Welcome to the New Book of Us

I've learned to accept our ancient rabbinic yichus with a grain of salt. Many family chroniclers claim descent from Rashi and King David. Rashi had only 3 daughters and little is known about them so most serious genealogists dismiss those claims. 

Mom's uncle, a kohen, reported that there was a shdar yichusen (genealogical record) tracing the Menderzitski family back to the prophet Ezra Ha'Sofer. That document was lost in the Holocaust. 

My g-g-g-grandfather, Hillel Lichtenstein 1814-1891, in his seforim, claimed to be descended from the family of the ShLah (Shnei Luchot HaBrit), Isaiah Horowitz 1440-1515 on his father's side and from Levush, Mordechai Jaffe on his mother's side. I found one sefer connecting Lichtenstein to Horowitz, obviously with no proof. Additionally, one sefer shows the ancestry for the Horowitz family extending back to Shlomo Ha'levi in the early 1000's while others dispute that lineage.

Lastly, there are several seforim that trace the Grossman family back to the Bach, The Maharal and The Marharshal and another back to Rav Hai Gaon in what is now Iraq circa 950.  Again, there is no proof to these claims.

The earliest "documented" records that I have uncovered go back to the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Still, while I've excluded this section from "The Book", I've included ancestral reports for a number of prominent rabbanim for your perusal.