Rabbi Israel ben Joseph Isserles (ca. 1495 – 1568), also known as Israel Isserlein, was a wealthy banker and eminent Talmudic scholar. He settled in Kraków in 1519, following the expulsion of the Jews from the German city of Regensburg and he became the Parnass (Head) of the Jewish community in Krakow.
His father was Yosef ben Chaim Isserles and his mother was Gittel Auerbach (ca. 1466 – 1552) the daughter of Moshe Auerbach of Regensburg.
Israel ben Joseph married Dinah Malka Schrentzel (ca. 1492 – 1552). They had several children. Shortly after she died, he built a synagogue in honor of her in the Kazimierz area of Krakow in 1553.
Dinah was the daughter of Eliezer Lipmann Schrentzel and his wife Dreizel Miriam Zeisel Luria. Dreizel was the daughter of Yechiel Yehuda ben Aharon Luria, ABD Brisk, and the granddaughter of Rabbi Aharon ben Nethanel Luria, [the 1st Luria] ABD Heilbronn. This connection brings in a descent from Joseph Treves the Great.
TWO DESCENT LINES via TWO DAUGHTERS — MIRIAM and KENDEL
Rabbbi Israel Henshel Isserles of Krezmir == Breina Lazaras (Goldman) >> Mushkat Isserles == Moses Auerbach of Regensburg >> Gittel Auerbach == Yosef ben Chaim Isserles of Krakow(ca. 1466 – 1552)
Yosef ben Chaim Isserles of Krakow == Gittel Auerbach (ca. 1466 – 1552) >> Rabbi Israel ben Joseph Yosef ben Chaim Isserles / Israel Isserlein (ca. 1490 – 1568) == Dinah Malka Schrentzel (ca. 1492 – 1552) >> Miriam Beila Isserles (ca. 1535 – 1617) == Pinchas Halevi Horowitz Parnas of the Four Lands >> Hinde Horowitz (ca.1570 – ca.1617) = = Meir Moshe Wahl Katzenellenbogen (ca. 1565 – ca. 1630) >> Baila / Beila Katzenellenbogen == Jonah / Yonah I Frankel-Teomim (1596 – 1669) >> Ezekiel Joshua Feivel Teomim (ca. 1637 – ca. 1726) == Pearl Leib (1640 – 1710) >> Chaim Jonah Frankel-Teomim == Sarah Oppenheim >> Magdalene Genendel Frankel-Teomim (1713 – 1778) == Simon Isaac Bondi (1711 – 1773) >> Jonas Bondi (1732 – 1765) == Bella / Belle Schifra >> Clara / Caroline Bondi (1760-1829) == Koppel Loeb of Bamberg >> Moises Loeb / Moritz Reis (1782 – 1855) == Émilie Bickartt (1784 ) >> Jonas Reis (1809 – 1877) == Marian Samuel (1825 – 1900) >> REIS FAMILY
Yosef ben Chaim Isserles of Krakow == Gittel Auerbach (ca. 1466 – 1552) ) >> Rabbi Israel ben Joseph Yosef ben Chaim Isserles / Israel Isserlein (ca. 1490 – 1568) == Dinah Malka Schrentzel (ca. 1492 – 1552) >> Kendel Isserles == David Luria Drucker Rapaport >> Deborah Rivkah Luria Drucker (1545 – 1617) == Shaul Wahl Katzenellenbogen (ca. 1541 – 1616) >> Meir Moshe Wahl Katzenellenbogen (ca. 1565 – ca. 1630) == Hinda Halevi Horowitz (ca.1570 – ca.1617) >> CONTINUED ABOVE
Israel and Dinah (Schrentzel) Isserles also had a son who was the more renowned Moses ben Israel Isserles (Hebrew: משה בן ישראל איסרלישׂ) (22 February 1530 – 11 May 1572). He was also known by the acronym Rema, who became an eminent rabbi, Talmudist, and posek (expert in Jewish law). Some considered him the “Maimonides of Polish Jewry”.
Israel ben Joseph and Dinah (Schrentzel) Isserles had two daughters: Miriam Beila Isserles (ca. 1535 – 1617) who married Rabbi Pinchas HaLevi Horowitz (1535 – 1618 ) and Kendel who married David Luria Drucker Rapaport (Family Tree 5).
The daughter of Miriam’s – Hinda Halevi Horowitz (ca.1570 – ca.1617) – married the grandson of Kendel’s – Meir Moshe Wahl Katzenellenbogen (ca. 1565 – ca. 1630). From these various unions Moritz Reis is descended.
It should be noted that Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer, also known as the Baal Shem Tov—abbreviated as the Besht, the founder of the Hassidic tradition, also claims descent from Israel ben Joseph Isserles.
More on the Synagogue built by Israel Joseph Isserles in honor of his wife Dinah (adapted from Wikipedia):
The Remah Synagogue (Polish: Synagoga Remu) is a 16th-century Jewish synagogue named after Rabbi Moses Isserles (c.1525–1572). According to one popular tradition Israel ben Josef Isserles, founded the synagogue in honor of his son Moshe Isserles, however a more plausible motive for the synagogue’s origin stems from the Hebrew inscription on the foundation tablet that reads:
Husband, Reb Israel, son of Josef of blessed memory, bound in strength, to the glory of the Eternal One, and of his wife Malka, daughter of Eleazar, may her soul be bound up in the portion of life, built this synagogue, the house of the Lord, from her bequest. Lord restore the treasure of Israel.
This implies that the synagogue was built in memory of Dinah Malka Schrentzel, the wife of Israel ben Josef and not her son Moses Isserles.
The year 1552 was a very difficult time for the family of Israel Isserles: his mother (Gittel nee Auerbach), wife (Malka nee Schrentzel), and daughter-in-law (Krendel Altschuler), the first wife of Rabbi Moshe Isserles, and probably other family members died in the plague epidemic that hit Kraków that year.
The Remah Synagogue was built in Kazimierz, then a suburban village outside Kraków, located on the right bank of the Vistula River, immediately to the south of the Royal Castle on the Wawel Hill. Originally called the “New Synagogue” to distinguish it from the Old Synagogue, (Stara Bożnica), the Remah Synagogue was built in 1552 at the edge of a newly established Jewish cemetery (today known as the “Old Cemetery”) on land owned by Israel ben Josef Isserles. This date is stated clearly on the foundation tablet. Nevertheless, the royal permission by King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland was only obtained in November 1556, after long opposition from the Church. As it is hard to believe that the construction actually began without royal permission, the inscription should therefore be understood as possibly referring to the date when the decision to build a second synagogue in Kazimierz was taken by its founder.
The first building of the synagogue, probably a wooden structure, was destroyed in a fire in April 1557, but following a new permission granted by King Sigismund II Augustus, a second building of masonry was erected in its place in 1557 after the plans of Stanisław Baranek, a Kraków architect. The original late Renaissance style edifice underwent several changes during the 17th and the 18th centuries. The current building traces its design to the restoration work of 1829, and some technical improvements were introduced during the restoration of 1933.
During the Holocaust, the synagogue was sequestered by the German Trust Office (Treuhandstelle) and served as a storehouse for firefighting equipment, having been despoiled of its valuable ceremonial objects and historic furnishings. However, the building itself was not destroyed. In 1957, thanks to the efforts of the local Jewish community and of Akiva Kahane, the Joint Distribution Committee representative in Poland, the Remah Synagogue underwent a major restoration that reestablished much of the pre-war appearance to the interior.
Gittel (Auerbach), Авербах (אוּרבּך), Isserles ca. 1476 – 1552. Daughter of Rabbi Moses Auerbach, of Regensburg & Krakow and Mushkat Auerbach. Gittel was the wife of Yosef ben Chaim Isserles and mother of Rabbi Israel Joseph Yosef ben Chaim Isserles (below). All of whom were the direct ancestors of Moritz Reis.
Rabbi Israel Joseph Isserles of Krakow. Hebrew: ר’ ישראל יוסף .איסרלש, אבי הרמ״א Also known as: “איסרל לאזריש” and as Israel Isserlein. Birthdate: circa 1490 at Kraków, Poland. Death: February 18, 1568, at Kraków. Place of Burial: Cemetery of the Rema Synagogue, Krakow. Son of Yosef ben Chaim Isserles and Gittel (Auerbach) Isserles (above). He was the husband of Dinah Malka Schrentzel, and father of the below Miriam Beila / Belle [below]. All of whom were the direct ancestors of Moritz Reis.
Miriam Beila Isserles was born circa 1535, at Krakow and died on September 08, 1617 also at Kraków. She was the daughter of Rabbi Israel Joseph Isserles, of Krakow [above] and Dinah Malka Schrentzel. Miriam Beila was the wife of Pinchas Halevi Horowitz, Parnas of the Four Land, and the mother of Hinda Halevi Horowitz ca.1570 – ca.1617 who married Meir Moshe Wahl Katzenellenbogen, 1565 – ca. 1630. She was a direct ancestor of Moritz Reis.
EARLIER ISSERLESS FAMILY MEMEBERS
Rabbi Yehuda == N. N. >> Rabbi Elyakim Yehuda ben Yehuda == Daughter of Eliezer ben Nassan ben Nassan Reban >> Rabbeinu Yechiel ben Uri, HaChassid (ca. 1210 – 1263) of Cologne == N. N. >> Rabbeinu Asher ben Yechiel (1250 – 1327) [born in Cologne died at Toledo] == N. N. >>Rabbeinu Yaakov Asher ben Asher, Baal HaTurim (1269 – 1343) [born in Cologne died at Chios, Greece, buried in Toledo] == N. N. >> Rabbi Shlomo son Rabbeinu Yaakov ben Asher ben HaTur, Baal HaTurim (ca. 1313 – ca. 1349) == N. N. >>Rabbi Yisroel of Krems (author of “Hagahoth Asheri” / “Haguhot Ushri”) (ca. 1328 – ca. 1353) == == N. N. >> Rabbi Chayim Hantchel Henschel of Hainburg, or Henborg/Heimberg (ca. 1350 – ca. 1443) == Daughter of Rabbi Oyzer of Schlesien >> Rabbi Pethachiah Ashkenazi (ca. 1370 – ca. 1410) == N.N. >> Rabbbi Israel Henschel Isserles of Krezmir == Breina Lazaras (Goldman) >>AS ABOVE
