Israel Gerson

Israel Gerson (born February 6, 1786 , † May 13, 1872 in Hamm ) was a merchant of the Jewish faith from Hamm. He made a name for himself through generous donations to the Jewish community . In 1842, for example, he acted as one of the buyers of a property that was transferred to the municipality in 1865. This donation enabled the establishment of a Jewish school from 1846 and later the construction of the Hamm synagogue (1868).

family

Israel Gerson's wife was called Minna Hahlo (1794–1886).

Life

Israel Gerson ran a manufactory shop with his brother Isaak Gerson . This was in the house at Oststrasse 20 (then: Nro 50), which the brothers Joseph Gerson , Jacob Gerson , Isaac Gerson and Israel Gerson had built in 1809 from the widowed court councilor Henriette Wehling. Bolberitz had bought. The building was erected by Mayor Moritz Fabricius in 1732/33 after the city fire of 1730 .

The Jews in Hamm were not granted full equality at that time, this only happened through the Prussian constitution of 1850. However, since the Napoleonic campaigns and the temporary incorporation of the County of Mark into the Grand Duchy of Berg , the Jewish population was no longer completely devoid of everyone Civil rights cut off so that they could now operate more freely than in the centuries before.

Nevertheless, the attempt to provide the Jewish community with a plot of land for the construction of a synagogue failed, initially due to the community's lack of corporate rights . In 1842 Israel Gerson bought the house at Martin-Luther-Strasse 5 together with Seligmann Bacharach , Elias Marks , Elias Spanier and Levi Stern. From July 1846, with the consent of the Arnsberg district government , it could be made available as a Jewish school. However, the transfer to the property of the community only succeeded in 1866. It was only at this point in time that the authorities had sufficiently familiarized themselves with the new provisions of the Prussian constitution, which now granted the Jewish community full rights of corporation. The donation was confirmed on September 12, 1966. The congregation was finally able to begin planning the new construction of their synagogue, which had already been decided in 1855 and which was put into practice in 1868.

When Israel Gerson died four years after the synagogue was built, he was buried in the Jewish section of the Ostenfriedhof . His grave can still be seen there today.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Documented for the year 1833.

literature

• Elke Hilscher: "... love cannot perish ..." Jewish cemetery in Hamm. Documentation in pictures . Photography: Heinz Feussner. Chief City Director of Hamm, Hamm 1994, ISBN 3-929314-01-0 .
• Andreas Skopnik: "Open the gates of justice". Construction and demolition of the New Synagogue in Hamm 1868-1939 . Westfälischer Anzeiger Verlags-Gesellschaft, Hamm 1995, ISBN 3-924966-07-9 , p. 8.