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My connections to the village of Bodrogkeresztur go back to about 1850 when my paternal ancestor Abraham Rubin moved here from the nearby village of Sarospatak. His son Elimelech (Mor) was born here in 1853. Elimelech's daughter Chayah was born here in 1893. Chayah married my grandfather Moshe Silberman who was born in the nearby city of Satoraljaujhely in 1895. My father was born here in 1923 and I was born in the same house (# 39 on the Main Street) in 1947.
On my mother's side my connections go back to about the same time (1860) when my maternal ancestor Yekuthiel Hakohen Weiszberg moved here from Razlawitz a city near the Galician border. Another maternal ancestor Menachem Gershon Mandel moved here at about the same time from Kemecse and became the Chief Rabbi of Bodrogkerestur until his death in 1869. His grave with a new tombstone is situated lower on the cemetery hill than the rest of the graves. He lies near the grave of a Reb Chayim Ba'al Shem (notable person) who has a curious lore attached to him (details later). These two ancestors merged onto my tree through the marriage of Yechiel Shraga Greenwald (name had changed from Mandel) and Rivkah Weiszberg born in Bodrogkeresztur in 1854. This branch of the family ended up in the nearby village of Tokaj.
After WWII my father from Bodrogkeresztur married my mother from Tokaj and they resided for a while in Bodrogkeresztur. My father worked in the quarries - still visible from the cemetery. When the communists took over in Hungary my parents fled the country and we arrived in the United States in 1950.
Regarding the above mentioned Reb Chayim Baal Hashem the story was told by Reb Shayele that in 1782 there lived a mystic by the name of Mordechai in an inn on the road between Bodrogkeresztur and Tokaj. During a circumcision ceremony which occurred in that inn this Reb Mordechai decided to entertain the guests and told them that he would invite Yoav Ben Tzeriah who was King David's general to this ceremony. He chanted some magic words and all of a sudden out of the ground emerged a fearsome figure clad in full military uniform with a sword and lance. The guests became extremely terrified at which point Reb Mordechai ordered him to return to his abode. The figure refused and declared that because he was disturbed he would destroy the city of Bodrogkeresztur. The terrified guests did not know what to do about the situation when all of a sudden Reb Chayim who lived in the nearby village of Szeg and was a vineyard watchman appeared and ordered the figure to return. The figure promptly disappeared. So was revealed this hidden great man Reb Chayim. [This story with additional details can be found in the biographies of Reb Shayele.]
