Samson Wertheimer
Encyclopedia
Chief Rabbi
Chief Rabbi is a title given in several countries to the recognized religious leader of that country's Jewish community, or to a rabbinic leader appointed by the local secular authorities...
of Hungary and Moravia
Moravia
Moravia is a historical region in Central Europe in the east of the Czech Republic, and one of the former Czech lands, together with Bohemia and Silesia. It takes its name from the Morava River which rises in the northwest of the region...
, and rabbi of Eisenstadt
Eisenstadt
- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
. He was also an Austrian financier
Financier
Financier is a term for a person who handles typically large sums of money, usually involving money lending, financing projects, large-scale investing, or large-scale money management. The term is French, and derives from finance or payment...
, court Jew
Court Jew
Court Jew is a term, typically applied to the Early Modern period, for historical Jewish bankers who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European royalty and nobility....
and Shtadlan
Shtadlan
A Shtadlan was an intercessor figure starting in Medieval Europe, who represented interests of the local Jewish community, especially those of a town's ghetto, and worked as a "lobbyist" negotiating for the safety and benefit of Jews with the authorities holding power...
to Austrian Emperor
Emperor
An emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
.
Family
Wertheimer was the son of Joseph Josel Wertheimer (b. 1626 - d. May 2, 1713, at the age of 87), and received his education at the yeshivaYeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...
s of Worms
Worms, Germany
Worms is a city in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, on the Rhine River. At the end of 2004, it had 85,829 inhabitants.Established by the Celts, who called it Borbetomagus, Worms today remains embattled with the cities Trier and Cologne over the title of "Oldest City in Germany." Worms is the only...
and Frankfurt am Main
Frankfurt
Frankfurt am Main , commonly known simply as Frankfurt, is the largest city in the German state of Hesse and the fifth-largest city in Germany, with a 2010 population of 688,249. The urban area had an estimated population of 2,300,000 in 2010...
.
Supplied the Imperial Army
He arrived in ViennaVienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
on December 2, 1684, and associated himself with the banker Samuel Oppenheimer
Samuel Oppenheimer
Samuel Oppenheimer was a Jewish banker, imperial court diplomat, factor, and military supplier for the Holy Roman Emperor. He enjoyed special favor of Emperor Leopold I, to whom he advanced considerable sums of money for the Great Turkish War...
, sharing the latter's privilege of residence. During the absence of Oppenheimer, Wertheimer represented him in transactions with the Austrian government. Wertheimer soon gained the confidence of Emperor Leopold I
Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor
| style="float:right;" | Leopold I was a Holy Roman Emperor, King of Hungary and King of Bohemia. A member of the Habsburg family, he was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand III and his first wife, Maria Anna of Spain. His maternal grandparents were Philip III of Spain and Margaret of Austria...
, who presented a portrait of himself to Wertheimer and his son Wolf, and on December 15, 1701, followed this gift with another of 1,000 ducats for the financier's success in obtaining for the daughter of the King of Poland a dowry of 1,000,000 florins from her father upon her marriage to Leopold's brother-in-law Duke Charles Philip.
In the Spanish War of Succession Wertheimer united with Samuel Oppenheimer to procure the money necessary for the equipment of the imperial army and for the supply of provisions. After Oppenheimer's failure, and his sudden death in 1703, Wertheimer maintained the credit of the state and found new sources of income. On August 29, 1703, the emperor appointed him court factor, and extended for twenty years his privileges of free religious worship, denizenship, and immunity from taxation. Joseph I
Joseph I, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph I , Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia, King of Hungary, King of the Romans was the elder son of Emperor Leopold I and his third wife, Eleonor Magdalene of Neuburg....
, who succeeded his father on May 5, 1705, confirmed Wertheimer's title and privileges.
Under Emperor Joseph I, Wertheimer maintained his position as a financier and creditor of the state. He was in personal relations with Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy
Prince Eugene of Savoy , was one of the most successful military commanders in modern European history, rising to the highest offices of state at the Imperial court in Vienna. Born in Paris to aristocratic Italian parents, Eugene grew up around the French court of King Louis XIV...
, to whom he paid 300,000 florins promised by Joseph I, Charles VI
Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor
Charles VI was the penultimate Habsburg sovereign of the Habsburg Empire. He succeeded his elder brother, Joseph I, as Holy Roman Emperor, King of Bohemia , Hungary and Croatia , Archduke of Austria, etc., in 1711...
. adding another 100,000 florins. During the Turkish war Wertheimer made large loans to the government. The title of "Landesrabbiner
Landesrabbiner
are spiritual head of the Jewish communities of a country, province, or district; met with in several parts of Germany and Austria. The office is a result of the legal condition of the Jews in medieval times when the Jewish communities formed a unit for the purposes of taxation...
", which the Jews of Hungary had bestowed on Wertheimer, was made effective by Charles VI. (August 26, 1711). Wertheimer, according to a contemporary account of one of his relatives, Abraham Levi, was called the "Juden Kaiser." Ten imperial soldiers stood as sentinels before his house. He possessed many of the palaces and gardens in Vienna, and numerous estates and houses in Germany, e.g., in Frankfurt am Main, Worms, and other cities. He established schools, and distributed large amounts of money in Europe and in the Holy Land. Alien Jews were not allowed to remain over night in Vienna without a written permit from him.
Rabbinical knowledge
Wertheimer did not discontinue his rabbinical studies. In a manuscript volume he left a number of derashot that he had delivered in the private synagogueSynagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...
in his house; these show considerable Talmudic erudition. He delivered many funeral sermons on the deaths of distinguished rabbis, as Simchah Cohen and David ben Israel, rabbi of Trebitsch
Trebíc
Třebíč is a city in the Moravian part of the Vysočina Region of the Czech Republic.Třebíč is situated 35 km southeast of Jihlava and 65 km west of Brno on the Jihlava River. Třebíč is from 392 to 503 metres above sea-level....
and son-in-law of Rabbi Menachem Krochmal, Rabbi of Nikolsburg
Mikulov
Mikulov is a town in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic with a population of 7,608 . It is located directly on the border with Lower Austria. Mikulov is located at the edge of a hilly area and the three Nové Mlýny reservoirs...
. From far and near, questions of religion, particularly of ritual, were submitted to him and to the rabbinical court over which he presided; and to the latter he called such great authorities as Jacob Eliezer Braunschweig, Simeon ben Judah Löb Jalles of Kraków
Kraków
Kraków also Krakow, or Cracow , is the second largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in the Lesser Poland region, the city dates back to the 7th century. Kraków has traditionally been one of the leading centres of Polish academic, cultural, and artistic life...
, and Alexander ben Menahem ha-Levi of Prossnitz
Prostejov
Prostějov is a city in the Olomouc Region of the Czech Republic. Today the city is known for its fashion industry and special military forces based there....
.
As patron of the arts
Moses Meïr Perls, for many years Wertheimer's secretary and almoner, mentions him in his "Megillat Sefer" (1709) as "a rabbi of great congregations in Israel." In some works Wertheimer is called "rabbi of PraguePrague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and Bohemia
Bohemia
Bohemia is a historical region in central Europe, occupying the western two-thirds of the traditional Czech Lands. It is located in the contemporary Czech Republic with its capital in Prague...
"; but he did not accept this title, as may be seen in an edition of Alfasi
Isaac Alfasi
for other Al-Fasi's see Al-Fasi disambiguationIsaac ben Jacob Alfasi ha-Cohen - also known as the Alfasi or by his Hebrew acronym Rif , was a Talmudist and posek...
(Frankfurt-am-Main, 1699–1700). His reputation spread even to the Orient, where he was described as a "prince of the Holy Land" and given the title of "rabbi of Hebron
Hebron
Hebron , is located in the southern West Bank, south of Jerusalem. Nestled in the Judean Mountains, it lies 930 meters above sea level. It is the largest city in the West Bank and home to around 165,000 Palestinians, and over 500 Jewish settlers concentrated in and around the old quarter...
and Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
". His native city also honored him with the title of rabbi. Many authors sought his "approbation", but only in a few cases did he give it, e.g., in Moses ben Menahem's Va-Yachal Mosheh, and Rabbi Yair Bacharach
Yair Bacharach
Yair Chayim Bacharach was a German rabbi, initially in Koblenz and remainder of his life in Worms and Metz...
's "Chavath Yair." He contributed liberally toward the publication of such works as "Chavath Yair" (in which his name appears with that of Samuel Oppenheimer), Rabbi Yehudah ben Nisan's "Beth Yehudah", Rabbi Gershon Ashkenazi's "Avodath ha-Gershuni" and "Tif'ereth ha-Gershuni" (in which David Oppenheimer also is mentioned). He and his son-in-law Moses Kann bore the greater part of the expense of printing the Babylonian Talmud in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1712-22; this excellent edition was confiscated and for thirty years kept under lock and key (see Kann, Moses).
(see image) Tombstone of Samson Wertheimer at Vienna.(From a photograph.)
When Eisenmenger
Johann Andreas Eisenmenger
Johann Andreas Eisenmenger was a German Orientalist, now best known as the author of the anti-Semitic polemic, Entdecktes Judenthum .-Studies rabbinical literature:...
's Entdecktes Judenthum appeared in Frankfurt in 1700, Wertheimer addressed to Emperor Leopold a petition in which he warned of the grave dangers which it would bring upon the Jews. Accordingly the 2,000 copies of the book were confiscated, and for years its sale was forbidden.
When, in consequence of Rákóczy
Francis II Rákóczi
Francis II Rákóczi Hungarian aristocrat, he was the leader of the Hungarian uprising against the Habsburgs in 1703-11 as the prince of the Estates Confederated for Liberty of the Kingdom of Hungary. He was also Prince of Transylvania, an Imperial Prince, and a member of the Order of the Golden...
's insurrection (1708), the Jewish congregation of Eisenstadt had been dispersed and the wealthier members had taken refuge in Vienna, Wertheimer persuaded them to return or to help their poorer brethren rebuild the congregation. He himself built for them in Eisenstadt a house and an attractive synagogue, still called "Samson's Schule." He lent his aid also in establishing about forty congregations in Hungary. In Frankfurt-am-Main he founded and richly endowed a Talmudical school, at whose head was his son-in-law Moses Kann.
Family
By the marriages of his children Wertheimer became connected with the most prominent families of Austria and Germany. His stepson Isaac Nathan Oppenheimer married a daughter of the wealthy purveyor Pösing; his eldest son, Wolf, married a daughter of Emanuel Oppenheimer.Wolf was an active agent in his father's financial transactions, and shared his dignity as court factor. He later experienced great reverses of fortune, however. Having invested a large part of his wealth in loans to the Bavarian government, the stipulated terms of repayment were not kept, and bankruptcy stared him in the face. For a time he was able to pay only half of the interest on the 150,000 florins which Samson Wertheimer had donated to charity, and of which Wolf was trustee. On his father's donation of 22,000 florins in favor of the German Jews in Palestine he did not pay any interest after 1733. His embarrassment was ended by Elector Maximilian
Maximilian III, Elector of Bavaria
Maximilian III Joseph was Prince-elector of the Holy Roman Empire and Duke of Bavaria from 1745 to 1777.-Biography:...
, who liquidated his debts. In his will (1762) Wolf declared that, although entailing a great loss upon him, he accepted this liquidation in order to do justice to his creditors. Further, he enjoined his children to pay in full his father's donation of 22,000 florins, although in 1759 he (Wolf) had returned to the Frankfurt congregation 10,000 florins which it had contributed to this fund.
In 1769 the grandchildren of Samson Wertheimer secured the donation of 150,000 florins, and Wolf's heirs added thereto 40,000 florins, in compensation for unpaid interest. These two foundations at Vienna and Jerusalem still keep alive the name of Wertheimer.
Samson's second son, Löb, married a daughter of Issachar ha-Levi Bermann of Halberstadt
Halberstadt
Halberstadt is a town in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt and the capital of the district of Harz. It is located on the German Half-Timbered House Road and the Magdeburg–Thale railway....
, a relative of Leffman Behrens, court Jew
Court Jew
Court Jew is a term, typically applied to the Early Modern period, for historical Jewish bankers who handled the finances of, or lent money to, European royalty and nobility....
of Hanover
Hanover
Hanover or Hannover, on the river Leine, is the capital of the federal state of Lower Saxony , Germany and was once by personal union the family seat of the Hanoverian Kings of Great Britain, under their title as the dukes of Brunswick-Lüneburg...
; thus the three great "shetadlanin
Shtadlan
A Shtadlan was an intercessor figure starting in Medieval Europe, who represented interests of the local Jewish community, especially those of a town's ghetto, and worked as a "lobbyist" negotiating for the safety and benefit of Jews with the authorities holding power...
" were closely connected. Samson's sons-in-law were: R. Moses Kann of Frankfurt-on-the-Main; Issacbar Berush Eskeles, father of the Vienna banker Bernhard Eskeles; Joseph, son of R. David Oppenheimer; and Seligmann Berend Kohn, called Solomon of Hamburg. His youngest son, Joseph Josel (b. 1718), married a daughter of his stepbrother Wolf. Joseph died in Vienna (1761), where he was reportedly greatly esteemed for his charity and Talmudic learning.