THE DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE
MICHIGAN'S JEWISH HOME PUBLICATION
Per Year, $3.00; Copy, 10 Cents
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, FRIDAY APRIL 2, 1920
VOL. VII. NO. 18
homes, he reported this rebellion
duty and the law of state was also a
Sulatnith with allusion to II Sam. 20, utest details, how he shall preach, religious law (Dina de-Malkuta Dina). with the effect that these Minyans
19, for it should work for peaceful conduct his school, keep books of Of course, the ruling of the Jewish were prohibited. When even then
progress in Judaism. The court en- his pastoral visits, and in the end ad- bishop by the grace of the duke had the obstinate parishioners would go
out into the woods to say their pray-
monishes him to always conduct tinin-
courage(' this work also. The dach a
no effect, and conscientious Jews
ess complimented the editor and sent self so that he shall never forget that would not allow their children to ers, he complained again, and re-
ceived the order to report all those
him a present. he must give account of his actions
write on the Sabbath.
BY GOTTHARD DEUTSCH.
who did not attend the services of
This work of "civilizing the Jews" to the judge of the universe, to whom
The conditions in Saxe-1Veimer,
the synagogue and warn them that
dialers damages, and Kretnizmillion- was one of the main concerns of the all of us at one time must answer for where Goethe was at that time mini-
none of these Asiatics would be ,„;ven
The Talmud is a store house of wis-
small sovereigns in the Thuringian oar deed s.
ster of state, were the utmost typical
•
One of the,main concerns of these
enschockschwerencether•
if
such
a
dom, and some of the wisest remarks
states. Among them the duchies of
for this paternalism in "des-Asiatiz- a peddler's license.
In comical contradiction with this
are those that we may class as philo- thing happens again you'll go to Saxe
Saxe - ‘1'eimar and Saxe - Meiningen busy princes was to raise the Jtv ing" the Jews. A law, issued in 1823,
liberalism is the strict regulatia.t of
handed Mordkhe stand , foremost as types of autocratic to the standard of "our civilizatiqn.
he m
sophy of history, although the term jail." Tmerchant
demanded that services b e held ex-
This was chit-fly to be done throng
elusively in German and permitted in- the conduct of the synagogue by law.
is not found in the Talmud. So the the ten thalers, and the Duke said but benevolent paternalism. Follow-
which t4 e termarriage between Jews and Christ- issued in 1837, which prohibited 1...‘v•
rabbis say (Pc:satin% 87b): It was with a smile: "now, Mordkhe, go mg the example of Napoleon, whom "the abrogation of abuses
marred the beauty of the pure .los e ians, indeed the most effective method ing the synagogue before the services
home,
and
lass'
ouch
roochen."
the work of a kind providence that
i these princelings liked to imitate,
e mphasized in of solving the Jewish question, were closed, and ordered that Hag-
there are so many states, for else the
The movement for better education they gave a constitution to their Jew- saic religion." This is
Jews would long have been annihi- of the Jewish youth, which began ish subjects, regulating the election the commission of Joseph Hoffmann. especially as it stipulated that the baltali and Gclilall should not be dis-
by
lated. This fortunate condition is with Mendolssolin, found in Dessau, • • " 1 r •serving to them- who in 1839 was appointed I.andrabbi- children of such marriage must be tributed as honors but performed of
of Saxe-Megen.
He was to
m m
raised as Christians.. The govern- officers, and the like. The climax
especially seen in Italy and in Ger- and among the family of his teacher, selves the alMointment of the Land' tier
to
see
to
it
that
German
should
by
a state official. and by become the language 0 pt i- ment found indeed a Landrabbiner, all is that the Eandrabbiner who offi.
many, and for this reason the Jews
kel, sympathetic rabbiner,"
Rabbi Dav
, t tom, tions, was lie service and in general that the Mendel Hess, who appointed in 1828, dated at mixed marriages reported in
were never expelled from these coun- suppirt. lid DFraen
salary,
who
was
essau one of the first and who se
hat Ilendel Floerheim had
pre- offered himself
as the tool of the 1844 t s
tries as they were front England, modern schools was opened, named from th e J ew i s h congrega
lie
officiated at mixed been appointed attendant at the Nik-
Ms ap - Jews should get rid of their silly overnment
France, Spain and Portugal. When for uke
Franz,
who
was
its
patron,
paid
by
the
state's
treasury'.
o perform
I.)
indices. The Landrabbiner was ac'
and had been sworn t
one sovereign expelled them or made and the Dav nipal
marri ages for par ich of co uples came to warll
of the school was, liointment was for life, and it is some -
id
C C
faithfully. It 11111St also
dating, and in
and
he
duties
,
rmany
comical
to
read
d
his
commission.
G
e
life unbearable, there was always a another Da
wht
s
h
f rom all
Fraen ke l, a nephew of , T e
it was no t a sin for J ewish hint held
the services in German. When be stated that his excellency, Herr
commission even to So omon that mo
neighbor who was better disposed M en delssoh is teaher.
. 'Phis
hi, David 1
c
.
ken attending public school to he
- children
i
more appreciative of revenue Fraenkel was also the editor of the Herz wittier n 1831 , when I
the Jews, instead of attending the
(Continued On Page 2.1
atti
p •
first
Jewish
periodical
published
in
I
pointed
Landrabbiner
von
Anhalt-
write
on
the
Sabbath,
for
the
acquisi-
front Jewish taxes.
was a religious synagogue, held services
with the min- lion of knowledge
at
In Italy'these conditions, and with the German language. It was called B ernburg. enumerates
Princes Who Have Sufficient Leisure
A Study of Jewish History in Small Principalities
them the little congregations in small
towns have gradually disappeared
during the last six years. In Ger-
many the small states are now be-
ginning to disappear after the sover-
eigns went out of business, but the
congregatiqw, due to these condi-
tions, have'llong ago dwindled down.
At this moment the small principali-
ties in central Germany are about to
he absorbed by a new state, called
Thuringia, and without confining our-
selves strictly to these states, we shall
give a picture of the Jewish conditions
in these miniature principalities.
The foremost place among them is
occupied by the duchy of Anhalt.
For its small size and population,
about 1300, it gave us a remarkable
number of great men. I need but
Lud-
mention Moses Mendelssoltn,
wig Philippson and the recently de-
ceased philosopher, Hermann Cohen.
The country, and especially the city
of Dessau, was opened to the Jews
by the end of the 17th century.
Among those who availedellemselves
of this hospitality were some refugees
from the Chmelnicki rebellion, which
brought over the Ukraine a misery
similar to the butcheries recently per-
petrated in the same locality. One
of the utmost prominent men of this
colony was Benjamin Wolff, a great
grandson of Moses Isserls, the at1110 -
tutor of the Shulhan Aruk (Remo).
Ile became prosperous, dealt will? the
duke and other rulers of the small
states in this vicinity, lending them
money, and so obtained favors in re-
turn as the right to establish a print-
ing office which, was a rare privilege
for a Jew to get, and practically im-
The
possible in the large states.
pillages of the Cossacks and the
Poles had destroyed many valuable
libraries, books became scarce, and
, so it was a Godsend to the Jews that
a man like Moses Wolff could estab-
lish a printing office in Jessnitz, with
the permission of the duke. This
good relation lasted just as long as
Moses was able to grant loans, and
as long as Ile did it he was a "Wetter
Freund." but when he could go no
farther and insisted on payment. lie
was an usurer, an unscrupulous Jew.
lie sued, but vvItat chance could a
Jew have with a duke? He died in
1729, a poor man. His heirs con-
tinued to fight for their money but
never collected a dollar.
These conditions were not the rule
in each case. Princes who kept order
in their households and were strictly
honest also valued the services of
Jewish merchants, especially as jew-
elers, as army contractors and bank.
ers. One of the ablest rulers which
the little state of Anhalt had was
Duke Leopold, distinguished as gen-
eral in the army of Frederick the
Great. lie was democratic, as far as
one may .apply such a term to a Ger-
man prince of the 18th century, and
lived on the best of terms with his
J ews. lie even acted once (1740) as
Shadchen between two of his court-
Jews, proposing that the son of Jacob
marry the daughter of Kalman. Both
parties were agreeable, the wedding
was celebrated in the castle, the Chup-
pah erected in the park surrounding
it, and the Duke gave to the young
couple, besides other presents, a
"Schutzbrief," the charter without
which a Jew could not establish a
household, free of charge.
On another occasion the Duke took
one of his usual strolls through the
town. He noticed smoke coming out
of the chimneys of Jewish houses in
a manner which proved that there
must be an unusual amount of cook-
ing done. He asked his footman for
the reason and learned that this was
Purim when every Jewish family has
the hest which the house can afford
for the dinner table. Only one little
hovel formed an exception. Its
chimney did not smoke. The Duke
was anxious to know the reason and
called Mordkhe, the owner, out, ask-
in g in his blunt military manner why
he did not celebrate along with the
rest of the Jews. Mordkhe replied
sadly: "Your Highness, 1 have noth-
ing to cook." "Never mind," said
the Duke, you go to Schmidt's store
and buy me cloth for a hunting suit,
and let him pay you the commission."
This man was known as a bitter
enemy of the Jews who had sworn
that no Jew should ever enter his
premises. Mordkhe began to stam-
mer something to this effect, but the
Duke would not listen. "You go," he
said. So Mordkhe went, and the
Duke followed. No sooner had the
poor Jew shut the door of the store
behind himself, when it was violently
thrown open, and the Jew kicked out,
st the Duke who swore
bumping again
the • most atrocious "Donnerwetters"
upon the head of the frightened mer-
chant. "Why, this is the way my
subjects are treated. I shall not al-
low such rudeness, even if done to
Jews who are as dear to my fatherly
heart as the rest of my subjects. You
pay this innocent man at once 10
N
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Open Saturday Afternoon Telephone Melrose 1320
By street car, via Woodward
— • I
By automobile, via Woodward
Avenue and Ceosatown ears, east
G
Avenue, east on Warren Avenue tst
Riopelle Street, -_
I •
- • • V
•a9 Z;
to Riopelle Street. then walk two
blocks north.
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