The Rassas Family

Chapter 16 Family Legends Legend: “A story handed down for generations among a people and popularly believed to have a historical basis, although not verifiable.” - Webster I cogitated a long time before deciding to add a few stories about our family that can’t be completely verified. On the one hand, everything up to this point is, to the best of my knowledge, true. On the other hand, many families “stretch the truth” about their forbearers and their deeds. I finally decided that if a family is worthwhile it ought to have a few legends to brag about, so here goes. Legend #1: Some time around 1914, one of Dena’s family who was still back in Russia, passed away and willed a million rubles, worth a million dollars, to my father and his sister Rose. However, the executors of the estate did not want to send the money to the United States because they believed that because Bubba was a “stepmother,” she would use the money for her own children. Therefore, they wanted Rose and Joe to travel to Russia where they could be given their full inheritances. At this time, German submarines were sinking Allied ships during World War I, and it was deemed too dangerous to travel to Russia. By the time the war ended in 1918, the Russian Revolution had occurred, and the ruble was drastically devaluated. Only a fraction of the original inheritances remained, and whatever was left was supposedly used for the education of the family’s children in Russia. The final outcome of this episode was that Rose and Joe never got a single ruble. All we can say about a fortune that was supposed to have been worth a million dollars is “easy come -- easy go!” Legend # 2: This is a story that my Dad told me. He really seemed to believe it, so I figured that there’s no harm in repeating it, and you can take it for what it’s worth. Dad claimed that many of our male forbearers had great upper body physical strength, and the following was a “true” incident that proved it. Back in Russia - how far back I don’t know – one of our forbearers went to the shtetl’s marketplace on market day to buy some hay for his animals. It had been a bad season for growing hay, so the prices were high. He told one farmer that his price for a cartload of hay was far too much. After a furious bargaining session failed to reduce the asking price, he told the farmer that it was such a small load that he could walk away with it under his arms. Finally, it was agreed that if he could, the hay would be free; if he couldn’t, he would pay double. By this time, bystanders began making side bets with each other. As soon as all the bets were made, the hay was unloaded from the cart and stuffed under our forbearer’s arms while he was in a kneeling position. When it was all in place, the moment of truth arrived. Could he, or couldn’t he rise to his feet and walk away with a free cartload of hay? Of course he could, and he did! If he couldn’t this would only be a forgotten story, not a legend, and I wouldn’t have written about it. Legend #3: We are descendents of Rabbi Saadia ben Joseph, who claimed that he belonged to the noble family of Shelah, the son of Judah (1 Chronicles iv, 21). Rabbi Saadia was born in Dilaz, Upper Egypt in 882. He left Egypt at the age of 23 and went to Palestine, and then to Sura, Babylonia where he became the gaon, or head, of the academy of Sura in 928. He produced many books, translated the Old Testament into Arabic, and was a calendrical authority. He died in Sura in 942. My great-grandfather sent me a congratulatory post card on the occasion of my bar mitzvah, and signed it “Avrahom Yitzchak ben Saadia.” On seeing the name Saadia on the postcard, one of my relatives told me that our family descended from the famous rabbi. As far as is known, Rabbi Saadia was the first to bear this name, so it seems possible that Saadia only would be used by his descendents. Take it for what it’s worth, but if someone brags about his or her lineage, we’ve got our Rabbi Saadia ben Yosef, and you can’t do much better than that!