Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 2.pdf/532

482 Bamah

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Bamberger

names culled from the records of the Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, making a Jewish population of about 300 souls, bearing such names as Cohen, Dyer,

Friedenwald,

Horwitz,

Kayton,

Keyser,

and Rosenstock, whose descendants are still prominent in Baltimore and other cities. In the " Occident " of Dec., 1856, an anonymous correspondent puts the number of Jews then residing in the city at 8,000 obviously an exaggerated estimate. In 1901 estimates of the Jewish population vary from Preiss,

—

35,000 to 40,000, in a total population of 508,957.

Bibliography

files of the Archives of the congregations Occident and of the local newspapers personal reminiscences members of the Jewish community Publications of the American-Jewish Historical Society, No. 1, pp. 21, 22; No. 2, pp. 65, 66 No, 4, pp. 94-96.





of older





H.

A.

BAMAH

S.

This word, which ordinarily designates a " high place " (see High Places), is introduced in Ezek. xx. 29 as a generic name for an idolatrous place of worship for the purpose of playing upon the word, as though "Bamah" were compounded from " ba " (come) and " man " (whereunto) the term being thus interpreted as a place to which people come that is, for worship. G. B. L. j. jr.

—

BAMBERG City in Upper Franconia, Bavaria. As early as the beginning of the eleventh century Jews had settled at Bamberg. In the second half of

the twelfth century Benjamin of Tudela, at the end of his " Travels," mentions its large congregation, which In 1096 included many scholars and rich men. Emicho of Leiningen instigated a massacre among the Jews; in 1218 two Jews were martyred and in 1298 the Jews suffered terribly at the hands of Rindfleisch and his bands, one hundred and thirty-five They were persecuted of them being murdered. so atrociously at the time of the Black Death, in 1349, that they set fire to their own houses and sought death in the flames. The prince-bishop then took possession of such of their houses as were left, and Bishop Anton protected also of the synagogue. them becarse a rich Jew of Bamberg lent him large sums of money. They were expelled in 1442, but returned in 1453. In 1451 Johann von Capistrano, the "Scourge of the Hebrews," preached against the Jews in the cathedral of Bamberg. They were forced to listen to the mission sermons of a Dominican monk, and, as they steadfastly refused to be converted, they were once more expelled in 1478. Within

twenty-five years, however, they had again returned to Bamberg. In the sixteenth century they During were often threatened with expulsion. the Thirty Years' war they, together with their fellow-citizens, suffered at the hands of the Swedes. Better days came with the second half of the In 1683 they prevented an seventeentli century. expulsion by sacrificing large sums of money. During a commercial crisis in 1699 the populace rose up against the Jews, and one Jew saved himself by throwing prunes from a gable-window down upon the mob. That event, the 29th of Nisan, called "Zwetschgen-Ta'anit" (Prune-Past), is still commemorated by a fast and a Purim festivAt that time many communities in the vicinity ity.

482

Bamberg were plundered. Emperor Leopold ordered an investigation of the affair and had the In 1737 the number of Jews perleaders punished. mitted to live at Bamberg was fixed at forty -eight, each of whom must possess 2,000 thalers, a sum that was increased in 1747 to 4,000. Not until 1813 was the Jews' matriculation (" Judenmatrikel ") substituted for the letter of protection. The first synagogue of the community became the " Marienkirche " after the persecution of 1349, and when it fell into decay in 1470 a new church was The second synagogue escaped a built on the site. similar fate after riie expulsion of 1478, being bought by Jacob Kerpf, a Jew of Nuremberg. In 1561 the community rented a rear building for its third place of worship, which was changed into a synagogue in The fourth synagogue was erected on the 1679. same site in 1853. Bamberg at all times had a The cemetery was outside of the Sandthor ghetto. In the until 1478, having been enlarged in 1407. sixteenth century the Jews of Bamberg buried their dead in Zeckendorf and after the middle of the eighteenth century in Walsdorf but since 1851 they have had a cemetery of their own. In harmony with the importance of the community Samthe rabbinate was occupied by eminent men. uel of Bamberg, well known as halakist, exegete, of

,



and piyyut expounder, lived there about 1220. Israel of Bamberg, author of Tosafot (about 1250), succeeded him. Rabbi Feyst is mentioned about More famous than any of these was David 1403. Sprinz (about 1445), who went later to Nuremberg. Moses Minz, the last great representative of Talmudic learning among the German rabbis of the Middle Ages, lived at Bamberg from 1469 to 1474. Rabbi Samuel Meseritz, author of the collection of formulas and documents "Nahalat Shib'ah" (Amsterdam, His 1667-68), was at Bamberg from 1661 to 1665. successors were: Moses Fiirth, 1665-67; Enoch Levi, 1674-78; Mordecai Lipschiitz, 1678-85; Mendel Rothschild, 1686-1718; Moses Broda, 1718-33; Nathan Utiz, 1734-42; Joseph Breslau, 1743-52; Abraham Maler, 1752-57; Tewele Scheuer, 1759-67; Judah Katz, 1770-88; Lob Berlin, 1789-94; Uri Feist, 1797-1802; Joseph Gersfeld, 1802-14; Samson Wolf Rosenfeld, Joseph Kobak (b. 1864), and Dr. A. Eckstein (in 1901). The Jews in Bamberg numbered, in 1403, 37; in 1633, 10; in 1664, 10; in 1690, 24; in 1737, 60; in 1763, 69; in 1901, the community numbered 1,350 persons. A. Eckstein, Gcsch. 6er Judenin Ehewaligcn Fllrstbistum Bamberg, Bamberg, 1898. g. A. F.

Bibliography



BAMBERG, FELIX:

German publicist; born Unruhstadt, Germany, May 17, 1820; died in Saint-Gratien, near Paris, Feb. 12, 1893. He studied philosophy and history in Berlin and Paris became consul at Paris for Prussia and Brunswick in 1851, and for the North-German Federation in 1867. In 1870 Bamberg was despatched to the headquarters of the Germany army in Versailles, where he was placed at the head of the press department; and a year later, in the capacity of political adviser, he became attached to Manteuffel, then commander-inchief of the troops occupying France. In 1874 Bamberg became German consul at Messina, and at