1 c The Zarwantizer line-- How it came to be that my great-grandfather was also my great-great-grandfather and that I am my own third cousin

Excerpt The Zarwantizer line-- How it came to be that my great-grandfather was also my great-great-grandfather and that I am my own third cousin

When the Rabbi of Dolyna sent his Gabbai( assistant) to  invite my father’s grandmother  to his daughter’s wedding,  she did not attend.  When the Rabbi asked why, she replied,” You did not invite me in person; you only sent your Gabbai!”

Yichus—Ancestry- played a great part in Jewish circles. After all, the very Bible itself is a list of “begats” from Adam down to the lists of returnees from Babylonian captivity ; from the “ Hebrew “ Scriptures it goes  on into the “ Christian” Scriptures as well. Thus it turns out that Jesus and I share the same yichus : King David and Aaron the first Cohen, High Priest.

While this may be wrapped in myth or faith, what is clear is that, in  11^th century  France, there lived the shining light of Biblical and Talmudic clarity, the Sage, Rashi, who, by tradition, was a descendant of Kind David.