Rosanes was a grandson of Rabbi Akiva Eiger, one of the most revered Jewish religious scholars of the Talmud and halachic decisors of the 18th century. Eiger's daughter Baila was Rosanes' mother. Rosanes grew up during a period when the Enlightenment and increasing opportunities for social, academic and economic advancement for culturally assimilated Jews influenced large numbers of Jews to reconsider their faith. He was not religiously observant, and his children converted to Christianity.
