Samson Wertheimer

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Samson Wertheimer
Wertheimer's gravestone

Samson Wertheimer , also Samson Wertheimber , (born on January 17, 1658 in Worms ; died on August 6, 1724 in Vienna ) was an imperial court factor , chief rabbi and promoter of Judaism .

Life

His family originally came from Worms. Wertheimer, also known as Wertheimber, moved to Vienna in 1684, where he was admitted to financial business at the Viennese court through the mediation of Samuel Oppenheimer (1630–1703), the Viennese court Jew and “Fugger of his time”. Together with Oppenheimer, he supported Emperor Leopold I during the War of the Spanish Succession . After Oppenheimer's death, he was appointed the sole lender of the Austrian government and an imperial court factor. He had a great deal of Talmudic knowledge and had the title of Hungarian rabbi. After the Second Siege of Vienna by the Turks , he lived in Vienna and founded one of the richest and most respected families of the Holy Roman Empire there . However, since a Jewish community in Vienna was no longer permitted since 1670 (see Expulsion of the Viennese Jews 1670 ), he exercised the rabbinical functions in Eisenstadt , which was one of the seven communities in which, at the invitation of Prince Paul I. Esterházy, Jewish life was welcome. His house in Eisenstadt now houses the Austrian Jewish Museum .

A daughter of Samson Wertheimer lived in Frankfurt am Main and was married to the banker Moses Löb Isaak zur Kann from the most influential Frankfurt Jewish family of the Kanns. One of the students of Samsom Wertheimer was the Talmudist and Kabbalist Jonathan Eybeschütz .

In 1708, Samson Wertheimer withdrew from the money business and handed it over to his son Wolf Wertheimer .

After the destruction of the city of Worms in the Palatinate War of Succession by the troops of King Ludwig XIV , Wertheimer managed to obtain a debt moratorium for the city in Vienna. In return, he had the local Roßmühle sold, in which the Jews had to do compulsory labor and which for them was a symbol of oppression. Wertheimer simply didn't let them be rebuilt.

After the major fire in Frankfurt's Judengasse on January 14, 1711, Samson Wertheimer wanted to build a four-story, massive, stone house in Frankfurt for his stepson Isaac Nathan Oppenheimer . For five years the city council refused the building permit. Construction could not begin until 1717, after repeated pressure from the emperor. It was demolished in 1887.

The Wertheimers remained leaders in money trading until the 19th century. Bank E. & L. Wertheimer was one of the most important banks in the city. A neo-Gothic, upper-class Wertheimer villa in Frankfurt am Main at Zeppelinallee 69 has also been preserved to this day.

progeny

  • Serchen Behrens, daughter-in-law of Leffmann Behrens from Halberstadt
  • Tolze Oppenheimer, wife of David Oppenheimer († 1739 in Hanover)
  • Chava Rivka Eskeles (rabbi family)
  • Channa Miriam Kohen, husband of the banker Seligmann Kohn († 1741 in Altona)

See also

literature

Web links

Commons : Samson Wertheimer  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Christoph Lind: Jews in the Habsburg countries 1670-1848. In: Herwig Wolfram (ed.): Austrian history. Volume 15: Eveline Bruggert, Martha Keil, Albert Lichtblau , Christoph Lind, Barbara Staudinger: History of the Jews in Austria. Ueberreuter, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-8000-7159-2 , pp. 339-446, here p. 344.
  2. ^ Fritz Reuter : Warmaisa: 1000 years of Jews in Worms . 3. Edition. Self-published, Worms 2009. ISBN 978-3-8391-0201-5 , p. 136.
personal data
SURNAME Wertheimer, Samson
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Wertheimber, Samson
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Imperial court factor, chief rabbi and promoter of Judaism
DATE OF BIRTH January 17, 1658
PLACE OF BIRTH Worms
DATE OF DEATH August 6, 1724
Place of death Vienna