The Jews of Stühlingen

9-4

Ralph

December 25, 2016

¶ 1 Leave a comment on paragraph 1 0 We know that the synagogue had a Torah scroll in 1688 [R879], and it is almost certain that the scroll sat in an ark covered by an embroidered curtain.20 The myth of the learned and immensely rich rabbi Maharam Weil is woven around the second synagogue,21 as a prominent plaque reminds the visitor.

¶ 2 Leave a comment on paragraph 2 0 Rabbis are mentioned very rarely in the 4826 Stühlingen records pertaining to Jews. This is not astonishing, given the restricted role permitted to the rabbi by the letters of protection.22 Deprived of his judicial function, a rabbi would preside at weddings and funerals. He was not needed for regular synagogue services, although some rabbis were renowned for their learned expositions on a variety of religious and philosophical topics. We have no documentary evidence that a Stühlingen rabbi ever functioned in the accepted role of a community rabbi typical for the transition period from Middle Ages to the early modern period.23  Nor was the Stühlingen rabbi’s function acknowledged by the secular authorities, unlike the case in Burgau.24

¶ 3 Leave a comment on paragraph 3 0 The only explicitly tax-exempt rabbi mentioned was Salomon Bloch, Reb Shlomele, (C2.1.4.2).25 In the Lengnau mohel book (list of ritual circumcisers),26 Salomon is designated as chaver (member) rather than rabbi, indicating that he had only some basic rabbinical qualifications. He appears in Stühlingen records between 1687 [R1441] and 1734 [R2380]. In a petition to the count, he describes himself humbly as “schoolmaster of the Jews’ school who earns his living by teaching the young,”27 and explains further that he had inherited this position by law from his father-in-law.

¶ 4 Leave a comment on paragraph 4 0  

20Weber, “Synagogenausstattungen.”

21Rosenthal, “Heimatgeschichte der badischen Juden,” 175; Häusler, “Stühlingen: Vergangenheit und Gegenwart,” 158.

22See ch. 5, pg 41. (comments to paragraph 2)

23Friedmann, “The Changing Role of the Community Rabbinate.”

24Ullmann, Nachbarschaft und Konkurrenz, 161–6.

25FFA, “Judenakte,” Politica, 4 I 1, RM, rep. 5, sch.2, June 11, 1717.

26Kaufmann, “Zur Geschichte der Familie Dreyfuss.”

27Rosenthal, Heimatgeschichte der badischen Juden, 176.