Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX: specific şi integrare
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | Romanian English |
| Published: |
Timişoara
Ed. Excelsior Art
2007
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Inhaltsverzeichnis Abstract |
| Physical Description: | 282 S. Ill., graph. Darst. |
| ISBN: | 9789735921828 |
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Record in the Search Index
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| adam_text | CUPRINS
INTRODUCERE
1 -
Stadiul cercetării problematicii
..................................................................13
1.1
-Lucrări generale dedicate evreimii ungare
........................................17
1.2 -
Monografii care cuprind şi date despre evreii stabiliţi în Banat
........19
1.3
-Articole şi studii consacrate evreilor bănăţeni
...................................21
1.4 -
Concluzii parţiale. Izvoarele bibliografice şi
arhivistice
investigate
... 26
Capitolul
I
CADRUL GENERAL EUROPEAN ŞI CENTRAL-EUROPEAN
AL PROBLEMEI EVREIEŞTI ÎN SECOLELE
AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.........................................................................29
1-
Secolele al XVIII-lea şi al XlX-lea: repere istorice şi demografice
...........29
2
-Aspecte ale fenomenului migrării.
Orientarea evreilor din Europa de Est şi
Sud-Est
spre Occident
...............32
3 -
Schimbări survenite în structura instituţională
şi socio-profesională a societăţii evreieşti
................................................. 34
4
-Influenţa mişcării Haskala în evoluţia vieţii comunităţilor evreieşti
...........36
5 -
înnoiri în domeniul religiei şi reacţia faţă de acestea: hasidismul,
recrudescenţa misticismului în Polonia, Galiţia
etc
...................................39
6 -
Modificări în politica oficială faţă de evrei a regimurilor absolutiste
.........41
7
-Emanciparea
..............................................................................................43
8
-Ascensiunea antisemitismului
în a doua jumătate a secolului al XlX-lea
..................................................46
Capitolul
II
STRUCTURA DEMOGRAFICĂ ŞI ECONOMICĂ A EVREILOR
BĂNĂŢENI ÎN SECOLELE AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.......................50
1 -
Structura demografică
...............................................................................50
1.1
-Evoluţia demografică
.........................................................................51
1.2 -
Sporul natural
....................................................................................65
1.3 -
Dispunerea pe medii geografice
........................................................66
1.4
-Structura populaţiei
............................................................................71
2 -
Structura socio-profesională
......................................................................74
2.1
-Viaţa materială
..................................................................................81
3 -
Viaţa economică
........................................................................................83
3.1
-Comerţul
............................................................................................85
3.2-Arendăşia
..........................................................................................91
3.3 -
Căile de comunicaţie
.........................................................................94
10___________________________________________________
______^
_____________
3.4
-Activitatea hotelieră
...........................................................................94
3.5
-Asociaţii
.............................................................................................95
3.6-Finanţele
............................................................................................97
Capitolul III
STATUTUL JURIDIC AL COMUNITĂŢILOR EVREIEŞTI DIN BANAT
ÎN SECOLELE AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.............................................98
1 -
Cadrul istoric
.............................................................................................98
2 -
Perioada carolingiană
..............................................................................100
3
-Perioada tereziană
...................................................................................104
3.1-Judenordnung..................................................................................107
3.2 -
Taxa de toleranţă
.............................................■................................ 113
4
-Perioada iosefină
„................................................................................... 121
5 -
Perioada postiosefmă
...............................................................................125
Capitolul
IV
ASPECTE PRIVIND STRUCTURA INSTITUŢIONALĂ A POPULAŢIEI
EVREIEŞTI DIN BANAT ÎN SECOLELE
AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.......................................................................132
1.1
-Comunitatea
....................................................................................132
1.2-
Sinagoga
..........................................................................................139
1.3
-Instituţiarabinului
............................................................................152
1.4
-Asociaţiile
........................................................................................157
2 -
Viaţa culturală şi confesională a evreilor din Banat
în secolele al XVIII-lea şi al XlX-lea
......................................................161
2.1 -
Şcoală. învăţământ....
......................................................................162
2.2 -
Personalităţi
.....................................................................................173
Capitolul
V
PROBLEMA EMANCIPĂRII EVREILOR BĂNĂŢENI ŞI
REVOLUŢIA DE LA
1848-1849......................................................................181
1 -
Emanciparea ca aspiraţie în perioada anterevoluţionară
.........................181
2 -
Lupta pentru emancipare în timpul revoluţiei
..........................................187
3
-Aspecte ale emancipării în perioada postrevoluţionară
...........................195
Capitolul
VI
RELAŢIILE RELIGIOASE ŞI CULTURALE ÎNTRE COMUNITĂŢILE
EVREIEŞTI ŞI CONFESIUNILE CREŞTINE DIN BANAT ÎN
SECOLELE AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
..................................................204
1
-Consideraţii preliminare
...........................................................................204
__________________________________________________
и
1.1
-Imagologie,
identitate, alteritate
.......................................................204
1.2 -
Context istoric şi spiritual
................................................................205
1.3
-Aspecte şi dovezi
integrative
...........................................................208
2
-Raporturi religioase şi bisericeşti
.............................................................211
2.1
-Aspecte religioase
...........................................................................211
2.2
-Aspecte bisericeşti
..........................................................................215
2.2.1
-Contribuţii băneşti şi materiale
................................................215
2.2.2
-Aspecte ecumeniste (inaugurări/sfinţiri de lăcaşuri de cult)
... 216
3-
Relaţii culturale
........................................................................................219
3.1 -
Şcoală. învăţământ
..........................................................................219
3.2-
Studii şi cercetări despre evrei
........................................................222
3.3
-Cărţi vechi, biblioteci privitoare la evrei
..........................................225
3.4
-Publicistică
......................................................................................228
3.5
-Reuniuni, asociaţii, societăţi -interferenţe culturale
.......................229
CONCLUZII
......................................................................................................233
JEWISH COMMUNITIES
IN BANAT
IN.THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES (Summary)
......................243
BIBLIOGRAFIE
................................................................................................269
Jewish Communities in
Banat
(Summary)
This doctoral thesis builds up an extensive picture of the presence and evolution
of the Jewish population of
Banat
in the 18th and 19th centuries. Our analytic
investigation covers several sections. In the introduction, we put forward the most
important approaches adopted by different authors interested in this historical
phenomenon. Our theme is unfolded in the following chapters:
I. The general European and Central-European frame of the Jewish problem
in the
1
8th and
1
9th centuries;
II. The Jewish demographic and economic structures of
Banat
in the 18th and
19th centuries;
Ш.
The legal background of the Jewish communities of
Banat
in the 18th and
19th centuries;
IV. Aspects of the institutional structures of the Jewish population of
Banat
in
the 18th and 19th centuries;
V. The problem of the emancipation of the Jews living in
Banat
and the
1848-1849
Revolution;
VI. The religious and cultural relationships between the Jewish communities
and the Christian denominations of
Banat
in the
18
љ
and
1
9th centuries;
VII.
Conclusion.
Each chapter is divided into several parts following a logical development of
each issue analysed. The length of the chapters is generally well balanced and the
investigation focuses on aspects hitherto neglected, referring to the demographic and
economic life led by the Jewish communities of
Banat
(chapter II), Jewish institutional
structures (chapter V), and religious relationships between Jewish communities and
Christian denominations (chapter VI).
Introduction
There are a few historical publications containing references to the oldness of
the presence of Jews on the present territory of the
Banat
region. According to these
publications, the Jews might have settled here in the first century of our era, following
the invasion of the Holy Land by Roman legions -especially after the Jewish uprising
in
A.D. 66-70
and the demolition of the Holy Temple
(A.D. 70).
Immediately after
that, the Roman emperor
Trajanus
attacked and conquered
Dacia,
displacing legions
from the Palestine in his military campaigns; among the displaced were Jewish soldiers
(from the Palestine) and merchants too. In the modern times, archaeological discoveries
have brought to light proofs of the presence of Jews in
Banat
in the 2nd century of our
246
IONEL POPESCU
era. These proofs can be found in Aradul-Nou, in the Hodos-Bodrog Monastery, at
Pojejena (where were discovered coins dating from the years
A.D. 133-134),
and
Tibiscum (where a military decree setting soldiers free was found at
Jupa,
a village
near
Caransebeş).
This historical information can be found in a group of publications dealing with
the problems of the Jews who lived on the Hungarian territory, as well as in a second
group containing monographs that abound in references to Jews living in
Banat.
The investigations of the first group of publications refer to the beginning of the
1
9th century and include details on the settling down of the Jews, their communitarian
life, their participation in the
1848-1849
Revolution, their self-affirmation and
emancipation, etc. Rabbis, historians or politicians supplied these valuable pieces of
information. The first condensed works on the history of Jews in Hungary were
published during the first half of the 19 th century. They were written by famous
authors of the time, such as Ignaz
Einhorn,
Leopold Low, Joseph Bergl, Wolf
Gerson,
F. Schmitt
and Simeon Dubnow. In the 20th century, the studies continued with more
impetus, tackling broader themes and completing more profound investigations. Among
the most prolific writers were
Wolfdieter Bihl,
Bella Bernstein, Alexander
Büchler,
Bernhardt
Mandl,
Solomon Stern, etc.
In some monographs on the
Banat
region, we will also find information referring
to the Jewish population who lived in this region during the
18 *
and
1
9th centuries
.
Let
us first mention prominent authors like Fr. Griselini, J. J. Ehrler, Pesty
Frigyes,
followed
by writers who lived in
Banat,
like
Baróti Lajos,
Felix
Milleker,
loan Lotreanu, Nicolae
Iliesiu,
Eugen Glück,
Nicolae Bocsan and Costin Fenesan. They were joined by other
writers who were interested in the life of the Jews on the Transylvanian territory
(with reference to
Banat
too) like
Moshe Carmilly
Weinberger and Ladislau
Gyémánt.
The collection entitled Sources and Evidences Concerning the Jews of
Romania, published in a series of volumes starting in
1986,
also contains thematic
references about Jews living in
Banat.
Final ly yet importantly there is also a third documentary group including themes
dedicated to the Israeli population living in
Banat. Historiographical
sources mention
articles and studies written by one or several authors and published in a series of
volumes. Interest in these themes grew during the last decades of the 19th century
and continued to grow in the 20 th century. Leopold Low elaborated the first prominent
work, which L.
Gyémánt
considered a pathfinder: it was entitled
Zur neueren
Geschichte der Juden in Ungarn
and was published in
1874.
It provided essential
documentation on the Jews of
Banat
fighting for emancipation and highlighted the
confrontations between reformers and traditionalists. Another study, written by
Moritz
Löwy
and published in
1890,
Skkizzen
zur Geschichte der Juden in
Temesvár
bis
zum Jahre 1865,
whose theme was amplified, followed
Leopold
Low s study. It
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
1
8th AND 19th CENTURIES
247
contained information about the settling of the first Jewish families in
Timişoara,
their
juridical regulations after
1718,
their prayer houses and their community leaders.
Using his predecessor as a model, Dr. Iakob Singer, a learned rabbi of
Timişoara,
authored an important work about rabbi succession in
Timişoara,
about the Jewish
houses of prayer and about the participation of the Jews in the
1848-1849
Revolution.
In his work
Zur Geschichte der Juden in
Banat,
published
in
Timişoara
in 1840,
the
scholar Hans Wolf established a chronology of events in the life of the Jewish
communities of
Timişoara
and of other Jewish communities of
Banat
from
1716
to
1867.
Furthermore, all contributions regarding school attendance by Jews, the
relationships between the authorities and the Jewish communities, as well as the
necessary steps taken in obtaining civil rights were not only new but also quite
interesting. In his sketch entitled Contributions to the History of the Jews from
Caransebeş
(published in the Jewish Almanac,
Timişoara
1940),
E.
Deutsch
wrote
about the history of the Jews living in
Caransebeş.
Important data about Jews living
in
Lugoj
and
Caransebeş
in the
1
8th century collected by the historian
Valériu Leu
from the manuscript of the minister loan
Boros
(a document to be found in the
Lugoj
Museum) were published in the collection entitled Historical Studies of
Banat
(Resita,
1997). Eugen Glück,
a scholar of
Arad,
also supplied valuable information on Jews
living in
Banat.
Some of them were in manuscript form, while others were included in
the aforementioned collection of studies entitled Sources and Evidences Concerning
the Jews of Romania.
In the last decades, works by the historian Victor Neumann have enriched the
historiography of the Jews of
Banat.
Thus, The History of the Jews of Romania,
(Timişoara,
1996)
and The History of the Jews of
Banat (Bucureşti,
1999)
are
momentous to our subject. The present stage of research has determined several
analysts specialized in history and sociology to assert that the Jewish communities of
Banat
constitute a field that has been insufficiently explored (V. Leu) and that the
investigation of the Jewish Diaspora in the Central and South-Eastern European regions
is insufficiently known (V. Neumann). These statements would lead to the conclusion
that the history of the Jews of Transylvania and
Banat
has not yet been written
(Moshe Carmilly -
Weinberger).
Chapter I
The general European and Central European frame of the
Jewish problem in the
18
and 19th centuries
In the
18*
and 19th centuries, the general Central and South-Eastern European
frame designated an area dominated mainly by the interests of the great imperial
powers
-
like the Prussians, the Germans (first the Hapsburg family and after
1867,
the Austrian-Hungarian family), the Russians and the Ottomans. It was an epoch of
248
IONEL POPESCU
transition from
feudal
forms of
social
organization to capitalist structures. The two
centuries were profoundly marked by two great events on the Continent: the French
Revolution
(1789)
and the
1848-1849
Revolution. Both prior to these events and after
them, different political and social movements took place, followed by various actions
in each country echoing the overall turbulence. On one hand, these actions determined
important changes on the political stage in the role of the aforementioned empires,
and on the other hand, changes in the configuration of the national states in the second
decade of the 20th century. Consequently, the confrontations among the imperial powers
generated several territorial changes. The Hapsburg Empire conquered territories
from the Ottoman Empire: Hungary, Croatia,- Slovakia, Transylvania,
Banat,
Serbia
and
Oltenia
(for a very short time). Between
1772
and
1795,
Poland was divided
among the Russian, Austrian and Prussian powers. In
1859,
the Romanian Principalities
(Moldova and
Muntenia)
were united under the name of Romania, a state that gained
its independence from under the Ottoman domination in
1877 -
while Bulgaria, for
instance, gained hers in
1879.
These aspects and many other aspects had a direct influence on the life of the
Jewish communities living on the European Continent. The leaders of larger or smaller
states had an important beneficial role.
At the end of the 19 th century, the problems of European Jews became more
and more important as their number increased to
7.5
million people. Towards the
middle of the 18th century, more than
2/3
of the Jews in the whole world lived in the
great kingdom of Poland, where they prospered under the reign of several tolerant
kings. After the division of Poland among Russia, Austria and Prussia, the Russian
empire gained supremacy over the other two powers and more than
900,000
Jews
were placed in the area. In
1746-1748,
the Hapsburg Empire numbered almost
15,000
Jews, their number increasing in
1813
to
80,000
persons and growing even more
between
1813
and the
1848-1849
revolution. Although geographically placed on the
periphery of the continent, the
Banat
region witnessed the same rhythm of growth,
which was a consequence of the political adjustment to the necessities of modernization
-
a phenomenon in which the Jews played not only the role of financial and industrial
mediators of the state but also that of a liberal bourgeoisie. In
1900,
their number
came to over
826,000.
Their numerical growth in this zone is also explained by their
gradual immigration from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
-
where the living
conditions had become very hard and where they had been the victims of persecution.
That was why after
1880
they started to emigrate towards the Occident, i.e. to the
United States, where life was much better for them.
In the aforementioned period, there also occurred some transformations in the
institutional structures and socio-professional structures of the Jewish communities,
as a result of their survival efforts. Different trends in mentality started to manifest
themselves, especially on the level of choosing between tradition and modernization.
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
249
The reforming role of the Haskala movement appeared in this context. The trend,
called Hasidism, was a religious movement that originated in Polish
Galicia
at the
beginning of the
1
9th century; from
Galicia,
the Hasidic trend spread to Hungary. The
most specific feature of the period was the political attitude towards the Jews
-
as
the official policy of Vienna had been rather austere during the reign of Maria Teresa,
but quite tolerant during the reign of Joseph II, an enlightened absolutist monarch.
Starting with his epoch throughout the 19th century important progress was made.
During the conflict between tradition and modernisation, the emancipation of the
Jewish communities took place side by side with a decreasing religious tolerance
towards them. The same period witnessed the birth of anti-Semitism, a hostile trend
against Jews, which would soon border on extremism.
Chapter II
The demographic and economic structures
of the Jewish communities of
Banat
in the IS 1 and
19
centuries
After
1716,
the imperial policy showed a real interest in the economic progress,
as well as in the territorial and administrative organization. This interest involved
changes in the demographic structures too. Documentary guides give us an idea of
the demographic picture of the time, laying stress on the conscriptions and on the
census, which was called registration of the population and which took place two
centuries before
1769.
They helped the authorities keep track of the statistics of the
population and of the ethnic situation for taxation purposes. There are also other
documentary sources, as for instance the accounts of lay and religious institutions,
the press, etc. Imperial ordinances like the
Judenordnung
imposed a strict evidence
of the Jewish population in view of collecting compulsory taxes from them.
Starting with the first Jewish communities, i.e. with the Jews of Sephardic
origin who had settled in
Banat
in the 18th century, the demographic picture was
enriched, leading to the appearance of various structured forms. This was due to the
emigration phenomenon originating in Central Europe (Moravia, Bohemia,
Breslau,
Eisenstadt,
Pesta,
Nyitra,
Varsetz, Pancevo, Petrovaradin),
as well as in Northern
and Southern Europe (Bucovina, Transylvania,
Banat)
in the second half of the
1
8th
century
-
as a direct consequence of the Austrian-Turkish wars, of the division of
Poland and of the conquest of
Galicia
and Bucovina by the Austrians. Thus, there
appeared two groups of personal rites: the Spanish Jews (the Sephardim) and the
German Jews (the Ashkenazim). The split took place about
1723
and the two groups
remained united only on the administrative level. Between
1717
and
1735,
right after
the conquest of
Banat
by the Hapsburgs, a rapid growth of the Jewish population was
registered, their number increasing by
425%
at the level of the entire county, with
Timişoara
displaying more than half of this percentage.
250
IONEL POPESCU
The wave of Jewish immigrants gravitated to
Timişoara
during the
above-mentioned two centuries. They were coming either from the South and the
West or from the North through Transylvania (partially Hungary). About
1784-1787,
as the number of Jewish communities increased, the Jews started moving towards
the county of Torontal and the county of
Caras.
The beginning of the
19*
century
witnessed an annual rhythm of growth: in
1804,
it was
6.2%
bigger than in
1787,
following the immigration process. A genuine demographic explosion, the
40.6%
percentage being the highest in comparison with the previous period, characterized
the period between
1836
and
1840.
Between
1840
and
1847,
the rhythm of growth
slowed down, but in
1848,
a marked growth was evident, definitely brought about by
the foundation of Voivodina, a Serbian province where the number of Jews had
increased too.
During the
1
8th century and in the first half of the
1
9th century there lived a reduced
number of persons of Jewish origin on the frontier zone. Compared to the other centres on
the military border,
Caransebeş
was the best-situated centre. Starting in
1867,
the
restrictions on the border for Jews were annulled so that their number increased.
As far as the geographical area was concerned, the weight fell on the urban
area,
Timişoara
being permanently the most sought-after city (there were
4,199
Jews
in
Timişoara
in
1880),
followed by
Lugoj
(1,253
Jews). A considerable growth was
recorded in
1900
as compared with the previous situation, so that in
Timişoara
there
were
6,058
Jews, in
Lugoj
1,624,
in San Nicolaul Mare
450,
in
Caransebeş
388,
in
Resita
221,
in Deta
191,
and in Oravita
190.
Obviously, in the county of
Caransebeş
there lived far lesser Jewish families than in the county of
Timis.
On the demographic level, the most popular geographical area was that of the
junction of the hills with the plains alongside Savarsin,
Lugoj
and
Bocsa,
east of
Vårset
and the Danube area, where the density of the Jewish population was very
high. In the plains, including the administrative centres
Timişoara, Arad
and
Caransebeş,
the Jews turned towards many profitable trades. The settling of the Jews in the
mountainous or mining zones was in agreement with the official regulations.
The presence of the Jews in rural areas was recorded by religious publications
issued by their religious institutions (the synagogues), as well as by the local authorities
in their official documents. Those who chose to live in the rural areas were driven to
it by certain economic advantages, but most of all by specific economic interdictions.
The Jews seemed to prosper particularly where the population was predominantly
Hungarian.
In point of structure, it is important to underline the impact of the family in all
Israeli communities
-
not only for the Jews, but also for the local authorities. According
to the official data, about
1739
a Jewish family was made up of five or six persons,
while the proportion between male and female persons was quite well balanced
-
with a periodical advantage for women.
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
251
The activities of the Jews on the economic, social and cultural levels were
legal, but rather restrictive, following the interests of the Hapsburg Empire. The Jews
turned towards profitable professions: tradesmen of industrial products and of
agricultural products, leaseholders (distilling alcohol in inns, running pubs, labouring in
workshops, and specialising in different trades). Labour in workshops to produce
goods was strongly linked with commercialization of clothing items, jewellery, meat
items, dairy items, etc. Although it is difficult to make the difference between artisans
and tradesmen, it is safe to say that the Jews preferred to trade the merchandise
rather than to produce it.
Starting in the
18*
century, the professional occupations of the Jews had
determined a certain social stratification: they were tradesmen, merchants, owners
of manufactures, and owners of houses. Throughout the 19 th century, a real Jewish
bourgeoisie was formed in
Banat,
with implications in all the domains of economic
and social life. Consequently, remarkable and influential personalities came to the
surface, particularly teachers, rabbis, doctors, chemists, officers, actors, painters and
musicians. In their fight for survival, the Jews living in
Banat
demonstrated a constantly
dynamic enterprising spirit and had a great positive impact on the economy and finances
of the period. Although the state was forcing them to pay heavy taxes and duties,
their income allowed many of them to have extra money, which they often partially
donated to philanthropic societies and even to the state in case of calamity. Usually,
the tolerance tax paid by the Jews varied according to their individual status: was the
payer married or single, a widower or a poor man, a person with a physical handicap
or a person enj oying perfect health?
Concerning the position of the Israelites in the economic life, although the general
anti-Jewish line of the Europeans was very rigid, there were constantly half-open
doors to render their business profitable. They turned into genuine pathfinders in the
financial-banking domain, in the transit commerce with neighbouring territories, as
well as in providing goods of great necessity for the state (especially provisioning the
army with food). Concerning the commerce, a considerable number of tradesmen
was permanently travelling from one country to another, in spite of all official restrictions.
The Jewish merchants demonstrated their ability to import and market Turkish goods ,
that is goods from the territories ruled by the Ottoman Empire and goods coming
from the Occident. Jewish merchants from the
Tara Romaneasca
(the Romanian
Provinces) carried goods in transit from
Lipska
(Poland) throughout
Banat
during the
free participation in the weekly or monthly fairs up until
1736.
Because the Jews
were such good tradesmen, the
non-
Jewish merchants started being jealous and
became anti-Jewish: thus, the officials (the Government) began to restrict their
commercial liberties. Although forbidding them to settle near the mining zones, the
imperial government encouraged the trading of copper, which was necessary for the
production of weapons and in which Jews were involved, particularly in the zone of
252
IONEL POPESCU
Oravita.
The Jewish merchants were also involved in supplying food for the army
during the wars with the Turks in the zone of
Orşova
and provided the army with
brimstone for the manufacturing of gunpowder.
In the 19th century, enterprising Jews were granted ownership of several
factories
(1840).
Financial personalities from among the Jews became involved in the
field of communication, helping with the construction of railway lines
-
for instance,
they financed the construction of the railway line Timisoara-Orsova. Ever since the
18*
century, leasing and running inns had been favourite occupations of the Jews
who offered food and shelter to travellers through
Banat.
Towards the end of the 19th
century there were Jews working as owners of hotels (in
Orşova,
for example).
Although guilds appeared in
Arad
in
1718
and in
Timişoara
in
1727,
Jews were
forbidden to belong to such corporations. Consequently, they started fighting to set up
their own independent associations. Therefore, in
1828
they founded such a union in
Kikinda and in the second half of the 19th century, two more in
Caransebeş
-
the
Society of Tradesmen and the Society of Shareholders for the manufacturing of bricks
(1895);
the latter functioned on modern principles: they used balance sheets, financial
accounts, credit analysis, debit analysis, and haulage capital.
As far as finances were concerned, we should underline the evolution of money
lending towards bank credits, a domain largely patronized by Jewish financiers, as for
instance Solomon Stennthal of
Timişoara.
Chapter III
The legal regulations of the Jewish communities
of
Banat
in the
18
and
li) 1
centuries
After the peace treaty atPozarovac Passarowitz, concluded on July
21, 1718,
the whole territory of
Banat
came under the control of the imperial Hapsburg troops
and gained the status of an imperial domain, its administration being under the direct
authority of the War Assembly Hall ofVienna through provincial imperial administrative
representatives. This situation lasted until
1751
when the military administration was
replaced by civilian or chamber administration, except for some districts on the border,
which were self-governed until
1872.
In
1878,
the incorporation of
Banat
into Hungary,
as well as its subordination to the Locumtenential Council of Hungary and to the
Hungarian Court Hall, were officially proclaimed.
During the Turkish domination, the Jews benefited from several laws that
permitted them to practice traditional crafts and commerce; they were allowed to
settle everywhere on the territories governed by the Ottomans.
In
1716,
the Jews living in
Timişoara
found themselves under the jurisdiction of
the Hapsburg military command; although there followed a series of juridical regulations,
which aimed at limiting their number in
Banat,
things did not happen according to plan
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
253
and Jews continued to hold prominent positions throughout the county in the ensuing
two centuries. They were excessively gifted in the fields of economy and commerce
and they could not be equalled very easily, let alone surpassed.
The first
j
uridical order including Jews was issued in
1716
and referred to their
freedom to choose between leaving and staying in one place or another. However, in
1718
there appeared the first instructions to limit their freedom. Other instructions
were issued in
1719, 1924,
and
1927,
including different interdictions referring to
residence, practising trades or settling in mining zones.
In
1736,
the president of the official administration (Hamilton) gave an ordinance
that limited the number of Jews in
Banat
by keeping a strict evidence of them. Although
such orders were hard, they were not followed to the letter. Moreover, in
1739
the
governor issued another ordinance stating that immigrants should be accepted in
Timişoara
and offered protection in order to repay their loyalty to the place of
adoption.
In the epoch of Maria Teresa
(1740-1780),
a series of restrictive regulations
were issued under the excuse that the Jews were a menace to the economy, to the
state, and to the Christian inhabitants. Consequently, in
1741
an article of law
(# 29)
stipulatďd
that Jews should stop selling wine and start wearing distinct clothes. The
imperial resolution of February
18,1742
imposed the unification of the two rites
-
the
Sephardim and the Ashkenazim. Because during the war with the Turks
( 173 6-1739)
Jews were of great help for the state, some restrictive laws were softened for them.
Nevertheless, the tolerance of the authorities did not last long: in
1745
they issued an
ordinance of expulsion of the Jews from
Banat,
but the ordinance included so many
exceptions that it was easily forgotten. Yet the Jews remained scared because they
realized that they could be chased away for good.
In
1776,
Maria Teresa, whose anti-Jewish attitude is quite well known, issued
her famous
Judenordnung
for the Jews of
Banat,
which lasted until
1778.
All aspects
related to Jews laid stress on restrictions and they were called the tolerated Jews
from all the towns of
Banat .
Special emphasis was laid on the rabbi s duties, on
marriages and on commercial activities. Discriminating provisions highlighted the fact
that Jews were obliged to live only in a particular district of the town, i.e. in a ghetto;
yet, a ghetto in
Timişoara
was not set up as in other towns. Some articles in the
Judenordnung
contained suggestions regarding prayers, ceremonials, burials, and
other things related to the Mosaic religious cult. It was determined that the religious
authority of the rabbi of
Timişoara
should be extended over the Jews of the whole
province. Norms of paying taxes (amounts of money, payment deadlines, and financial
responsibilities) were established. Although they were in use until
1778,
a series of
norms were not applied in totality
-
as the Jews were considered useful to the state
if they proved to be good taxpayers. If they refused to cooperate with the state, they
were persecuted and threatened with expulsion.
254
É
IONEL· POPESCU
The laws issued during the reign of Maria Teresa were not favourable to the
Jews, who were considered tolerated and undesirable. Nevertheless, their living
conditions improved and their number increased almost eight times. This is explained
by the fact that they constantly paid a tolerance tax that was getting higher and
higher. Moreover, the Jews of
Banat
also paid other fiscal taxes, communal taxes,
taxes for the ground, etc. In
1772,
the tolerance tax imposed on the Jews of Hungary
had reached the sum of
100,000
fl. and later on, in
1812,
it reached the sum of
160,000fl.
During Emperor Joseph s reign
(1780-1790),
among the most important legal
regulations was the Tolerance Edict Systematica
gentis
Judaìcae Regulatìo,
issued
on March
31,1783.
It was an edict of outstanding value, because it annulled many of
the discriminatory stipulations regarding the Jewish communities. It contained
regulations concerning schools, teaching systems, the use of German, Latin, Hungarian,
Polish, Romanian and Bohemian when drafting official papers, rights for leasing
agricultural lands, rights for entering different guilds, for choosing freely their residence,
for the abrogation of distinctive signs in their clothes. In exchange, they were asked
to adopt German names. The enlightened conception of Emperor Joseph was to
integrate the Jews into the German modern state.
In the period following Joseph s rule, laws restricting previous liberties imposed
restrictions on the agricultural policy. In Hungary (including
Banat
and the western
parts of Transylvania) legal regulations regarding the practice of crafts, the choice of
one s dwelling-places, and the attendance of schools were put to the vote but the
legislative authorities did not vote for them.
In
1840,
the Inferior Chamber of the Hungarian Diet adopted a project
recommending the annulment of the tolerance tax and the legal recognition of the
Judaic religion, but the Superior Chamber (that of the Magnates) rejected it, claiming
that the Jews had already been granted too many concessions.
During the
1848-1849
Revolution, some civil rights were granted to the Jews,
but soon after the revolution intolerance continued to influence the religious life. After
1851,
they were permitted to settle in the mountainous zones of
Caras,
in Oravita, in
Resita and in other towns.
Amore
noteworthy change appeared after
1859,
leading
to the abrogation (on January
14,1860)
of the law that had forbidden them to settle in
mining districts. In tine same year (February
16,1860)
another law was passed, allowing
the Jews to own real estate properties in towns and in villages.
On December
27,1867,
article
XVII
stipulated that full civil rights should be
granted to all citizens, annulling all the preceding restrictive norms
.
Hence, the Jewish
communities continued to prosper. In the following year, after Law XXXVIII/1
868
was passed, the Jews were allowed to have their own private schools and schooling
system.
Law
XLII/l
895
stipulated that the receptive character of the Mosaic religion
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
255
should be accepted on condition that the rabbis should have diplomas obtained in
Hungary, but the problem of the autonomy of the Mosaic cult could not be solved
because of the disagreements between the reformists and the traditionalists (i.e. the
Orthodox Jews).
Chapter IV
Aspects referring to the institutional structures
óf
the
Jewish population of
Banat
in the
18
century
During the
1
8th and
1
9th centuries, side by side with the efforts to emancipate
the communitarian life of the Jews within the framework of the empire including the
Banat
region, there could be observed an extension towards an enlargement of the
institutional and traditional framework in accordance with the new socio-demographic
realities of the Jewish world in the above-mentioned territory. The most important
thing for the Jewish population was its role in the setting up of communities and the
settling facilities provided for the Jewish families moving to rural areas. The Jewish
communities played an important role in the institutional structures of the Jewish
population from here or from other places.
Documentary sources speak about the settling of the first Jewish families (first
the Sephardim, then the Ashkenazim) in
Banat
between
1717
and
1726;
during this
period the first Jewish communities appeared initially in
Timişoara
and later on in
Arad
(1729),
Caransebeş
(the second half of the
Ιδ 1
century), and
Lugoj
(1780).
In
the second half of the 19th century, organized Jewish communities existed in the
following towns and villages of
Banat: Vårset,
Gataia, Ciacova,
Lipová, Sannicolaul
Mare, Buzias, Recas, Biserica
Alba, Deta,
Bocsa,
Orşova, Făget,
Resita or Simand,
Vinga
and
Pećica.
The presence of Jews was signalled in other places too, but
whenever adequate conditions for the consolidation of a community were missing,
the Jewish families were affiliated to other Jewish communities, which were larger to
begin with.
Each community was coordinated by regulations approved by the
Land-Rabbinate of
Timişoara
and by the Ministry of Religions. The communitarian
organization in
Banat
was periodically regulated by instructions from city judges (in
Timişoara
and
Arad).
As a unifying factor in the institutional structures of their social life, the Jewish
communities were controlled by a committee of at least three persons elected from
among its members. Some criteria were applied in the system of election: one third of
the elected included those who had contributed the most to the community income,
another third was made up of educated people and the other one of the remaining
members of the community. The general assembly of the community met periodically
in proportion of minimum three-fifths of its members. Resolutions were taken by the
256
IONEL POPESCU
vote of the absolute majority of those present. The committee appointed an executive
board of minimum three persons who represented the community before the
administrative authorities or in law courts. It also carried out the resolutions of the
committee and presented the annual financial balance sheet. The committee and the
board were leading bodies elected for three years and a chairperson coordinated
their work. They decided in every problem, drew up the annual budget, secured the
positive functioning of the communitarian institutions,, designed the officers of the cult
to be elected, etc. In
Banat,
besides the rabbi, a judge was also elected as a lay
leader.
Timişoara
(the capital of
Banat)
was an important center of the Jewish life of
Banat
in this period. In
Timişoara
there lived two Israeli communities (the Sephardim
and the Ashkenazim). Although in
1742, 1754,
and
1776
Maria Teresa had ordered
the unifying of the two forms of the Mosaic cult in order to have a better control over
the Jews, they lived in two separate communities until the 20 th century. As an
ethno-cultural body, the community disposed of a network of institutions, which
maintained and cultivated the particular ethnic features of the Jewish population. To
this aim, the synagogues played an important role and so did the prayer houses, the
baths and the ritual butcheries, the hospitals, the graveyards, the aid-organizations,
the religious schools, etc. The supreme leader of the community life was the great
rabbi or the chief rabbi.
With its historical role of a prayer house and of an institution with many religious
and cultural obligations, the synagogue had multiple remarkable significances in the
life of every Jew. Many such houses were raised in
Banat
during the 18th and 19th
centuries. Before that, the mosaic believers prayed in private houses fit up for this
purpose. It was only in
1739
that the official approval to build the first synagogue in
Timisoara-Cetate was granted. Both forms of cult used the synagogue until
1862.
In
1862,
the building of the new synagogue started, ending on September
19,1865.
New
synagogues were built in
Timişoara
in the following years, in the Fabric district
( 1899),
the Iosefin district
( 1895)
and in the Mehala district. Throughout the territory of
Banat
the Jewish communities managed to build synagogues after having used private houses
as praying places. In
1843,
a new synagogue was built in
Lugoj
on the site of the old
one
(1793),
which had been set on fire in
1842.
In
Caransebeş
the synagogue dates from
1893.
Back in
1781,
several praying
houses had been used. 18th century documents mention the presence of a synagogue
in
Arad,
in the old district, and in
1834,
another one was inaugurated. In
Vårset,
the
Jewish community inaugurated its synagogue in
183 0,
at Ciacova in
1860,
at Deta in
1882,
and inFagetin
1895.
As a basic institution leading all the religious and cultural activities of the Jewish
community, the synagogue is strongly linked to the rabbi s personality and to the
institution of the rabbi because the rabbi is the spiritual leader of a Jewish community.
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
257
The first half of the
1
8th century witnessed the beginning of an organized religious
life in
Banat.
The first rabbi of
Timişoara
was Jakob Moses of the Sephardic rite,
who served as a rabbi even before the year
1741.
In time, there were more rabbis in
Timişoara
of the Sephardic or Ashkenazi rites. Among the most famous we may
mention Wolf Iacob
(1752-1764) -
who became the great rabbi of Alba-Iulia
-
Oppenheim Zwi (Hirsch)
David
(1820-1859),
who was a remarkable personality at
the time and a participant in the
1849-1849
Revolution in
Timişoara,
Hirschfeld
Mor
(1863-1872),
who witnessed the building of the synagogue in the once
Elisabeta
Street,
Weil
Mor
(1872-1915),
Löwy Mor
(1873-1908).
According to custom, the rabbi was
elected by the general assembly of the community and confirmed by the chief rabbi
of the region. In accordance with community regulations, the tasks of the rabbi were
to celebrate the divine service, to preach sermons in the synagogue, to be in charge of
the religious teaching of adults and youngsters, to check the concordance between
the activity of leading the community and the ritualistic acts of worship, to perform
marriages and burials. At the same time, he had to survey the administration of the
religious institutions, to ensure the discipline within the community and in the synagogue,
to survey the teachers, to give advice in legal problems and in divorces, to keep
evidence of a person s legal status with the help of registration certificates. The rabbi
of
Timişoara
usually had the position of first rabbi of the Jewish communities throughout
the region. Chief Rabbi Eliezer Lipmann Ben Benjamin Leev
(1743-1768),
the leader
of the Sephardim of the Fabric district, established and consolidated the institution of
the rabbi with its role of coordinator of the religious and cultural life of the community.
In the institutional structure of the Jewish communities of
Banat
and in other
parts of the country too, philanthropic associations played an important social role.
The most important one and the one that had the longest activity of all was the Holy
Confraternity Chevra Kadisa, built in
Timişoara
in the
1
8th century and divided into
the Sephardic group and the Ashkenazi group in
1758.
In
1790,
a branch opened in
Lugoj,
where a hospital with ten beds was inaugurated. During the
1
9th century, such
associations appeared in almost all the Jewish communities of
Banat.
Another charitable
association was The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women, which was founded
in
Timişoara
-Fabric in
1846,
aiming at helping widows and women who were incapable
of working, as well as providing medicine for poor people of other religions too. In
1875,
The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women came into being in
Lugoj,
sponsoring a Jewish orphanage and collecting funds for humanitarian and spiritual
purposes. In
Timişoara,
The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women had been known
as a very active charitable association since
1848.
The cultural and religious life of the Jews of
Banat
had different aspects. On
one hand, there were the educational institutions with their specific features, promoting
talented young Jews in the vast field of cultural and artistic creation; on the other
hand, there were the religious activities promoted by the rabbis. In the
1
8th century,
258 ,
IONEL POPESCU
there were private Jewish schools in
Banat
with private teachers who taught Jewish
children, boys only
-
girls being considered unfit for learning. Schools were set up
near synagogues and the teachers received regular salaries. During Emperor Joseph s
reign, frequenting state schools was compulsory for Jews using the official language.
In Timisoara-Fabric, a private school came into being in
1845,
employing four teachers
whose teaching activities were interrupted during the Revolution of
1848.
A private
Jewish school was inaugurated in
1833
in
Lugoj,
which was frequented by Christians
too.
19th century Jewish schools also functioned for a variable length of time in
Arad,
Vårset,
and Becicherecul Mare. In
1851,
new schools opened in the
Cetate
and in Fabric (two districts in
Timişoara),
whereas in
1860,
a school for girls opened
in Fabric. After
1868,
when Law
XXVII
authorized setting up religious schools in
each community, such schools appeared in Timisoara-Iosefin
(1872-1873),
in
Timisoara-Mehala in
1877,
and in Faget. Little by little, Jewish families agreed to
send their children to state schools too.
Thanks to the efforts of rabbis, teachers, singers, men of culture, the Jews of
Banat
preserved the faith, the language, and the cultural traditions of their people,
handing them down from generation to generation.
Chapter V
The problem of the emancipation of the Jews of
Banat
and the
1848-1849
Revolution
As is known, the emancipation of the Jews involved the abolition of the
persecutions and wrongs they had suffered, the fact that they had not been considered
equal to the other citizens and had not been officially granted equal rights with them.
Essentially, the legal act of emancipation should have been the expression of the
diminution of social hostilities and aversion to Jews on the part of the hosting nation.
Benzion Dinur took into account the fact that there were probably three periods in the
history of the emancipation of the Jews: from
1740
to
1789,
from the year of the
French Revolution to the Congress of Berlin
(1878),
and from
1879
to the rising of the
Nazis to power in
1933.
In the 19th century, the absolute power in Austria was overwhelming and the
cultural level lower as compared to Germany, so that it was much more difficult to
promote the Jewish movement of emancipation in Germany. In the last years of the
18*
century and at the beginning of the 19th century, in spite of numerous petitions,
the authorities continued to promote discriminatory and restrictive measures regarding
the holiday of Purim, emigration laws and the itinerant commerce. Consequently, in
the aforementioned period the social status of Jews in Hungary and in the
Banat
region was rather unsatisfactory. The drafts of law presented to the Diet in
1790
and
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
259
in
1826
were not debated. Yet, at the county level in
Banat
and in
Pesta
there were
proofs of a milder attitude towards the Jews. The Hungarian Diet of
1839-1840
also
debated the problems of the Jews, formulating and adopting article
29/1840,
which
revised the rights that the Jews had obtained before: permission for residence, setting
up factories and managing them, adopting German names, buying land. The
emancipation of the Jews was conditioned by the use of the Hungarian language in
synagogues. Around
1830,
the Jews started penetrating journalism and the letters.
In the revolutionary year
1848,
their hopes of emancipation were reborn. The
Jewish committees from Hungary, Transylvania,
Banat
elaborated a manifesto in
March
1848,
declaring their enthusiastic support for the revolution. Members of all
religions participated in the manifestations that took place in
Timişoara,
on March
1
8th
and March 22nd
1848.
There in the Freedom Square (the name has remained since
then), an ecumenical movement took place; the chief rabbi
Oppenheim Zwi Hirsch
David held a noteworthy speech. This ecumenical movement, as well as the one held
in the Fabric district, had a confusing result due to several
anti-
Jewish troublemakers
who acted in reprobate ways. The conclusion was that the society of that time was
not yet prepared to integrate the Jews. In July
1848
a platoon of civil guards ofTimisoara
started towards
Vårset
and
Biserica Alba
(the White Church), accompanied by Jewish
soldiers and officers. The Jews wish of integration was clear, many of them having
enrolled in the
Banat
battalion of honveds.Some of the participants were knighted for
their merits, like Derera
Izrael
(1897)
and S. Ignacz
(1872).
The enthusiasm of some of
the Jews made then take Hungarian names and even be baptized as Christians. Some of
them contributed with money to support the revolutionary government. However,
their hopes were not fulfilled the way they wanted to.
In
Lugoj,
the capital of the County of
Caras
at that time, the Jews were first
forbidden to manifest but later on the ban was lifted. In the summer and autumn of
1848,
the delegates of the Jewish communities ofTimisoara together with
representatives of other guilds resorted to the Diet in
Pesta
requesting emancipation,
but their project was unsuccessful. After several insistences, the revolutionary deputies
succeeded in convincing the Home Minister to support a proj ect of law stipulating the
emancipation of the Jews. The Parliament of Seged debated and adopted this legal
document in July
1849.
All the citizens recognized the political and civil rights of the
Jews, and so the Jews were allowed to choose their places of residence and to work
in all domains. Similarly, mixed marriages between Christians and Jews became almost
a commonplace. Unfortunately, this law lost its validity as soon as the Hungarian
Revolution of
1848-49
was suppressed.
In the post revolutionary period, the Jews ofTimisoara and
Banat
were accused
of spying in favour of the revolutionary troops and consequently many of them were
punished. The Constitution of March
4,1849
was abrogated in December
31,1851.
However, the equality of citizens before the law remained valid.
260
IONEL POPESCU
In the unfolding of events during the
1848-1849
Revolution, there were many
people in favour of emancipation. Political authority and the adepts of Jewish modernism
became fully aware of the beneficial effect of this phenomenon, opening the way
towards its fulfilment at the end of the 19th century.
Chapter VI
The religious and cultural relations between the Jewish
communities and the Christian denominations of
Banat
From
1867
to December
1st 1918,
the
Banat
region was a part of the Hapsburg
Empire, namely the Austrian-Hungarian one. This territory situated at the junction
between the central European zone and that of the Southeast was a multiethnic space
and obviously a multicultural one too. Here besides the native population, most of
them Romanians, there lived other ethnics like Germans, Serbians, Hungarians, Croats,
Slovaks, Checks, Bulgarians, Jews, Gipsies, etc. As far as religion was concerned,
the structure of the multiethnic community of the Christians in
Banat
was
multi-denominational. The majority of Romanians were Orthodox since they had been
Christianized and remained Orthodox (just like the Serbians). Catholicism penetrated
the
Banat
region after the decline of the Byzantine Empire and was growing
progressively strengthened by the successive waves of colonization during the 18th
and 19th centuries. In parallel, there appeared several denominations that had separated
from Catholicism
-
such as the Lutheran Church, the
Calvinist
Church and the
Greek-Catholic Church, especially in Transylvania.
The political evolution in the empire after
1867
generated different tendencies
in the multi-denominational relationships, which wavered between denominational
solidarity and movements of separation- namely of the individualization of churches
in point of nationality. This phenomenon underlined the process of clarifying identities
and differences. Unavoidable debates on interethnic and inter-religious issues were
engaged on ideological, cultural, and political grounds.
Therefore, being a multiethnic, multi-religious and multicultural space,
Banat
became the place where specific national identities took shape. The Jewish
communities of
Banat
had their own identity, their own religion and culture integrated
in the legal system of the empire.
These particularities, especially the religious freedom specific to the Mosaic
cult, gave them the status of a part in the religious tandem existing in the huge mass
of Christian denominations
-
all of them displaying various dogmatic features.
Let us first speak about
integrative
aspects adopted by the Jewish communities
of
Banat.
First of all Jews were included in the associative activities of commercial
and financial-banking societies as founders, leaders, and shareholders, together with
natives belonging to other ethnic categories and religions (for instance in the Building
________
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
261
Society in
Caransebeş
at the end of the 19th century and in the Society of Voluntary
Firemen in Deta in
1850).
Strange situations occurred, as for instance, there were godfathers coming
from
non-
Jewish ethnic backgrounds or ethnic Jews buried in Catholic graveyards.
Even a stranger situation was registered: a Catholic priest inaugurated a synagogue,
a thing that made some traditionalist Jews so angry that they abandoned it and another
synagogue had to be built instead. There were cases when natives of Jewish origin
contributed to raising a synagogue of the Catholic cult (in
Lugoj),
or to renovating
churches (at
Iaz
near
Caransebeş).
Similarly, there were Christian natives who helped
Jews raise a synagogue (in Deta
18 82).
It was widely known in
Timişoara
that Christian
inhabitants and Christian authorities participated in the inauguration of some synagogues
(for instance, in
Cetate,
1865)
and vice versa. When loan Popescu, the bishop of
Caransebeş,
was installed at
Caransebeş
in
1865,
both Christian inhabitants and Jews
were present. Such examples abounded in those times.
Ethnic prejudices were often surpassed in the field of learning by the acceptance
of Jewish children in Christian schools according to the legislation of the time. There
were situations when the raising of schools was often stopped by lack of money, so
that Christians had to ask other religions to contribute with sums of money, as was the
case of the private school in
Lugoj,
inaugurated in
1837,
and transformed into a public
school in
183 8
with Jewish funds too. There were cases when the learning institutions
of the Christians interested Jewish spirituality- as for instance the theological Orthodox
school in
Caransebeş,
which introduced the study of the Old Testament and of the
Hebrew language in the curriculum.
Concerning the cultural relationships between the Christian denominations and
the Israeli communities, we would like to highlight several valuable studies and
investigations on the culture and spirituality of the Hebrews written by remarkable
theological personalities of the Orthodox centre of
Caransebeş,
like Professor Iosif
Iuliu Olariu
(1859-1920).
He authored outstanding studies, as for instance, Introduction
to the Books of the OldandNew Testament, published in
1904-1912.
Yet, his most
valuable contribution was his work The Explanation of the Psalms from the Hours
(Ceaslow), published in
1901.
Dr.
Petru Barbu
(from the same Institute of
Caransebeş)
brought other important contributions: he authored textbooks for all levels of learning,
like Little Biblical Stones
(1895),
The Holy Story of the Old Testament
(1898),
etc.
Both scholars contributed with competent analyses of the religion, history and culture
of the Jewish people, as well as of their beliefs, habits and everyday life.
The numerous old books about Jews to be found in the most important libraries
of
Banat
are relevant because they demonstrate the interest of the Orthodox in the
religion and history of the Jews. These books can be classified according to some
criteria. The first categoiy comprises books of great value written by great personalities
of Israeli origin like
Gottlob
Carpzov
( 1679-1767),
Gottfried Eichihorn (the
1
8th century),
262
IONEL POPESCU
Gottscheden Cristoph
(1700-1766),
Joseph Flavius
(37-100), Moses Mendelssohn
(1729-1786), Moritz Karl Philip (1757-1793),
etc. The second
category is represented
by remarkable studies about different Jewish domains written by
non-
Jewish authors,
among which the French philosopher Bernard
Lamy
(1640-1715),
the German scholar
and priest
Heinrich Braun
(the 18th century), the German judge and historian D.
Johannis
Michaelis,
the famous Italian lexicographer
Ambrosius
(1435-1511),
etc.
A mediating factor playing an important cultural role was 19 th century journalism.
A case in point was the weekly The Diocesan Paper, a newspaper of the Orthodox
Episcopal office of
Caransebeş,
which published a series of articles and lesson plans
about the Old Testament, news and artistic notes about Jews, and was extremely
popular.
Valuable cultural ties were formed as a result of the activities of the cultural
societies where Christian and Jewish personalities were interacting. Among such
reunions, we will mention the HevaKadisha Society in
Timişoara, Lugoj, Arad
and
other towns of
Banat,
as well as The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women in
Timisoara-Fabric. Such associations were very active in several parts of the
Banat
region for a longer or a shorter period. In addition, there were numberless cases
when outstanding Jews participated in the setting up of cultural Romanian, German
and Hungarian manifestations. This cooperation was also mentioned when monuments
were raised or cultural clubs were organized (as for instance, the bourgeois Casino in
Oravita).
Obviously, these cultural ties led to a mutual acquaintance between Christians
and Jews, often assuaging the hate and aversion that arose on purely subjective
grounds.
|
| adam_txt |
CUPRINS
INTRODUCERE
1 -
Stadiul cercetării problematicii
.13
1.1
-Lucrări generale dedicate evreimii ungare
.17
1.2 -
Monografii care cuprind şi date despre evreii stabiliţi în Banat
.19
1.3
-Articole şi studii consacrate evreilor bănăţeni
.21
1.4 -
Concluzii parţiale. Izvoarele bibliografice şi
arhivistice
investigate
. 26
Capitolul
I
CADRUL GENERAL EUROPEAN ŞI CENTRAL-EUROPEAN
AL PROBLEMEI EVREIEŞTI ÎN SECOLELE
AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.29
1-
Secolele al XVIII-lea şi al XlX-lea: repere istorice şi demografice
.29
2
-Aspecte ale fenomenului migrării.
Orientarea evreilor din Europa de Est şi
Sud-Est
spre Occident
.32
3 -
Schimbări survenite în structura instituţională
şi socio-profesională a societăţii evreieşti
. 34
4
-Influenţa mişcării Haskala în evoluţia vieţii comunităţilor evreieşti
.36
5 -
înnoiri în domeniul religiei şi reacţia faţă de acestea: hasidismul,
recrudescenţa misticismului în Polonia, Galiţia
etc
.39
6 -
Modificări în politica oficială faţă de evrei a regimurilor absolutiste
.41
7
-Emanciparea
.43
8
-Ascensiunea antisemitismului
în a doua jumătate a secolului al XlX-lea
.46
Capitolul
II
STRUCTURA DEMOGRAFICĂ ŞI ECONOMICĂ A EVREILOR
BĂNĂŢENI ÎN SECOLELE AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.50
1 -
Structura demografică
.50
1.1
-Evoluţia demografică
.51
1.2 -
Sporul natural
.65
1.3 -
Dispunerea pe medii geografice
.66
1.4
-Structura populaţiei
.71
2 -
Structura socio-profesională
.74
2.1
-Viaţa materială
.81
3 -
Viaţa economică
.83
3.1
-Comerţul
.85
3.2-Arendăşia
.91
3.3 -
Căile de comunicaţie
.94
10_
_^
_
3.4
-Activitatea hotelieră
.94
3.5
-Asociaţii
.95
3.6-Finanţele
.97
Capitolul III
STATUTUL JURIDIC AL COMUNITĂŢILOR EVREIEŞTI DIN BANAT
ÎN SECOLELE AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.98
1 -
Cadrul istoric
.98
2 -
Perioada carolingiană
.100
3
-Perioada tereziană
.104
3.1-Judenordnung.107
3.2 -
Taxa de toleranţă
.■. 113
4
-Perioada iosefină
„. 121
5 -
Perioada postiosefmă
.125
Capitolul
IV
ASPECTE PRIVIND STRUCTURA INSTITUŢIONALĂ A POPULAŢIEI
EVREIEŞTI DIN BANAT ÎN SECOLELE
AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.132
1.1
-Comunitatea
.132
1.2-
Sinagoga
.139
1.3
-Instituţiarabinului
.152
1.4
-Asociaţiile
.157
2 -
Viaţa culturală şi confesională a evreilor din Banat
în secolele al XVIII-lea şi al XlX-lea
.161
2.1 -
Şcoală. învăţământ.
.162
2.2 -
Personalităţi
.173
Capitolul
V
PROBLEMA EMANCIPĂRII EVREILOR BĂNĂŢENI ŞI
REVOLUŢIA DE LA
1848-1849.181
1 -
Emanciparea ca aspiraţie în perioada anterevoluţionară
.181
2 -
Lupta pentru emancipare în timpul revoluţiei
.187
3
-Aspecte ale emancipării în perioada postrevoluţionară
.195
Capitolul
VI
RELAŢIILE RELIGIOASE ŞI CULTURALE ÎNTRE COMUNITĂŢILE
EVREIEŞTI ŞI CONFESIUNILE CREŞTINE DIN BANAT ÎN
SECOLELE AL XVIII-LEA ŞI AL XIX-LEA
.204
1
-Consideraţii preliminare
.204
_
и
1.1
-Imagologie,
identitate, alteritate
.204
1.2 -
Context istoric şi spiritual
.205
1.3
-Aspecte şi dovezi
integrative
.208
2
-Raporturi religioase şi bisericeşti
.211
2.1
-Aspecte religioase
.211
2.2
-Aspecte bisericeşti
.215
2.2.1
-Contribuţii băneşti şi materiale
.215
2.2.2
-Aspecte ecumeniste (inaugurări/sfinţiri de lăcaşuri de cult)
. 216
3-
Relaţii culturale
.219
3.1 -
Şcoală. învăţământ
.219
3.2-
Studii şi cercetări despre evrei
.222
3.3
-Cărţi vechi, biblioteci privitoare la evrei
.225
3.4
-Publicistică
.228
3.5
-Reuniuni, asociaţii, societăţi -interferenţe culturale
.229
CONCLUZII
.233
JEWISH COMMUNITIES
IN BANAT
IN.THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES (Summary)
.243
BIBLIOGRAFIE
.269
Jewish Communities in
Banat
(Summary)
This doctoral thesis builds up an extensive picture of the presence and evolution
of the Jewish population of
Banat
in the 18th and 19th centuries. Our analytic
investigation covers several sections. In the introduction, we put forward the most
important approaches adopted by different authors interested in this historical
phenomenon. Our theme is unfolded in the following chapters:
I. The general European and Central-European frame of the Jewish problem
in the
1
8th and
1
9th centuries;
II. The Jewish demographic and economic structures of
Banat
in the 18th and
19th centuries;
Ш.
The legal background of the Jewish communities of
Banat
in the 18th and
19th centuries;
IV. Aspects of the institutional structures of the Jewish population of
Banat
in
the 18th and 19th centuries;
V. The problem of the emancipation of the Jews living in
Banat
and the
1848-1849
Revolution;
VI. The religious and cultural relationships between the Jewish communities
and the Christian denominations of
Banat
in the
18
љ
and
1
9th centuries;
VII.
Conclusion.
Each chapter is divided into several parts following a logical development of
each issue analysed. The length of the chapters is generally well balanced and the
investigation focuses on aspects hitherto neglected, referring to the demographic and
economic life led by the Jewish communities of
Banat
(chapter II), Jewish institutional
structures (chapter V), and religious relationships between Jewish communities and
Christian denominations (chapter VI).
Introduction
There are a few historical publications containing references to the oldness of
the presence of Jews on the present territory of the
Banat
region. According to these
publications, the Jews might have settled here in the first century of our era, following
the invasion of the Holy Land by Roman legions -especially after the Jewish uprising
in
A.D. 66-70
and the demolition of the Holy Temple
(A.D. 70).
Immediately after
that, the Roman emperor
Trajanus
attacked and conquered
Dacia,
displacing legions
from the Palestine in his military campaigns; among the displaced were Jewish soldiers
(from the Palestine) and merchants too. In the modern times, archaeological discoveries
have brought to light proofs of the presence of Jews in
Banat
in the 2nd century of our
246
IONEL POPESCU
era. These proofs can be found in Aradul-Nou, in the Hodos-Bodrog Monastery, at
Pojejena (where were discovered coins dating from the years
A.D. 133-134),
and
Tibiscum (where a military decree setting soldiers free was found at
Jupa,
a village
near
Caransebeş).
This historical information can be found in a group of publications dealing with
the problems of the Jews who lived on the Hungarian territory, as well as in a second
group containing monographs that abound in references to Jews living in
Banat.
The investigations of the first group of publications refer to the beginning of the
1
9th century and include details on the settling down of the Jews, their communitarian
life, their participation in the
1848-1849
Revolution, their self-affirmation and
emancipation, etc. Rabbis, historians or politicians supplied these valuable pieces of
information. The first condensed works on the history of Jews in Hungary were
published during the first half of the 19 th century. They were written by famous
authors of the time, such as Ignaz
Einhorn,
Leopold Low, Joseph Bergl, Wolf
Gerson,
F. Schmitt
and Simeon Dubnow. In the 20th century, the studies continued with more
impetus, tackling broader themes and completing more profound investigations. Among
the most prolific writers were
Wolfdieter Bihl,
Bella Bernstein, Alexander
Büchler,
Bernhardt
Mandl,
Solomon Stern, etc.
In some monographs on the
Banat
region, we will also find information referring
to the Jewish population who lived in this region during the
18 *
and
1
9th centuries
.
Let
us first mention prominent authors like Fr. Griselini, J. J. Ehrler, Pesty
Frigyes,
followed
by writers who lived in
Banat,
like
Baróti Lajos,
Felix
Milleker,
loan Lotreanu, Nicolae
Iliesiu,
Eugen Glück,
Nicolae Bocsan and Costin Fenesan. They were joined by other
writers who were interested in the life of the Jews on the Transylvanian territory
(with reference to
Banat
too) like
Moshe Carmilly
Weinberger and Ladislau
Gyémánt.
The collection entitled Sources and Evidences Concerning the Jews of
Romania, published in a series of volumes starting in
1986,
also contains thematic
references about Jews living in
Banat.
Final ly yet importantly there is also a third documentary group including themes
dedicated to the Israeli population living in
Banat. Historiographical
sources mention
articles and studies written by one or several authors and published in a series of
volumes. Interest in these themes grew during the last decades of the 19th century
and continued to grow in the 20 th century. Leopold Low elaborated the first prominent
work, which L.
Gyémánt
considered a pathfinder: it was entitled
Zur neueren
Geschichte der Juden in Ungarn
and was published in
1874.
It provided essential
documentation on the Jews of
Banat
fighting for emancipation and highlighted the
confrontations between reformers and traditionalists. Another study, written by
Moritz
Löwy
and published in
1890,
Skkizzen
zur Geschichte der Juden in
Temesvár
bis
zum Jahre 1865,
whose theme was amplified, followed
Leopold
Low's study. It
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
1
8th AND 19th CENTURIES
247
contained information about the settling of the first Jewish families in
Timişoara,
their
juridical regulations after
1718,
their prayer houses and their community leaders.
Using his predecessor as a model, Dr. Iakob Singer, a learned rabbi of
Timişoara,
authored an important work about rabbi succession in
Timişoara,
about the Jewish
houses of prayer and about the participation of the Jews in the
1848-1849
Revolution.
In his work
Zur Geschichte der Juden in
Banat,
published
in
Timişoara
in 1840,
the
scholar Hans Wolf established a chronology of events in the life of the Jewish
communities of
Timişoara
and of other Jewish communities of
Banat
from
1716
to
1867.
Furthermore, all contributions regarding school attendance by Jews, the
relationships between the authorities and the Jewish communities, as well as the
necessary steps taken in obtaining civil rights were not only new but also quite
interesting. In his sketch entitled Contributions to the History of the Jews from
Caransebeş
(published in the Jewish Almanac,
Timişoara
1940),
E.
Deutsch
wrote
about the history of the Jews living in
Caransebeş.
Important data about Jews living
in
Lugoj
and
Caransebeş
in the
1
8th century collected by the historian
Valériu Leu
from the manuscript of the minister loan
Boros
(a document to be found in the
Lugoj
Museum) were published in the collection entitled Historical Studies of
Banat
(Resita,
1997). Eugen Glück,
a scholar of
Arad,
also supplied valuable information on Jews
living in
Banat.
Some of them were in manuscript form, while others were included in
the aforementioned collection of studies entitled Sources and Evidences Concerning
the Jews of Romania.
In the last decades, works by the historian Victor Neumann have enriched the
historiography of the Jews of
Banat.
Thus, The History of the Jews of Romania,
(Timişoara,
1996)
and The History of the Jews of
Banat (Bucureşti,
1999)
are
momentous to our subject. The present stage of research has determined several
analysts specialized in history and sociology to assert that "the Jewish communities of
Banat
constitute a field that has been insufficiently explored" (V. Leu) and that "the
investigation of the Jewish Diaspora in the Central and South-Eastern European regions
is insufficiently known" (V. Neumann). These statements would lead to the conclusion
that "the history of the Jews of Transylvania and
Banat
has not yet been written"
(Moshe Carmilly -
Weinberger).
Chapter I
The general European and Central European frame of the
Jewish problem in the
18"'
and 19th centuries
In the
18*
and 19th centuries, the general Central and South-Eastern European
frame designated an area dominated mainly by the interests of the great imperial
powers
-
like the Prussians, the Germans (first the Hapsburg family and after
1867,
the Austrian-Hungarian family), the Russians and the Ottomans. It was an epoch of
248
IONEL POPESCU
transition from
feudal
forms of
social
organization to capitalist structures. The two
centuries were profoundly marked by two great events on the Continent: the French
Revolution
(1789)
and the
1848-1849
Revolution. Both prior to these events and after
them, different political and social movements took place, followed by various actions
in each country echoing the overall turbulence. On one hand, these actions determined
important changes on the political stage in the role of the aforementioned empires,
and on the other hand, changes in the configuration of the national states in the second
decade of the 20th century. Consequently, the confrontations among the imperial powers
generated several territorial changes. The Hapsburg Empire conquered territories
from the Ottoman Empire: Hungary, Croatia,- Slovakia, Transylvania,
Banat,
Serbia
and
Oltenia
(for a very short time). Between
1772
and
1795,
Poland was divided
among the Russian, Austrian and Prussian powers. In
1859,
the Romanian Principalities
(Moldova and
Muntenia)
were united under the name of Romania, a state that gained
its independence from under the Ottoman domination in
1877 -
while Bulgaria, for
instance, gained hers in
1879.
These aspects and many other aspects had a direct influence on the life of the
Jewish communities living on the European Continent. The leaders of larger or smaller
states had an important beneficial role.
At the end of the 19 th century, the problems of European Jews became more
and more important as their number increased to
7.5
million people. Towards the
middle of the 18th century, more than
2/3
of the Jews in the whole world lived in the
great kingdom of Poland, where they prospered under the reign of several tolerant
kings. After the division of Poland among Russia, Austria and Prussia, the Russian
empire gained supremacy over the other two powers and more than
900,000
Jews
were placed in the area. In
1746-1748,
the Hapsburg Empire numbered almost
15,000
Jews, their number increasing in
1813
to
80,000
persons and growing even more
between
1813
and the
1848-1849
revolution. Although geographically placed on the
periphery of the continent, the
Banat
region witnessed the same rhythm of growth,
which was a consequence of the political adjustment to the necessities of modernization
-
a phenomenon in which the Jews played not only the role of financial and industrial
mediators of the state but also that of a liberal bourgeoisie. In
1900,
their number
came to over
826,000.
Their numerical growth in this zone is also explained by their
gradual immigration from Eastern and South-Eastern Europe
-
where the living
conditions had become very hard and where they had been the victims of persecution.
That was why after
1880
they started to emigrate towards the Occident, i.e. to the
United States, where life was much better for them.
In the aforementioned period, there also occurred some transformations in the
institutional structures and socio-professional structures of the Jewish communities,
as a result of their survival efforts. Different trends in mentality started to manifest
themselves, especially on the level of choosing between tradition and modernization.
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
249
The reforming role of the Haskala movement appeared in this context. The trend,
called Hasidism, was a religious movement that originated in Polish
Galicia
at the
beginning of the
1
9th century; from
Galicia,
the Hasidic trend spread to Hungary. The
most specific feature of the period was the political attitude towards the Jews
-
as
the official policy of Vienna had been rather austere during the reign of Maria Teresa,
but quite tolerant during the reign of Joseph II, an enlightened absolutist monarch.
Starting with his epoch throughout the 19th century important progress was made.
During the conflict between tradition and modernisation, the emancipation of the
Jewish communities took place side by side with a decreasing religious tolerance
towards them. The same period witnessed the birth of anti-Semitism, a hostile trend
against Jews, which would soon border on extremism.
Chapter II
The demographic and economic structures
of the Jewish communities of
Banat
in the IS"1 and
19"'
centuries
After
1716,
the imperial policy showed a real interest in the economic progress,
as well as in the territorial and administrative organization. This interest involved
changes in the demographic structures too. Documentary guides give us an idea of
the demographic picture of the time, laying stress on the conscriptions and on the
census, which was called "registration of the population" and which took place two
centuries before
1769.
They helped the authorities keep track of the statistics of the
population and of the ethnic situation for taxation purposes. There are also other
documentary sources, as for instance the accounts of lay and religious institutions,
the press, etc. Imperial ordinances like the
Judenordnung
imposed a strict evidence
of the Jewish population in view of collecting compulsory taxes from them.
Starting with the first Jewish communities, i.e. with the Jews of Sephardic
origin who had settled in
Banat
in the 18th century, the demographic picture was
enriched, leading to the appearance of various structured forms. This was due to the
emigration phenomenon originating in Central Europe (Moravia, Bohemia,
Breslau,
Eisenstadt,
Pesta,
Nyitra,
Varsetz, Pancevo, Petrovaradin),
as well as in Northern
and Southern Europe (Bucovina, Transylvania,
Banat)
in the second half of the
1
8th
century
-
as a direct consequence of the Austrian-Turkish wars, of the division of
Poland and of the conquest of
Galicia
and Bucovina by the Austrians. Thus, there
appeared two groups of personal rites: the Spanish Jews (the Sephardim) and the
German Jews (the Ashkenazim). The split took place about
1723
and the two groups
remained united only on the administrative level. Between
1717
and
1735,
right after
the conquest of
Banat
by the Hapsburgs, a rapid growth of the Jewish population was
registered, their number increasing by
425%
at the level of the entire county, with
Timişoara
displaying more than half of this percentage.
250
IONEL POPESCU
The wave of Jewish immigrants gravitated to
Timişoara
during the
above-mentioned two centuries. They were coming either from the South and the
West or from the North through Transylvania (partially Hungary). About
1784-1787,
as the number of Jewish communities increased, the Jews started moving towards
the county of Torontal and the county of
Caras.
The beginning of the
19*
century
witnessed an annual rhythm of growth: in
1804,
it was
6.2%
bigger than in
1787,
following the immigration process. A genuine demographic explosion, the
40.6%
percentage being the highest in comparison with the previous period, characterized
the period between
1836
and
1840.
Between
1840
and
1847,
the rhythm of growth
slowed down, but in
1848,
a marked growth was evident, definitely brought about by
the foundation of Voivodina, a Serbian province where the number of Jews had
increased too.
During the
1
8th century and in the first half of the
1
9th century there lived a reduced
number of persons of Jewish origin on the frontier zone. Compared to the other centres on
the military border,
Caransebeş
was the best-situated centre. Starting in
1867,
the
restrictions on the border for Jews were annulled so that their number increased.
As far as the geographical area was concerned, the weight fell on the urban
area,
Timişoara
being permanently the most sought-after city (there were
4,199
Jews
in
Timişoara
in
1880),
followed by
Lugoj
(1,253
Jews). A considerable growth was
recorded in
1900
as compared with the previous situation, so that in
Timişoara
there
were
6,058
Jews, in
Lugoj
1,624,
in San Nicolaul Mare
450,
in
Caransebeş
388,
in
Resita
221,
in Deta
191,
and in Oravita
190.
Obviously, in the county of
Caransebeş
there lived far lesser Jewish families than in the county of
Timis.
On the demographic level, the most popular geographical area was that of the
junction of the hills with the plains alongside Savarsin,
Lugoj
and
Bocsa,
east of
Vårset
and the Danube area, where the density of the Jewish population was very
high. In the plains, including the administrative centres
Timişoara, Arad
and
Caransebeş,
the Jews turned towards many profitable trades. The settling of the Jews in the
mountainous or mining zones was in agreement with the official regulations.
The presence of the Jews in rural areas was recorded by religious publications
issued by their religious institutions (the synagogues), as well as by the local authorities
in their official documents. Those who chose to live in the rural areas were driven to
it by certain economic advantages, but most of all by specific economic interdictions.
The Jews seemed to prosper particularly where the population was predominantly
Hungarian.
In point of structure, it is important to underline the impact of the family in all
Israeli communities
-
not only for the Jews, but also for the local authorities. According
to the official data, about
1739
a Jewish family was made up of five or six persons,
while the proportion between male and female persons was quite well balanced
-
with a periodical advantage for women.
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
251
The activities of the Jews on the economic, social and cultural levels were
legal, but rather restrictive, following the interests of the Hapsburg Empire. The Jews
turned towards profitable professions: tradesmen of industrial products and of
agricultural products, leaseholders (distilling alcohol in inns, running pubs, labouring in
workshops, and specialising in different trades). Labour in workshops to produce
goods was strongly linked with commercialization of clothing items, jewellery, meat
items, dairy items, etc. Although it is difficult to make the difference between artisans
and tradesmen, it is safe to say that the Jews preferred to trade the merchandise
rather than to produce it.
Starting in the
18*
century, the professional occupations of the Jews had
determined a certain social stratification: they were tradesmen, merchants, owners
of manufactures, and owners of houses. Throughout the 19 th century, a real Jewish
bourgeoisie was formed in
Banat,
with implications in all the domains of economic
and social life. Consequently, remarkable and influential personalities came to the
surface, particularly teachers, rabbis, doctors, chemists, officers, actors, painters and
musicians. In their fight for survival, the Jews living in
Banat
demonstrated a constantly
dynamic enterprising spirit and had a great positive impact on the economy and finances
of the period. Although the state was forcing them to pay heavy taxes and duties,
their income allowed many of them to have extra money, which they often partially
donated to philanthropic societies and even to the state in case of calamity. Usually,
the tolerance tax paid by the Jews varied according to their individual status: was the
payer married or single, a widower or a poor man, a person with a physical handicap
or a person enj oying perfect health?
Concerning the position of the Israelites in the economic life, although the general
anti-Jewish line of the Europeans was very rigid, there were constantly half-open
doors to render their business profitable. They turned into genuine pathfinders in the
financial-banking domain, in the transit commerce with neighbouring territories, as
well as in providing goods of great necessity for the state (especially provisioning the
army with food). Concerning the commerce, a considerable number of tradesmen
was permanently travelling from one country to another, in spite of all official restrictions.
The Jewish merchants demonstrated their ability to import and market Turkish "goods",
that is goods from the territories ruled by the Ottoman Empire and goods coming
from the Occident. Jewish merchants from the
Tara Romaneasca
(the Romanian
Provinces) carried goods in transit from
Lipska
(Poland) throughout
Banat
during the
"free participation" in the weekly or monthly fairs up until
1736.
Because the Jews
were such good tradesmen, the
non-
Jewish merchants started being jealous and
became anti-Jewish: thus, the officials (the Government) began to restrict their
commercial liberties. Although forbidding them to settle near the mining zones, the
imperial government encouraged the trading of copper, which was necessary for the
production of weapons and in which Jews were involved, particularly in the zone of
252
IONEL POPESCU
Oravita.
The Jewish merchants were also involved in supplying food for the army
during the wars with the Turks in the zone of
Orşova
and provided the army with
brimstone for the manufacturing of gunpowder.
In the 19th century, enterprising Jews were granted ownership of several
factories
(1840).
Financial personalities from among the Jews became involved in the
field of communication, helping with the construction of railway lines
-
for instance,
they financed the construction of the railway line Timisoara-Orsova. Ever since the
18*
century, leasing and running inns had been favourite occupations of the Jews
who offered food and shelter to travellers through
Banat.
Towards the end of the 19th
century there were Jews working as owners of hotels (in
Orşova,
for example).
Although guilds appeared in
Arad
in
1718
and in
Timişoara
in
1727,
Jews were
forbidden to belong to such corporations. Consequently, they started fighting to set up
their own independent associations. Therefore, in
1828
they founded such a union in
Kikinda and in the second half of the 19th century, two more in
Caransebeş
-
the
Society of Tradesmen and the Society of Shareholders for the manufacturing of bricks
(1895);
the latter functioned on modern principles: they used balance sheets, financial
accounts, credit analysis, debit analysis, and haulage capital.
As far as finances were concerned, we should underline the evolution of money
lending towards bank credits, a domain largely patronized by Jewish financiers, as for
instance Solomon Stennthal of
Timişoara.
Chapter III
The legal regulations of the Jewish communities
of
Banat
in the
18"'
and
li)"1
centuries
After the peace treaty atPozarovac Passarowitz, concluded on July
21, 1718,
the whole territory of
Banat
came under the control of the imperial Hapsburg troops
and gained the status of an imperial domain, its administration being under the direct
authority of the War Assembly Hall ofVienna through provincial imperial administrative
representatives. This situation lasted until
1751
when the military administration was
replaced by civilian or chamber administration, except for some districts on the border,
which were self-governed until
1872.
In
1878,
the incorporation of
Banat
into Hungary,
as well as its subordination to the "Locumtenential Council" of Hungary and to the
Hungarian Court Hall, were officially proclaimed.
During the Turkish domination, the Jews benefited from several laws that
permitted them to practice traditional crafts and commerce; they were allowed to
settle everywhere on the territories governed by the Ottomans.
In
1716,
the Jews living in
Timişoara
found themselves under the jurisdiction of
the Hapsburg military command; although there followed a series of juridical regulations,
which aimed at limiting their number in
Banat,
things did not happen according to plan
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
253
and Jews continued to hold prominent positions throughout the county in the ensuing
two centuries. They were excessively gifted in the fields of economy and commerce
and they could not be equalled very easily, let alone surpassed.
The first
j
uridical order including Jews was issued in
1716
and referred to their
freedom to choose between leaving and staying in one place or another. However, in
1718
there appeared the first instructions to limit their freedom. Other instructions
were issued in
1719, 1924,
and
1927,
including different interdictions referring to
residence, practising trades or settling in mining zones.
In
1736,
the president of the official administration (Hamilton) gave an ordinance
that limited the number of Jews in
Banat
by keeping a strict evidence of them. Although
such orders were hard, they were not followed to the letter. Moreover, in
1739
the
governor issued another ordinance stating that immigrants should be accepted in
Timişoara
and offered protection in order to repay their "loyalty" to the place of
adoption.
In the epoch of Maria Teresa
(1740-1780),
a series of restrictive regulations
were issued under the excuse that the Jews were a menace to the economy, to the
state, and to the Christian inhabitants. Consequently, in
1741
an article of law
(# 29)
stipulatďd
that Jews should stop selling wine and start wearing distinct clothes. The
imperial resolution of February
18,1742
imposed the unification of the two rites
-
the
Sephardim and the Ashkenazim. Because during the war with the Turks
( 173 6-1739)
Jews were of great help for the state, some restrictive laws were softened for them.
Nevertheless, the tolerance of the authorities did not last long: in
1745
they issued an
ordinance of expulsion of the Jews from
Banat,
but the ordinance included so many
exceptions that it was easily forgotten. Yet the Jews remained scared because they
realized that they could be chased away for good.
In
1776,
Maria Teresa, whose anti-Jewish attitude is quite well known, issued
her famous
Judenordnung
for the Jews of
Banat,
which lasted until
1778.
All aspects
related to Jews laid stress on restrictions and they were called "the tolerated Jews
from all the towns of
Banat".
Special emphasis was laid on the rabbi's duties, on
marriages and on commercial activities. Discriminating provisions highlighted the fact
that Jews were obliged to live only in a particular district of the town, i.e. in a ghetto;
yet, a ghetto in
Timişoara
was not set up as in other towns. Some articles in the
Judenordnung
contained suggestions regarding prayers, ceremonials, burials, and
other things related to the Mosaic religious cult. It was determined that the religious
authority of the rabbi of
Timişoara
should be extended over the Jews of the whole
province. Norms of paying taxes (amounts of money, payment deadlines, and financial
responsibilities) were established. Although they were in use until
1778,
a series of
norms were not applied in totality
-
as the Jews were considered useful to the state
if they proved to be good taxpayers. If they refused to cooperate with the state, they
were persecuted and threatened with expulsion.
254
É
IONEL· POPESCU
The laws issued during the reign of Maria Teresa were not favourable to the
Jews, who were considered tolerated and undesirable. Nevertheless, their living
conditions improved and their number increased almost eight times. This is explained
by the fact that they constantly paid a tolerance tax that was getting higher and
higher. Moreover, the Jews of
Banat
also paid other fiscal taxes, communal taxes,
taxes for the ground, etc. In
1772,
the tolerance tax imposed on the Jews of Hungary
had reached the sum of
100,000
fl. and later on, in
1812,
it reached the sum of
160,000fl.
During Emperor Joseph's reign
(1780-1790),
among the most important legal
regulations was the Tolerance Edict Systematica
gentis
Judaìcae Regulatìo,
issued
on March
31,1783.
It was an edict of outstanding value, because it annulled many of
the discriminatory stipulations regarding the Jewish communities. It contained
regulations concerning schools, teaching systems, the use of German, Latin, Hungarian,
Polish, Romanian and Bohemian when drafting official papers, rights for leasing
agricultural lands, rights for entering different guilds, for choosing freely their residence,
for the abrogation of distinctive signs in their clothes. In exchange, they were asked
to adopt German names. The enlightened conception of Emperor Joseph was to
integrate the Jews into the German modern state.
In the period following Joseph's rule, laws restricting previous liberties imposed
restrictions on the agricultural policy. In Hungary (including
Banat
and the western
parts of Transylvania) legal regulations regarding the practice of crafts, the choice of
one's dwelling-places, and the attendance of schools were put to the vote but the
legislative authorities did not vote for them.
In
1840,
the Inferior Chamber of the Hungarian Diet adopted a project
recommending the annulment of the tolerance tax and the legal recognition of the
Judaic religion, but the Superior Chamber (that of the Magnates) rejected it, claiming
that the Jews had already been granted too many concessions.
During the
1848-1849
Revolution, some civil rights were granted to the Jews,
'
but soon after the revolution intolerance continued to influence the religious life. After
1851,
they were permitted to settle in the mountainous zones of
Caras,
in Oravita, in
Resita and in other towns.
Amore
noteworthy change appeared after
1859,
leading
to the abrogation (on January
14,1860)
of the law that had forbidden them to settle in
mining districts. In tine same year (February
16,1860)
another law was passed, allowing
the Jews to own real estate properties in towns and in villages.
On December
27,1867,
article
XVII
stipulated that full civil rights should be
granted to all citizens, annulling all the preceding restrictive norms
.
Hence, the Jewish
communities continued to prosper. In the following year, after Law XXXVIII/1
868
was passed, the Jews were allowed to have their own private schools and schooling
system.
Law
XLII/l
895
stipulated that the "receptive character" of the Mosaic religion
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE 18th AND 19th CENTURIES
255
should be accepted on condition that the rabbis should have diplomas obtained in
Hungary, but the problem of the autonomy of the Mosaic cult could not be solved
because of the disagreements between the reformists and the traditionalists (i.e. the
Orthodox Jews).
Chapter IV
Aspects referring to the institutional structures
óf
the
Jewish population of
Banat
in the
18"'
century
During the
1
8th and
1
9th centuries, side by side with the efforts to emancipate
the communitarian life of the Jews within the framework of the empire including the
Banat
region, there could be observed an extension towards an enlargement of the
institutional and traditional framework in accordance with the new socio-demographic
realities of the Jewish world in the above-mentioned territory. The most important
thing for the Jewish population was its role in the setting up of communities and the
settling facilities provided for the Jewish families moving to rural areas. The Jewish
communities played an important role in the institutional structures of the Jewish
population from here or from other places.
Documentary sources speak about the settling of the first Jewish families (first
the Sephardim, then the Ashkenazim) in
Banat
between
1717
and
1726;
during this
period the first Jewish communities appeared initially in
Timişoara
and later on in
Arad
(1729),
Caransebeş
(the second half of the
Ιδ"1
century), and
Lugoj
(1780).
In
the second half of the 19th century, organized Jewish communities existed in the
following towns and villages of
Banat: Vårset,
Gataia, Ciacova,
Lipová, Sannicolaul
Mare, Buzias, Recas, Biserica
Alba, Deta,
Bocsa,
Orşova, Făget,
Resita or Simand,
Vinga
and
Pećica.
The presence of Jews was signalled in other places too, but
whenever adequate conditions for the consolidation of a community were missing,
the Jewish families were affiliated to other Jewish communities, which were larger to
begin with.
Each community was coordinated by regulations approved by the
Land-Rabbinate of
Timişoara
and by the Ministry of Religions. The communitarian
organization in
Banat
was periodically regulated by instructions from city judges (in
Timişoara
and
Arad).
As a unifying factor in the institutional structures of their social life, the Jewish
communities were controlled by a committee of at least three persons elected from
among its members. Some criteria were applied in the system of election: one third of
the elected included those who had contributed the most to the community income,
another third was made up of educated people and the other one of the remaining
members of the community. The general assembly of the community met periodically
in proportion of minimum three-fifths of its members. Resolutions were taken by the
256
IONEL POPESCU
vote of the absolute majority of those present. The committee appointed an executive
board of minimum three persons who represented the community before the
administrative authorities or in law courts. It also carried out the resolutions of the
committee and presented the annual financial balance sheet. The committee and the
board were leading bodies elected for three years and a chairperson coordinated
their work. They decided in every problem, drew up the annual budget, secured the
positive functioning of the communitarian institutions,, designed the officers of the cult
to be elected, etc. In
Banat,
besides the rabbi, a judge was also elected as a lay
leader.
Timişoara
(the capital of
Banat)
was an important center of the Jewish life of
Banat
in this period. In
Timişoara
there lived two Israeli communities (the Sephardim
and the Ashkenazim). Although in
1742, 1754,
and
1776
Maria Teresa had ordered
the unifying of the two forms of the Mosaic cult in order to have a better control over
the Jews, they lived in two separate communities until the 20 th century. As an
ethno-cultural body, the community disposed of a network of institutions, which
maintained and cultivated the particular ethnic features of the Jewish population. To
this aim, the synagogues played an important role and so did the prayer houses, the
baths and the ritual butcheries, the hospitals, the graveyards, the aid-organizations,
the religious schools, etc. The supreme leader of the community life was the great
rabbi or the chief rabbi.
With its historical role of a prayer house and of an institution with many religious
and cultural obligations, the synagogue had multiple remarkable significances in the
life of every Jew. Many such houses were raised in
Banat
during the 18th and 19th
centuries. Before that, the mosaic believers prayed in private houses fit up for this
purpose. It was only in
1739
that the official approval to build the first synagogue in
Timisoara-Cetate was granted. Both forms of cult used the synagogue until
1862.
In
1862,
the building of the new synagogue started, ending on September
19,1865.
New
synagogues were built in
Timişoara
in the following years, in the Fabric district
( 1899),
the Iosefin district
( 1895)
and in the Mehala district. Throughout the territory of
Banat
the Jewish communities managed to build synagogues after having used private houses
as praying places. In
1843,
a new synagogue was built in
Lugoj
on the site of the old
one
(1793),
which had been set on fire in
1842.
In
Caransebeş
the synagogue dates from
1893.
Back in
1781,
several praying
houses had been used. 18th century documents mention the presence of a synagogue
in
Arad,
in the old district, and in
1834,
another one was inaugurated. In
Vårset,
the
Jewish community inaugurated its synagogue in
183 0,
at Ciacova in
1860,
at Deta in
1882,
and inFagetin
1895.
As a basic institution leading all the religious and cultural activities of the Jewish
community, the synagogue is strongly linked to the rabbi's personality and to the
institution of the rabbi because the rabbi is the spiritual leader of a Jewish community.
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
257
The first half of the
1
8th century witnessed the beginning of an organized religious
life in
Banat.
The first rabbi of
Timişoara
was Jakob Moses of the Sephardic rite,
who served as a rabbi even before the year
1741.
In time, there were more rabbis in
Timişoara
of the Sephardic or Ashkenazi rites. Among the most famous we may
mention Wolf Iacob
(1752-1764) -
who became the great rabbi of Alba-Iulia
-
Oppenheim Zwi (Hirsch)
David
(1820-1859),
who was a remarkable personality at
the time and a participant in the
1849-1849
Revolution in
Timişoara,
Hirschfeld
Mor
(1863-1872),
who witnessed the building of the synagogue in the once
Elisabeta
Street,
Weil
Mor
(1872-1915),
Löwy Mor
(1873-1908).
According to custom, the rabbi was
elected by the general assembly of the community and confirmed by the chief rabbi
of the region. In accordance with community regulations, the tasks of the rabbi were
to celebrate the divine service, to preach sermons in the synagogue, to be in charge of
the religious teaching of adults and youngsters, to check the concordance between
the activity of leading the community and the ritualistic acts of worship, to perform
marriages and burials. At the same time, he had to survey the administration of the
religious institutions, to ensure the discipline within the community and in the synagogue,
to survey the teachers, to give advice in legal problems and in divorces, to keep
evidence of a person's legal status with the help of registration certificates. The rabbi
of
Timişoara
usually had the position of first rabbi of the Jewish communities throughout
the region. Chief Rabbi Eliezer Lipmann Ben Benjamin Leev
(1743-1768),
the leader
of the Sephardim of the Fabric district, established and consolidated the institution of
the rabbi with its role of coordinator of the religious and cultural life of the community.
In the institutional structure of the Jewish communities of
Banat
and in other
parts of the country too, philanthropic associations played an important social role.
The most important one and the one that had the longest activity of all was the Holy
Confraternity Chevra Kadisa, built in
Timişoara
in the
1
8th century and divided into
the Sephardic group and the Ashkenazi group in
1758.
In
1790,
a branch opened in
Lugoj,
where a hospital with ten beds was inaugurated. During the
1
9th century, such
associations appeared in almost all the Jewish communities of
Banat.
Another charitable
association was The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women, which was founded
in
Timişoara
-Fabric in
1846,
aiming at helping widows and women who were incapable
of working, as well as providing medicine for poor people of other religions too. In
1875,
The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women came into being in
Lugoj,
sponsoring a Jewish orphanage and collecting funds for humanitarian and spiritual
purposes. In
Timişoara,
The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women had been known
as a very active charitable association since
1848.
The cultural and religious life of the Jews of
Banat
had different aspects. On
one hand, there were the educational institutions with their specific features, promoting
talented young Jews in the vast field of cultural and artistic creation; on the other
hand, there were the religious activities promoted by the rabbis. In the
1
8th century,
258 ,
IONEL POPESCU
there were private Jewish schools in
Banat
with private teachers who taught Jewish
children, boys only
-
girls being considered unfit for learning. Schools were set up
near synagogues and the teachers received regular salaries. During Emperor Joseph's
reign, frequenting state schools was compulsory for Jews using the official language.
In Timisoara-Fabric, a private school came into being in
1845,
employing four teachers
whose teaching activities were interrupted during the Revolution of
1848.
A private
Jewish school was inaugurated in
1833
in
Lugoj,
which was frequented by Christians
too.
19th century Jewish schools also functioned for a variable length of time in
Arad,
Vårset,
and Becicherecul Mare. In
1851,
new schools opened in the
Cetate
and in Fabric (two districts in
Timişoara),
whereas in
1860,
a school for girls opened
in Fabric. After
1868,
when Law
XXVII
authorized setting up religious schools in
each community, such schools appeared in Timisoara-Iosefin
(1872-1873),
in
Timisoara-Mehala in
1877,
and in Faget. Little by little, Jewish families agreed to
send their children to state schools too.
Thanks to the efforts of rabbis, teachers, singers, men of culture, the Jews of
Banat
preserved the faith, the language, and the cultural traditions of their people,
handing them down from generation to generation.
Chapter V
The problem of the emancipation of the Jews of
Banat
and the
1848-1849
Revolution
As is known, the emancipation of the Jews involved the abolition of the
persecutions and wrongs they had suffered, the fact that they had not been considered
equal to the other citizens and had not been officially granted equal rights with them.
Essentially, the legal act of emancipation should have been the expression of the
diminution of social hostilities and aversion to Jews on the part of the hosting nation.
Benzion Dinur took into account the fact that there were probably three periods in the
history of the emancipation of the Jews: from
1740
to
1789,
from the year of the
French Revolution to the Congress of Berlin
(1878),
and from
1879
to the rising of the
Nazis to power in
1933.
In the 19th century, the absolute power in Austria was overwhelming and the
cultural level lower as compared to Germany, so that it was much more difficult to
promote the Jewish movement of emancipation in Germany. In the last years of the
18*
century and at the beginning of the 19th century, in spite of numerous petitions,
the authorities continued to promote discriminatory and restrictive measures regarding
the holiday of Purim, emigration laws and the itinerant commerce. Consequently, in
the aforementioned period the social status of Jews in Hungary and in the
Banat
region was rather unsatisfactory. The drafts of law presented to the Diet in
1790
and
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
259
in
1826
were not debated. Yet, at the county level in
Banat
and in
Pesta
there were
proofs of a milder attitude towards the Jews. The Hungarian Diet of
1839-1840
also
debated the problems of the Jews, formulating and adopting article
29/1840,
which
revised the rights that the Jews had obtained before: permission for residence, setting
up factories and managing them, adopting German names, buying land. The
emancipation of the Jews was conditioned by the use of the Hungarian language in
synagogues. Around
1830,
the Jews started penetrating journalism and the letters.
In the revolutionary year
1848,
their hopes of emancipation were reborn. The
Jewish committees from Hungary, Transylvania,
Banat
elaborated a manifesto in
March
1848,
declaring their enthusiastic support for the revolution. Members of all
religions participated in the manifestations that took place in
Timişoara,
on March
1
8th
and March 22nd
1848.
There in the Freedom Square (the name has remained since
then), an ecumenical movement took place; the chief rabbi
Oppenheim Zwi Hirsch
David held a noteworthy speech. This ecumenical movement, as well as the one held
in the Fabric district, had a confusing result due to several
anti-
Jewish troublemakers
who acted in reprobate ways. The conclusion was that the society of that time was
not yet prepared to integrate the Jews. In July
1848
a platoon of civil guards ofTimisoara
started towards
Vårset
and
Biserica Alba
(the White Church), accompanied by Jewish
soldiers and officers. The Jews' wish of integration was clear, many of them having
enrolled in the
Banat
battalion of honveds.Some of the participants were knighted for
their merits, like Derera
Izrael
(1897)
and S. Ignacz
(1872).
The enthusiasm of some of
the Jews made then take Hungarian names and even be baptized as Christians. Some of
them contributed with money to support the revolutionary government. However,
their hopes were not fulfilled the way they wanted to.
In
Lugoj,
the capital of the County of
Caras
at that time, the Jews were first
forbidden to manifest but later on the ban was lifted. In the summer and autumn of
1848,
the delegates of the Jewish communities ofTimisoara together with
representatives of other guilds resorted to the Diet in
Pesta
requesting emancipation,
but their project was unsuccessful. After several insistences, the revolutionary deputies
succeeded in convincing the Home Minister to support a proj ect of law stipulating the
emancipation of the Jews. The Parliament of Seged debated and adopted this legal
document in July
1849.
All the citizens recognized the political and civil rights of the
Jews, and so the Jews were allowed to choose their places of residence and to work
in all domains. Similarly, mixed marriages between Christians and Jews became almost
a commonplace. Unfortunately, this law lost its validity as soon as the Hungarian
Revolution of
1848-49
was suppressed.
In the post revolutionary period, the Jews ofTimisoara and
Banat
were accused
of spying in favour of the revolutionary troops and consequently many of them were
punished. The Constitution of March
4,1849
was abrogated in December
31,1851.
However, the equality of citizens before the law remained valid.
260
IONEL POPESCU
In the unfolding of events during the
1848-1849
Revolution, there were many
people in favour of emancipation. Political authority and the adepts of Jewish modernism
became fully aware of the beneficial effect of this phenomenon, opening the way
towards its fulfilment at the end of the 19th century.
Chapter VI
The religious and cultural relations between the Jewish
communities and the Christian denominations of
Banat
From
1867
to December
1st 1918,
the
Banat
region was a part of the Hapsburg
Empire, namely the Austrian-Hungarian one. This territory situated at the junction
between the central European zone and that of the Southeast was a multiethnic space
and obviously a multicultural one too. Here besides the native population, most of
them Romanians, there lived other ethnics like Germans, Serbians, Hungarians, Croats,
Slovaks, Checks, Bulgarians, Jews, Gipsies, etc. As far as religion was concerned,
the structure of the multiethnic community of the Christians in
Banat
was
multi-denominational. The majority of Romanians were Orthodox since they had been
Christianized and remained Orthodox (just like the Serbians). Catholicism penetrated
the
Banat
region after the decline of the Byzantine Empire and was growing
progressively strengthened by the successive waves of colonization during the 18th
and 19th centuries. In parallel, there appeared several denominations that had separated
from Catholicism
-
such as the Lutheran Church, the
Calvinist
Church and the
Greek-Catholic Church, especially in Transylvania.
The political evolution in the empire after
1867
generated different tendencies
in the multi-denominational relationships, which wavered between denominational
solidarity and movements of separation- namely of the individualization of churches
in point of nationality. This phenomenon underlined the process of clarifying identities
and differences. Unavoidable debates on interethnic and inter-religious issues were
engaged on ideological, cultural, and political grounds.
Therefore, being a multiethnic, multi-religious and multicultural space,
Banat
became the place where specific national identities took shape. The Jewish
communities of
Banat
had their own identity, their own religion and culture integrated
in the legal system of the empire.
These particularities, especially the religious freedom specific to the Mosaic
cult, gave them the status of a part in the religious tandem existing in the huge mass
of Christian denominations
-
all of them displaying various dogmatic features.
Let us first speak about
integrative
aspects adopted by the Jewish communities
of
Banat.
First of all Jews were included in the associative activities of commercial
and financial-banking societies as founders, leaders, and shareholders, together with
natives belonging to other ethnic categories and religions (for instance in the Building
_
JEWISH COMMUNITIES IN
BANAT
IN THE
18™
AND 19th CENTURIES
261
Society in
Caransebeş
at the end of the 19th century and in the Society of Voluntary
Firemen in Deta in
1850).
Strange situations occurred, as for instance, there were godfathers coming
from
non-
Jewish ethnic backgrounds or ethnic Jews buried in Catholic graveyards.
Even a stranger situation was registered: a Catholic priest inaugurated a synagogue,
a thing that made some traditionalist Jews so angry that they abandoned it and another
synagogue had to be built instead. There were cases when natives of Jewish origin
contributed to raising a synagogue of the Catholic cult (in
Lugoj),
or to renovating
churches (at
Iaz
near
Caransebeş).
Similarly, there were Christian natives who helped
Jews raise a synagogue (in Deta
18 82).
It was widely known in
Timişoara
that Christian
inhabitants and Christian authorities participated in the inauguration of some synagogues
(for instance, in
Cetate,
1865)
and vice versa. When loan Popescu, the bishop of
Caransebeş,
was installed at
Caransebeş
in
1865,
both Christian inhabitants and Jews
were present. Such examples abounded in those times.
Ethnic prejudices were often surpassed in the field of learning by the acceptance
of Jewish children in Christian schools according to the legislation of the time. There
were situations when the raising of schools was often stopped by lack of money, so
that Christians had to ask other religions to contribute with sums of money, as was the
case of the private school in
Lugoj,
inaugurated in
1837,
and transformed into a public
school in
183 8
with Jewish funds too. There were cases when the learning institutions
of the Christians interested Jewish spirituality- as for instance the theological Orthodox
school in
Caransebeş,
which introduced the study of the Old Testament and of the
Hebrew language in the curriculum.
Concerning the cultural relationships between the Christian denominations and
the Israeli communities, we would like to highlight several valuable studies and
investigations on the culture and spirituality of the Hebrews written by remarkable
theological personalities of the Orthodox centre of
Caransebeş,
like Professor Iosif
Iuliu Olariu
(1859-1920).
He authored outstanding studies, as for instance, Introduction
to the Books of the OldandNew Testament, published in
1904-1912.
Yet, his most
valuable contribution was his work The Explanation of the Psalms from the Hours
(Ceaslow), published in
1901.
Dr.
Petru Barbu
(from the same Institute of
Caransebeş)
brought other important contributions: he authored textbooks for all levels of learning,
like Little Biblical Stones
(1895),
The Holy Story of the Old Testament
(1898),
etc.
Both scholars contributed with competent analyses of the religion, history and culture
of the Jewish people, as well as of their beliefs, habits and everyday life.
The numerous old books about Jews to be found in the most important libraries
of
Banat
are relevant because they demonstrate the interest of the Orthodox in the
religion and history of the Jews. These books can be classified according to some
criteria. The first categoiy comprises books of great value written by great personalities
of Israeli origin like
Gottlob
Carpzov
( 1679-1767),
Gottfried Eichihorn (the
1
8th century),
262
IONEL POPESCU
Gottscheden Cristoph
(1700-1766),
Joseph Flavius
(37-100), Moses Mendelssohn
(1729-1786), Moritz Karl Philip (1757-1793),
etc. The second
category is represented
by remarkable studies about different Jewish domains written by
non-
Jewish authors,
among which the French philosopher Bernard
Lamy
(1640-1715),
the German scholar
and priest
Heinrich Braun
(the 18th century), the German judge and historian D.
Johannis
Michaelis,
the famous Italian lexicographer
Ambrosius
(1435-1511),
etc.
A mediating factor playing an important cultural role was 19 th century journalism.
A case in point was the weekly The Diocesan Paper, a newspaper of the Orthodox
Episcopal office of
Caransebeş,
which published a series of articles and lesson plans
about the Old Testament, news and artistic notes about Jews, and was extremely
popular.
Valuable cultural ties were formed as a result of the activities of the cultural
societies where Christian and Jewish personalities were interacting. Among such
reunions, we will mention the HevaKadisha Society in
Timişoara, Lugoj, Arad
and
other towns of
Banat,
as well as The Philanthropic Society of Israeli Women in
Timisoara-Fabric. Such associations were very active in several parts of the
Banat
region for a longer or a shorter period. In addition, there were numberless cases
when outstanding Jews participated in the setting up of cultural Romanian, German
and Hungarian manifestations. This cooperation was also mentioned when monuments
were raised or cultural clubs were organized (as for instance, the bourgeois Casino in
Oravita).
Obviously, these cultural ties led to a mutual acquaintance between Christians
and Jews, often assuaging the hate and aversion that arose on purely subjective
grounds. |
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| id | DE-604.BV023245375 |
| illustrated | Illustrated |
| index_date | 2024-07-02T20:25:34Z |
| indexdate | 2024-07-09T21:14:00Z |
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| language | Romanian English |
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| physical | 282 S. Ill., graph. Darst. |
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| spelling | Popescu, Ionel Verfasser aut Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare Ionel Popescu Timişoara Ed. Excelsior Art 2007 282 S. Ill., graph. Darst. txt rdacontent n rdamedia nc rdacarrier Geschichte 1700-1800 Geschichte 1800-1900 Geschichte 1700-1900 gnd rswk-swf Geschichte Juden Jews Banat History 18th century Jews Banat History 19th century Jews Romania History 18th century Jews Romania History 19th century Juden (DE-588)4028808-0 gnd rswk-swf Rumänien Banat Ethnic relations History 18th century Banat Ethnic relations History 19th century Banat (DE-588)4004408-7 gnd rswk-swf Banat (DE-588)4004408-7 g Juden (DE-588)4028808-0 s Geschichte 1700-1900 z DE-604 Digitalisierung BSBMuenchen application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=016430843&sequence=000003&line_number=0001&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Inhaltsverzeichnis Digitalisierung BSB Muenchen application/pdf http://bvbr.bib-bvb.de:8991/F?func=service&doc_library=BVB01&local_base=BVB01&doc_number=016430843&sequence=000004&line_number=0002&func_code=DB_RECORDS&service_type=MEDIA Abstract |
| spellingShingle | Popescu, Ionel Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare Geschichte Juden Jews Banat History 18th century Jews Banat History 19th century Jews Romania History 18th century Jews Romania History 19th century Juden (DE-588)4028808-0 gnd |
| subject_GND | (DE-588)4028808-0 (DE-588)4004408-7 |
| title | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare |
| title_auth | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare |
| title_exact_search | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare |
| title_exact_search_txtP | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare |
| title_full | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare Ionel Popescu |
| title_fullStr | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare Ionel Popescu |
| title_full_unstemmed | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX specific şi integrare Ionel Popescu |
| title_short | Comunităţile evreieşti din Banat, secolele XVIII - XIX |
| title_sort | comunitatile evreiesti din banat secolele xviii xix specific si integrare |
| title_sub | specific şi integrare |
| topic | Geschichte Juden Jews Banat History 18th century Jews Banat History 19th century Jews Romania History 18th century Jews Romania History 19th century Juden (DE-588)4028808-0 gnd |
| topic_facet | Geschichte Juden Jews Banat History 18th century Jews Banat History 19th century Jews Romania History 18th century Jews Romania History 19th century Rumänien Banat Ethnic relations History 18th century Banat Ethnic relations History 19th century Banat |
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