Less than Six Degrees of Separation

I have seen a man in my neighborhood, quite an elderly man, who said he saw the grandson of the man who was blessed by the Baal Shem Tov and lived till 117.

So that's:

the Baal Shem Tov (d. 1760)
the man who was blessed
his grandson
the man in my neighborhood

There is the theory of six degrees of separation that says everyone and everything is six or fewer steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person in the world.  This is quite an amazing variation on that.