# Szyia Segal (b.1740) <!-- AUTO:BEGIN — generated from GEDCOM; do not edit, overwritten on rebuild --> > 🔵 **Bernstein — Ozzy's side** · Relationship to Ozzy: **6x great-grandfather** **Born** ~1740 **Died** bef 1836 **Parents** [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]] · [[Unknown (d.1752)]] **Spouse** [[Laja (b.1750)]] **Children** [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]] **Siblings** [[Unknown Segal (b.1732)]] · [[Reichel Segal (b.1745)]] · [[Rojza (4)]] **Documents — from MyHeritage:** [[I510611_doc0.pdf|📄 Aboth d'Rabi Natan prenumerentan]] *GEDCOM I510611 · Bernstein tree · synced 2026-07-01* <!-- AUTO:END --> ## Narrative Szyia — Yeshaya — Segal is known for certain by a single fact, recorded not in his own lifetime's papers but in his son's death: he was a Jewish man of [[Siemiatycze]], he married a woman named Laja, and he was the father of [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]]. That much rests on a primary record. When Icek died at [[Łęczna]] on 21 June 1831, aged fifty-six, the civil death act entered him as "Icek Balter… son of **Szyja and Laja, spouses, from the town of Siemiatycze**," leaving a widow and two sons, [[Szol Balter (b.1800)]] and [[Berek Balter (b.1807)]].[^icek] Beyond his name, his wife, his town, and this one son, nothing of Szyia's own life is directly documented; he lived, on the reckoning of Icek's age, in the middle of the eighteenth century, and had died before 1836.[^dates] What makes him a figure of weight in the tree is where that thread of Siemiatycze leads. Siemiatycze was not a random town: it was one of the seats of the **ha-Levi (Segal) rabbinic dynasty** of this line — [[Yehoshua Segal (d.1732)]] had been av beit din of Siemiatycze (with Ciechanowiec and Dobromil), and the family held the town.[^siemiatycze] A Jewish man named Szyia living in Siemiatycze in the mid-eighteenth century, whose grandsons were named **Shaul** and **Ber/Berisz**, fits with unusual precision as a son of [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]], the Council-of-Four-Lands trustee of Ciechanowiec: the grandsons' names would then commemorate the great-grandfather Issachar **Berisz** and the family's R. **Shaul** ha-Levi, and the geography would be exactly as expected of a son settling in the dynasty's other seat.[^onomastics] The link is strengthened, from the far end, by print: the printed genealogy in *Kos Yeshuot* reckons Szyia's grandson Berek Balter a descendant ("grandson") of "the gaon R' Yisachar Berish ha-Levi" — that is, of Issachar Berisz Segal — which requires exactly such an intervening generation, and Szyia is the man who fills it.[^kos] Yet the upward link must be held as a strong hypothesis, not a proven descent. The 1831 death act names Icek's father only as "Szyja" — no surname, no patronymic; the attribution of "**Segal**" (ha-Levi) and the parentage to Issachar Berisz rest on the convergence of town, era, and names, not on a document that says so.[^caution] An independent source — a Siemiatycze record giving Szyia the Segal/ha-Levi surname or naming *his* father, or a printed rabbinic genealogy listing a son of Issachar Berisz called Yeshaya — is still wanting, and would be needed to close the circle rather than to assume it. On the evidence as it stands, Szyia Segal is the proven father of [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]] and the probable, but not yet documented, bridge from the Balter family of Łęczna back into the Ciechanowiec ha-Levi rabbinate.[^caution] [^icek]: Death record of [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]], Łęczna 1831, akt No. 58 (read directly from the full-resolution scan; Polish). Registered 22 June 1831: "Icek Balter," resident of Łęczna, died 21 June 1831 aged 56, "syn Szyi z Laji… małżonków z Miasta… Siemiatycz" (son of Szyja and Laja, spouses, of the town of Siemiatycze), leaving a widow and two sons, Szol and Berek; reported by Manes Zylber (40) and Michel Weinberger (34). The sole primary record fixing Szyia's existence, wife, town, and this son. [scan](https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/eefe6dbe79adc5cdef25bedab8fef76ff31055b1ee006caa8349b066140d426c) [^dates]: Born ~1740 (inferred: father of Icek b. ~1771–75); died before 1836 (frontmatter; not independently documented — possibly inferred from an 1833 subscriber-list entry, see Open questions). Wife [[Laja (b.1750)]]. [^siemiatycze]: [[Siemiatycze]] as a seat of the ha-Levi/Segal dynasty: his putative father's father [[Yehoshua Segal (d.1732)]] was av beit din of Siemiatycze (with Ciechanowiec and Dobromil); [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]] held the Ciechanowiec rabbinate. See those profiles (Ciechanowiec community history + rabbinic genealogies). [^onomastics]: Onomastic support (suggestive, not decisive): Icek's sons [[Szol Balter (b.1800)]] (Shaul) and [[Berek Balter (b.1807)]] (Ber/Berisz) plausibly commemorate the family's R. Shaul ha-Levi and the great-grandfather Issachar **Berisz**. Common names, weak individually, corroborative in aggregate with the Siemiatycze geography and era. [^kos]: *Kos Yeshuot* (*Toldot ha-Mechaber*, R. Zvi Hirsch Halberstadt; [HebrewBooks 22594, p.221](https://www.hebrewbooks.org/pdfpager.aspx?req=22594&st=&pgnum=221)) names [[Berek Balter (b.1807)]] — "Dov Ber ha-Levi Balter" of Łęczna — as a descendant of "the gaon R' Yisachar Berish ha-Levi" (= [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]]). That descent requires an intervening generation between Berek's father [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]] and Issachar Berisz — the role Szyia fills. See [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]] and [[Berek Balter (b.1807)]]. [^caution]: Proof status: the **downward** link Szyia → [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]] is *proven* (1831 death act). The **upward** link Szyia → [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]], and the Segal/ha-Levi surname itself, are *inferred* from town + era + onomastics + the Kos Yeshuot descent claim — no source yet gives Szyia a surname or names his father. Treat as POSSIBLE→PROBABLE, not proven; see Research and Open questions. ## Research *(your reasoning — preserved across every rebuild)* - **Icek Balter's 1831 Łęczna death act (akt 58) re-read directly 2026-07-06** — confirms "Icek Balter… syn Szyi z Laji… z Miasta Siemiatycz," aged 56, leaving sons Szol and Berek. Image now in Evidence. **Research question:** Is Szyia (Yeshaya) Segal of Siemiatycze, father of [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]], the same person as a *son* of [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]], ABD Ciechanowiec? (assessed 2026-06-25) **Current proof level: POSSIBLE — leaning PROBABLE.** The downward link Szyia → Icek is *proven* by a primary record. The upward link Szyia → Issachar Berisz is *inferred* (surname + town + era + onomastics) and has **no direct source yet**. **What is solid:** 1. **Szyia existed, lived in Siemiatycze, m. Laja, was father of Icek** — direct primary evidence: Icek's 1831 Łęczna death act (akta 58) states Icek was "son of **Laja and Szyja, spouses from the city of Siemiatycze**." See [[Icek Balter (b.1771)]] → [death record](https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/eefe6dbe79adc5cdef25bedab8fef76ff31055b1ee006caa8349b066140d426c). 2. **Siemiatycze is the ha-Levi/Segal family's own seat**, not a random town: Szyia's putative grandfather [[Yehoshua Segal (d.1732)]] was ABD of *Siemiatycze* (and Ciechanowiec/Dobromil); the dynasty held both towns. A son of Issachar Berisz residing in Siemiatycze is exactly what we would expect — geography *supports* the link rather than contradicting it. 3. **Chronology fits:** Issachar Berisz b. aft 1690; Szyia b. ~1740 (father ~50 — plausible); Icek b. ~1771–75 (Szyia ~31–35). **Indirect / onomastic support (suggestive, not decisive):** - Icek's sons are [[Szol Balter (b.1800)]] (= **Shaul**) and [[Berek Balter (b.1807)]] (= **Ber / Berisz**). "Berek" plausibly commemorates great-grandfather **Issachar BERISZ**; "Shaul" echoes the family's R' Shaul ha-Levi (cf. *Binyan Shaul*) / Issachar Berisz's brother [[Shaul (d.1776)]]. Caveat: Ber/Berisz and Shaul are very common names — weak on their own, corroborative in aggregate. **⚠ Circularity risk to resolve:** The 1831 death act names the father only as "**Szyja**" — *no surname, no patronymic.* The attribution "**Segal**" (Levite) and the parentage to Issachar Berisz appear to rest on the family-tree hypothesis itself. We need an **independent** source that (a) gives Szyia the Segal/ha-Levi surname in Siemiatycze, and/or (b) names his father, to avoid proving the link by assuming it. ## Evidence - **Primary:** Icek Balter death record, Łęczna 1831, akta 58 — names parents Szyja & Laja, of Siemiatycze. [scan](https://www.szukajwarchiwach.gov.pl/skan/-/skan/eefe6dbe79adc5cdef25bedab8fef76ff31055b1ee006caa8349b066140d426c) ![[IcekBalter_1831_death_Leczna_akt58.jpg]] *Łęczna death akt 58 (reg. 22 June 1831): "Icek Balter… lat pięćdziesiąt sześć… syn Szyi z Laji… małżonków z Miasta… Siemiatycz" — Szyia named as Icek's father, of Siemiatycze; sons Szol and Berek left behind.* - **Existence/surname (to verify):** *Avot d'Rabbi Natan* (*Shenei Eliyahu*, Vilna 1833) *prenumeranten* list entry for a "Szyia Segal" — [[I510611_doc0.pdf]]. ⚠ If 1833, our Szyia (b.~1740) would be ~93; may be a younger namesake. Need to read the **Siemiatycze** section of the list to confirm town + surname. - **Father (proven independently):** see [[Issakhar Berisz Segal (b.1690)]] — haskamot, Emden's *Sfat Emet*, *Da'at liNevonim*, Ciechanowiec community history. None of these name a son Yeshaya/Szyia (his documented child is a *daughter*, m. R' Feivish Teomim). ## Open questions 1. **Decisive:** Does any printed rabbinic genealogy name a son of Issachar Berisz called Yeshaya/Szyia? — check **Wunder, *Me'orei Galicia*** (ha-Levi of Ciechanowiec/Siemiatycze entry) and ***Binyan Shaul*** (2005, family book by a ha-Levi descendant; cited on [[Yehoshua Segal (d.1732)]]). 2. Read the 1833 subscriber list ([[I510611_doc0.pdf]]) **by town** — is "Szyia Segal" under Siemiatycze? Resolve the 1833-vs-b.1740 chronology (namesake?). 3. Siemiatycze Jewish vital/community records (births ~1771 for Icek; any Szyia Segal entries) — would independently anchor the Segal surname and possibly a patronymic. 4. Matzevah for Szyia in Siemiatycze (Levite ewer + patronymic)? 5. Reconcile "died bef 1836" — is it independent, or merely inferred from the 1833 subscription?