Theodor Herzl's Ancestors—Legendary Realities

BY JOSEF FRAENKEL
(Special London Correspondent)
There is a legend, more truth
than fiction, about two men, in
the robes of Catholic monks. who
came from Spain to Innsbruck.
They went on to Semlin and there
or in Belgrade returned to Juda-
ism. Their name was Loebl, and
they were brothers. One of them,
Raphael. was Theodor lierzl's an-
cestor.
All roads in herds genealogy
lead back to Semlin.
Spanish Jews—Sephardim—were
admitted to many towns of the
present country of Yugoslavia af-
ter the Inquisition (1498). Mara-
nos, who were heart and soul de-
voted to Judaism, repeatedly tried,
sometimes successfully, to escape
from Spain, to be free to profess
their Jewish faith openly. Many
of them went to the Balkan penin-
sula. There are similar stories
told in history books or handed
down in family traditions. Some of
them proudly named themselves
"flasfardi" and in many Jewish
communities the Sephardic rites
"according to Maimonides" were
dominant.
The lierzl family, too, had this
tradition of Marano descent, the
legend referred to being narrated
by relatives of Theodor Herzl.

Herzl's ancestors were Sep-
hardim. About 1670, German
Jews—Ashkenazim—immigrated
and there were intermarriages
between Sephardic and Ashken•
azic Jews. In the Herzl family.
too. Merit's ancestors once had
the Ir'ame Loebl. Loebl comes
from the Hebrew and means
Heart—Herz(I).

The old "Jew laws" allowed only
a limited number of families to live
in a particular Jewish community,
and so that the number should not
be exceeded, no Jew might marry
without permission from the au-
thorities Usually the "marriage
permit" went to the oldest son.
There is a report of the Vienna
Imperial War Council (No. 2945
ex 177',:i about a petition from the
Jewish families resident in Semlin,
concerning 18 Jewish families who,
after the transfer of Belgrade, were
given permission to move to Sem-
lin, where during the lifetime of
the heads of the families they were
able to live and trade. Six families
had since died out or moved away.
five family heads had died, and
left wives and children, and only
seven families were left. These
asked that the Residence and
Trade Privilege of 1739 should be
extended to the surviving wives
and children of those who had
died and to the wives and chil-
dren of those family heads who
would die, as these "could flatter
themselves that their conduct
hitherto had not made them un-
worthy of this favor." The mili-
tary. command supported this peti-
tion, stating that "their conduct
was not only blameless, but
they were of public service by

checking the greed of the Chris-
tian tradesmen there." The Im-
perial War Council decided to
grant the residential permits,
though without granting a proper
privilege, but added that "once
these Jewish families had died out
or gone away no new Jew would
be allowed to come to Semlin and
if their conduct was not satisfac-
tory they would forfeit this special
favor."

mother's side—held honorary of-
fice in the Jewish community of
Semlin. Thus, the newspaper Ben
Chananja (No. 41), for instance,
reports that on Oct. 8, 1863, the
Semlin Synagogue was consecrated
with great ceremony. The Sep-
hardic communities in Belgrade
and Semlin assembled in the beau-
tifully decorated synagogue. Small
mortar guns were fired, and white-
clad girls strewed flowers. The
article mentions some of the pro-
minent people present, among
them Major-General Count Filip-
povits. the Mayor Anton Jakob
and the leaders of the Jewish
community "Bernard Herzl and
Heinrich Blitz." The master gla-
zier J. Herzl—other chronicles tell
us—supplied all the glass work
for the synagogue free of charge;
Bernard Herzl, member of the
communal board gave 100 florins
for the Jewish school, the 'ex-
cellent" Salomon Bilitz was en-
trusted with the school administra-
tion and "discharges his duties
with dignity." At the suggestion
of the "noble-minded" Henoch
Bilitz a "Kuppa" was founded for
clothing for the poor.
"Give the Jews a Fatherland
and the Jews will love their
Fatherland," Chief Rabbi Loewy
of Szegedin exclaimed, preach-
ing the inaugural sermon at Sem-
lin, and he concluded with the
call, "Hail to the town of Sem•
lin."

That is how it came about that
one of Herzl's ancestors, a sec.
ond or still younger son, aban-
doned the name Loebl and pur-
chased the name Herzl, since
otherwise, being "second-born,"
he would not have obtained per-
mission from the authorities to
marry.
There is another legend, which
also has an historical background;
it was a Herzl family tradition.
When the Jews were expelled
from Temesvar in the reign of
Maria Theresa, Simon Loebl's
grandfather, Juda Amigo (1776),
leader of the Jewish community,
went to the sultan, to whom the
Jewish community was subject,
and secured from him a firman
of protection for his community.
He died on the return journey, in
Orsova. His successor in office,
Israel Tajtacak (1780). was the
grandfather of Herzl's grand-
mother. There is a picture in the
Vienna Imperial Museum of Taj-
tacak in Turkish dress presenting
the sultan's firman to the Empress
Is it coincidence, destiny or
Maria Theresa in the presence of prophecy? -
Count Kaunitz, demanding their
In 1865, there was an election in
rights for his brethren.
Semlin. Bernard Herzl became
Amigo and Tajtacak were in head of the Jewish community
fact the heads of the Jewish com- for three years, Moritz J. Herzl,
munity. The historian Szentklaray president of the synagogue for
also mentions a petition by the one year, and Simon Leob Herzl
same Jewish congregation, asking was a member of the committee.
permission to send a deputation
Simon Loeb Herzl (1805-1879)
to Vienna. There is a document, 'was Theodor Herzl's grandfather.
which until the war was still in lie was an Orthodox, respected
Temesvar, quoted by Chief Ra•lyi Jett', esteemed by the people of
Loewy in his "Sketches," describ- Semlin, and often appointed by
ing a communal meeting held in them to positions of honor. The
Temesvar and mentioning the venerable grandfather often visited
"Jewish judge," Israel Tajtacak,
and Wolf Schlesinger as the dele-
gates who were to be sent to
LESSON
Vienna in 1780 as emissaries "for
the benefit of the community."

It may well have been an act
of providence that one of Herzl's
ancestors sh.it•Id have gone to
the great Empress Maria There.
sa as the represent.••the, even
though of only one Jewish com-
munity, to demand justice for
Jews.
The Herzl family belonged to
the most highly regarded Jewish
families of Semlir. A great-uncle
of Herrl's. a well-known philan-
thropist, Shmiel Bilitz. was Aus-
trian imperial consul in Philoppo-
polis; he was an Orthodox Jew,
had a good general education and
was a "Zionist in his way." He
and his wife are buried in Jeru-
salem.
Many of Herzl's ancestors—on
both his grandfather's and grand-

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Vocabulary for Lesson 12, Tuesday, Aug. 8

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THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

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(Detroit District, Zionist Organization of America)

S6—Friday, Awyttsf 4, 1972

his son and grandson in Budapest the Jews started with the restora-
and exercised Jewish influence in tion of Palestine.
He preached—and people did
young Theodor llerzl. The old
strictly Orthodox Jew from Sem- not understand his dream songs,
lin, who had all his life endured for they sang of fantastic plans
the sufferings of the "Jew's for the establishment of a Jewish
Street," was a contemporary of state in the land of Judah. The
another Semlin Jew, who is known young could not and the old would
in Jewish history among the fore- not understand him. There were
runners of Zionism. He, too, knew a few, who in the age of eman-
the heavy burden and the dark cipation and assimilation, joined
fate of a homeless people. Rabbi in his songs, and these old-new
national memories gave them a
Yehuda ben Salomo Haj Alkalay,
teacher of the Semlin Jewish chil- sense of security, One of them was
Loeb Herz!.
Simon
dren, had restless blood, that drove
him to take the wanderer's staff
Two old Jews, Simon Loeb
that often led him to Jerusalem
Herzl and Yehuda ben Salomo
where he had been brought up. He
Haj Alkalay, sat in the Sephardic
was a champion of the national
synagogue of Semlin and dream.
right of the Jews, and wherever
eel in bright colors of the awaken.
he appeared he gathered around
ing of the Jewish soul and the
him people who had not given up
Jewish soil.
hope of liberation and Palestine.
When Alkalay died, some of his
He published many books, but few followers, belonging to the "Al-
understood them because they liance for Colonizing Palestine"
dealt with the revival of the He- which he had founded in the holy
brew language and the re-coloniza- city of Jerusalem, bought land and
tion of Palestine through the Jews. settled about 50 Jewish families—
This Haham (religious leader)
that was the beginning of Petach
of the Semlin Sephardic Commu-
Tikvah.
nity published in Vienna (in July
And every time the patriarch
1851) a Hebrew pamphlet entitled Simon Loeb Herzl came to Buda-
"The Fate of the Eternal," He de- pest he went over to his little
mands there that the Jews should
grandson's cradle and sang the
approach the Great Powers to
child to sleep to the sound of
give them back their home, their
Alkalay's songs.
heritage, Palestine, to which they
In his Zionist novel "Old-New
have a never-expiring title. He
Land" Theodor Herzl drew his
also pleads for the creation of
characters from among his col-
organization to demand
an
leagues and members of his fam-
Palestine from the sultan against
ily. When he came to describing
payment of an annual tribute.
the colonization of Palestine on a
"Once our land, the heritage of large scale and the creation of
our fathers, bears Israel's name, the Jewish state, his first step was
the whole purpose of the Jewish to send "Alladino" to Palestine to
buy as much land as he could get.
people will be roused."
"The organization to be created "Alladino" was "a Spanish Jew
should supervise the entire coloni- with a knowledge of Arabic and
zation, build houses, plant vine- Greek, a trustworthy and clever
yards, make roads, start naviga- man, descended from one of those
tion and industry and cultivate the proud families who could trace
land so that the Jews may again their ancestry back to the time of
become farmers and vinedressers." the expulsion from Spain."
Alkalay quoted Scripture to show
Did Theodor Herzl mean to pay
on religious grounds that Israel's a tribute through "Alladino" to
redemption could come only if Alkalay or to his grandfather?

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