Frankfurt on the Main: 1720–1722
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
chapter 7 Frankfurt on the Main: 1720–1722 Frankfurt on the Main has a distinguished place in Jew- customs dues. By the twelfth century, a small but flourish- ish history, one of considerable accomplishment, but ing Jewish community existed in Frankfurt.4 one whose history is also punctuated by grave and vio- Frankfurt is distinguished by the many prominent and lent acts of anti-Semitism.1 Jewish residence in Frankfurt prestigious rabbis that served or were associated with on the Main is recorded, if questionably, as early as the the city. Among them were Simeon ha-Darshan (Yalkut sixth century. Eugen Mayer quotes J. J. Schudt’s Jüdische Shimoni, 13th cent.), R. Alexander Suslin ha-Kohen (Agu- Merckwürdigkeiten (Frankfurter Juden-Chronik, 1714) and dah, d. 1349), R. Eliezer Treves (1495–1566), R. Akiva ben writes that Jacob Frankfurt (d. 1597), R. Nathan Epstein, R. Simeon ben Isaac ha-Levi Aschaffenburg (Devek Tov, Masoret J. G. Grambs, a local historian, stated in a lecture ha-Mikra), R. Elijah ben Moses Loanz (Rinnat Dodim, of 1682 that Jews had lived in Frankfurt in the Mikhlol Yofi, 1564–1636), R. Isaiah ben Abraham ha-Levi sixth century, at first among the Christians and from Horowitz (ha-Shalah ha-Kodesh, c. 1565–1630), R. Joseph 1462 on in their Ghetto in the Judengasse, a view Yuspa ben Phinehas Seligman Hahn (Nordlingen, Yosif already expressed in a ‘Diaurium Francofurtense’ of Omez, 1570–1637), R. Pethahiah ben Joseph (1622–68), and 1617. While these statements are not supported by R. Aaron Samuel Koidonover (Kaidanover, Birkat ha- any reliable evidence, it is not unlikely that, under Zevah, c. 1614–1676). the Carolingian kings, individual Jews will have The history of the Jews in Frankfurt also is noted found their way to Frankfurt which was then already for numerous persecutions, pogroms, and expulsions. a royal residence, and a station on the international On May 24, 1241 “180 Jews were killed in a riot, the first trade route.2 Judenschlacht. King Conrad IV, incensed because the event was detrimental to his income, did not forgive More recent sources date Jewish settlement to a much the citizens of the city until May 6, 1246.5 In 1349 during the later date, that no Jews lived in Frankfurt at the time of the Black Death, Flagellants destroyed much of the commu- first and second Crusades (1096–99, c. 1144–50) because nity. The distressed Jews set fire to their own homes rather it was not mentioned as a place where Jews were perse- than meet death by the mob. The community was rebuilt; cuted. An early reference to Jews in Frankfurt is of the however, from 1462 the Jews were forced to live outside purchase, between 1175 and 1191, of one-half of a house by the city wall in a specially constructed street (Judengasse). a goldsmith from Cologne from a Jew named Gottschalk One of the worst occurrences took place on August 22, of Frankfurt. Two references are by R. Eliezer ben Nathan 1614, when Vincent Fettmilch, an unemployed pastry (c. 1090–c. 1170) of Mainz as to the presence of Jews in baker, assumed dictatorial powers in the city and then Frankfurt in his Even ha-Ezer (1152), remarking in a dis- led a mob that attacked and plundered the Judengasse. cussion of locations that Frankfurt lacked a minyan.3 There were few dead or injured, no Jews were forced to Nevertheless, given Frankfurt’s importance as a trading accept baptism, and many even managed “to find shelter center, Jews likely visited its annual fall fairs. Emperor in the homes of compassionate Christians in neighboring Henry IV mentioned the city as one where the Jews of towns,”6 as well as in Frankfurt. Emperor Matthias soon Worms were allowed to trade without having to pay restored order and Fettmilch and his associates were executed. The Jews returned in a festive manner, and the community subsequently commemorated its deliverance 1 Jewish activity and early printing in Frankfurt on the Main are with a local Purim (Purim Vinz, Purim of Vincent) pre- addressed in much greater detail in Heller, Printing the Talmud: … ceded by a fast (Ta’anit Vinz).7 These events are recorded 1700 to 1750, 15–51. 2 Eugen Mayer, The Jews of Frankfurt: Glimpses of the Past, Commemo- ration of the Frankfurt Jewish Community on the Occasion of the 4 Stefan Rohrbacher, et al., “Frankfurt on the Main,” EJ, vol. 7, 207–12. Acquisition of the Frankfurt Memorbuch (Jerusalem, 1965), 18. 5 Gottheil, et al., “Frankfort-on-the-Main.” 3 Richard Gottheil, A. Freimann, Joseph Jacobs, and M. Seligsohn, 6 Breuer, “The Early Modern Period,” 93. “Frankfort-on-the-Main,” JE, vol. 5, 484; Mayer, Jews of Frankfurt, 19. 7 Ibid., 91–93. © koninklijke brill nv, leiden, 2019 | doi:10.1163/9789004376731_009 104 chapter 7 FIGURE 7.1A FIGURE 7.1B in one of the earliest Hebrew works printed in Frankfurt, on him, paying 1,550 florins and giving two clocks as the R. Elhanan ben Abraham Helin’s versified Megillat Vinz, Council had requested.”8 first published by Isaac Langenbuch. According to another account, apart from the better- On January 14, 1711, a fire broke out that destroyed the known accusation recounted above, it later became Jewish quarter. The fire began in the home of R. Naphtali known that a tailor was mending garments in the attic of ben Isaac ha-Kohen Katz (1645–1719), then rabbi of Frank- R. Naphtali ben Isaac ha-Kohen’s home. The tailor left the furt on the Main (1704–11). Author of several works and room, leaving a lit candle on the table, attached with drip- a noted kabbalist, Katz was malevolently accused of ping fat. Naphtali Katz initially was unaware of the tailor’s preventing the fire from being extinguished to test the activities; others also were unaware of the tailor’s role. efficacy of amulets he had written. Imprisoned, Katz was As a result, R. Katz became the subject of calumny and forced to resign and later left Frankfurt. Several accounts victimization.9 of the fire and its aftermath provide a different picture of The fire is commemorated in a selihot (printed without events. Aron Freimann and F. Kracauer note that Katz a title page). Figure 7.1B shows the title page of a later edi- was likely absorbed with his sacred books and likely did tion of the selihot for Ta’anit Vinz and the first page of the not notice the fire until it was too late to do anything to selihot to be recited concerning the fire. prevent it. They suggest that “presence of mind forsook Printing came to Frankfurt relatively late partly due to him, and he was seen standing motionless for a long time the city’s proximity to Mainz, an early center of printing. murmuring prayers.” They report the aftermath as Katz The first Frankfurt printer was Beatus Murner who printed lying in prison, having barely escaped with his life and having lost all. Despite numerous hearings that revealed his innocence, he was not released until bail, first set at 8 Aron Freimann and F. Kracauer, Frankfort, trans. Bertha Szold Levin (Philadelphia, 1929), 131–35. 4,000 thalers and later reduced to 2,000 thalers, was paid, 9 Mordecai Horovitz, Frankfurter Rabbininen: ein Beitrag zur not by members of his community, but by “several alien Geschichte der Israelitischen Gemeinde in Frankfurt A. M. [Hebrew] Jews together with some from Frankfurt [who] took pity (Jerusalem, 1972), 74..