Because he was not technically a rabbi, and because he left no Chassidic
dynasty behind, family trees for the great tzaddik, kabbalist, and popular
holy man R. Yehuda Leyb (1726-1812), better known as the Shpoler Zeyda, or
Saba Kadisha, are rare. Even Rabbi Kalmanson, the long-tenured President of
the Shpoler Zeide Society, was not aware of any published family trees for
him.
As one of the Shpoler Zeyda's descendants (through the Polonsky-Zeyda
marriage connection), I am resolved to address this need. Calling upon my
good friend and able research associate Jeff Briskman, I took on the project
of assembling a family tree for the Shpoler Zeyda (common alternate
spellings: Zayda, Zaide, Zeida, Zeide, Zejde, Zeyde, and American variants
Seid and Seide).
Through census data, we have succeeded in identifying about one hundred of
the Shpoler Zeyda's descendants, >from his sons, through his great-great
grandsons and granddaughters. We have also identified some of his
third-great grandsons through gravestones and vital records. However, this
is about as far as the existing records will take us. To identify
additional descendants >from the fifth generation and beyond (late 19th, and
20th centuries), we will need help >from his existing descendants in the
Zeide and Seide families.
We cordially invite anyone who is a descendant of the Shpoler Zeyda, and who
can identify their grandparents, their great-grandparents, and possibly even
their great-great grandparents, to help us in completing his family tree.
In exchange for this information, in addition to our gratitude and
acknowledgement for your contribution to the literature, there is a very
good chance that we can provide you with your complete line of descent to
the Shpoler Zeyda.
I look forward to publishing all of the information collected for the
Shpoler Zeyda's family tree in the journal Avotaynu, as well as in my book
"Discovering the Ancient Lineage of the Polonsky and Paull Family," which I
hope to publish next year.
Best Wishes to All,
Dr. Jeffrey Mark Paull
