MY JEWISH ANCESTRY
- Marcy Bachelor
- Dec 25, 2022
- 3 min read
Image Screenshot: AncestryDNA
MY JEWISH ANCESTORS
The Last Ashkenazi Jew
About 6 to 8 generations ago, around 1690-1780 somewhere in Eastern Europe, was born my last full blooded Ashkenazi Jewish ancestor. If it were not for DNA, I would never have known what mysteries lie within me of untold histories buried for centuries.
I have learned since testing that my Jewish ancestry is both Ashkenazi and Sephardic.
I hope to one day learn the names of my ancestors and each of their stories. Until then...I with my children and other family members, embrace our Jewish heritage in honor of those lost to us by remembering and celebrating their traditions.
HAPPY HANUKKAH!
Hanukkah 2010, Perryville Maryland; Inspired Visions Photography
Hanukkah, is the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, recalling the re-dedication of the temple in Jerusalem after it was defiled by the Greeks in 154 BC and the Maccabees successfully revolted. This is a biblical story celebrating the miracle of triumph against overwhelming odds. A time in history when the Jewish people defeated their enemy avoiding complete annihilation. One part of the miracle story is of how one night’s worth of oil miraculously lasted for eight!
In 18th Century Eastern Europe
CANDLES
Historians have traced the tradition of using candles for Hanukkah back to 300 years ago in Eastern Europe. My ancestors would be observing Hanukkah by lighting the menorah for the first time with candles. Before this, they would have lit oil lamps using olive oil as in the story of the first Hanukkah.
GELT
Without even knowing, my ancestors were also taking part in a new tradition that would evolve overtime and continue on to our present day, the giving of chocolate coins- gelt. In their days, rabbis would travel village to village, go house to house to teach. The children would then offer a coin -gelt, as a token for their service. I wonder if I have a Rabbi in my lineage, There most likely were Yeshiva students in my family tree.
DREIDEL
The origins of this spinning top game, dreidel, are unknown, but it is believed to have come from a 16th century game played in Ireland that eventually found its way to Germany. The four letters on the four sides of the top stand for the words in the Hebrew sentence “a great miracle happened there” (or, in Israel, “happened here”).
By the early 18th Century, my ancestors would have played the game now as for what rewards were given I cannot say. But this is a game that my family today enjoy playing! Instead of using gelt a new tradition has begun using candy bars.
The dreidel is a Jewish variant on the teetotum, a gambling toy found in Eastern European cultures. Rabbi David Golinkin, President Emeritus of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies, once wrote. “Our Eastern European game of dreidel (including the letters nun, gimmel, hey, shin) is directly based on the German equivalent of the totum game: N = Nichts = nothing; G = Ganz = all; H = Halb = half; and S = Stell ein = put in.”
According to tradition, the game was developed by Jews who studied the Torah in seclusion as they hid from the Seleucids under Antiochus IV. At the first sign of Seleucids, they would conceal Torah scrolls and bring out the dreidels.
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