Friday April 19, 1946
DETROIT JEWISH CHRONICLE and The Legal Chronicle
Page Four
HIS APPOINTED SHARE---By ALFRED WOLF
Sincere Passover Greetings
LEDERMAN
ELEVATOR CO.
Rabbi, Congregation Emanuel, Dothan, Ala.
A resourceful cleric conjures
"The Good Old Days" and finds
his griping congregant ready to
exchange a bad dream for a do-
nation.
I was talking to my friend Ja-
cob Levy the other day. Jacob
Levy told me that somebody had
asked him to make a contribu-
tion to his congregation7-perhaps
it was his Welfare Fund — com-
mensurate with his. high standing
in the community.
"I sent him away," confessed
my friend Jacob. "In these days
you have to pay federal income
tax, and state taxes and city
taxes; and then you are expected
to give to the Community Chest,
and the War Chest, and the- Red
Cross; and then they ask you to
give to the congregation and to
the Jewish Welfare Fund. It's just
too much for any man. You can't
do it. I wish I lived back in the
good old days when they didn't
have so much regimentation and
when they let a person do what
he wanted."
I might have said a thing or
two; but I kept quiet.
GOOD OLD DAYS
That evening, however, as I
was paging through my history
books, I got to thinking about my
friend Jacob and his "good old
days." I imagined that I had Ja-
cob right with me, in my study,
that I had hypnotized him, made
him go back through history with
me, transferred him through two
centuries till he was the resident
of a small European town, in the
year 1745. He found himself in
IIeidingsfeld, about four miles
southwest of the proud bishop's
seat of Wuerzburg. They did not
call him Jacob Levy, because fam-
ily names had barely come into
vogue by then. They called him
after his father Isaac: Jacob ben
Isaac, and sometimes they added
Halevi — the Levite. They called
him to the Torah, in the syna-
gogue, as thd second person, right
after the Cohen.
Heidingsfeld had a small but
proud Jewish community, about
two hundred years ago. The Jews
had been expelled from neighbor-
ing Wuerzburg, but they were
permitted to remain in Ileidings-
feld. The little town thus became
a center for the Jews, the seat
of the Chief Rabbi for Lower
Franconia. There were twenty
Jewish families in town—none of
them very wealthy, though their
non-Jewish neighbors often whis-
pered that the Jewish money
lenders and traders had all the
riches.
AVERAGE BUSINESS MAN
Jacob was an average business
man — neither one of the richest
nor one of the poorest. He had
taxable property valued exactly
at twelve hundred Talers. The
Taler, of course, is a linguistic
cousin of the dollar. But its pur-
chasing power, in those days,Avas
much higher than that of a dol-
lar today. Besides, interest rates
were high. Perhaps Jacob ben
Isaac had a few Talers which he
had not declared to the tax col-
lector. Still, he was not a Roth-
schild. At any rate, they would
not have called him one in 1745,
for the man who was to make
the name of Rothschild famous
had just been born, in neighbor-
ing Frankfort, two years earlier.
Jacob ben Isaac made a living
buying and selling, trading and
lending, and he thought he was a
pretty good member of his com-
munity. Early in 1745 the tax col-
lector for the Jews in the terri-
tory of the Bishop of Wuerzburg
knocked at Jacob's door. He pre-
sented a bill for twenty Talers.
"You are ruining me," said Ja-
cob. "I need every penny I have
for a business transaction. I'll
pay you next week."
PAY TODAY
"I am in this town today only.
We must meet a payment of
three thousand Talers to the
Bishop's tax office, this week. If
we don't, all of us will have trou-
ble. We need your share. On the
basis of your wealth, you are as-
sessed twenty Talers."
Slowly, Jacob went to the
heavy oak bureau which held his
business papers. He opened the
metal strong box and counted out
twenty silver pieces. He sighed as
he closed the door behind the tax
collector.
A few days passed. Then the
shamos came around. He, too, had
a tax bill. "The Goveh, our
community's collector, sends me.
You owe one Taler and one Bat-
zen."
"For what?" Jacob demanded
to know.
"The Jewish community had to
pay ten Talers gate toll in Wuerz-
burg. You know very well that,
every time we pay, we have to
add one Taler for the secretary
to the commander of the city,
and half a Taler for the officer
of the guard at the gate."
COMMUNITY PRESENT
"I thought that he gets only
two Batzens as a present from
the community," countered Ja-
cob, who thought he was being
overcharged.
"'He used to get two Batzens
but he refused to accept that
amount this time. He insisted on
half a Taler or else, he said, our
gate toll would be increased.
What could we do but pay?"
"Pay—out of my pocket," com-
plained Jacob. "All last week I
made only one Taler profit. Here
goes a Taler and a Batzen."
A few weeks later, Jacob was
about to leave the synagogue af-
ter the morning service on Rosh
Chodesh Ador. He was hungry
and was looking forward to his
breakfast at home. But the Goveh
caught up with him and Jacob
had to listen to him: "Jacob, you
owe for two tax bills, two Talers
and three Batzens."
It is bad to talk to a hungry
man about taxes, especially to my
friend Jacob who is known for
his sudden temper. "Taxes, taxes,
taxes — you will drive me from
house and home with your taxes."
The venerable Samuel ben Jo-
nah, the Parma of the Commu-
nity, was walking behind the two
men and joined in the conversa-
tion: "You would not balk at car-
rying your due share in the bur-
den of your community, Jacob
We have paid the chazan half of
his annual salary. He must live.
And you know the expenses of
your Kebillah. On this particular
tax bill, I personally advanced the
New Year presents which we have
to give in order to live in peace.
Three Talers' worth of spices to
the town secretary, three silver
Talers to his wife, two Talers to
the judge, one Taler to the toll
collector at the bridge in Wuerz-
burg, half a Taler to the toll
collector at the gate, half a Taler
to the mayor and half a Taler's
worth of spices to the vice-may-
Exclusive Hats, Bags, Costum e
Jewelry, Hosiery
9001 TWELFTH ST.
TYLER 4.1758
Passovert.Greetings
KERSCHER
ELEVATOR CO.
4624 HAMILTON AVE.
TEMPLE 1.7840
Specializing in
THE LISTING OF SALEABLE PROPERTIES
4864 Beaubien at Warren Avenue
TEmple 1.0759
Passover Greetings—Best Wishes and Happiness to All
MISTELE COAL 8 COKE CO.
"A Fuel for Every Purpose"
"IT PAYS TO BUY FRESH-MINED FUEL
DIRECT FROM COVERED CARS TO YOU"
MAIN OFFICE ORDER DEPARTMENT:
6309 MACK AVE.
7000 FENKELL AVE.
5607 W. FORT ST.
14155 GRATIOT AVE., near 7-Mile Road
Mr. and Mrs.
Hy Burnstein
and Family
DEBS
MILLINERY
REAL ESTATE BROKER — PROPERTY MANAGEMENT
GARDNER WHITE CO.
Furniture
Sincere Passover Greetings 11
SEASON'S GREETINGS
CARLTON W. GAINES
PASSOVER GREETINGS AND BEST WISHES TO ALL!
tIll= siiii0 1111111111011111M1101111111111111111211E11 111i1;INI :111;1111111:21T1
Night and Day Phone
320 Beaubien St.
RI. 1387
PLAZA 8900
A VERY JOYOUS PASSOVER TO ALL
7022 THATCHER
tttnittitEtlitilititHetnittnMtlattnititaittentiltilliti
Best Wishes for a Joyous Passover
DETROIT CREAMERY
Kinsel Drug Co.
AND
SEASON'S GREETINGS
No. 1 store-100 Michigan
No. 3 store-13552 Michigan, Dearborn
No. 4 store 14149 E. Jefferson
NELSON t4 LONG
TANK
MANUFACTURERS
No. 5 store-13627 Gratiot
No. 6 store-10001 Fenkell
No. 7 store-14365 Harper
No. 9 store-5601 Michigan
No. 10 store-21670 Grand River, Redford
No. 11 store-15301 Livernois
No. 12 store—Biddle at Elm, Wyandotte
No. 13 store - 401 S. Washington, Royal Oak
No. 15 store-6500 Woodward
EBLING CREAMERY
3333 Grand River
-
1355 - 5TH ST.
RA. 3807
IlfaCtlartenaiXte8:1-0-0-0-eventvevevetetenXt
TE. 1.7000
r r
Passover Greetings
Best Wishes to the Jewish Community
SEASON'S GREETINGS
* *
SCHOSTAK BROS.
and Co.
Commercial and Industrial
Realtors
ALEXANDER
SCHOSTAK
AGENCY
Commercial and Industrial
Property Management
Insurance Counselors
BUY MORE BONDS
*
34th FLOOR, BARLUM TOWER
ADAMS THEATRE
CHerry 8632
DOWNTOWN THEATRE