However, almost everyone alive is descended from someone famous. And since Jews mostly married in until a few decades ago, a lot of us Ashkenazi would be descended from the Baal Shem Tov.

So? I'm a descendant of the ReMah, the TaZ, the BaCh, and Moses' brother Aaron, as well as Levi, Jacob, Issac, Abraham, Terach, ..., all the way up to Adam. Someone told me that yichus is like a zero, the greater one's yichus, the more zeroes. If you can put a one in front of those zeroes, then that's great, but if you can't then you just have a bunch of zeroes.

Well of course. But, if you have an interest in history, it is fun to find out which famous person in particular.

That's true. I used have a huge website for my family's genealogy, but then people started telling me that genealogy is just a waste of time, and I've really had much time, so I stopped. I'm also a descendant of the Noam Elimelech (how could I have forgotten to mention that?)

I am decended from long lines of horse theives, con men, bunko artists, smugglers and bookies. I am extraordinarily skeptical about claims of ancestry by other Jews. Too many times, Jews have been refugees, lost everything, contracted irregular marriages, and have generally had to improvise just to stay alive. Besides, I find the whole notion theologically repellant.

Actually, everyone is invited to the Inaugural Dinner of the Davidic Dynasty which will be held on Thursday evening October 19th from 6-10pm at the Museum of Jewish Heritage, 36 Battery Place, Battery Park City, New York. Honorees (who are descendants of King David) are N.Y. District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, Jr., Grand Rabbi Shalom Twersky and Rebbetzin Esther Jungreis. Covert is $275 per person. For more information call 777-DAVID-07

Karen Singer Avrech read the same story.

You left out cossacks from your list, Robert, of why genealogy is such an unsure science in Ashkenazi life.

But there are certain families who kept extraordinary care to guard this information down through the ages. People descended from the exilarch's for one. I had a friend who wrote his dissertation on the exilarchs and heard a bit about the record keeping from him. And years ago, I visited the family home of a friend of mine for Shabbat, one of the Twerski's, and she pointed out her father's vast tomes of genealogy, interspersed amidst the Talmuds and the commentaries. I think that was the first time I ever heard that some families could trace their lines all the way back. There has been a lot of work done on that over the years by some. Particularly, I suppose, in the orthodox branches of Judaism where there is belief in a davidic messiah.

I'm not sure why, though, you consider it theologically repugnant?

In a classical sense, it surely isn't. If you use it for a sense of self worth, to puff yourself up, I can see your point. But as a way to connect to history? It seems fine to me.

Thanks for the information, Yoni.

You don't suppose I could go as a Pajamas Media representative and blog about it, do you?

That would be fun.

I'm descended from a long line someone gave to my great-grandmother. My ancestors did appear before the royal courts of Europe. Unfortunately most of them were convicted.

Actually, our family on my father's sideboasts a unique distinction: we are the only Jews from Vilna who do not claim to be descended from the Vilna Ga'on.