I'll talk about one of my own examples.
The ancestor that I've always felt the deepest connection with is my great-grandfather, Ezra "Edward" J. Sperling. Here he is (the first photo is from 1911, the second probably from the 30s or 40s):
Ezra was a Jew born in the Russian Empire (in modern day Belarus). His family fled the pogroms when when he was young, and settled in Sioux City, Iowa, where he became a writer for the local newspapers. However, when the First World War broke out, he went up to Canada, enlisted in the Jewish Legion of the British Army, and fought on the Ottoman front as an officer. After the war, he settled in the British Mandate of Palestine, where he became director-general of the Ministry of Trade and Industry. At the same time, he became involved with prominent Zionists, and also wrote, under pseudonyms, for English language newspapers. One of his regular columns was called Barrage, which was just a long list of aphorisms/one-liners that make jokes about living in Palestine at that time. He ended up dying when the Zionist terrorist organization Irgun blew up the King David Hotel, where the government worked out of, in 1946.
I feel inexplicably drawn to his character. I'm no Zionist, but the idea of him simultaneously working for the British government and the Jewish independence movement fascinates me, as does his leading a public life in politics, but a private life as a writer and intellectual. He seems like he was a complex person. Another example of this is the fact that while publicly attending Jewish religious services, he was privately an atheist, and none of his children ever went to synagogue, the boys didn't have Bar Mitzvahs, and holy days weren't observed in the home. Yet at the same time, from what I've heard, he was a scholar of religion, and read the Torah, the New Testament, and the Koran with equal interest. He spoke many languages, and translated some works from Russian to English and Hebrew. Despite being a Zionist, he had Arab friends, and I know one story of him saving an Arab's life. In general, I am told, he was a friend to all, and possessed a generous and good natured spirit. Artists and intellectuals passed through his house and asked for his advice. He was remembered fondly by all of his children. In my mind he is almost larger than life, and I wish badly that I could have met him. I think we would have got along, as many of the qualities I heard said of him are true of me: soft-spoken, bookish, intellectual, warm. Since I cannot meet him in the realm of flesh, I honor him specifically by name when I do rituals to the ancestors.
I could list a few other Ancestors that I feel connected to, and I may do so if this thread takes off, but for now, I want to open up discussion to others who may have similar relationships.
