Page:Jewish Encyclopedia Volume 6.djvu/63

33 83

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Goldsmith, Lewis Goldstein, Joseph

refining gold and making it into wire (Depping, "Die Juclen im Mittelalter," pp. 350 et seq.).

That tliere weie Jewish goldsmiths at this time in Castile may be seen from the decree of John II. in 1443 (Lindo, " Hist, of the Jews in Spain," pp. 221 et seq.). In Italy also, in the same century, tliere were Jewish goldsmiths, one of whom (Solomon) Ercole dei Fedeli of Sessa, after lie had gone over to Chris- tianity, made a name for himself by his rich ornamen- tation of weapons, one of which was the famous swojd of CsBsar Borgia. In the sixteenth century there were skilful goldsmiths among the Jews who migrated from Rhodes to Constantinople and Salo- nica (Baudin, " Les Israelites de Constantinople "), as there were among the original inhabitants of Krem- sir (Prankl-Grun, " Geschichte der Juden in Krem- sier," i. 10); tliere were many also in Poland ("De- batten des Galizischen Landtags," 1868, p. 72). Pe- dro Teixeira (Kayserling, in Benjamin, " Aeht Jahre in Asien und Af rika," p. 44) states they were also in Aleppo, and Leo Africanus (" AfricEB Descriptio"), that they were in Morocco. There were goldsmiths also in Venice, and Lecky declares that many of those who cultivated the art of carving were Jews ("Rationalism in Europe," ii. 237, note). In Rojne, however, Jewish goldsmiths are first mentioned in 1726 (Vogelstein and Rieger, " Geschichte der Juden in Rom," ii. 321).

There were numerous Jewish goldsmiths in Prague, where they formed a separate gild until the middle of the nineteenth century, just as did tlie Jewish shoemakers, tailors, and butchers (Jost, "Neuere Geschichte der Israeliten," i. 341). Ac- cording to the gravestones in the old cemetery of Prague, twenty-one goldsmiths were buried there in the years 1601-1700, and twenty-six in 1701-80 (" Zeitschrift flir die Geschichte der In More Juden in Deutschland," v. 351). In Becent 1847 the Prague directory gave the Times. number of Jewish gold- and silver- smiths as twenty -one. In the seven- teenth century the French ambassador St. Olon found in Morocco " a comparatively large number of Jews, most of whom were gold.smiths" (Schudt, " Judische Merckwiirdigkeiten," i. 90). In the sai.-e century (1664), Jewish goldsmiths are spoken of in Poland, six of whom— among them a woman, Joze- fowa— met with a loss of more than 36,000 gulden by plunder at the time of the Jewish persecution in Lemberg (Caro, " Geschichte der Juden in Lemberg," pp. 74, 168 et seq.). In the eighteenth century the Jews of Bucharest seem to have included many skilful goldsmiths (see Jew. Enctc. iii. 411-412).

In Germany for a longer period than in any other country Jews were strictly forbidden to practise any trade, and Jewish goldsmiths are mentioned only as living in Berlin, at the beginning of the eighteenth centurv (Geiger, "Geschichte der Juden in Berlin,"!. 26, 43); beyond Berlin they were found only in the former Polish provinces, in Posen as early as tlie seventeenth century ; but they do not seem to have been very numerous, since they did not have a corporation as did the Jewish tailors, butchers, furriers, and haberdashers of that town (Perles, in " Monatsschrift," 1864, p. 430, and 1865, p. 84). Nevertheless, one Jewish goldsmith, Baruch, VI.— 3

does appear in East Franconia, who, on being re- ceived in Schwarzach in 1537, promised to live only by his craft ("Monatsschrift," 1880, p. 463).

At present there are many Jewish goldsmiths in Russia, who, according to Rlilf ("Drei Tage in Jlidisch-Russland," pp. 55 et neq.), are highly skilled workers. The number is still greater in Rumania, where in 1879, in Bucharest, out of a total of 212 goldsmiths, 164 were Jews (Jacobs, "Jewish Statis- tics," p. 36). In Jerusalem, where in 1865 L. A. Frankl found only five Jewish goldsmiths and sil- versmiths, the number has recently increased to twenty-seven (I'i.). According, to Andree (" Volks- kunde der Juden," p. 191), Jewish goldsmiths and silversmiths are found in Benghazi (Barca), Jebel Ghurian, Bagdad, Arabia, and Persia. In 1898 eleven gold-workers belonged to the Jewish commu- nity in Berlin, forty-four to that in Vienna.

For illustrations of the goldsmith's and silver- smith's art, relating to Jewish cei'emonial, see the following articles: Amdi.et; Betkothal; Bind- ing; Cikcumcision; Crown of the Law; Cup; Esther; Etrog; Habdalah; Hanukisah; Lavek; 'Omeb ; Passover ; Rings, Engagement and Wed- ding; Sabbath; Scrolls op Law (for breastplates, mantels, and pointers) ; Seder ; Synagogue.

Bibliography : A. Wolf, Etwas Uher JlMische Kunst und Aeltere Jildisehe KUnsiler. Hamburg, 1901. A. A. W.

GOLDSTEIN, EDTJAKD: Russian musician; born at Odessa 1851; died at Leipsic Aug. 8, 1887. He was an accomplished pianist at the age of thirteen, and obtained a position in the Italian opera-house of Kishinef. In 1868 he was sent to the Leipsic Conservatorium, where lie studied under Moscheles and Reinecke. Goldstein graduated with honors in 1873, and soon afterward made a successful tour through Germany. In 1874 he returned to Odessa and became leader of the orchestra in the Berner Theater. Later he occupied for some time the position of director of the opera in Kharkof, and in 1876 went to St. Petersburg, where he soon attracted attention as a pianist. Goldstein struggled for official recognition for ten years, until Anton Rubinstein returned to the St. Petersburg Conserva- tory of Music as its director (1886) and appointed him professor of music and leader of the Philhar- monic Society. Goldstein wrote various songs and melodies, and began the composition of "Count Essex," an opera, which he left unfinished. He was the musical critic of the " Golos " and the " Pravi- telstvennyj Vyestnik." BIBLIOGRAPHY : Ho-Asif, iv. 66-67.

H. R. P- Wl.

GOLDSTEIN, JOSEPH : Austrian cantor and composer; born at Kecskemet, Hungary, March 27, 1836; died in Vienna June 17, 1899. He occupied the position of chief cantor at the Leopoldstadter Tempel, the largest synagogue in Vienna, for forty years. He was one of the ten children oi Hazzan Goldstein of Neutra, Hungary, who died when Joseph was but eleven. At the age of twelve he was so well acquainted with the liturgy and possessed such a phenomenal tenor voice that the congrega- tion of Neutra elected him as his father's successor.