A Noble Heritage Chapter 6 Quiz – The Origin of the Polonsky Surname

1. During the tenth and eleventh centuries, surname usage by the ______ became popular due to the rise of cities and commerce.

a) Sephardim

b) Ashkenazim

c) Chassidic

d) Mitnagdim

2. The isolation of the ______ postponed their use of surnames until much later. Not until the late eighteenth

to early nineteenth century were surnames commonly used among ______ Jews.

a) Sephardim

b) Ashkenazim

c) Chassidic

d) Mitnagdim

3. The ______ which controlled a substantial part of Europe, was the first country to require Jews to register a permanent family surname.

a) Austro-Hungarian Empire

b) German Empire

c) Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

d) Russian Empire

4. Similar laws requiring surnames were enacted in the ______ in 1804 and 1835.

a) Austro-Hungarian Empire

b) German Empire

c) Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth

d) Russian Empire 5. It is exceedingly difficult to trace Jewish family lineages before the late 18th century due to ____.

a) The lack of surnames

b) Many people with the same or similar given names

c) The repeated destruction of Jewish records

d) All of the above

6. The first reference to the Polonsky surname appears in conjunction with Rabbi Shmuel Mordkovich (son of Mordecai) was in ______.

a) His 1761 birth record

b) His 1785 marriage record

c) His 1811 death record

d) The 1816 Ekaterinopol census

7. According to Alexander Beider, an expert on Russian Jewish surnames, the Jewish surname Polonski or Polonsky is a toponym (or place name) derived from ______.

a) Poland

b) The villages of Polonsk and Polonna

c) The towns of Polonnoye and Polonka

d) All of the above

e) (b) and (c) only

8. Although Polonsky is primarily a Jewish surname, it has also been associated with ______.

a) Christian Polish nobility

b) Russian nobility

c) German nobility

d) All of the above

e) (a) and (b) only 9. Which of the following statements regarding the origin of the non-Jewish version of the Polonsky surname

are true?

a) It may derive from the word “Polonia,” the Latin name of Poland

b) It may derive from the word “polon,” meaning bondage or prison

c) The surname Polonski is listed in a 16th century Polish heraldic as an “ancient noble family of Lithuania” under the Leliwa or Polish Coat of Arms, first mentioned in 1324

d) All of the above

10. The first Polonsky in our lineage, Rabbi Shmuel Mordkovich (son of Mordecai) was most likely born in _____.

a) Brody, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire

b) Polonnoye, in Poland

c) Shpola, in the Ukraine

d) Ekaterinopol in the Russian Empire

11. In addition to the distinction of being the husband of Rabbi Pinchas Shapira’s daughter, Rabbi Shmuel Mordkovich served as chief rabbi and Av Beth Din of Kunev, which is close to ______.

a) Brody

b) Korets

c) Polonnoye

d) Shepetovka

e) All of the above

12. Following their marriage, circa 1785, it is quite possible that Shmuel and Sarah Rachel Sheindel resided in ______ to be closer to her family.

a) Brody

b) Korets

c) Polonnoye

d) Shepetovka

13. In 1793, Rabbi Shmuel was appointed Av Beit Din of Kalniblat, which after 1795 became known as _____.

a) Ekaterinopol, now called Katerynopil

b) Polonnoye

c) Shpola

d) Zvenigorodka 14. Shmuel’s rabbinical appointment was at the behest of his mentor ______ with whom he now shared a family

connection.

a) Rabbi Josef, the Maggid of Polonnoye

b) Rabbi Pinchas Shapira of Koretz

c) Rabbi Isaac Ezekiel Shapira of Polonnoye

d) Rabbi Yaakov Shimshon of Shepetovka

15. In addition to the town of Kalniblat, Rabbi Shmuel served as chief rabbi and Av Beit Din of ______.

a) Kaligorka

b) Shpola

c) Talnoye

d) Zvenigorodka

e) All of the above

16. Rabbi Shmuel’s family held this rabbinical post in direct line of succession for _____ generations.

a) Three

b) Five

c) Seven

d) Nine 17. Rabbi Shmuel’s grandfather was Rabbi Menachem Levush aka Moses Gelles. What are the possible

explanations for why he did not adopt the Gelles surname?

a) He did not consider either Levush or Gelles to be his family’s surname

b) His father, Rabbi Mordecai, may not have been known by the Gelles surname during his lifetime

c) Neither of Shmuel’s uncles, Rabbi Michel Levush, or Rabbi Joseph Vaskievonie, adopted the Gelles surname from their father

d) All of the above

18. The 1816, 1834, and 1858 Ekaterinopol and Shpola censuses confirm that the Polonsky surname belonged

to ______ of Rabbi Shmuel Polonsky’s descendants.

a) None

b) Some

c) Most

d) All

19. Polonsky is actually a relatively unusual Jewish surname, and there are many Jewish surnames that are much more common.

True or False?

20. Of nearly one million immigrants in the Ellis Island database who are identified as being Jewish, and who

came to America between 1882 and 1924, approximately _____ were named Polonsky.

a) 30

b) 300

c) 3,000

d) 30,000

21. Nearly all Jewish immigrants with the Polonsky surname who immigrated to the United States were from ______.

a) Austria c) Poland

b) Germany d) Russia

22. The number of people with the Polonsky surname currently living in the United States is estimated to be approximately ______ people.

a) 100

b) 1,000

c) 10,000

d) 50,000

23. There are currently more people with the Polonsky surname living in ______ than in any other country of

the world.

a) America

b) Argentina

c) Israel

d) Russia

24. The country with the highest prevalence rate of the Polonsky surname is ______.

a) America

b) Argentina

c) Israel

d) Russia 25. In addition to our own Polonsky family, there have been many other famous and highly accomplished people

of Russian Jewish heritage with the Polonsky surname, including ______.

a) Abraham Lincoln Polonsky

b) Anna Polonsky

c) Dr. Antony Polonsky

d) Dr. Kenneth S. Polonsky

e) All of the above