Nadene Goldfoot
Hungary was a country outside the Pale of Settlement where Jews had found refuge to live. The first-known Jewish grave dates back from the 2nd century CE. Jewish communities lived in Hungary in the 9th century. By the 13th century, the decrees of the Lateran Council segregating the Jews from their neighbors were put into effect. This was the 4th Council when these things were decided:
Regulations relating to Jews and Muslims
Jews had to wear a distinctive badge of identification, usually the star of David. During the reign of Bela IV from 1235 to 1270, many Jews settled in Hungary as his property.
They enjoyed good relations with their neighbors. Jews often were the minters of coins. Some of them even had Hebrew inscriptions on them.
The Pope put pressure on the people and the Jews, but Jews remained in a good position until 1349 when they all were expelled for the first time in Hungary. A 2nd time took place in 1360. Then many Jews immigrated from neighboring countries when the edict was revoked in 1364. A year later, the office of "Judge of the Jews" was established to collect taxes from the Jewish population and protect their interests. The last judge was appointed in 1440.
The 15th and 16th centuries were marked by recurrent charges of Ritual Murder. They blamed Jews for killing a child they may have found murdered somewhere and said the Jews did it so they could use the child's blood in making matzos for Passover. Of course it's the worst of lies said for an excuse to kill Jews. The reason was that then they could cancel debts of money owed to the Jews.
For nearly a 150 years until 1686, the Jews of Budapest and southern Hungary enjoyed a large measure of civic equality and religious liberty under the occupying Ottoman regime, although they were subject to their heavy taxes being they were dhimmis, or 2nd class citizens. .
The restoration of Hungarian sovereignty brought in its wake expulsions and the exclusion of Jews from agriculture and the professions. At the same time, some nobles protected the Jews whose numbers were augmented by refugees from Vienna in 1670. The Jewish population increased because they were joined by Jew arriving from Moravia and Poland in the first half of the 18th century.
The Polish immigrants brought the study of the Talmud to Hungary. They established important centers of learning.
Rabbi Samson "Wertheimer (1658-1724) born in Worms, Germany, leased royal revenues and was one of the chief purveyors of the imperial forces. Together with his son, Wolf, they lent large sums to the emperor, the Holy Roman Emperor, King Leopold (1640-1705) of Germany, Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.
Rabbi Samson Wertheimer
Wertheimer is the man I match in DNA along with others in a DNA group on FTDNA which traces back to him. This was found by triangulation of DNA. The
genealogy I've done only goes back to Telsiai, Lithuania and our Goldfus family. Descendants of Iones Jonah Goldfus
1 Iones Jonah Goldfus b: Abt. 1730 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania d: 1813 in prob. Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania
In 1719 /Charles VI (1685-1740) another Holy Roman Emperor, appointed him as chief rabbi of Hungary with judicial authority. He used his connections to assist Jewish communities and obtained an order from Emperor Leopold prohibiting the publication of Eisenmenger's antii-Jewish work, "Entdecktes Judentum."
During Maria Theresa's reign, many new methods were created for exacting money from the Jews, who had been the big money-lenders. The rule of Joseph II (1780 to 1790) brought the right to establish schools, lease lands, engage in all trades and professions and ive in the royal cities. The Jewish badge was abolished, and the Jews had to adopt German surnames. All this was then nullified at Joseph's death. It was followed with a struggle to regain these legal rights plus an increeased Magyarization of the Jewish community.
There was a a revolution between Austria and Hungary. Wholehearted support for the 1848 revolution brought severe reprisals by the Austrians. It took until 1867 till the Jews were finally granted full civic and political rights. Then Hungarian Jewry became divided in its religious life into two opposing camps of orthodox and liberal Jews.
The rapid integration of the Jews into the country's life received a brief setback with the rise of 19th century anti-Semitism, culminating in the TISZAESZLAR Ritual Murder libel. "An accusation of Jewish ritual murder in the Hungarian village of Tiszaeszlár (before 1918, in Szabolcs county) led to the arrest, imprisonment, interrogation, and eventual trial of 13 Jewish defendants, April 1882–August 1883. The Tiszaeszlár affair began with the disappearance of a 14-year-old Christian girl named Eszter Solymosi on 1 April 1882. "
Jews played a prominent part in the cultural life of Hungary before World War I. Jews played a disproportionate participation in the Communist Revolution of 1919 so suffered heavily after the collapse of the Bela KUN regime, and discrimination of many kinds was instituted against them. After the advent of Nazism in Germany, the scope of anti-Jewish measures enacted by the government had increased. These also applied to 300,000 Jews in territories which the Hungarians annexed from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania during World War II.
In 1944, the Nazis overran Hungary, imposing ghettos, concentration camps and deportations to extermination centers. Of Hungary's 725,000 Jews, about 400,000 were murdered in the Holocaust. After the liberation, all pre-war organizations were re-established. The accession to power of the communists in 1948 led to the nationalization of Jewish institutions, and religious organizations were centralized under one authority.
Some 20,000 Jews fled Hungary after the 1956 revolution. Jewish communal and religious life (including the Budapest rabbinical seminary) continued under the communist regime but flourished more freely with the introduction of liberalization. 80,000 Jews were registered with the community by 1990, but there were many more who were not affiliated.
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-VI-Holy-Roman-emperor
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Tiszaeszlar_Blood_Libel
update: This article is also found on my Goldfoot blog. goldfoot_genealogy.blogspot.com
Hungary was a country outside the Pale of Settlement where Jews had found refuge to live. The first-known Jewish grave dates back from the 2nd century CE. Jewish communities lived in Hungary in the 9th century. By the 13th century, the decrees of the Lateran Council segregating the Jews from their neighbors were put into effect. This was the 4th Council when these things were decided:
Regulations relating to Jews and Muslims
- Canon 67: Jews may not charge extortionate interest.
- Canons 68: Jews and Muslims shall wear a special dress to enable them to be distinguished from Christians so that no Christian shall come to marry them ignorant of who they are.
- Canon 69: Declares Jews disqualified from holding public offices, incorporating into ecclesiastical law a decree of the Holy Christian Empire.
- Canon 70: Takes measures to prevent converted Jews from returning to their former belief.
In addition, it threatened excommunication to those who supplied ships, arms, and other war materials to the Saracens.
Effective application of the decrees varied according to local conditions and customs.
Jews had to wear a distinctive badge of identification, usually the star of David. During the reign of Bela IV from 1235 to 1270, many Jews settled in Hungary as his property.
Béla IV of Hungary
Béla IV (1206 – 3 May 1270), also known as Béla the Great, was King of Hungary and Croatia between 1235 and 1270, and Duke of Styria from 1254 to 1258. Being the oldest son of King Andrew II, he was crowned upon the initiative of a group of influential noblemen in his father's lifetime in 1214. His father, who strongly opposed Béla's coronation, refused to give him a province to rule until 1220.
They enjoyed good relations with their neighbors. Jews often were the minters of coins. Some of them even had Hebrew inscriptions on them.
The Pope put pressure on the people and the Jews, but Jews remained in a good position until 1349 when they all were expelled for the first time in Hungary. A 2nd time took place in 1360. Then many Jews immigrated from neighboring countries when the edict was revoked in 1364. A year later, the office of "Judge of the Jews" was established to collect taxes from the Jewish population and protect their interests. The last judge was appointed in 1440.
The 15th and 16th centuries were marked by recurrent charges of Ritual Murder. They blamed Jews for killing a child they may have found murdered somewhere and said the Jews did it so they could use the child's blood in making matzos for Passover. Of course it's the worst of lies said for an excuse to kill Jews. The reason was that then they could cancel debts of money owed to the Jews.
For nearly a 150 years until 1686, the Jews of Budapest and southern Hungary enjoyed a large measure of civic equality and religious liberty under the occupying Ottoman regime, although they were subject to their heavy taxes being they were dhimmis, or 2nd class citizens. .
The restoration of Hungarian sovereignty brought in its wake expulsions and the exclusion of Jews from agriculture and the professions. At the same time, some nobles protected the Jews whose numbers were augmented by refugees from Vienna in 1670. The Jewish population increased because they were joined by Jew arriving from Moravia and Poland in the first half of the 18th century.
The Polish immigrants brought the study of the Talmud to Hungary. They established important centers of learning.
Rabbi Samson "Wertheimer (1658-1724) born in Worms, Germany, leased royal revenues and was one of the chief purveyors of the imperial forces. Together with his son, Wolf, they lent large sums to the emperor, the Holy Roman Emperor, King Leopold (1640-1705) of Germany, Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia.
Rabbi Samson Wertheimer
Wertheimer is the man I match in DNA along with others in a DNA group on FTDNA which traces back to him. This was found by triangulation of DNA. The
genealogy I've done only goes back to Telsiai, Lithuania and our Goldfus family. Descendants of Iones Jonah Goldfus
1 Iones Jonah Goldfus b: Abt. 1730 in Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania d: 1813 in prob. Telsiai, Telsiai, Kaunas, Lithuania
In 1719 /Charles VI (1685-1740) another Holy Roman Emperor, appointed him as chief rabbi of Hungary with judicial authority. He used his connections to assist Jewish communities and obtained an order from Emperor Leopold prohibiting the publication of Eisenmenger's antii-Jewish work, "Entdecktes Judentum."
During Maria Theresa's reign, many new methods were created for exacting money from the Jews, who had been the big money-lenders. The rule of Joseph II (1780 to 1790) brought the right to establish schools, lease lands, engage in all trades and professions and ive in the royal cities. The Jewish badge was abolished, and the Jews had to adopt German surnames. All this was then nullified at Joseph's death. It was followed with a struggle to regain these legal rights plus an increeased Magyarization of the Jewish community.
There was a a revolution between Austria and Hungary. Wholehearted support for the 1848 revolution brought severe reprisals by the Austrians. It took until 1867 till the Jews were finally granted full civic and political rights. Then Hungarian Jewry became divided in its religious life into two opposing camps of orthodox and liberal Jews.
The rapid integration of the Jews into the country's life received a brief setback with the rise of 19th century anti-Semitism, culminating in the TISZAESZLAR Ritual Murder libel. "An accusation of Jewish ritual murder in the Hungarian village of Tiszaeszlár (before 1918, in Szabolcs county) led to the arrest, imprisonment, interrogation, and eventual trial of 13 Jewish defendants, April 1882–August 1883. The Tiszaeszlár affair began with the disappearance of a 14-year-old Christian girl named Eszter Solymosi on 1 April 1882. "
Jews played a prominent part in the cultural life of Hungary before World War I. Jews played a disproportionate participation in the Communist Revolution of 1919 so suffered heavily after the collapse of the Bela KUN regime, and discrimination of many kinds was instituted against them. After the advent of Nazism in Germany, the scope of anti-Jewish measures enacted by the government had increased. These also applied to 300,000 Jews in territories which the Hungarians annexed from Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia and Romania during World War II.
In 1944, the Nazis overran Hungary, imposing ghettos, concentration camps and deportations to extermination centers. Of Hungary's 725,000 Jews, about 400,000 were murdered in the Holocaust. After the liberation, all pre-war organizations were re-established. The accession to power of the communists in 1948 led to the nationalization of Jewish institutions, and religious organizations were centralized under one authority.
Some 20,000 Jews fled Hungary after the 1956 revolution. Jewish communal and religious life (including the Budapest rabbinical seminary) continued under the communist regime but flourished more freely with the introduction of liberalization. 80,000 Jews were registered with the community by 1990, but there were many more who were not affiliated.
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Charles-VI-Holy-Roman-emperor
http://www.yivoencyclopedia.org/article.aspx/Tiszaeszlar_Blood_Libel
update: This article is also found on my Goldfoot blog. goldfoot_genealogy.blogspot.com
As Jewish Hungarian decent, who was born and live in Israel, to Hungarian parents, I am amazed by this article. Well done work. Spread it to the world.
ReplyDeleteThank you! Glad to hear from you. I always learn more by doing research and really getting into an article.
DeleteThank you, Unknown.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting. It makes me happy to hear from readers and know that they read it.
ReplyDelete