Shu”t Knesset Yechezkel by Rabbi Yechezkel Katzenellenbogen, Altona 1732.

When I was ten years old, my late cousin, Issy Blankfield, told me that I was descended from the “Hamburg Rov”.  The “Hamburg” Rov, my great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather, was Rabbi Yechezkel (Ezekiel) ben Avraham Katzenellenbogen. I have other copies of this book, but this one, which I recently acquired, is a first edition, printed in the author’s lifetime in 1732.

The book consists of Questions and Answers – Responsa (Shu”t or Shailos and Tshuvos) on all four parts of the Shulhan Arukh.

Rabbi Ezekiel Katzenellenbogen was born in the city of Brisk (Brest-Litovsk), in about 1667 and  was a member of one of the leading families of East European Jewry and a noted rabbinical scholar. At first Rabbi of Kedainiai in Lithuania, he was appointed to the prestigious position of Rabbi of the three communities Hamburg, Altona, and Wandsbeck in 1714. He served for 35 years until his death in 1749.

Our family has been thoroughly documented by Dr. Neil Rosenstein, in his very important book “The Unbroken Chain”.

Rabbi Ezekiel – the Hamburg Rov – was the son of Rabbi Abraham Katzenellenpogen, a Dayan (rabbinical judge) in Brest-Litovsk, who was the son of Rabbi Jacob Katzenellenbogen, head of the Rabbinical Court of Lvov, who died there in 1660.  he was the son of Rabbi Abraham Ashkenazi-Katzenellenpogen, who was born about 1549 and died in Lvov in 1637.  He in turn was the son of Rabbi Joel Ashkenazi-Katzenellenpogen, who was the son of Rabbi Moses of Neustadt.  Rabbi Joel was married to the daughter of Rabbi Samuel Judah who was born in Padua in 1521.  His father was the famous Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen, known as “Maharam Padua”, who was born in the town of Katzenelnbogen in 1482.  In his early 20s, Rabbi Meir moved to Padua, an Italian city, where there was a famous academy of Jewish learning, to further his studies.

Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen’s father was Rabbi Isaac of Katzenellenbogen and his mother was the daughter of Rabbi Yechiel Luria, the head of the Rabbinical court of Brisk, who died there in 1470.  Rabbi Yechiel Luria was the son of Aaron Luria and his wife, the daughter of Solomon Spira.  Solomon Spira was married to the daughter of Rabbi Mattithiah Treves, who had been appointed Chief Rabbi of Paris by Charles V.  He was born circa 1325 and died in Paris, circa 1387.  His father was Rabbi Joseph Treves, head of the Rabbinical court of Paris.

This copy was number 1,741 in catalogue 79 issued by the Oxford book dealer, A. Rosenthal, and was purchased by Neil Rosenstein in 1970. Documentation of this is at the end, below.