Newly discovered Hebrew fragments in the State Archive of Amberg (Bavaria)—some suggestions on their historical background

Andreas Lehnardt*

The history of the Jews in the Bavarian region of Upper Palatinate (Ober­ pfalz), particularly in the post-medieval period, has already been compar­ atively well studied and documented.1 Reference has recently also been made to certain Hebrew manuscript fragments in archives in Regens­ burg and Amberg, half way between Bayreuth and Nuremberg. These fragments were apparently treated as ‘spoils’ to be re-used to bind other documents and books in the period following the expulsion of the Jews from the imperial city of Regensburg in 1519 to the time of the Thirty Years War.2 In 2009, a re-investigation of the known Hebrew manuscript fragments in the archives of Upper Palatinate and in adjoining regions resulted in the discovery and identification of numerous new and previ­ ously unknown binding fragment, mainly in the Amberg State Archives. These discoveries constitute the largest collection in terms of numbers of this type of Hebrew manuscript fragments in Upper Palatinate. Their identification and examination now allows to propose a new hypothesis concerning their origin and age.3 The fragments recently ­discovered are

* In memory of Andreas Angerstorfer (1948–2012). An earlier version of this paper was published in: Archivalische Zeitschrift 92 (2011): 339–350. 1 Cf. Magnus Weinberg, Die auf Juden bezüglichen Akten des Kgl. Bayerischen Kreis- archivs der Oberpfalz in Amberg (Leipzig: Buchhandlung G. Fock, 1912); Dirk Götschmann, “Die Juden in Amberg während des Mittelalters,” in Amberg 1034–1984. Aus tausend Jahren Stadtgeschichte, ed. Karl-Otto Ambronn, Achim Fuchs, and Heinrich Wanderwitz, (Aus­ stellungskataloge der Staatlichen Archive Bayerns 18), (Amberg: Amberger Zeitung, 1984), 91–106. Cf. also Die Juden in der Oberpfalz, ed. Michael Brenner and Renate Höpfinger, (Stu­ dien zur jüdischen Geschichte und Kultur in Bayern, 2), (München: C. H. Beck, 2008). 2 Cf. Andreas Angerstorfer, “Regensburg als Zentrum jüdischer Gelehrsamkeit im Mit­ telalter,” in Die Juden in der Oberpfalz, 9–26, here p. 23. See by the same author: “Ein bedeutender Handschriftenfund in der bischöflichen Zentralbibliothek entdeckt.” Der Landesverband der Israelitischen Kultusgemeinden in Bayern 14 (1985): 16 and idem, “Erste Spuren des mittelalterlichen Regensburger Synagogenritus.” Der Landesverband der Isra­ elitischen Kultusgemeinden in Bayern 29 (1987): 12. 3 For information on this project see Andreas Lehnardt, “Verborgene Schätze in Bucheinbänden. Hebräische und aramäische Handschriftenfragmente als Quelle jüdis­ cher Kultur.ˮ Kirchliches Buch- und Bibliothekswesen: Jahrbuch (2007/08): 89–99; ‘­Genizat 272 andreas lehnardt remarkable in that they bear annotations that make it possible to associ­ ate them with a certain region around Weiden and Amberg and with a specific period in time during the 17th century. As far as it can be assumed on the basis of Christian sources, there were probably no Jews living in Amberg from 1391—the year in which they were expelled from the Palatinate under Count Ruprecht II—until the 19th century. Most of the fragments now discovered, however, show signs of being reused during the first half of the 17th century. How was it that Hebrew manuscripts fell into the hands of Christian bookbinders in this particular area of Germany so late after the expulsion?

Hebrew Binding Fragments—Silent Witnesses of Pogroms?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, Hebrew manuscripts were used as binding mate­ rial for books held in many other libraries and archives in Germany and Europe. It is often only possible to postulate how it was that valuable books, still highly prized in Jewish culture today, should have ended up in the hands of mostly Christian bookbinders. The background to and reasons for this can be largely reconstructed in the case of certain towns and cities in Germany. In addition to the numerous Hebrew binding fragments found in Frankfurt on Main, documentary evidence was also discovered here showing that many manuscripts had been stolen during the course of anti-Jewish rioting by artisans under a certain Vincenz Fett­ milch in the years 1614 to 1616 and sold to the city’s bookbinders.4 In the case of Friedberg in the Wetterau region, north of Frankfurt on Main, it is also possible to link the fragmentation of Hebrew-language manuscripts and their re-utilisation as binding material for the city’s documents and accounts with events in the 17th century, especially those relating to the Thirty Years War.5 There are other cities, such as Mainz and Trier (the libraries and archives of which also contain significant numbers of Hebrew

­Germania.’ Hebrew and Aramaic binding fragments in context, ed. Andreas Lehnardt, (‘European Genizah’: Texts and Studies, 1), (Leiden, Boston: Brill, 2010). Note also the introduction to this volume. 4 Cf. Andreas Lehnardt, “ ‘Einem Buchbinder verkauft zu schertz, andere Bücher drein zu binden’. Hebräische und aramäische Einbandfragmente aus Frankfurt am Main.ˮ Frank- furter Judaistische Beiträge 28–29 (2007–2008): 1–27. 5 For details, see Andreas Lehnardt, “Die hebräischen Einbandfragmente in Friedberg. Verborgene Zeugnisse jüdischen Lebens in der Wetterau.ˮ Wetterauer Geschichtsblätter 58 (2009): 137–350.