Jacob Löb Goitein

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Jacob Löb Goitein (* 1867 in Högyész ; † October 12, 1939 in Haifa ) belongs to the 5th generation of the Goitein family, which can be traced back to Baruch Bendit Goitein . He lived as a wine merchant in Frankfurt am Main for around forty years and was the founder of the Zionist movement there .

Life

Jacob Löb Goitein is one of the eight children of Elijahu Menahem Goitein (1837–1902), rabbi in Hőgyész, and his wife Amalie (née Baneth; * 1840 - † 1927) In The history of the Goitein family: 1771–2012 (see literature ) it is reported that Jacob Löb Goitein was unable to begin training as a rabbi because his voice was unsuitable for that of a rabbi. Little more is known about his childhood and youth.

The exact date of his move to Frankfurt is not known. He was first mentioned in the city's address books in 1890 with a wine shop selling "Hungarian wine". From then on, both his business addresses in Frankfurt and his residential addresses can be traced seamlessly until he emigrated in 1935. In later years, the wine trade was expanded to include the addition of “own pressing” in advertisements; In 1896 he referred to "references from several Orthodox rabbis" for his business, and in 1902 he also had "Palestine wines" on offer. In February 1936, shortly after the Goitein family emigrated, the “langj. Cellar master bd Fa. JL Goitein ”, S. Goldberg, with his wine shop. Their company headquarters is the penultimate Frankfurt address of Jacob Löb Goitein, Uhlandstrasse 40 in the formerly Jewish-influenced Frankfurt Ostend . Jacob Löb Goitein had moved from here to the neighboring Thüringer Str. 1 in 1933.

In 1893 Jacob Löb Goitein and Berta Abraham (* 1867 in Windesheim - † March 28, 1946 in Ramat Gan ) married. The marriage of the two resulted in five children, all of whom were born in Frankfurt am Main.

The Zionist

Jacob Löb Goitein's nephew, Shlomo Dov Goitein , wrote in an article on the occasion of his uncle's 70th birthday that he was a student and admirer of Markus Horovitz , the Orthodox rabbi of the Israelite community in Frankfurt am Main, to whom the Börneplatz synagogue was founded, which was also Goitein's religious home. According to Paul Arnsberg , Goitein “fell under the spell of Theodor Herzl at the beginning of 1895 ” and was co-founder of the Frankfurt branch of the Zionist Association for Germany in 1897. Arnsberg makes it clear elsewhere that this was not a matter of course for the Frankfurt Jews at the time.

“With the West-Jewish attitude of Frankfurt Jews - apart from a few exceptions - there was no inner relationship to the Zionist idea, and it was a revolutionary decision to become a Zionist. The Zionist circles at that time consisted mainly of Polish (Austrian) and Russian Jews and only a tiny number of 'German Jews'. German Jews, insofar as they joined Zionism, were the nonconformists of the time and essentially belonged to the circles of the community conservatives. The separation orthodox as well as the liberals were extremely anti-Zionist. The sharp social division between West and East Jews played a role in the development of the Frankfurt Zionist movement for many years.
Classic figures of the Frankfurt Zionist early period were Fritz Sondheimer and Jakob L. Goitein. Goitein was simply 'the' Zionist in Frankfurt. "

- Paul Arnsberg : The history of the Frankfurt Jews since the French Revolution , Volume I: The course of events , p. 813

Also in 1897, according to an Israeli publication cited by Meriam Haringman, Ayala Gordon and Edith Frankel, Goitein, together with Max I. Bodenheimer and David Wolffsohn, belonged to the committee that was supposed to prepare a Jewish congress in Munich, which, however, went to Basel due to rabbi protests was relocated and went down in history as the First Zionist Congress . This should not have been an easy time for Goitein, because his religious mentor, Markus Horovitz, was one of the protest rabbis who revolted against Herzl's plans, but Goitein's participation in this 1st Congress is documented by the minutes. Sammy Gronemann reported that Goitein had been designated as the steward so that he would not be constantly interrupted by his heckling calls. This fits what Shlomo Dov Goitein wrote on the occasion of his uncle's 70th birthday in a newspaper article already quoted above: “His way of speaking was and is fiery and stormy, and his openness sometimes went beyond the acceptable. But no one was offended because it was common knowledge that the fire that drove him was pure and free from selfishness and the search for recognition. "

Goitein also took part in many other Zionist congresses, such as 1899 (Basel), 1900 (London), 1901, 1903, 1905 1911 (all Basel) and 1913 (Vienna), and probably in connection with his role as congress delegate as well a stay in December 1899 in London, where his brother Kalman Goitein lived, who took part as a delegate at the 5th Zionist Congress. At the event of the “West London Zionists” on December 17, 1899, “our comrade Goitein from Frankfurt a. M. [..] a warm welcome ", as it was said in a contemporary press article. An obituary in October 1939 mentions how formative it was for Goitein to have “been personally involved in this first phase of the Zionist development”. "He did not speak of his encounters with Theodor Herzl like an old delegate who reports from meetings and commissions, but as a deep experience."

At the beginning of the 1900s Goitein took over the chairmanship of the Frankfurt local branch of the Zionist Association for Germany from his predecessor Fritz Sondheimer (1879–1930). The Frankfurter Israelitische Wochenblatt announced his re-election as chairman on October 13, 1905, and Arnsberg continues to lead him as a board member for 1917. In 1932/33 he was an honorary chairman of the association, and that has probably been since 1922. In June of this year the association celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary. During the celebration, Goitein was honored as its founder and appointed a lifelong member of the board. Unfortunately, nothing is reported about his acceptance speech in which he described his path to Zionism.

Around 1906 Goitein was given the honor of an entry in the Golden Book of the National Fund, through which his name remains “forever associated with Israel”, as it says on the website of the Jewish National Fund . This in turn gave his friends and acquaintances the opportunity to donate to the National Fund in his honor.

Arnsberg describes Goitein's role, which has so far hardly been explored in Frankfurt's local history, as follows: “He was a religious, enthusiastic and selfless Zionist who gave his time and health to spreading Zionist ideas in Frankfurt and Germany and to winning followers for Zionism. In Jewish Frankfurt he was the personification of Zionism. ”For this he also accepted hardship. His public opposition to Rabbi Horovitz led to resistance from Jewish circles against him, and his action immediately after the 1st Zionist Congress of renting a room opposite the synagogue and hoisting the blue and white flag in front of it caused him anger. His daughter Theodora (Dorle), whose name is derived from Theodor Herzl's first name, who died a few months before she was born, also reported in a conversation with the historian Ulrich Tromm in 1988 that her father in Frankfurt “took his Sunday excursions in the cab drove the flag with the national coat of arms of today's Israel to attract the attention of passers-by and to direct the conversation to Zionism. The audience thought this was an advertisement for the sale of Palestinian wines that he pressed and sold. Insulted, he then stopped selling wine in Frankfurt. ”Shlomo Dov Goitein wrote about these public provocations by his uncle:“ At that time Jacob Löb Goitein was a small to medium-sized wine merchant with a family; it threatened his reputation, even if he eventually surmounted all obstacles. The secret of his success lay in his honesty in everything he did. His trade was known for its straightforwardness and trustworthiness, just as its Zionism was without ulterior motive, and so was its religiosity. Goitein was never inclined to organized religious Zionism (cf. HaMisrachi ), since he was always afraid of the interference of religion in party politics. "

The frequent mentions of Goitein in the relevant publications indicate a strong commitment that was shown in membership in various boards of Jewish institutions, of which only a few are to be listed:

  • He was on the board of directors of the Jewish Library and Reading Hall Association founded by the Zionist Association in 1905, which founded and maintained the institution of the same name, from which the library of the Frankfurt Israelite Community emerged in 1922. An obituary mentions that he was also a member of the governing bodies of the Zionist Association for Germany .
  • In 1915 he took part in the establishment of Hebrew language courses and is the contact point for registrations.
  • In 1919 he was a member of the board of directors of the Central Association of Israelite Community Members .
  • In May 1920 Goitein was elected to the board of the conservative Jewish community , chaired by Fritz Sondheimer, with whom he had already founded the Frankfurt Zionist Association.
  • Also in 1920 he was elected to the community council of the Frankfurt Israelite Congregation.
  • In 1932/33 he was a member of the board of directors of the Yeshiva Rabbinical College .

Goitein was more of a practitioner of Zionism than a theorist. He was one “who knows about public relations, who knows how to behave and who is happy to find a leader or rabbi to follow”. There are hardly any articles that provide information about his thinking. In 1908, following a meeting in Frankfurt, he turned against what he saw as an improper use of the so-called olive tree donations in the olive grove project supported by Otto Warburg (agricultural botanist) on the grounds of Ben Shemen . He assumed Warburg that the project should promote purposes of an "anti-religious nature". Support for the project should therefore “be inhibited” until the association supervising the project includes a “law-abiding member” - an Orthodox Jewish member. Two years later, in a report by the Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt about a joint event of the Frankfurt Zionist Association and the Misrachi local group on January 12, 1910: “JL Goitein, the founder of Frankf. Zion. Association and a loyal follower of Herzl traditions, emphasized in his remarks that the great zion. Thought should not suffer through practical detail work. Wolffsohn was also very inclined to do practical work, but he kept within the limits that were necessary for the best of Zionism. If the misrachi were to set up a colony, he would exceed his program and run the risk of neglecting the greatness of his program. The Oppenheimer settlement cooperative is in the spirit of the great zion. Idea and practical work. ”With this, Goitein was referring to a resolution at the ninth Zionist Congress (December 26–31, 1909 in Hamburg), at which, after a lecture by Oppenheimer, it was decided“ ”the cooperative settlement method in the field of activity of the Zionist Organization ". In order to implement this resolution, the Keren Kajemeth should provide the land necessary for the establishment of a settlement cooperative on a long lease. A special cooperative fund should be set up to finance the project, and a committee made up of representatives of the Jewish National Fund and the workers should take over the management. [..] At the congress itself, subscriptions to the value of 40,000 francs were received for the cooperative fund. a. In fact, Oppenheimer's plan also promised something big. "The creation of a viable credit base for the mass settlement of free Jewish farmers in Palestine," announced the appeal of the cooperative fund of January 28, 1910, "that is the intention of the work. It aims at large colonization via small colonization, and not only for farmers; because whoever creates farmers ", it was further emphasized," also creates cities in which other tens of thousands, hopefully hundreds of thousands, can live as free proud citizens. "" Goitein did not stop at a verbal commitment to the Oppenheimer settlement cooperative. In the previously quoted edition of the Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt dated January 14, 2010, you can read on page 10 that he immediately donated to the Franz Oppenheimer workers' settlement cooperative in Palestine . Goitein's donation to the cooperative fund is just one example of many. The Jewish Zionist magazines of the time are full of donation lists. The Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt alone has regularly printed such lists over the years. One who is mentioned as a donor in almost every issue was Jacob Löb Goitein - also during the First World War and afterwards. It is noticeable that donations from him and others were often made for two reasons: to thank you for the attentions received and in honor of friends and acquaintances, apparently instead of gifts. After the war death of his son Harry Goitein, many donations from the Goitein family and their friends and acquaintances were used to plant trees in a Harry Goitein garden , which was probably part of the Herzl forest .

In the ongoing conflicts in Frankfurt between supporters of Reform Judaism and Orthodoxy, which Goitein's nephew Edward Yehezkiel David Goitein described with a lot of British humor in 1927 , Jacob Löb Goitein stood on the side of Orthodoxy, but was not part of the wing of the Israelite religious society , but was one of them Congregational orthodoxy, whose strict members remained in the Jewish unified congregation , the center of which was the Börneplatz synagogue . As a Zionist, Goitein belonged for many years to the conservative faction in the local council of the Israelite Community in Frankfurt and later to the faction of the Jewish People's Party .

Farewell to Frankfurt

It is unclear why the Goitein family left the apartment at Uhlandstraße 40 in Frankfurt, where they had lived since 1913, in 1933 and moved to an apartment only a few meters away. On September 11, 1935, he was adopted by the chairman, Richard Merzbach (born October 26, 1873 Frankfurt am Main - † August 22, 1945 in Seattle ) in the community council of the Frankfurt Israelite Congregation:

“Finally, the chairman addressed words of farewell to the community representative, Mr. Jacob L. Goitein, who had last appeared before he moved to Palestine and who has been a member of the community council without interruption since the new municipal constitution came into force, and conveyed the warmest wishes of the community council for his continued well-being the new home, whereupon Mr. Goitein thanked him in short and moving words for the honor he had received. "

- Community Gazette of the Israelite Congregation Frankfurt am Main , vol. 14 (1935–1936), No. 1 from October 1935, p. 24

Jacob Löb Goitein and his wife Berta emigrated to Palestine in 1935 and moved into an apartment in Haifa. In 1938 Shlomo Dov Goitein wrote: “Some of his cousins ​​and many of his relatives, friends and numerous acquaintances had also settled in Palestine, so that he was surrounded by his people and thought it was like Frankfurt here, which means that he meets a Jewish friend at every turn with whom he can talk. "

swell

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The following remarks on this branch of the family are based - if no other sources are named - on an excerpt from the book The history of the Goitein family: 1771–2012 , which was made available by Hagar Oren, Jacob Löb Goitein's great-granddaughter.
  2. ↑ See: The Elijahu-Menahem-Goitein Line
  3. ^ Gábor Lengyel: Modern Rabbi Training in Germany and Hungary , p. 225
  4. ↑ Der Israelit , vol. 37 (1896), issue 19 of March 5, 1896, p. 388
  5. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt , vol. 1 (1902–1903), issue 2 of November 7, 1902, p. 7
  6. ↑ Der Israelit , vol. 77 (1936), issue 9 of February 27, 1936, p. 16
  7. ↑ The year of the marriage results from a note in the Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt , in which the Goitein couple thank them for the attentions given to them on the occasion of their silver wedding. ( Frankfurter Israelitischen Familienblatt , vol. 16 (1918), issue 3 of January 18, 1918, p. 6). A donation notification in Der Israelit of April 27, 1893 ( Der Israelit , vol. 34 (1893), issue 34 of April 27, 1893, p. 98 ) refers directly to the wedding year 1893
  8. ↑ a b c d e f g Article on the 70th birthday of Jacob Löb Goitein by his nephew Shlomo Dov Goitein, published on November 21, 1938 in the daily newspaper en: Davar , quoted from Meriam Haringman; Ayala Gordon; Edith Frankel: The history of the Goitein family: 1771–2012
  9. ↑ a b c d Paul Arnsberg, Volume III, pp. 151–152
  10. ↑ Ruth Bondy : פליקס: פנחס רוזן וזמנו / Feliḳs: Pinḥas Rozen ṿe-zemano , Zemorah-Bitan, Tel-Aviv 1990. ( Pinchas Rosen in his time )
  11. ^ Zionist Congress Basel 1897 - Official Protocol , p. 138
  12. ↑ a b Lecture by Ulrich Tromm: The Markenhof as Zionist emigration training course 1919–1925 , in: Andreas Paetz / Karin Weiss (ed.): "Hachschara". The preparation of young Jews for emigration to Palestine , Verlag für Berlin-Brandenburg, Potsdam 1999, p. 25
  13. ^ Stenographic minutes of the negotiations of the Zionist congresses
  14. ↑ Die Welt , 4th vol. (1900), No. 5 of February 2, 1900, p. 16
  15. ↑ a b Obituary for Jacob Löb Goitein , in: Mitteilungsblatt , October 1939. The Mitteilungsblatt (also MB ) was the organ of the association of Israelis of Central European origin .
  16. ↑ a b Paul Arnsberg, Volume II, p. 47
  17. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Wochenblatt , issue 40 of October 13, 1905, p. 10 ( from the Zionist movement )
  18. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt (New Jewish Press), vol. 20 (1922), issue 22 of June 22, 1922, p. 3
  19. ^ The books of honor of the Jewish National Fund
  20. ↑ Jüdische Rundschau , XI. Vol. (1906), issue 35 from August 31, 1906, p. 532
  21. ^ Paul Arnsberg, Volume II, p. 65
  22. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt , vol. 13 (1915), issue 51 of December 31, 1915, p. 3
  23. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt (New Jewish Press), vol. 17 (1919), issue 10 of March 7, 1919, p. 4
  24. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt (New Jewish Press), Volume 18 (1920), Issue 19 of May 21, 1920, p. 3
  25. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt (New Jewish Press), Volume 18 (1920), Issue 44 of December 3, 1920, p. 4
  26. ^ Paul Arnsberg, Volume II, p. 81
  27. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitischen Familienblatt , vol. 6 (1908), issue 27 of July 10, 1908, p. 10
  28. ↑ Frankfurter Israelitisches Familienblatt , vol. 8 (1910), issue 2 of January 14, 1910, p. 4
  29. ^ [1] Alex Bein : Franz Oppenheimer as a person and a Zionist
  30. ↑ Matthias Morgenstern: Jewish “model community” in conflict - The Israelite Religious Society in Frankfurt am Main , in: Georg Heuberger (Ed.): Ostend . View into a Jewish quarter , Societäts-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2000, pp. 42–47
  31. ^ E. David Goitein: The Holy City of Frankfurt , in: The B'nai B'rith magazine. The National Jewish Monthly , Vol. 41 (1927), No. 9 of June 1927, pp. 375 ff.
  32. ↑ "For the German national comrade, the German legal guardian! For the Jew, the Jewish consultant!" Lawyers of Jewish origin in the higher regional court district of Frankfurt during National Socialism
  33. ^ "The history of the Goiten family was initiated by Meriam Haringman and Ayala Gordon. Each family, all of whom are offspring of Eliyahu Menahem Goiten, participated by writing and telling the particular story of their branch. "
personal data
SURNAME Goitein, Jacob Löb
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Wine merchant, delegate at the 1st Zionist Congress in 1897, founder of the Frankfurt Zionist Association
DATE OF BIRTH 1867
PLACE OF BIRTH Högyész
DATE OF DEATH October 12, 1939
Place of death Haifa