# Israel Isserles (b.1698) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **10x great-grandfather · also 12x great-grandfather *(2 ancestral lines)*** **Born** 08/25/1698 — [[Okop]] **Died** 05/22/1760 — [[Medzhybizh]] **Parents** [[Eliezer Isserles (b.1660)]] · [[Sarah (d.1704)]] **Spouses** [[Leah Rachel Chana Brody (b.1707)]] · [[Leah Brody]] **Children** [[Edel (b.1720)]] · [[Tzvi Hirsch Isserles (b.1729)]] ### How you're related — 2 distinct paths *These are genuinely separate bloodlines (the family intermarried), not the same line counted twice.* - **10x great-grandfather** — [[Israel Isserles (b.1698)]] → [[Edel (b.1720)]] → [[Feiga Ashkenazi (b.1755)]] → [[Nachman Horodenker (b.1772)]] → [[Udel Horodenker (b.1787)]] → [[Rukhlya Chmelnicky Auerbach (b.1818)]] → [[Yosef Iserov (b.1841)]] → [[Shimshon Aryeh Iserov (b.1864)]] → [[Yehuda Leib Isseroff (b.1898)]] → [[Hadassah Isseroff (b.1928)]] → [[Chaya Goldfischer (b.1950)]] → [[Avi Bernstein (b.1977)]] → [[Azriel Yosef Bernstein (b.2000)]] - **12x great-grandfather** — [[Israel Isserles (b.1698)]] → [[Edel (b.1720)]] → [[Feiga Ashkenazi (b.1755)]] → [[Yechiel Tzvi Horodenker of Krementchik and Tcherin (b.1771)]] → [[Baila (b.1787)]] → [[Rivka Miriam (b.1790)]] → [[Rochel Rosenberg (b.1825)]] → [[Maryim Rivka Perlman (b.1845)]] → [[Sura Yuta Reiter (b.1855)]] → [[Shalom Goldfischer (b.1878)]] → [[Miriam Goldfischer (b.1902)]] → [[William Bill Goldfischer (b.1923)]] → [[Chaya Goldfischer (b.1950)]] → [[Avi Bernstein (b.1977)]] → [[Azriel Yosef Bernstein (b.2000)]] *GEDCOM I500699 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative The figure the vault files under the name "Israel Isserles" is, by every detail on the profile, **Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer — the Baal Shem Tov** (the "Besht"), the founder of Hasidic Judaism.[^ident] He was born about **1698 in [[Okop|Okopy]]** — the frontier fortress-town at the meeting of the Zbruch and Dniester rivers near Kamianets, in Podolia — the son of **[[Eliezer Isserles (b.1660)]]** and **[[Sarah (d.1704)]]**, and orphaned of both while still a young child.[^ident][^history] His early life, as the tradition tells it, was one of hidden greatness: he served as a *behelfer* (a teacher's assistant who walked children to *cheder*), lived for a time in seclusion in the Carpathian mountains, and worked humble trades. He married **Chana** — [[Leah Rachel Chana Brody (b.1707)]], sister of the noted Talmudist Rabbi Gershon of Kitov, who at first scorned the match. Around the age of thirty-six the Besht "revealed himself" as a healer and master of the Divine Name, and by about 1740 he had settled in **[[Medzhybizh]]**, where he gathered the circle of disciples from whom the whole Hasidic movement would grow.[^history] His teaching turned Jewish piety toward **joy, sincerity and the presence of God in all things** — that the Divine can be served through fervent prayer, through *devekut* (cleaving to God), and by the simple, wholehearted Jew no less than the scholar. He left almost no writing of his own; his words were carried by his disciples — recorded in works such as Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonne's *Toldot Yaakov Yosef* and in the hagiographic tales of *Shivchei HaBesht*.[^history] He died on the eve of Shavuot — **6 Sivan 5520, 22 May 1760** — in Medzhybizh, where his grave remains a place of pilgrimage; from his students, above all the Maggid of Mezeritch, Hasidism spread across Eastern Europe.[^history] His known children were **[[Edel (b.1720)]]** (Adil) and [[Tzvi Hirsch Isserles (b.1729)]], and it is through his daughter Edel — mother of Feiga, grandmother of [[Nachman Horodenker (b.1772)|Rebbe Nachman of Breslov]] — that this family's tree traces its descent from the Baal Shem Tov.[^descent] That descent is the family's claim, running through the same Breslov line already flagged on Rebbe Nachman's profile; the intervening generations have not been verified against primary records here, and a claimed descent from the Besht is among the most common — and most difficult to prove — in all of Jewish genealogy (see Open questions).[^descent] [^ident]: Identification: the profile's data — born **Okopy, 1698** ("a newly built fortress close to Kamieniec … where Zbruch connects with Dniester"); died **Medzhybizh, 6 Sivan 5520 / 22 May 1760**; parents **Eliezer and Sarah**; wife **Chana**, sister of R. Gershon of Kitov; children **Edel (Adil)** and **Tzvi Hirsch** — corresponds exactly to the historical **Baal Shem Tov, Rabbi Israel ben Eliezer**. The surname "**Isserles**" is almost certainly a family-tree artifact: the Besht bore no fixed surname, and there is no established link to the Isserles/Rema family (see Open questions). [^history]: Established historical record of the Baal Shem Tov (c. 1698–1760), founder of Hasidism, as preserved in the received Hasidic tradition and its literature — the teachings recorded by disciples (Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polonne's *Toldot Yaakov Yosef*; *Keter Shem Tov*) and the hagiographic *Shivchei HaBesht*: his birth at Okopy, orphaning, hidden years and life as a *behelfer*, marriage to Chana (sister of R. Gershon of Kitov), self-revelation c. 1734, settlement at Medzhybizh c. 1740, his teachings of joy and *devekut*, his death on the eve of Shavuot 1760, and the spread of Hasidism through his disciples. (Encyclopedic facts about a famous figure, not derived from a document held on this profile.) [^descent]: The family tree traces Ozzy's descent from the Baal Shem Tov through his daughter **[[Edel (b.1720)]]** → [[Feiga Ashkenazi (b.1755)]] → [[Nachman Horodenker (b.1772)|Rebbe Nachman of Breslov]] → [[Udel Horodenker (b.1787)]] → the Iserov/Isseroff/Goldfischer line. Presented as the family's asserted descent; not primary-verified here, and flagged for scrutiny (the same Breslov chain noted on [[Nachman Horodenker (b.1772)]]). ## Research - **Identity: the Baal Shem Tov (Israel ben Eliezer, c. 1698–1760).** The profile's vitals (born Okopy 1698; died Medzhybizh 6 Sivan 5520 / 22 May 1760; parents Eliezer & Sarah; wife Chana, sister of R. Gershon of Kitov; children Edel & Tzvi Hirsch) match the historical founder of Hasidism exactly. - **Surname "Isserles" is likely erroneous.** The Besht had no fixed surname; the "Isserles" attribution (and any implied link to the Rema / Moshe Isserles) is unverified and probably a tree artifact. - **Established biography** (per Hasidic tradition — Toldot Yaakov Yosef, Shivchei HaBesht): orphaned young; *behelfer*, then hidden years in the Carpathians; married Chana; revealed c. 1734; Medzhybizh from c. 1740; taught joy, *devekut*, God's immanence; left no writings of his own; d. eve of Shavuot 1760; founder of Hasidism. - **Descent claim (needs verification):** Ozzy's line via daughter [[Edel (b.1720)]] → [[Feiga Ashkenazi (b.1755)]] → Rebbe Nachman of Breslov → the Isseroff/Goldfischer line. Asserted by the tree; not primary-verified. ## Evidence - *No primary document / likeness.* No contemporary record or portrait of the Baal Shem Tov exists on this profile (or in general). His life is documented in the received Hasidic literature (Toldot Yaakov Yosef, Shivchei HaBesht, etc.), not in a family record. ## Open questions - **The whole descent from the Baal Shem Tov — verify.** This is the apex of the two claimed rabbinic-descent chains (Besht → Edel → Feiga → Rebbe Nachman → Udel → Iserov …). Every generation should be tested against primary/scholarly sources; descents from the Besht are ubiquitous in family trees and very often unproven. - **The "Isserles" surname and father "Eliezer Isserles."** Almost certainly a tree construction — the Besht's father was Eliezer, but "Isserles" as a surname (and the profile's [[Eliezer Isserles (b.1660)]]) needs scholarly grounding; do not conflate with the Rema (R. Moshe Isserles of Kraków). - **Daughter Edel's line.** [[Edel (b.1720)]] (Adil) is well-attested as the Besht's daughter and ancestress of major Hasidic dynasties; the specific link down to [[Feiga Ashkenazi (b.1755)]] and onward is the part that carries the family's claim and most needs sourcing.