Todays Yahrzeit honoree, like yesterdays, is a man with a brilliant talent for finance who became indispensible to an emperor and used his influence to better the lives of his fellow Jews. Samson (Shimshon) Wertheimer (1658 Worms, Germany - 1724 Vienna, Austria) was a court Jew, financier and a Rabbi. His Yahrzeit is on the 17th of Av and we post 3 pictures to honor him: 1) Samson Wertheimer 2) A portion of his family tree showing how court Jews of his time consolidated power and wealth by marrying into other families with court ties 3) The synagogue he built in Eisenstadt, Austria (near the Hungarian border), a building which now houses the Austrian Jewish Museum. Wertheimer was the son of Joseph Josel Wertheimer and received his education at the yeshivot of Worms and Frankfort-on-the-Main. He went to Vienna in 1684, and associated himself with Samuel Oppenheimer, sharing the latters privilege of residence. During the absence of Oppenheimer, Wertheimer represented him in transactions with the Austrian government. Wertheimer soon gained the confidence of Emperor Leopold I. In the Spanish War of Succession Wertheimer united with Samuel Oppenheimer to procure the money necessary for the equipment of the imperial army and for the supply of provisions. After Oppenheimers sudden death in 1703, Wertheimer maintained the credit of the state and found new sources of income. In 1703, the emperor appointed him court factor, and extended for twenty years his privileges of free religious worship, denizenship, and immunity from taxation. Joseph I, who succeeded his father on 1705, confirmed Wertheimers title and privileges. Wertheimer thus maintained his position as a financier and creditor of the state. In exchange for his services, Wertheimer requested better treatment for his fellow Jews throughout the Austrio-Hungarian Empire. He negotiated the Jews’ right to live in major cities, including Vienna and Frankfurt, he saved the Jews of Rothenberg from expulsion, and he intervened to save Jews of Worms and Frankfurt. In 1712, he rebuilt the Jewish Quarter of Nikolsburg, which had burned down. He was also responsible for all monies raised in Europe on behalf of the community in Eretz Yisrael. The title of Landesrabbiner, (Head Rabbi of the Land) which the Jews of Hungary had bestowed on Wertheimer, was made effective by Charles VI in 1711. Wertheimer, according to a contemporary account of one of his relatives, Abraham Levi, was called the Juden Kaiser. Ten imperial soldiers stood as sentinels before his house. He possessed many of the palaces and gardens in Vienna, and numerous estates and houses in Germany. He established Jewish schools, and distributed large amounts of money in Europe and in the Holy Land. Alien Jews were not allowed to remain over night in Vienna without a written permit from him. Wertheimer did not discontinue his rabbinical studies. In a manuscript volume he left a number of homilies and sermons that he had delivered in the private synagogue in his house; these show considerable Talmudic erudition. He delivered many funeral sermons on the deaths of distinguished rabbis. From far and near questions of religion, particularly of ritual, were submitted to him and to the rabbinical court over which he presided; and to the latter he called such great authorities as Jacob Eliezer Braunschweig, Simeon ben Judah Löb Jalles of Cracow, and Alexander ben Menahem ha-Levi of Prossnitz. When, in consequence of Rákóczys insurrection (1708), the Jewish congregation of Eisenstadt had been dispersed and the wealthier members had taken refuge in Vienna, Wertheimer persuaded them to return and to help their poorer brethren rebuild the congregation. He himself built for them in Eisenstadt a house and a beautiful synagogue, still called Samsons Schule. He lent his aid also in establishing about forty Jewish congregations in Hungary. In Frankfort-on-the-Main he founded and richly endowed a Talmudical school, at whose head was his son-in-law Moses Kann. geni/people/Samson-Wertheimer/4139927776210036833 (Posted by Edna Kalka Grossman whose second cousins husbands stepmother was the 6th great niece of Samson Wertheimers wife)
Posted on: Tue, 12 Aug 2014 23:30:00 +0000
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