Bernhard Wechsler

Bernhard Wechsler (born 1807 Schwabach , Middle Franconia ; died on November 18, 1874 in Oldenburg ) was regional rabbi of the Jewish community in Oldenburg for over 30 years from 1841 until his death in 1874 .

childhood and education

Bernhard Wechsler was the son of the bedding and ells merchant David Hänlein Wechsler and the younger brother of the rabbi Abraham Josef Wechsler (died 1850).

He completed his Talmudic studies at the yeshiva in Fürth . In April 1827 he enrolled as an "Israelite theologian" without a school leaving certificate in Würzburg . He was ordained by Abraham Geiger , with whom he was lifelong friends, Joseph Aub and Isaak Loewi. He passed his state examination in Bayreuth in August 1834 with a grade of 2-3.

Professional activities

He then applied in Hagenbach, Upper Franconia . From 1837, Wechsler officiated as the regional rabbi of the regional rabbinate for the province of Birkenfeld , based in Hoppstädten an der Nahe , which belonged to the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg . There he was considered a liberal , but behaved cautiously towards the Orthodox .

In 1837 he became a member of Abraham Geiger's "Association of Jewish Scholars."

After Samson Raphael Hirsch had resigned from his service in Oldenburg in 1841, Wechsler was elected as his successor as reform rabbi by the government , thanks in part to a positive opinion from the Birkenfeld government director Laurenz Hannibal Fischer . In Oldenburg, too, Wechsler appeared as a representative of moderate Reform Judaism, who also tried to continue the efforts of his predecessors Hirsch and Nathan Marcus Adler in this direction.

In the Association for Popular Education in Oldenburg, he stated on December 20, 1846 that increasing education was the cause of emigration.

On August 24, 1855, he consecrated the new synagogue in Oldenburg's Peterstrasse.

From 1841 to 1850, Wechsler worked for Der Orient , a magazine for history, studies, and reviews of Jewish history and culture.

He was married to Adelheid geb. Aub (1817–1874), sister of his mentor Hirsch Aub.

During Wechsler's tenure, important legal foundations for the emancipation of the Jews and their organization in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg were laid. The constitutional law of 1849 brought legal equality, which was also retained in the revision of 1852. A law of February 4, 1848 had previously regulated the employment of the regional rabbi and the establishment of a rabbinical treasury. Another ordinance of February 14, 1851 guaranteed the independence of the Jewish communities and granted the regional rabbi the right to issue birth and marriage certificates. The further organization of the Jewish communities and the position of the regional rabbi were ultimately further strengthened by the law on religious and educational matters of the Jews of February 2, 1859.

Obituary in the Oldenburg press

An obituary appeared on the city ​​and country news :

“The Israelite community has suffered a very grave and painful loss through the death of its esteemed teacher, the land rabbi Bernhard Wechsler, who served it for thirty-three years. This was vividly demonstrated at his funeral, and the simple words that the oldest Israelite school teacher spoke at the deceased's grave gave a touching expression to the sentiments of the community. The participation of the Christian fellow citizens has shown that the departed was loved and valued far beyond the boundaries of his community. It will therefore no longer be considered right and fair that the recognition which he has also found among his Christian fellow citizens should be publicly expressed, especially since an act of church narrow-mindedness brought a glaring discord in the funeral ceremony. In Wechsler we have lost a fellow citizen who had an open interest and deep sympathy for everything that moved spirits. Wherever there was a need to promote contemporary and improving endeavors or to alleviate the suffering of his fellow human beings in the event of major accidents, he was at hand and did his best. In spite of all his mildness, he was a determined character who was not afraid to come out freshly and freely with the truth. His righteousness and honesty were widely recognized. It may well be that it made the Cancer family repugnant. But that the great majority of his fellow citizens, whatever their beliefs, show him recognition and respect, that requires no further proof after the general sympathy which his death arouses. Peace to his ashes! "

Tombstone

Gravestone of land rabbi Bernhard Wechsler and his wife Adelheid (née Aub) in the Jewish cemetery in Oldenburg ; Photo from 2012.

His gravestone bears the inscription:

Adelheid Wechsler
b. Aub.
born 1817
died 1874 Nov. 5.
Bernhard Wechsler
land rabbi
born. 1807
d. 1874 Nov. 18.

TNZBH

The gravestone of Adelheid and Bernhard Wechsler is still in the Jewish cemetery in Oldenburg today . It is described in a foreword to an essay on Theodor Wolff (1868–1943) and Judaism.

“A raised cuboid is framed at the corners by upturned and extinguished torches. The top edge is hemmed by an egg stick. The stone was originally crowned by a stone vase. Classicist ornament without pretension. The inscription reads: 'Adelheid Wechsler geb. Aub. born 1817 died 1874 Nov. 5. Bernhard Wechsler land rabbi born. 1807 died 1874 Nov. 18. TNZBH 'The last letters are carved in Hebrew. They form the first letters of the words of a ritual formula, which is translated differently: 'Your soul is bound into the bond of life' or: 'Your soul is received in the bond of eternity'. This blessing is as good as mandatory for Jewish gravestones. Here they are the only Hebrew language characters on an otherwise German inscription that does not make any further statements about those resting here. With the German language, the Christian, ie official calendar and the sparseness of the inscription, the tombstone fits in with the others that were set during this period. They all testify to the fact that belonging to society at that time was a matter of course. "

In the essay mentioned above, a remarkable distinction is made between the tombstones of Wechsler and his two successors in office, the land rabbis David Mannheimer and Philipp de Haas. The tombstone of Wechsler and his wife is kept rather simple. His successors, however, are often honored with special designations on their gravestones.

Around 1899, Wechsler's son, Alfred Wechsler, had an additional memorial stone erected on the Jewish cemetery. The inscription reads: After 25 years / his beloved parents / in faithful memory / Alfred

Fonts

• Three speeches: given by Bernhard Wechsler when he left the Principality of Birkenfeld and when he took up his post in the Duchy of Oldenburg. Oldenburg 1842.
• The image of the noble woman. Sermon in memory of the immortalized Grand Duchess Caecilie von Oldenburg . Oldenburg 1844.

literature

• Christel Goldbach: Distant observation. Theodor Wolff and Judaism. "... they are not my candles, but their light is warm". bis - Library and Information System of the University, Oldenburg 2002, ISBN 3-8142-0795-5 , ( Oldenburg contributions to Jewish studies 11), (At the same time: Oldenburg, Univ., Master's thesis, 2000).
• Meyer Kayserling (ed.): Library of Jewish pulpit speakers. A chronological collection of the sermons, biographies, and characteristics of the finest Jewish preachers. Volume II, Berlin 1872, pp. 241-246.
• Meyer Kayserling: The Jewish literature of Moses Mendelssohn up to the present. Iin: Jakob Winter and August Wünsche (editors): The Jewish literature since the end of the canon. Vol. III, 1896, pp. 806, 1863.
• Joseph Mendelssohn : A corner of Germany. Travel silhouettes, Oldenburg images, characters and conditions. Johann-Heinrich Stalling, Oldenburg 1845, p. 96f. ( Digital version in the Odenburg State Library ).
• Enno Meyer: The Oldenburg State Rabbinate. In: History of the Oldenburg Jews and their extermination. Exhibition catalog, edit. v. Udo Elerd and Ewald Gäßler, Oldenburg 1988, pp. 49-52.
• Harald Schieckel: Wechsler, Bernhard. In: Hans Friedl u. a. (Ed.): Biographical manual for the history of the state of Oldenburg . Edited on behalf of the Oldenburg landscape. Isensee, Oldenburg 1992, ISBN 3-89442-135-5 , pp. 780-781 ( online ).
• Oldenburg. In: Johannes-Fritz Töllner: The Jewish cemeteries in the Oldenburger Land. Inventory of the preserved tombstones. (Oldenburger Studien 25), Oldenburg 1983, pp. 356–487 (therein: history, photos and inscriptions); ISBN 3-87358-181-7 .
• Leo Trepp : Die Oldenburger Judenschaft , Oldenburg 1973, p. 208 ff.
• Leo Trepp: The state community of Jews in Oldenburg. The nucleus of Jewish life (1827-1938) and mirror of Jewish fate. Oldenburg 1965, p. 26ff.
• Max Wiener : Jewish Religion in the Age of Emancipation. Philo-Verlag, Berlin 1933, pp. 82, 100, 107, 109 ( digitized version ).
• Entry WECHSLER, Bernhard. In: Michael Brocke and Julius Carlebach (editors), edited by Carsten Wilke : Biographisches Handbuch der Rabbis. Part 1: The rabbis of the emancipation period in the German, Bohemian and Greater Poland countries 1781–1871. K G Saur, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-598-24871-7 , p. 883.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ http://www.nausa.uni-oldenburg.de/1848/1848holtdt.html
2. ↑ http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/11684-oldenburg
3. ^ News for Town and Country , No. 411, November 26, 1874
4. ^ Töllner, 1983, page 424
5. ↑ Goldbach 2002, page 13 ff.
6. ↑ Töllner 1983, page 486