Salomon Blumenau

Salomon Blumenau

Salomon Blumenau (born June 8, 1825 in Bünde ( Westphalia ); died January 2, 1904 in Hanover , also known under the anagrammatic pseudonym MB Leunau ) was a Prussian educator and preacher of Reform Judaism . Blumenau founded the Israelite teachers' association .

Life

Born in Bünde as the son of a Westphalian cattle dealer family of Jewish faith, Salomon Blumenau started school in Lübbecke in 1838 . The training by the reform Jewish teacher Heinemann Leeser was followed by a visit to the Marks Haindorf Foundation in Münster . A pastor friend in Elsof gave Blumenau the finishing touches so that he could pass the teacher examination in Soest in 1846 . Afterwards Salomon Blumenau was tutor in Elsof for six years . In 1852, the liberal part of the Fritzlar community called in Blumenau as a teacher and cantor . In 1855, at the instigation of Fritzlar's Orthodox Jews , who had sent a request to the Hessian administration, Minister Ludwig Hassenpflug expelled him from Hesse. Blumenau then moved to Bielefeld , where he took over the management of the Jewish elementary school. He also preached in the Bielefeld synagogue. Together with Dr. Emil Kronenberg from Solingen and Prof. Dr. Lessmann from Heidelberg, Blumenau founded the Israelite Teachers' Association , of which he later became honorary president.

In Bielefeld, the Freemason Blumenau was initially controversial because of his liberal, free-thinking view of Judaism as a preacher.

Despite the reforms that he introduced (we believe that Bielefeld was the first Jewish community in Westphalia to have an organ in the synagogue), he also managed to fill the conservative section with the real spirit of God. [...] Incidentally, the innovations he introduced in the service were not so great that the name of the Bielefeld community should have served as a nightmare. They only hurried ahead of their time and did not extend any further than today the worship service is common everywhere, even in a moderately liberal sense. There was no elimination of Hebrew prayers, only a few, which were distinguished by their special beauty and warmth, were recited in German. In addition, a chant before and after the sermon [...] that was pretty much all that could be addressed as new. There was no paid choir, instead the whole community took part in the singing. A voluntary choir of singers only met on the major holidays; which then [...] brought the act of worship to a great height.

After the dissolution of the Jewish elementary school in Bielefeld, he worked as a religion teacher at several higher schools. On these he achieved the establishment of the subject religion as an examination subject in the Abitur . In 1889 Salomon Blumenau retired. He spent his old age in Kassel, Hameln and Hanover. At a very old age, he still acted as a delegate of the Israelite Community Association in Berlin .

Works (selection)

• Hail to the sisters! Speeches and poems with a mason content, presented in the fraternal circle and selected for the hand of sisters (self-published by the author and commissioned by JG Findel, Leipzig 1873. VIII, 96 p.) Digitalized ULB Münster
• About the foreign invaders in our language
• God and man (self-published by the author. VII, 272 p., Bielefeld 1829)
• For orientation in the Freemason question: In letters to a friend (published by the Freemason Lodge "Humboldt", Budapest 1878) digitized MDZ Munich
• What is the religious thought in Freemasonry? (Reprinted in: General Manual of Freemasonry. 3rd edition I, 1900, p. 111, Hamburg 1881)
• Schiller garden. A systematically arranged flower picking from all of Schiller's works . Dortmund: W. Crüwell 1879. XI, 124 p. [Under pseudonym: MB Leunau]
• Lessing pearls. A systematically arranged flower picking from all of Lessing's works . Bielefeld: Helmich 1887. VIl, 49 p .; further edition 1889
• Israelite hymnbook for synagogues and religious schools . 2nd edition Bielefeld: self-published 1888. (6), 111 p .; further edition 1909; revised New edition: Bielefeld. Digitized UB Frankfurt a. Main
• Synagogue congregation hymn book for synagogue and school ; based on the Blumenauschen hymnal. compiled and ed. on behalf of the synagogue community Bielefeld. Bielefeld: Printed by: C. Brockmann 1907. 140 p. (LBI New York)
• Melodies for flowers from the "Israelite hymn book" . Bielefeld [Frankfurt / M .: businessman] 1879 (?); 1888; 1890. Digitized UB Frankfurt a. Main

literature

• Monika Minninger: Salomon Blumenau from Bünde (1825-1904) teacher, cantor, preacher, freemason, author. In: Ravensberger Blätter / Historischer Verein für die Grafschaft Ravensberg, 1988, Issue 1, pp. 8–21
• Blumenau, Salomon. In: Lexicon of German-Jewish Authors . Volume 3: Birk – Braun. Edited by the Bibliographia Judaica archive. Saur, Munich 1995, ISBN 3-598-22683-7 , pp. 188-191.

Web links

• Jewish literature in Westphalia

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sal. Blumenau sel. In: HIF of November 29, 1928, quoted from: Bibliographia Judaica , Vol. 3, 1995