This superbly researched family history takes the reader on a fascinating journey of discovery, as Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull captures the experience of a family of ancient and noble Jewish descent, over a millennium of European, Russian, and American history. Dr. Paull crafts an enthralling narrative, as he skillfully re-creates the astonishing story of how the Polonsky family’s lost heritage, which dates back to the illustrious rabbi and biblical commentator Rashi (1040–1105) of medieval France, was rediscovered.

Excerpt from the Preface:

We in the Polonsky family have a remarkable heritage. We are descended from a long line of illustrious rabbis, rabbinical scholars, and community leaders, dating back to the legendary biblical commentator Rashi in eleventh century France. We are indeed blessed to have such a notable heritage, to be the direct descendants of these eminent and distinguished rabbinical families, and the beneficiaries of their esteemed legacy.

Through centuries of hardship for the Jewish people, they provided much needed guidance and leadership to their communities. They were the interpreters of Jewish law, and the guardians of Jewish ethics. I admire them for their courage, their faith, their values, and the mark they left on history, despite the daunting challenges they faced, the deprivations they endured, and the forces of ignorance and intolerance that were often arrayed against them.

Our American forebears were courageous, hard-working people who immigrated to the United States from Russia in the early twentieth century seeking greater opportunity and freedom from oppression. They came to this country with little more than their faith, hopes and dreams, and through their determination, they built a better life for themselves and their families. Had they not had the courage to leave behind the world they knew, undoubtedly none of us would be here today.

The first American-born generation of the family is represented by the children of these brave immigrants. They were men of great courage and determination who grew up during the Great Depression and who fought so bravely and sacrificed so much for their country during World War II. We honor them as the Greatest Generation while we marvel at their achievements. Their efforts, love, devotion, and self-sacrifice gave rise to our family as we know it today.

We, their descendants, have thrived in America and have experienced extraordinary success in all walks of life. We can all be very proud of our illustrious ancestry and shared history as we honor and preserve the memory of these remarkable people on whose shoulders we have stood, and to whom we owe so much.


Excerpt from Chapter 2:

Persecutions, expulsions, and wars, and their attendant economic deprivations were the root causes of the major Jewish migrations over the centuries, from west to east, across the European continent. The Jews were forced to be mobile, and none were more so than the rabbis, who went wherever new communities required their services. Family and trade connections led to arranged marriages involving distant towns, so that many families spread over entire regions and provinces.

The flow to Eastern Europe was reversed in the ages of enlightenment and emancipation, during which many Jews returned to the western lands that their ancestors had left centuries before. These migrations, resulting in Jews constantly moving from place-to-place, are just one of many factors that make the study of Jewish genealogy so challenging and difficult.

However, even more daunting to the study of Jewish genealogy is the widespread destruction of civil authority and Jewish community records that have accompanied the many expulsions, pogroms, and wars that have plagued the Jewish people throughout their history, culminating in the Holocaust. Only a small fraction of these vital Jewish records and tombstone inscriptions have survived.

In addition to migration, and the dearth of civil and community records, another factor compounding the difficulty of researching Jewish lineage is the lack of family surnames. Aside from their use in rabbinical families, Jewish surnames were not generally required or adopted in Europe until the late eighteenth or early nineteenth centuries.

Against this background, there are a limited number of great rabbinical families whose lines of descent were studied and preserved over the centuries. These families include some who rose to prominence through the great distinction of one or two individuals, and others who produced a succession of illustrious rabbinical scholars or community leaders.

Through the practice of shidduch or arranging marriages between family members of equal yichus or distinguished birth, these families tended to intermarry to produce an intellectual elite that contributed to European culture, while holding the Jews together through millennia of hardship and persecution. They provided guidance and leadership, and within the framework of Jewish communal self-government, they were the interpreters of Jewish law, and the guardians of Jewish ethics.

Among several of these ancient and erudite families, their descent from biblical times, and the House of King David have respectable foundations. Many Jewish families have gone to great lengths to document their descent from King David, traditionally considered the finest lineage a person could have.

Hence, with regard to Jewish genealogy, and the attendant difficulties of tracing Jewish family history, the sword cuts both ways. The lack of Jewish surnames, combined with the widespread destruction of Jewish records and tombstones, can greatly hinder genealogical research, often rendering it virtually impossible. But for those fortunate individuals who can establish descent from one or more of the great rabbinical families, there exists a treasure trove of genealogical information.

I grew up with only a dim awareness of our ancestry, and only recently did I turn to a serious study of our family origins. Never did I dare to imagine that I would succeed in tracing our family’s ancestry through a millennium of history, to Europe’s most ancient, distinguished, and illustrious rabbinical families. However, it is precisely because we descend from these centuries-old rabbinical families that this success was possible.

We in the Polonsky and Paull family are the direct descendants of many of these illustrious rabbinical families, and the beneficiaries of the magnificent historical legacy that they left behind. Indeed, it would have been impossible to unravel even a small part of our heritage had not so many of our forebears been distinguished progeny of these esteemed rabbinical families and dynasties, whose names, ancestors, descendants, and places of residence were documented in the rabbinical literature.

From these sources, a picture emerges regarding who our ancestors were, and where and when they lived. We shall now explore this wondrous picture together.