MOSES BENJAMIN WULFF—COURT JEW1 the Phenomenon of The

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

MOSES BENJAMIN WULFF—COURT JEW1

The phenomenon of the Court Jew does not cease to fascinate us. Our attention is at first drawn by the contrast of Jews as advisors and confidantes to princes and monarchs, not infrequently in a kingdom or duchy which otherwise forbade residence to Jews, or, if it did allow it, segregated them in ghettoes with the concomitant disabilities that resulted from such a status. The image of these court factors (Hoffaktor, Hofjude), is further enhanced by their use of the trappings of eighteenth century nobility, while, more often than not, they not only adhered to the faith of their fathers, but actively worked for and interceded on behalf of their co-religionists.2 The role of Court Jews varied between regions and, within regions, between courts. Several Jews may have been in the employ of a single monarch, supplying the court, acquiring provisions for the army, and most important of all, providing financial services to their rulers, while, simultaneously, doing the same for a number of rulers. In many instances close relationships were established between the Jew and the ruler he served, with sensitive matters often being entrusted to the Hoffaktor.3

1 The original version of this article was published in European Judaism 33:2 (London, 2000), pp. 61–71. 2 There are a number of valuable studies of Court Jews and their influence, among them F. L. Carsten, “The Court Jews. A Prelude to Emancipation.” in Leo Baeck Institute Yearbook III (London, 1958), pp. 140–156; and Jonathan I. Israel, European Jewry in the Age of Mercantilism 1550–1750 (Oxford, 1985), pp. 123–144. In book form there is Selma Stern, The Court Jew, A Contribution to the History of the Period of Absolutism, trans- lated by Ralph Weiman (Philadelphia, 1950); and, most recently, Vivian P. Mann and Richard I. Cohen, eds., From Court Jews to the Rothschilds 1600–1800, Art, Patronage, Power (Munich-New York, 1996), published in conjunction with an exhibition on Court Jews held at the Jewish Museum, New York, and which includes scholarly essays on the subject, as well a number of books and studies on individual Court Jews; and Mordecai Breuer, ‘The Court Jews’ in German-Jewish History in Modern Times. Volume 1. Tradition and Enlightenment 1600–1780, ed. Michael Meyer (New York, 1996), pp. 104–126. See also Marina Sassenberg, “The Face of Janus: The Historian Selma Stern (1890–1981) and Her Portrait of the Court Jew,” European Judaism, 33:2 (2000), pp. 72–80. Most important, for our purposes, due to its treatment of Moses Benjamin Wulff, is Max Freudenthal, Aus der Heimat Mendelssohns. Moses Benjamin Wulff und seine familie, die Nachkommen des Moses Isserles (Berlin, 1900). 3 Powerless and dependent on the good will of monarchs who often held Jews in low regard, the relationship between Court Jews and the rulers whom they served,

Heller_F16_206-217.indd 206 10/24/2007 5:43:14 PM moses benjamin wulff—court jew 207

Behrend (Issachar ha-Levi Bermann) Lehmann (1661–1730), for exam- ple, was influential, through the expenditure of millions of thalers, in securing the election of Augustus the Strong of Saxony to the throne of Poland. The Hapsburgs depended on a number of Jewish bankers and financiers, such as Solomon and Ber Mayer, who provided the cloth for four squadrons of cavalry at the time of the wedding of the Emperor, Ferdinand II, and Samuel Oppenheimer and later Samson Wertheimer, for funds to finance the almost continuous wars of the Austrian Empire. The most famous Court Jew is certainly Joseph ( Jud [ Jew] Suess) Oppenheimer (1698/99–1738), who served several rulers, finally becoming court factor in Württemberg. His high position antagonized non-Jews, so that, upon the death of his benefactor, Duke Charles Alexander, accusations of impropriety, previously proven false, were resurrected and Oppenheimer was hung. Lesser courts also had their Jewish factors. Although the phenomena of Court Jews is most often associated with Germany, we find their counterparts in Poland, Russia, Sweden, and even in the service of the monarchs in the Iberian peninsula. Attention is generally directed towards a small number of prominent Court Jews, although others, in lesser principalities, often had positions of considerable influence. Moses Benjamin Wulff (1661–1729), achieved such prominence, and may be numbered among the more significant Court Jews, although he seldom receives the same consideration as his contemporaries. An exception is Manfred Lehmann, who describes Wulff as one of the three ‘most prominent Court Jews at the end of the seventeenth cen- tury’, the other two being Leffman Behrens and Samson Wertheimer, writing that they ‘brought much honor to the Jewish communities of their respective areas.’4 Moses Benjamin Wulff, descended from R. Moses Isserles (Rema), was not a German Jew, although he most likely had been born in Germany. His grandfather, Simon Wolf of Vilna, a communal leader there, was forced to flee during the disorders resulting from the wars between Russia and Sweden and the ravages of the Cossacks in the

despite their close associations and the important services they provided, can only be characterized as ambivalent. The inconsistencies of the position of Court Jews is one of the issues explored by Michael Graetz, ‘Court Jews in Economics and Politics,’ in From Court Jews to the Rothschilds, pp. 27–43. 4 Manfred R. Lehmann, ‘Behrend Lehmann: The King of the Court Jews’ in Sages and Saints. Ed. Leo Jung (Hoboken, 1987), X p. 199.

Heller_F16_206-217.indd 207 10/24/2007 5:43:15 PM