The Jaffe family (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: יפה) is an

Ashkenazi Jewish Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that Ethnogenesis, emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium Common era, CE. They traditionally spe ...

Rabbinic family originally from Dampierre, France. The family descends from the 12th century Tosafist, Elhanan Jaffe of Dampierre (died 1184). Members of the family have produced numerous famous

Rabbi A rabbi (; ) is a spiritual leader or religious teacher in Judaism. One becomes a rabbi by being ordained by another rabbi—known as ''semikha''—following a course of study of Jewish history and texts such as the Talmud. The basic form of t ...

Court Jew In early modern Europe, particularly in Germany, a court Jew (, ) or court factor (, ) was a Jewish banker who handled the finances of, or lent money to, royalty and nobility. In return for their services, court Jews gained social privileges, inc ...

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

ic scholars, scientists, businessmen,

academic An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

s and politicians, with members in Germany,

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

, Austria, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Israel and the United States.

History

A descendant of the Kalonymos family, Elhanan Jaffe of Dampierre was the son of Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre and the paternal great-grandson of Simhah ben Samuel of Vitry. Through his maternal grandmother, Elhanan Jaffe of Dampierre was the great-grandson of Meir ben Samuel and thus the great-great-grandson of the biblical commentator

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki (; ; ; 13 July 1105) was a French rabbi who authored comprehensive commentaries on the Talmud and Hebrew Bible. He is commonly known by the List of rabbis known by acronyms, Rabbinic acronym Rashi (). Born in Troyes, Rashi stud ...

who has been claimed to be a 33rd-generation descendant of Johanan HaSandlar. Johanan HaSandlar claimed to be part of the

Davidic line The Davidic line refers to the descendants of David, who established the House of David ( ) in the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah. In Judaism, the lineage is based on texts from the Hebrew Bible ...

. In the mid-13th-century the Jaffe family emigrated to

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

, Germany where they occupied several prominent rabbinic positions. Following the rise of

antisemitism in Germany Antisemitism, the prejudice or discrimination against Jews, has had a long history since the Classical antiquity, ancient times. While antisemitism had already been prevalent in ancient Greece and Roman Empire, its institutionalization in Europ ...

, the majority of the family emigrated to parts of Eastern Europe. The modern progenitor of the family, Moses Jaffe of Bologna (d. 1480) was a Polish rabbi who was forced to live in Italy, where he served as the Av Beit Din of several communities. He and his wife Margolioth had a son, Abraham Jaffe of Bohemia (d. 1535), who established the Bohemian branch of the family. Abraham Jaffe's son Eliezer Jaffe of Hořovice (b. 1455), was a prominent Bohemian rabbi who fathered Joseph Jaffe of Prague (d. 1510) and Moses Jaffe of Kraków (d. 1520). Joseph Jaffe of Prague was the grandfather of the

posek In Jewish law, a ''posek'' ( , pl. ''poskim'', ) is a legal scholar who determines the application of ''halakha'', the Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah, in cases of Jewish law where previous authorities are incon ...

Mordecai Jaffe of Prague (1530–1612), and Moses Jaffe of Kraków was the grandfather of the

halakhist ''Halakha'' ( ; , ), also transliterated as ''halacha'', ''halakhah'', and ''halocho'' ( ), is the collective body of Jewish religious laws that are derived from the Written and Oral Torah. ''Halakha'' is based on biblical commandments ('' mit ...

Joel Sirkis-Jaffe of Kraków (1561–1640). The descendants of Joel Sirkis-Jaffe of Kraków served prominent and important rabbinic positions all over Poland and Ukraine. His son-in-law was David HaLevi Segal, and among Joel Sirkis-Jaffe's descendants is the prominent Ukrainian rabbi Betzalel HaLevi of Zhovkva (1710–1802), who was the maternal grandfather of the Hasidic master, Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (1765–1827). The descendants of Mordecai Jaffe of Prague spread out throughout Europe. His descendants who emigrated to Western Europe and the United States became successful businessmen, politicians, scientists and academics, such as Theodor Julius Jaffé (1823–1898), Philipp Jaffé (1819–1870), Sir Otto Jaffe (1846–1929), Daniel Joseph Jaffé (1876–1921), Abraham Z. Joffe (1909–2000), Avraham Yoffe (1913–1983), Joel Joffe, Baron Joffe (1932–2017) and Josef Joffe (b. 1944) and Israel Joffe (1979). His descendants who moved to Eastern Europe continued to occupy key rabbinic positions, such as Dov Yaffe (1928–2017), Mordecai-Gimpel Jaffe (1820–1891) and Mordechai Jaffe (ca. 1742 - 1810), who founded the Lechovitch Hasidic dynasty.{{Cite web, title=Jaffe Rabbinical Family Tree genealogy project, url=https://www.geni.com/projects/Jaffe-Rabbinical-Family-Tree/13252, access-date=16 July 2020, website=geni_family_tree, language=en-US

References

Davidic line Ashkenazi families Surnames of Jewish origin French families Czech families Tosafists