Rabbi Chaim Nathan Dembitzer (1820-1892)

From ; Fathers of Jewish Genealogy

by David Einseidler

https://mail.google.com/mail/?dest=http%3A%2F%2Fgmail.google.com%2Fgmail

Born in Krakow, he was a Talmudist and historian. He did historical research and critical work in the field of Talmudic and rabbinic literature, and wrote about its leading personalities. Of interest to us is Klilat Yoffi (The Perfection of Beauty) (Krakow, Vol. I, 1888, Vol. II, 1893), biographies of rabbis of Lvov (Lviv), Krakow, and others in Poland and Lithuania. His pupil, Wettstein, wrote Dembitzer's biography, Toledot Maharchan (Krakow, 1893). ("Maharchan" is an acronym of Moreinu Ha-Rav Chaim Nathan - Our Teacher Rabbi Chaim Nathan). The biographies of rabbis in Klilat Yoffi are considered primary sources, and therein lies their value.

Feivel Hirsch Wettstein (1858-1924)

Born in Krakow, he was a pupil of Rabbi Chaim Nathan Dembitzer, and got from him his interest in antiquities and Jewish historical and genealogical records. He had a bookstore in Krakow, and did his research and studies during the lull between customers. He studied the history of the Jews in Poland, especially in Krakow, using material from responsa, from archives, and from minute books of communities and societies. His monographs served as valuable sources for historians of Polish Jews like Balaban (see Roots-Key, Fall, 1994), Schorr, and others. His studies are distinguished by careful scholarship and avoidance of unfounded conjectures.For some forty years Wettstein was considered a top researcher of Judaica, and he contributed to a number of publications like Otzar ha-Sofrut (Treasure of Literature), ha-Eshkol, ha-Maggid, ha-Mitzpeh, ha-Kol, and others. His studies of interest to genealogists are all in Hebrew:
Kadmaniyot mi-Pinkasaot Yeshanim (Antiquities from Old Records) (Krakow, 1892)
Dvarim Atikim mi-Pinkasei ha Kahal be-Krakow (Old Matters in the Records of the Krakow Community) (Krakow, 1901)
Mi-Pinkasei ha-Kahal be-Krakow (From the Records of the Krakow Community) (Breslau, 1901)
Le-Toledot Gedolei Israel (Stories about Great Jews) (Warsaw, 1904)
Le-Toledot Israel ve-Chachmeyah be-Polin (Stories about the Jews and Jewish Scholars in Poland) (Krakow, 1903 and 1913)
Toledot Anshei Shem be-Krakow (Stories about Famous Krakow People) (Krakow, 1909)
Le-Korot ha-Yehudim be-Polin uve-Yichud be-Krakow mi-Shnat 1906 ad Shnat 1587 (History of the Jews in Poland and Particularly in Krakow from 1096 to 1587) (Krakow, 1918)

Tzvi Hirsch Horowitz (1872-1945)

Horowitz was a rabbi, scholar, and outstanding genealogist. He was a lineal descendant of the founder of the dynasty, Isaiah Ish Horowitz ("The Man from Horovice") (d. 1517), an exile from Spain, descendant of great luminaries Zerachiah Halevi Gerondi (12th century) and Shem Tov Halevi of Provence (11th century). He was born in Krakow, where his father was a rabbi.During World War I, he was a rabbi of the refugees from Galicia in Brno, Czechia. After the war he went to Holland, where he obtained an archive of the Horowitz family. In 1920 he was appointed Chief Rabbi of Dresden, Germany. Due to Nazi persecution, he moved in 1939, with his great library, to Antwerp. After the Nazi invasion of Belgium he moved to Nice, France, where he remained until his death. In the Holocaust, he lost two sons and a daughter, with her whole family. Only two sons and a daughter survived. They now live in the U.S.Horowitz contributed many articles and entries to the (German) Encyclopaedia Judaica, to Monatschrift fuer die Geschichte und Wissenschaft des Judentums (Monthly Journal of the History and Science of Judaism), to Eshkol, Sinai, and other publications.His most valuable work was originally titled Le-Korot ha-Kehillot be-Polanyah (History of the Communities in Poland), later expanded and renamed Le-Toledot ha-Kehillot be-Polin (Jerusalem, 1978). It contains studies of one hundred eleven Polish, Galician, and Ukrainian towns, lists of their rabbis, and some history and genealogy. The town chapters vary in length from half a page to 82 pages (Apt / Opatow). (A list of Galician towns was published in Gesher Galicia, Spring, 1994.)Another publication, Kitvei ha-Geonim (Letters of Rabbis) (Piotrkow, 1928), contains many letters of Jewish scholars and notes -- in Rashi script -- giving details of their genealogies. These two works are a treasury of information about rabbis of Eastern Europe in the last centuries, their biographies, and their families.Toledot Mishpachat Horowitz -- Dorot ha-Rishonim (History of the Horowitz Family -- the Early Generations) was published together with Sefer Tov Ayn (Krakow, 1935) by his brother, Rabbi Eleazar Moses Horowitz. It is the clearest authoritative source for the history and genealogy of the Ish Horowitz rabbinic dynasty. The author starts with the original Isaiah Halevi of Horovice and Prague, and cites the family tradition of descent from Rabbi Isaac Halevi of Barcelona, Spain, going back to Rabbi Shem Tov Halevi. The book covers the period of the 16th, 17th, and much of the 18th centuries. Bernard (Chaim Doberish) Friedberg (1876-1961)

Friedberg was a scholar and bibliographer. Born in Krakow, he moved in 1900 to Frankfort, then to Antwerp. When the Nazis occupied Belgium, he lost his valuable library and papers. In 1946 he moved to Tel Aviv.Beginning in 1896, he published a number of biographies and family histories in Hebrew. Among them were:
Marganit Shapira (The Shapiro Daisy)
Toledot Mishpacha Schor (History of the Schor Family)
Toledot Mishpacha Horowitz (History of the Horowitz Family)
B'nai Landau le-Mishpachotam (The Landau Families) He also published a study of the old Jewish cemetery of Krakow, Luchot Zikaron (Memorial Stones). He published several histories of Hebrew printing in Krakow, Lublin, and other cities in Poland, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and central and western Europe. His greatest achievement was his bibliographic lexicon, Bet Eked Sefarim (The Library), listing Hebrew books published before 1950.

Bernard (Chaim Doberish) Friedberg (1876-1961)

Max Winkler JE American philologist; born at Cracow, Austria, Sept. 4, 1866; educated at the gymnasium of Cracow, Hughes High School (Cincinnati, Ohio), ...