. Regensburg, Germany). After his death, his wife remarried [15] Yehudah.
     
112. [16] Isaac's daughter (b. Treves) married Rabbi Jechiel TREVES, the posek (d. 1189 Paris) son of Rabbi Matityahu Hagadol TREVES (d. 1150).
     
113. [29] Mosche TREVES, II (b. Treves, d. 1230 Paris)
     
114. [35] Rabbi Porat Joseph TREVES (b. Treves)
     
115. [39] Rabbi Matityahu TREVES (ASHKENAZI), II (b. Treves) married [38] the daughter of Rabbi Yehuda of Paris (b. 1115) [son of Yom Tov (b. 1090, d. ca. 1140 Paris) the son of Miriam and Judah (b. 1065 Mainz, d. ca. 1105) ben Nathan] and the daughter (or maybe just descendant...) of Rabbi Isaac BEN MEIR (RIBAM).
     • Vergentlin TREVES married R. Shmuel SPIRA
     • [41] Abraham TREVES (below).
     • [42] Yechiel TREVES, II (b. 1206, d. 1268 Acre, Palestine). Son: Porat Yosef, V (b. Treves).
     
     
116. [41] Rabbi Abraham (Avrahami) TREVES
     
117. [44] Rabbi (TREVESIAN) Jochanan (Yahanan I) Ashkenazi TREVES (b. Abt 1265 Treves, d. Worms, Germany). Left France between 1285 and 1314 during the expulsion of Jews by Philippe IV and settled in Germany where he acquired the surname Ashkenazi.
     
118. [52] Rabbi Joseph (Yosef V) Hagadol TZORFATI-TREVES (b. 1305, d. 1350 or 1370). President of Rabbinical Tribunal of Marseilles. His wife was very educated and explained many passages of the talmud. Their family was not required to wear the distinctive signs of Jews.
     
119. [64] Chief Rabbi Matityahu TREVES V (b. 1325, d. 1387 Paris). Chief Rabbi in France. President of Rabbinical Court in Paris and France. He married the daughter of Rabbi Samuel SPIRA =?= Menassier DE VESOUL.
     • Khana (Vergentin) married Shmuel SHAPIRA . Their son Shlomo SHAPIRA was the father of Peretz SHAPIRA (from whom the SHAPIRA family descends) and Miriam who married Aharon LURIA (from whom the LURIA family descends). Contact Jeffrey Mark PAULL saxkat@msn.com for details.
     • Yohanan TREIVISH (d. 1429) (father of Yosef TREIVISH (d. 1435), father of Shmuel TREIVISH, father of Eliezer TREIVISH)
     • daughter TREVES married Rabbi Raphael BALLIN. See below.
     
     
120. Their daughter TREVES married Rabbi Raphael BALLIN. They had a son Shimshon. (Contact: Dr. Jeffrey R. WOOLF woolfj@mail.biu.ac.il who is a descendant of Rashi via the HEILPRIN's and the HELLER's.)
     
121. unknown BALLIN
     
122. unknown BALLIN
     
123. Elias BALLIN
     
124. Moses Elias BALLIN
     
125. Elias Moses BALLIN (b. Worms, d. 27 March 1587 Worms)
     
126. Eliezer Sussmann BALLIN (d. 1601 Worms)
     
127. Samuel Abraham BALLIN (d. 4 April 1622 Worm), married Gutrad WORMS daughter of Eliezar WORMS.
     
128. Frummet BALLIN (b. Worms, d. 26 Jan 1649 Frankfurt) married Josef (Juda) Loeb OPPENHEIMER (d. 1655)

Note that Rabbi Jechiel LURIA also was a descendant of Rashi. See the official Noda b'Yehuda website for more information.

Information from David SOLOMON, Sol2516171 at aol.com.

Resource;

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

Book: "Finding Our Fathers" by Dan Rottenberg-Jewish population, charts

Rashi family tree  from (https://www.loebtree.com/rashi.html)

https://www.geni.com/people/Hillel-Hazaken-The-Elder-President-The-Sanhedrin/6000000001288370396