זכר צדיק לברכה as King Solomon said, may the mention of these tsadikim be for a blessing.
My father changed the name here to Chana Rochel..
Looking at the records of the family lists with the names from the towns surrounding Lvov (German Lemberg, Ukrainian Lviv, Yiddish לבוב), the capital of Galizia, I conclude that there are 2 versions.
The first I refer to as the Vagschal version, printed in my family’s Sforim, as follows:
a1. R. Shlomo Lutzker of Sokal, in Yiddish סקוהל.
a1.1. R. Dov Berish of Olesko (Saginahor) [son of Shlomo Lutzker] in Yiddish אלעסק
a1.1.2. R. David Flam of Olesko [son of Berish] married to (b1.1.5) Chana Rochel daughter of (b1.1) R. Eluzer Rokeach of Belz.
a1.1.2.1 Yitchok Flam of Korczyna (קארטשין) married to Esther Rubin daughter of R. Shmuel Aharon Rubin of Korczyna.
a1.1.2.1.1 R. David Flam of Montreal and Jerusalem. [Son of Yitzchok]. My grandfather.
(He had two older sisters Safrin of Komarno, and a younger brother Rabbi of Dubiezk who perished in the holocaust with his wife)
The 2nd version which I refer to as the Philadelphia and Padwa version is:
a1. R. Shlomo Lutzker of Sokal, in Yiddish סקוהל.
a1.1. R. Dov Berish of Olesko (Saginahor) in Yiddish אלעסק
a1.1.1 R. Shlomo Flam of Olesko [son of Berish], who existed without doubt, as recorded on his son's Matzeiva along with his father and grandfather’s names and his grandfather's book.
a1.1.1.2 R. David Flam of Olesko [son of Shlomo] married to (b1.1.5) Sheindel, daughter of (b1.1) R. Eluzer Rokeach of Belz.
Further information from the Padwa document on (b1.1) Eluzer of Belz lists a (c1.1) Chana Rochel Ramraz who married her cousin (b1.1.2) Sander son of R. Eluzer Rokeach of Belz (Sheindel's brother). Sander passed away on the way to a medical resort to which he went accompanied by his grandfather Sar Sholom of Belz. This Chana Rochel (Ramraz, Rokeach) remarried as the 4th wife of R. Yechezkel, Halberstam the Shinover. The Shinover was the son of Reb Chaim of Tzanz and was married to Tobeh the daughter of Aryeh Lifschitz author of אריה דבי עילאי. The stories about the silenced birds in the Shul, with the names of Sander and Chana Rochel Ramraz are confirmed in two directions: As told by the Shinover, and as told by Rabbi Aryeh Lifschits.
Another piece of information in the Padwa doc is a list of R. Eluzer Rokeach”s children. The list includes the 3 boys with their names and 6 girls with only 4 names, among them (b3.5) Chana Rochel married to R. David Flam, son of R. Shlomo Flam of Olesko. Albeit in the following detailed list this daughter is listed as Sheindel.
There is a bitter argument in my family concerning R. Shlomo Flam of Olesko being an ancestor of our branch of the family, but the lifespan of these people coincide better with the Philadelpia version in which my grandfather’s father was R. David Flam, son of R. Shlomo Flam of Olesko. Once we saw the Matzeiva, my father אמו"ר שליט"א Shlomo Flam of Rehovot, remembered that he was told of Rabbi Shlomo Olesker, who was not Rabbi Shlomo Lutzker, referring to his own name in his father's eyes, even though he was officially named after a Shlomo on his mother's side of the family. (Interestingly, she had a brother Shlomo, so I find it hard to think that she would choose that name for her son. But who knows. There is no one in the know left to answer that.
Two last facts.
First, (d1) R. Shmuel Ahron of Korczyna’s wife’s name was (d1.w) Chana Rochel as confirmed on her original Matzeiva found in Korczyna.
Secondly. My aunt (a1.1.1.2.1) Chana Rochel (Flam) Preschel, my father’s sister, was named by my grandfather after someone in his family. Till now, it was assumed in the family that she was named after Chana Rochel, the daughter of R. Eluzer of Belz.
Rabbi Akiva Padwa’s article about Rabbi Eluzer Rokeach of Belz:
https://www.academia.edu/23743502/שלשלת_הזהב_תולדות_הרה_ק_רבי_אלעזר...
And another last fact...
- How do you know someone is from New York? If he ends every discussion with "One last thing".
In a book by Moshe Ringler about Rabbi Yechiel Michel Hager of Strozinitz,
https://www.academia.edu/26091129/רבי_יחיאל_מיכל_הגר_מסטראזניץ
There is the picture and a transcription of the Matzeiva of his wife, (b1.1.4) Rochel the daughter of (b1.1) Rabbi Elozor Rokeach of Belz. There is no doubt which Elozor is mentioned here, with the titles given to him (Kadosh, holy) and his father (רשכבה”ג the Rabbi of all sons of the diaspora) and then אב”ד the head of the court of Belz.
This daughter is unnamed in the list by Rabbi Akiva Padwa. (Shouldn’t it be Padoa, the name of the city in Italy?) In Geni, someone recently added her name as Rochel (without Chana).
So let us conclude. There are several possibilities to account for these discrepancies.
1. My preferred solution:
1.1 There was no (b1.1.5) Chana Rochel daughter of R. Eluzer of Belz but:
1.2 R. Eluzer did have a daughter (b1.1.4) Rochel, married to YM Hager of Stroznitz. Her Matzeiva is found in that town besides his and their daughter.
1.3 There was a Chana Rochel Ramraz married to (b1.1.2) Sander Rokeach, son of (b1.1) R. Eluzer,
1.4 and finally, POSSIBLY there was (e1) a Chana Rochel and even Rokeach married to POSSIBLY EXISTING R. David [son of Berish(Saginahor)].
2. My father’s preferred solution, Sheindel had a second name Chana Rochel.
And thus, my father’s sister Chana Rochel is named after his great grandmother wife of David son of Shlomo Olesker.
2.1 The problem is that a sister of Sheindel/Chana Rochel also named Rochel married the Strozynitzer. Or perhaps her name was not Rochel but Chana-Rochel and she remarried.
There’s a problem with that, since she married young and lived with her husband to an old age. And would probably not have children at such an age from a second husband.
Also we have to account for the name Sheindel coinciding with a double name Chana-Rochel. Hardly plausible. Until the Padwa version, and till my father added Rabbi Shlomo Olesker about two years ago, no one in my family’s Sforim ever mentioned him, let alone his son, who has a Matzeiva. . So connecting to him and not to his uncle is a postulation in itself. The whole Eluzer’s daughter Chana Rochel thing stems from these Seforeim, so it would seem the Sheindel information is correct.
2.2 A discarded version: Berish had a son Dovid. This was my grandfather’s grandfather. THIS son was the husband of Chana Rochel daughter of Eluzer of Belz. Another daughter of his, Sheindel married the other Dovid, son of R. Shlomo Flam of Olesk. The reasons to discard this version, is that the two sisters, Sheindel and Chana Rochel had a third sister Rochel !!
3. And one last versions, There was a Chana Rochel daughter of R. Eluzer but she is one of the unnamed daughters, and was married to the Strozinitzer. Listed on her Matzeiva for some reason as Rochel without Chana. And also on Geni. But there was no Chana Rochel married to a Flam at all.
Like in version 1, we need to say we had a mistake about my grandfather’s choice to call his daughter (my father’s sister later to become Chana Rochel Preschel) on the name of his father’s great grandmother, the non-existing Chana Rochel (Rokeach) Flam, daughter of Eluzer. That would be wrong.
Instead we must say that he called her that name after his MOTHER’s mother, Chana Rochel Rubin.
The main problem with this version is that the years don’t add up with the ages and times of the people.
In any case Akiva Padwa has contradictions in his own article, and it seems he put two lists together as I described.
