A new book by renowned genealogist Dr. Neil Rosenstein delves into the roots of what is considered the oldest-known living family, tracing their lineage back to King David and extending through historical luminaries like Rashi, Karl Marx, Sigmund Freud, and Isaiah Berlin.
Dr. Rosenstein, an American genealogist and surgeon, humorously compares his book, The Lurie Legacy, to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. While both works explore family trees stretching back 30 centuries to the biblical House of David, Rosenstein emphasizes that his book is grounded entirely in meticulous historical research, with all sources rigorously documented. Published by Avotaynu, a New Jersey-based publisher, The Lurie Legacy builds on Rosenstein’s earlier seminal work, The Unbroken Chain (1990), which detailed the genealogies of major Ashkenazi rabbinic dynasties.
In The Lurie Legacy, Rosenstein connects the Lurie family — whose descendants include Sigmund Freud and Martin Buber — to revered Jewish figures such as Rashi, Hillel, and Hezekiah, ultimately reaching King David in the 10th century BCE. He jokingly refers to the book as a "prequel" to The Unbroken Chain, likening it to the Star Wars saga.
The earlier work centered on the descendants of Rabbi Meir Katzenellenbogen of Padua, a 16th-century figure whose lineage influenced significant Chasidic dynasties, including Ger and Bobov. The new book expands this genealogical pyramid, tracing it further back to Rabbi Jehiel Lurie, a 13th-century rabbinical court leader in Brest-Litovsk, and ultimately to the House of David.
For more details, see the full article published by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on October 24, 2024: Link to Article.
