The Rappaport family (
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...
: רפפורט;
Yiddish: ראפאפארט) is a prominent
Kohanic rabbinic family, who are generally considered to possess the oldest and best recorded Kohanic pedigree. The modern origins of the family can be traced back to R. Meshulam Jekuthiel HaKohen Rappa (d. 1450) who settled in
Porto
Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropo ...
,
Mantua
Mantua ( ; it, Mantova ; Lombard language, Lombard and la, Mantua) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy, and capital of the Province of Mantua, province of the same name.
In 2016, Mantua was designated as the Italian Capital of Culture ...
,
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
after the Jews were expelled from his hometown of
Mainz
Mainz () is the capital and largest city of Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.
Mainz is on the left bank of the Rhine, opposite to the place that the Main joins the Rhine. Downstream of the confluence, the Rhine flows to the north-west, with Ma ...
,
Holy Roman Empire
The Holy Roman Empire was a political entity in Western, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its dissolution in 1806 during the Napoleonic Wars.
From the accession of Otto I in 962 ...
. From the 17th century and onward, the Rappaport family occupied some of the most prestigious rabbinic positions in Europe, specifically in
Eastern Europe
Eastern Europe is a subregion of the European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russia, wh ...
. The
Rapoport-Bick rabbinic dynasty is a branch of the Rappaport family.
History
By the middle of the 17th century authors belonging to the Rappaport family were living in
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, , is a country in Central Europe. Poland is divided into Voivodeships of Poland, sixteen voivodeships and is the fifth most populous member state of the European Union (EU), with over 38 mill ...
and
Lithuania, and were particularly concentrated in
Krakow and
Lviv
Lviv ( uk, Львів) is the largest city in western Ukraine, and the seventh-largest in Ukraine, with a population of . It serves as the administrative centre of Lviv Oblast and Lviv Raion, and is one of the main cultural centres of Ukra ...
; in the latter place, in 1584, was born the famous
Talmud
The Talmud (; he, , Talmūḏ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law ('' halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...
ist
R. Abraham Rappaport and
R. Simhah Rappaport in 1650, the latter's son, R. Khaim Rappaport was the progenitor of the
Rapoport-Bick dynasty and an ancestor of the
Soloveichik dynasty. By the late 17th-century members of the Rappaport family lived in
Dubno
Dubno ( uk, Ду́бно) is a city and municipality located on the Ikva River in Rivne Oblast (province) of western Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Dubno Raion (district). The city is located on intersection of two major E ...
and
Krzemeniec, where they occupied the town's rabbinate. By the 18th-century members of the family began to immigrate out of Eastern Europe such as
R. Isaac Rappaport who lived in
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
and later
Jerusalem
Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...
and
R. Solomon Judah Loeb Rapoport lived in
Moravia
Moravia ( , also , ; cs, Morava ; german: link=yes, Mähren ; pl, Morawy ; szl, Morawa; la, Moravia) is a historical region in the east of the Czech Republic and one of three historical Czech lands, with Bohemia and Czech Silesia.
Th ...
. R. Solomon's grandson Arnold Rapoport
cs">:cs:Arnold_Rapoport_von_Porada">cswas a leader of the
assimilationists
Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or assume the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group whether fully or partially.
The different types of cultural assi ...
in
Galicia
Galicia may refer to:
Geographic regions
* Galicia (Spain), a region and autonomous community of northwestern Spain
** Gallaecia, a Roman province
** The post-Roman Kingdom of the Suebi, also called the Kingdom of Gallaecia
** The medieval King ...
and was a deputy of the
Austrian Reichsrat from 1879 to 1907 representing the
Polish party
The Polish Party (german: Polnische Partei) was a political party in the German Empire and the Free City of Danzig. Representing the Polish population in Germany, it was the largest of the minority parties.
History
The party had its origins i ...
. In 1890 he was ennobled, receiving the title "von Porada". About 1750 there were two members of the Rappaport family living in
Dyhernfurth
Brzeg Dolny (german: Dyhernfurth) is a town in Wołów County, Lower Silesian Voivodeship in south-western Poland. It is located north-west of Wrocław on the Oder River, and is the site of a large chemical plant complex, PCC Rokita SA. As o ...
(
Silesia
Silesia (, also , ) is a historical region of Central Europe that lies mostly within Poland, with small parts in the Czech Republic and Germany. Its area is approximately , and the population is estimated at around 8,000,000. Silesia is spli ...
): one named R. Israel Moses and the other R. Meïr; the former came from
Pińczów
Pińczów is a town in southern Poland, in Świętokrzyskie Voivodeship, about 40 km south of Kielce. It is the capital of Pińczów County. Population is 12,304 (2005). Pińczów belongs to the historic Polish province of Lesser Poland, a ...
, the latter from
Krotoschin
Krotoszyn (german: Krotoschin, yi, קראטאשין ''Krotoshin'') is a town in west-central Poland with 30,010 inhabitants . It has been part of the Greater Poland Voivodeship since 1999; it was within Kalisz Voivodeship from 1975 to 1998. ...
who received a
Coat of Arms
A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the latter two being outer garments). The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic achievement, which in it ...
. Some members of the family became involved in the
Haskalah
The ''Haskalah'', often termed Jewish Enlightenment ( he, השכלה; literally, "wisdom", "erudition" or "education"), was an intellectual movement among the Jews of Central and Eastern Europe, with a certain influence on those in Western Eu ...
such as
Charles Rappoport
Charles Rappoport (14 June 1865 – 17 November 1941) was a Russian and French militant communist politician, journalist and writer. A Jewish intellectual, and a multilingual scholar, he's been referred to as "a grand man of French radicalism".
...
,
Shloyme Zanvl Rappoport and
Emil Stanisław Rappaport
Emil Stanisław Rappaport (8 July 1877 – 10 August 1965) was a Polish lawyer of Jewish descent. He was a specialist in criminal law and a founder of the doctrine of international criminal law. In 1930, he was awarded the Order of Polonia Restit ...
. That being said, the family still continued to produce rabbis such as
R. David Rappoport and more currently
R. Chaim Rapoport and
R. Gamliel Rabinowitz-Rappaport.
References
External links and other articles
* Rapa: Elijah ben Menahem Rap
Elijah ben Menahem Rapa, or Elijah Rapaporto - Jewish Encyclopedia* Portorapa
Simchah ben Gershon ha-Kohen Rapa (Portrapa) - Jewish Encyclopedia* Rapa Porto
Menahem Abraham ben Jacob ha-Kohen Rapa (Porto) ; Menahem Rapoport - Jewish EncyclopediaThe Center for the Study of the Rapaport Family* Chapin, David A. and Weinstock, Ben, ''The Road from Letichev: The history and culture of a forgotten Jewish community in Eastern Europe, Volume 1''. {{ISBN, 0-595-00666-3 iUniverse, Lincoln, NE, 2000.
Jewish surnames
Kohenitic surnames
Priestly families
de:Rappoport
ru:Раппопорт (фамилия)