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Zamość was not counted among the old Jewish communities in Poland. Its genealogical record did not reach back to the beginning of Jewish settlement in Old Poland, yet despite this, it occupied such a prominent and important place in the magnificent gallery of the hundred of cities and mothers, with which destroyed Polish Jewry excelled at so specifically. The name, Zamość, was a synonym for Torah and Wisdom. A spiritual aristocratic aura emanated from it, and up to the last day of its tragic demise, one could still inhale the inspiration of hundreds of the giants of spiritual thought that lived there, influenced their surroundings, and were creative, during the approximately 300-year history of its existence.

The exact year, in which a Jewish community was established in Zamość, is not exactly known historically. This is because, if we talk about a Jewish settlement in Zamość, we do not take into account the noteworthy instance of the invitation of Jan Zamoyski to the Sephardic Jews, also called 'Franks,' to settle in Zamość. The Jewish-Sephardic settlement of Jews in Zamość, at the time of its establishment in the year 1588, has left no trace on the course of the history of Jews in Zamość. The name of Zamość, as an organized Jewish community, first begins to appear when its gates were opened also for the so-called Ashkenazic Jews. The received tradition, that was passed down in Zamość, that the Great Synagogue was built by the first Ashkenazic Jews in the year 1595, also cannot be historically established with certainty. However, it is certain, that at the beginning of the 17^th century, Ashkenazic Jews were already living in Zamość. The Jewish colony developed rapidly. In the year 1648 (ת”ח) there already was a meaningful Jewish community, and thanks to the famous fortress that surrounded the city, the Jews of Zamość were safeguarded from annihilation by the sword of Chmielnicki's hordes.

Already at that time, the reputation of Zamość begins to become prominent in Poland, because the famous Kabbalist R' Joel Baal-Shem (the Elder) took up residence there. We do not know where R' Joel comes from or when he was born. However, one thing is clear, that in the first half of the 17^th century he was already a citizen of Zamość, since many of the local residents gathered themselves around him, and his name as a scholar reached literally to the ends of Poland.

We have no specific information about wh the first Rabbi of Zamość was. As the historian of Rabbis and the rabbinate in Poland, R' Zvi Hurwitz relates, his name was Rabbi Shlomo. All my efforts to find out something abut him from the elders of Zamość, and from the local folios, came to naught. I did not find his name mentioned in the Zamość source books. It is (perhaps) for this reason that we do have clear and certain memories about the second Rabbi in Zamość. This was Rabbi Aryeh Leib, the author of Sha'agat Aryeh (Number 62-63) in Teshuvot Geonei Batrai'i (Number 77). He was a stepson to the Gaon and Lawgiver R' David HaLevi, the author of the book Turei Zahav (No. 15) and a grandson of the Gaon and Lawgiver Rabbi Joel Sirkes, author of the book Bayit Hadash (No. 28).

It appears that the reputation of the Jewish community of Zamość, spread extensively all over the country of Poland, if such a prominent Gaon, descended from such distinguished lineage as Rabbi Aryeh Leib was, would take over the seat of the local Rabbinate.

Rabbi Aryeh Leib was the Rabbi in Zamość for seven years, from 1682-1689, when he left Zamość and took over the pulpit of Chief Rabbi in Tiktin.

In my short introduction to the bibliography of the Zamość authors, I will not dwell on how it was that Zamość became what it was; which historical reasons, direct or indirect, influenced events that caused Zamość to become the 'city full of sages, book writers for which there is no like on the earth.'

And here we see a noteworthy development. Barely several decades later when the Zamość community had really come

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into its own, after the great destruction wrought by the Chmielnicki siege, the first fruits of creativity, derived from its spiritual vitality, begin to manifest themselves. In the year 1705, Rabbi Eliezer Lipman ben R' Menahem Menli publishes his first book, Lekakh Tov (No. 34). Fifteen years later, in 1720, a second Zamość author, Rabbi Aryeh Leib ben R' Abraham publishes his book Pnei Aryeh Zuta (No. 55). In that same year, the book Toledot Adam (No. 71) appears, and even though Rabbi Joel Baal-Shem (the Second) is not the author, it is however clear to see from the introduction of the publisher, that the writings were in his, Rabbi Joel's permission, and he, so to speak, 'edited them.' In 1723 we see the previously mentioned Rabbi Eliezer Lipman again as an author. He then publishes his second book, Perush Avot d'R'Nathan (No. 52). In 1724, we again see the name of Rabbi Joel Baal-Shem (the Second), in connection with the book, Miflaot Elokim, which appeared at that time (No. 40). His name, as the author of this book, truly does not appear on the frontispiece. His connection to this book is clearly established from what is written on his grave stone (cited in the bibliography), as well as on the frontispiece to the book Minkhat Zikaron (No. 39), and as the publisher writes, that the author was a grandson of 'Rabbi Joel Baal-Shem Tov the author of Mifalot Elokim.' In 1727, another Zamość author appears: in that year Rabbi Abraham be R' Baruch published his book B'Derekh Alshikh (No. 11).

In those times, a scion of the city of Zamość, R' Binyamin ben R' David goes away to far off Turkey, to the town of Kizalnik, 'near Adrianople,' where he is the Shokhet and Teacher, and in the year 1738, has printed, in Izmir, the first part of his book, Ben Oni (No. 14), He is also the author of a second book, Sha'arey Binyamin (No. 62).

At that time, Rabbi Israel HaLevi resided in Zamość, and was writing his well-known compositions, he being the author of Otzar Nekhmad (No. 6); Tuv HaLevanon (No. 26); Nezer HaDema (No. 46); Netzakh Yisrael (No. 48) and Perush Ruakh Khen (No. 54).

The creativity of the sages of Zamość manifests itself with full force in the other half of the 18^th century. The Rabbi of Zamość at that time was Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak Hochgelernter, ז”ל, the first of that famous family, which for close to a hundred years occupied the Rabbinical seat in Zamość. Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak, a son of Rabbi Moshe Chaim, the Rabbi of Zloczow and Lemberg, became the Rabbi in Zamość in the year 1740. He immediately founded a yeshiva, which was one of the most important centers of Torah study in the Poland of that time.

Among the most prominent of the sages of Zamość from that era, it is necessary to recall: Rabbi Abraham Yitzhak HaKohen, author of Beit Abraham (No. 12); Rabbi Shlomo ben R' Moshe, author of Mirkevet HaMishnah (No. 42-44); Shulkhan Atzei Shamayim (No. 64); Shulkhan Arukh (No. 65) and Sha'arei Ne'imah (No. 67); Rabbi Moshe ben R' Hillel Oster, author of Drash Moshe (No. 17) and Arugat HaBosem (No. 51); Rabbi Abraham be R' David, author of Birkhat Abraham (No. 16); Rabbi Meir ben R' Moshe Meiseles, author of Hilkhot Olam (No. 18a); his brother Rabbi Abraham Nathan Neta, author of Neta Sha'ashuim (No. 47a) and Kol Shakhal (No. 62-63); Rabbi Azriel ben R' Aharon, author of Zera Aharon (No. 24); Rabbi Mordechai ben R' Meir, author of Tavnit HaBayit (No. 69-70); Rabbi Boruch ben R' Aryeh Leib, author of Zahav Tahor (No. 20); Rabbi Neta be R' Alexander, author of Perush Bakashat HaMemin (No. 53); Rabbi Reuven Zelig ben R' Israel Eliezer, author of Makhane Reuven (No. 36); Rabbi Zvi Hirsch ben R' Binyamin Biksha, author of Tiferet Zvi (No. 74-75), and so forth.

Rabbi Chaim Khaika ben R' Aharon was especially productive in writing books, as the author of the book, HaZikhronot (No. 23), Tzror HaChaim (No. 56), and Toledot Aharon (No. 72). His entire life consisted of 35 years, and yet, as his brother R' Yitzhak tells in the introduction to the book, HaZikhronot, he directed the writing of 20 texts in Halakha, discourse, explanations on the Tanakh and Shas, tradition, research, etc. Incidentally, I saw his footnotes and comments written into in many of the volumes in the Zamość Bet HaMedrash, and especially, I recall the writing went from one side to the other, in the book of questions and answers Makom Shmuel, by Rabbi Shmuel ben R' Elkanah (Altona, 5498 [1738]).

It is necessary also to recall, that apart from their greatness in Torah study, such that many of their publications have remained to this day as creations that serve as pillars which are studies by Jewish scholars, many of the Zamość scholars were well-schooled in other fields of knowledge also. Rabbi Abraham HaKohen knew Latin; the same is true of Rabbi Joel Baal-Shem; Rabbi Shlomo ben R' Moshe was knowledgeable in astronomy, algebra, mathematics, music, etc.; Rabbi Israel ben R' Moshe was a renown scholar, and such was the case with many others.

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It will be interesting to relate what the well-known Rabbinical historian, R' Chaim Nachman Dembitzer, writes about that era in Zamość. 'And in that time – he writes – the city of Zamość excelled above all the Jewish cities in Poland, as a city to which Torah and wisdom were joined together^[1] with science and industry, to a city that rears soldiers in the study of Torah, and wisdom together. Because many of the great Torah sages who resided there and engaged in Torah study, apart from their Torah study, also gave heed to the pursuit of other channels of knowledge, and they succeeded at it, and this caused them to grow, and they succeeded and were productive.'

Also, the wisdom of the Kabbala was rooted in Zamość. The names of only three Kabbalists of Zamość have come down to us, these are the already mentioned: Rabbi Joel Baal-Shem the first, his grandson Rabbi Joel ben R' Uri and Rabbi Moshe Ostrir, who in his last years was the Maggid in Brod. However, it is known that Rabbi Joel Baal-Shem, especially the second, was surrounded by many advisers and had a large number of disciples.

The already-mentioned Rabbinical historian, R, Zvi Hirsch Hurwitz, writing about Zamość, expresses himself in the following way, that there was a 'great and very important community, a city that was a Mother in Israel, full of Sages, people of the book, men of God, and the light of the Talmud was like the dawn, which fills the streets of the city, and it was like an place of respite, in which the Torah, wisdom, Kabbala, and beautiful knowledge, and all manner of scientific wisdom....'

In the year 1772, Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhak Hochgelernter passed away, and the Rabbinate passed to his son, Rabbi Joseph, the author of Mishnaht Hakhamim (No.45). As the older people in Zamość used to tell, the importance of the Zamość community, during his time, was raised like no time before. Naturally, the fact that Zamość was part of Galicia (1772-1809) during his tenure, was of some help in this regard, and the unification with Austria brought economic bounty for the city. Rabbi Joseph Hochgelernter, ז”ל, was personally very rich. His grandfather, R' Abraham, R' Chaim's [son] from Lublin, left him a substantial inheritance. He donated the salary paid to him by the community to help support his large yeshiva. Among his pupils were famous Gaonim, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Heller, author of Tiv Gittin (No. 27-30), Kunterus R' Zvi Hirsch (No. 58-59) and Tapukhei Zahav (No. 76); his brother R' Shmuel Zeinvill Heller, author of Zikhron Shmuel (No. 22); Rabbi Shlomo Kluger of Brod, et. al.

At that same time, the famous orator and Gaon, Rabbi Yehuda Leib Edel lived in Zamość, and wrote his works, Iyei Chaim (No. 7-8), Afikei Yehuda (No. 9-10), Mei Naftuakh (No. 37), and Mayim Tehorim (No. 38).

The extent to which the reputation of Zamość had spread out, is shown by the fact that the Maggid of Dubno, Rabbi Yaakov Krantz ז”ל, selected Zamość as the final station for his life. It was in the Zamość Synagogue that the final chords of his oratorical symphonies rang out. Here, surrounded by the admiration of the sages of Zamość, he finally found the ultimate peace, and it was here that he composed the short notes about his sermons, from which first his son, R' Yitzhak, and afterwards R' Berish Flamm, after his passing, on 17 Tevet 5565 (1805), put his familiar works into order: Ohel Yaakov (No. 1-5) Yom Yeshua (No. 32), Kokhav MiYaakov (No. 33), Sefer HaMidot (No. 35) and Kol Yaakov (No. 57).

And before the congregational prayer stand, one of the former great cantors of the era led services – R' Shlomo Weintrib, called 'Kashtan^[2] Hazzan,' and Polish Jewry envied Zamość for its great Maggid and great Cantor.

The most prominent Jewish communities in Poland, and outside Poland, indeed did select their Rabbis from the sages of Zamość. [Rabbis from] Zamość served in such cities as: Lemberg (Rabbi Shlomo ben R' Moshe); Lublin (Rabbi Azriel Hurwitz, called 'The Iron Head,'^[3]); Brod and vicinity (Rabbi Zvi Hirsch ben R' Binyamin Bishka); Krakow (Rabbi Moshe Zalman ben R' Binyomin Bishka); Uvin (Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Heller); Przemysl (Rabbi Shmuel Zeinvill Heller), Amsterdam (Rabbi Yitzhak ben HaKadosh R' Shlomo), not to mention the many smaller towns and shtetlach, who had a Rabbi from Zamość.

It was during the time of Rabbi Joseph Hochgelernter ז”ל, that the first sprouts of the Hasidic movement begin to show themselves in Zamość. It is true, that among the disciples of Rabbi Israel Baal-Shem Tov, ז”ל, we already find the name of someone from Zamość: Rabbi Dov Ber ben R' Aryeh Leib from Lublin, the Rabbi in Koznitz, Krashnik, Reisha, and finally the Headmaster of the Mesivta in Lemberg. But this item only confirms the general fact, that the sages of Zamość were not drawn to Hasidism, even if we have no evidence of any overt opposition on their part to the Hasidic movement. Again, with the single exception – the previously mentioned Rabbi

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Azriel Hurwitz, Rabbi in Lublin. We do not see the signature of a single Rabbi or author, from Zamość, under any of the decrees or excommunications against Hasidism. The fact that Hasidism did not seem to penetrate into Zamość at the outset, must be , more than anything else, quickly ascribed to the fact that Zamość at that time still lived with the tradition of its own Baal-Shems, especially the Second – Rabbi Joel ben R' Uri, who himself was a Rebbe to disciples, and had a great following. His influence was evident for many years even after his death, and his son, Rabbi Yeshaya occupied his father's place for a number of years. It was only first in the time of Rabbi Joseph Hochgelernter, ז”ל, that the change arrived. Rabbi Joseph personally was a close friend of one of the exponents of Hasidism in Poland, the Maggid of Koznitz, Rabbi Israel, ז”ל. Rabbi Joseph Hochgelernter also gave his concurrence to the well-known Hasidic book Likutei Yekarim (Lvov, 5559 [1799] ), where he writes about R' [Dov] Ber of Mezrich: One of the members of the Rabbi Gaon, the Hasid and Man of God, Our Teacher, Rabbi Dov Ber ז”ל, spiritual leader of the sacred community of Mezrich.

It is necessary to take into consideration, that this book was excommunicated by the congregation of Krakow at the time, led by Rabbi Yitzhak, and if Rabbi Joseph Hochgelernter gave his concurrence to it, one may conclude with certainty that the contents of the book were close to him [sic: in spirit and concept].

And speaking of Hasidism in Zamość, it is necessary to also recall that a scion of that place was Rabbi Levi Yitzhak of Berdichev ז”ל. His grandfather, Rabbi Moshe, was one of the Zamość sages. In the frontispiece of the book, Keter Torah of Rabbi Levi Yitzhak's son, Rabbi Meir, he gives his genealogical descent: 'Written by myself... Meir, son of my father the Gaon, Out Teacher Rabbi Levi Yitzhak, may his light continue to burn brightly, son of the Gaon our Teacher Rabbi Meir of Blessed Memory, Bet-Din Senior of the sacred community of Hoskov, son of the Gaon our Teacher and Rabbi Moshe, of blessed memory, from Zamość.' There is a theory that Levi Yitzhak himself may have been born in Zamość in the year 5500 (1740).

In the later years, we see how a Hasid from Zamość, R' Abraham ben R' Yehoshua writes about the teachings of his Rebbe, Rabbi Noah ben R' Shmuel Makarov, and has the book Kav Khen printed (Breslau 5626 [1866]).

As indicated, I recollect this only in passing. In the introduction to the bibliography, there is no room to write in detail about Hasidim and Hasidism in Zamość. I hope to do this in my work, 'The City of Zamość and its Sages.'

And Zamość excelled in yet another area: scholarship was the property of the general populace. Everyone studied, I was told by the aged Shammes R' Shlomo Dalis, ע”ה, in whose memory the images of the personalities of that Zamość of olden days were still alive, he still remembers the times, when the Bet HaMedrash was filled to overflowing with people studying, that many sat on the 'Polish,' and others even on both sides of the steps, leading into the Bet HaMedrash, with Gemaras in their hands, and studies. Whoever did not witness this – he would end in an emotional tone of longing for times gone by – does not know how Zamość studied.

And evidence of this remained up till the last days of the destruction. When one had barely crossed over the threshold of the Bet HaMedrash, one saw an impressive picture: all four sides over the length and breadth of the wide Bet HaMedrash, covered in bookcases filled with all manner of books. Wherever the eye turned or wandered – books. Half

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of the western wall, near the famous standing clock, which is supposed to have been a gift of Zamoyski for the Bet HaMedrash, was filled to overflowing with volumes of the Shas. I was once curious to know at one time, how many copies of the Shas there were once. It was not difficult for me to establish this. Is known, there are some tractates that are studies more frequently and others less so. The tractates from the Order Kedoshim, for example, are not studies so frequently as the tractates from other Orders, and consequently do not get 'learned out,' that is to say torn. And on the basis of the undamaged volumes of the Gemaras from the Order Kedoshim, to my own astonishment, I discovered that there were over thirty sets of the Shas there...

Hard times fell on Zamość at the beginning of the 19^th century. The city was ruined and wrecked in the war between Austria and the Grand Duchy of Warsaw in 1809. The destruction of the city forced many of the local Jews to move on elsewhere from there. Among those who left was Rabbi Wolf Ber Schiff, author of Minkhat Zikaron (No. 39), who, at the time, was one of the richest Jews in Zamość, with far-flung branches of business in Brod, as also in Leipzig, and it that year, his entire fortune was robbed. The Rabbi of Zamość of that time, Rabbi Joseph Hochgelernter, author of Zikhron Yitzhak (No. 21), who, along withe the seat of the Rabbinate, had also inherited a large fortune from his father, was reduced to such a level of poverty, that he had no means with which to have his father's book Otot LaMoadim printed.

From that era, we have two books of record: Zikhron Yitzhak, and Minkhat Zikaron. About three decades later, two additional books appear, and as it happens, from two Rabbis of the 'Neustadt,' – the book Beit Moshe (No. 13) by Rabbi Moshe Epstein, and Ateret Shlomo (No. 50) by Rabbi Nachman ben R' Shlomo, who passed away in Jerusalem.

In the other half of the 19^th century, we have the books, Hukhshar HaZevakh (No. 18) and Yad Avi Shalom (No. 31), by the Zamość Shokhet, R' Meir Zvi ben R' Yaakov Yitzhak, and the book HaKriv Netanel (No. 19), by Rabbi Netanel Shnar.

At the beginning of this century [sic: 20^th century], Rabbi Netanel Schnar appears again with two books: Tiyul BaGan (No. 30), and Eden BaGan (No. 49). This Rabbi Netanel Schnar was an interesting type of folk-preacher. He was for many years the Rebbe of 'the common people,' in Zamość. He studied Ein Yaakov with them, Medrash, Pentateuch with [the commentary of] Alsheich, and also preached to them, first in the 'Community Shtibl,' and afterwards in the 'Little Synagogue of the Butchers.' And it was, in fact there, between afternoon and evening prayers, in the middle of leading a discussion on Ein Yaakov, that he died.

In the year 5685 (1928) Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Friedling (from the 'Neustadt') Rabbi in Biskovitz, published his three books: Chaim HaNetzakhi'im (No. 25), Kiyum HaOlam (No. 60) and Ratz KaZvi (No. 61). He published and edited a Rabbinical Quarterly under the name of HaBe'er, which appeared for nearly 20 years, beginning in 5681 (1921) up to the Nazi occupation of Poland.

And here we come to the tragic end of the chapter: The authors of Zamość. The hand begins to tremble. How difficult, how profoundly hard to dredge up the words: the last Zamość author. The last one... Rabbi Chaim Moshe Gastinsky ז”ל, is the name of that last author. And his book was published after the bloody inundation, which washed over Polish Jewry and Zamość among them. He came to America after surviving a bitter exile in Siberia, and here, in the year 5709 (1949), published his book, Nakhalat Khamisha (No. 47). He had preserved a small part of the insights about Torah and Halakha from his father-in-law, the last Rabbi of Zamość, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Blum, ז”ל, and disclosed them as an addendum to his book called, Tiferet Moshe.

We should also record here, the names of Zamość Rabbis who were not authors, after Rabbi Yitzhak Hochgelernter ז”ל up to the Destruction (1939). These were: Rabbi Aryeh Yehuda Yaakov Meiseles (Afterwards Rabbi of Pietrkow), Rabbi Moshe Wohl, Rabbi Abraham Yaakov Teicher ('Neustadt'), Rabbi Shmuel Zilber, Rabbi Joseph Shlomo Shabtai HaLevi, Hurwitz-Weisbrod, Rabbi Chaim Goldschmid (Teacher-Director), and the very last three, with whom the glorious capital of Zamość Jewry came to its finality: Rabbi Mordechai HaLevi Hurwitz-Sternfeld ('Neustadt'), Rabbi Moshe Chaim Blum, and Rabbi Zadok Hurwitz (Teacher-Director). May God avenge their spilled blood, and Rabbi Nathan Habenstreit (Afterwards the spiritual leader in Przemysl).

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A number of them left behind handwritten insights and responsas, and for a variety of reasons, they were never published.

* * *

The bibliographic list encompasses fully 80 books, published by Rabbis and scholars of Zamość. It is a rather meaningful number for how small a Jewish community Zamość was. When one familiarizes oneself with the contents of these books, it can be seen that there was no single approach to Torah scholarship that the Zamość authors put forward. The encompass: commentaries on the Tanakh, insights into the Shas (Halakha and Aggadah), on the Mishnah, Rambam, Shulkhan Arukh, Responsa, Commentary, Tradition, Research, Kabbala, Hasidism, Grammar, and so forth. I made an effort to provide the first editions of each book, just as it came from the hands of the author, or from the first publisher. This is very important for bibliographic reasons, because, some things get omitted in later editions of the same book. For example, in their interesting introduction and epilogue to Toledot Adam, is missing from later editions. In other books, that were reprinted more often, the concurrences to the books are missing, as well as other details. It would, of course, be important for those books that were reprinted more often, to have provided a full bibliographic accounting. In this respect, the work would have branched out quite extensively, and it would have become too crowded for the annals of Pinkas Zamość. I will leave this for my more general work, 'The City of Zamość and Its Sages.'

I did not have the opportunity to see the first edition of Tiv Gittin (No. 27); Sefer HaMidot (No. 35), and Mif'alot Elokim (No. 40). For these three, the second editions are cited. I also did not see three other things, which only appeared once, and those are: Ben Oni, Part B (No. 15), Mar'eh Kohen (No. 41) and Neta Sha'ashuim (No. 47a). They are presented here for bibliographic purposes. I also did not see the original edition of Tuv HaLevanon No. 26), despite the fact that it appeared many times together with Khovot HaLevavot, I thought it better to cite the original edition, as it is cited by Shmuel Wiener in Kehilat Moshe (p. 479, No. 3928). The book, HaKriv Netanel (No. 19), is not mentioned in any bibliography, and all my efforts to find something about it came to naught. I cite it on the basis that the author himself writes so in the frontispiece of his book, Eden BeGan. Next to the books that I did not have, I have placed an asterisk (*) next to the sequence number.

I want to believe that I have encompassed everything published by authors from Zamość in this bibliographical list. I will be very grateful to bibliographers and researchers, if they can show me more books by Zamość authors, which I have overlooked, in order that I may be able to incorporate them in my previously mentioned work, The City of Zamość and its Sages.

I hold it as my obligation to express thanks to the erudite bibliographer, Dr. Yitzhak Rifkind and the bibliographer, R' Chaim Lieberman for the friendly interest they took in the assembly of this bibliography. A hearty 'yasher-koach' to the editor of Pinkas Zamość, the spiritually rich writer, our friend, Mordechai V. Bernstein, for his good oversight in preparing the bibliography and seeing that it would be able to appear in its complete form.

Now – a word about the language of the introduction. The work is thought out and prepared in the language in which these writings were written – the Holy Tongue [sic: Hebrew]. And for the bibliography, cut, as it were, from the same cloth, it would have been better for the introduction to have been in the same language. However, I was brought around by the request of the editor and the publishers of Pinkas Zamość to write the introduction in Yiddish, [the language] in which the entire Pinkas appears, in order that all the readers, also the non-experts, have an accurate picture and a summary of the bibliography. In the end, perhaps it is better this way. For Yiddish is the language of that Polish Jewry that has been cut off from us, sanctified by long generations of Yiddish tradition. It is a fact, that these very writers, who composed their insights into Torah in Hebrew, gave their oral lessons in the language of Yiddish. It is in Yiddish, that Rabbi Ber Mokhiakh, Rabbi Abraham Zbarzer, Rabbi Yaakov Krantz and others preachers and orators in Zamość, thundered and sang out their flaming and arousing heart-moving sermons in the sacred community of Zamość. With this language they excoriated, but equally brought comfort and hope to their stressed and afflicted brethren and sisters. The language of Yiddish at the side of The Holy Tongue, accompanied the thousand-year ascendancy of Jewish life and

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created a 'Po-lin-ya^[4].' Therefore, an introduction in Yiddish is indeed very appropriate, for a bibliography of 'Books of The Rabbis and Sages of Zamość.'

At the end of the bibliography, there is also 7 various added notes about the names of individuals and cities.

* * *

My work here, is to sanctify the memory of my parents, Our Teacher, R' David ben R' Mordechai and Mrs. Taube Miriam bat R' Moshe Meir (Landau family), my brother, Mordechai and his entire family, and my sisters Beileh Rivka and Ethel, who were all killed in the destruction of Poland. May God avenge their blood!

New York, Iyyar 5716 (1956)

&mnsp;

Apart from three pages of footnotes, the author provides a 90 page bibliography of the various works that he has summarized in his introduction. The bibliography is a formidably work of scholarship in its own right, and its translation is well beyond the scope of this endeavor. For each book, the author gives a complete reproduction of the frontispiece of the book, which contains detailed information about the contents of the book, and the pedigree of the author. Additionally, the author has delved into the contents, and has extracted three things of related value from an historical point of view. These are:

1. Haskamot (Concurrences) These constituted a form of endorsement by colleagues of the author, and served as a way of giving the author both publicity and legitimacy in the rabbinical circles where the book would be sold. These generally ran only a couple of sentences, but there were usually several of them.
2. Mikhtevei Tehilla (Letters of Praise) Similar to the Haskamot, but more elaborate and detailed. There were fewer of these, and they could run to a half a page or more.
3. Excerpts of interest from the introduction of the book. The introduction was often a place where the author had the liberty to write in a somewhat more informal manner, and convey thoughts that may not necessarily fit in with the formal text.

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Shlomo Ettinger was born in Warsaw in the first years of the 19^th century. It is possible to say according to those who knew: 1803. He was the scion of a prominent family, in which there was equal ease with both Torah and commerce. His grandfather, R' Itcheh, who is considered the patriarch of the entire family, was said to have been the Rabbi of Chelm, and concerning Ettinger's father, R' Yoskeh, I have been told by Ettinger's youngest daughter, Mrs. Maria Goldman, that he was an ordained Rabbi and he had been wanted to take a pulpit in Frankfurt-Main, but he didn't want to leave Poland.

Shlomo lost his father early on, and his grandfather, to whom he was a darling, was also no longer alive – and so he went to his uncle, a younger brother of his father, Rabbi Mendel Ettinger, who was the Rabbi of Lencza (Lublin area). Here, he studied under his uncle's oversight, and as it is related, Ettinger received from him not only Torah [education], but also [secular] wisdom as well: R' Mendel is known to have command of German, and secular, worldly books were not considered off-limits by him. Here, in the tolerant house of his uncle, the young Shlomo saw that Torah and [secular] wisdom were indeed not conflicting elements, and it was here that the foundation was laid for his later odyssey, that it is possible to be an educated and enlightened person and despite that not sunder one's self from the traditional Jewish way of life.

The young lad, who additionally was a motivated student with a sharp mind, was intensely sought after by the marriage brokers. But R' Mendel didn't want to marry off his nephew to just anyone. He had the right to be particular, until he felt that he had found an appropriate match: he 'negotiated' with the Zamość magnate Yehuda-Leib Wolf, who wanted the accomplished young man for his youngest daughter, Golda. Shlomo married in a most fortunate way, and went from Lencza to Zamość, to live on subsidy at his father-in-law's while he continued study.

Everyone envied the good fortune that befell him. Nobody asked of him to make a living. He spent whole days in the bet HaMedrash, reading books; occasionally, he would go hear a performance of the lovely orchestra of the Zamość garrison. When his father-in-law, who supported him, passed away, Shlomo still did not take up a livelihood, it was Golda who concerned herself with making a living. Her oldest brother Yankel had a glass factory, in a woods near the shtetl Janow, not far from Zamość. So she opened a store to sell glassware, and window panes, she sat in the store, while her husband remained a 'scholar,' in the Bet HaMedrash.

Zamość at that time was a center of the enlightenment, it was here that one found Rabbi Shimon Bloch, the Ran”Kas (Rabbi Nachman Krochmal's), a close friend, his brother Shlomo-Wolf, Yaakov Eichenbaum, and others. The impact of these Maskilim was so great, that books of the Enlightenment were found even in the Bet HaMedrash, and conversations were held there about secular matters. There was a gathering point in the city, where the Maskilim and the Torah sages would come together – there was no really sharp delineation between the two groups: – this was the home of Joseph Zederbaum, Alexander Zederbaum's father. Here they would gather to delve into a difficult Gemara, and about world issues, or tell something worthwhile. Also Ettinger, who was called in the city with reference to his father-in-law, Shlomo Yehuda-Leib's, was a frequent guest at the Zederbaum's.

Ettinger was greatly loved here. He was also very knowledgeable. However, there were greater scholars than he was. But, in addition to this, he was a very animated young man, always cheerful, dropping witticisms, and not idle in composing a rhyme. There was no festive occasion or gathering in the city, to which he was not invited, in order to enjoy his verses and bon mots.

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It was in this manner that Ettinger's days flowed by peacefully and fine, and he might have spent his life in the Bet HaMedrash, pursuing scholarship and writing, were it not for the economic crisis that intruded on the city, and also didn't pass over the Golds^[2]. And expenses actually became larger: a child was born. Shlomo began to sense that he was not on the right path: is it appropriate for a mature man to have to cope with life's vicissitudes, and look for a pittance of income that his wife would bring in from the store? No, one must find a purpose!

But what can he do, since he had no specific profession; going to work in the store was not worth it, because his wife, even by herself, had nothing to do there. A number of older good friends from among the balebatim of the city, among them also R' Joseph Zederbaum, gave him advice that he should travel to Berlin and study to become a physician. This plan would have actually been close to his heart: but where are the resources to come from? So he conceived of the following: he will travel to Odessa, because there he had someone to lean on.

Odessa was a place of which the world, at that time, took great notice. At the beginning of the 19^th century, the city had become so prominent, as to be unrecognizable, and many Jews had been attracted to come there, who were engaged in commerce, especially from Eastern Galicia. The Galitzianers were of the more enlightened sort, in contrast to the 'Polish' Jews, such that 'A Broder' in Odessa became what 'A Berliner' was in Vilna, a synonym for a Maskil. One of Ettinger's brothers-in-law, R' Wolf, who, incidentally, had married a woman from Brod, also happened to have moved to Odessa, had become a broker on the bourse, and had succeeded in his business undertakings. It seemed rather straightforward that Ettinger should also move to Odessa, and see, with the help of his brother-in-law, whether he could achieve something. Odessa was Russia, Zamość – Poland, but the official language both here and there in the better Jewish circles was German. And Ettinger knew German, or at least it seemed so to him because of his facility in German speech. His brother-in-law was also of the opinion that Shlomo should come.

One fine morning, the young man seated himself in the coach. The ride was no small matter. It was supposed to take a couple of weeks. His wife was angry – she was always trod upon, and in many of Ettinger's later works, a yearning for some small amount of family happiness bursts through. But Ettinger was happy, and he had hope. In his valise, he carried not only his underwear and his Sabbath kapoteh, which his wife had give to him to take along, but also several pictures; perhaps in secret from his practical-minded Golda, who would have held this to be a form of foolishness. But he did not want to separate himself from his work. Even in early childhood, he loved to draw “small figures, and in Zamość he had a reputation as a good artist.

All of the good fortune ascribed to Odessa came a cropper. Between the time when R' Wolf went along with the arrival of his brother-in-law, and the time he actually showed up, a significant amount of time went by, and by that time, the wheel turned. A crisis developed in Odessa as well. Many people went about with out employment.

Gold personally did not fare too badly. Both he and his wife received the small-town young man quite nicely, and he began to look aground. Beautiful Odessa appealed to him very much. But what is to be further on? After he had gotten himself out of home for the sake of earning a living, there would be no point to sit around being supported in the home of his brother-in-law, and taking advantage of the surrounding advantages, which he didn't have in Zamość. R' Wolf acted speedily to try and arrange employment for Ettinger, but to no avail. He proposed to Shlomo that he will give him four hundred kerblach^[3], and that he should start trading. However, Shlomo apprehended that nothing would come of this. 'Gold only goes to Gold,' he reasoned to himself, and I will run through this money, and will once again be left with nothing, and it was in this way, that he spent four months in Odessa.

One time, a group of good friends were sitting at R' Wolf's, and a conversation was underway. The master of the house

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was praising his young brother-in-law, and complained that there does not sem to be anything for him to do. He showed his guests Ettinger's drawings, and it was recognized that he has talent. So then, R' Yaakov Nathanson, a very rich, well-connected man from a distinguished family, also a Polish Jew, remarked as follows:

I would have a fine plan for him, if he can only have support.

– Support – replied R' Wolf – that will not be lacking. He has support from me, and I would be greatly pleased, if I could provide support in such a manner, that he should be always provided with a means by which he could support his wife and children.

If that is the case, says R' Yaakov, I propose that the young man should travel to Lemberg, and study pharmacy. I am now sending my son there, so they can travel together.

R' Yaakov, you are right, another person chimed in, but the study of pharmacy demands a lot of money. He would be better off to study medicine.

And a third person added: and at the same time, he can get an education in art. We have seen enough instances where people have been able to make a living from both skills.

For the entire time, Ettinger sat silently, listening to the conversation. He felt hurt by the fact that everybody was thinking about ways to help him, the unsuccessful one. Finally, his brother-in-law approached him and asked, what he thought. He was to strongly confused to give an immediate answer. He asked that he be allowed three days to think the matter over. This was a matter that will decide all of the rest of his life.

With that, the group dissolved, and Ettinger was left alone with his thoughts.

The decision was not an easy one. When he depicted the time that he would return to Zamość, with everyone gaping at him, that the son-in-law living off of support has become a medical doctor, he thought that there could be no better outcome. But, before his eyes, he immediately saw his angry wife, and heard her angry cry in his ears: rather than have to suffer here scolding, it is better to forfeit all dreams. But upon reconsideration, what then else could he do, return home? Wander around with nothing to do, and wait, until one will consume the last of the money? And then to watch how his own beloved child goes hungry? No, rather than that, it is better to bear the burden of one's wife's anger! Again the same thing: traveling to Lemberg means taking off the distinct garb of a Jew, to exchange the black mohair kaftan with lace for a flaxen jacket, and the kosher Jewish Shtrymel for a hat. What will all the Zamość Jews say about this? Will he be held as a traitor to Jewry, will he still be permitted to enter a Jewish home? And will his own Golda still want to live with him in the same house?

He engaged in thinking about this matter for several days, until he finally came to a decision of yes. The following argument was decisive: rather than see the family expire from want, it is better to assume the burden of the wife's shouting and cursing. Everyone acquainted with what he had decided, give him the same advise. One, R' Shmuel Landau, a nephew of his father-in-law by a sister, invited him to his home, and there, R' Shmuel, together with his sister, who was a very educated and sympathetic woman, argued in favor of this with Ettinger. They said, not to be afraid, that your wife will understand, and that good traits cannot only be manifested in a mohair kaftan; even a lion, should he put on the hide of an ass, does not lose his intrinsic strength.

On the following morning, Ettinger went to a 'German,' and a week later, he was already on the way to Lemberg. Before his departure, he wrote a letter to his good friend Zederbaum in Zamość, that he should calm his Golda down, and say that the study of medicine is not a waste of time: here, after all, the son of R' Yaakov Nathanson is also studying, and also the son of a very rich man from Brod.

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Yaakov Eichenbaum, drawn by Ettinger from memory

Ettinger lived well in Lemberg. He had little money, but because of this it was interesting. Arnold Zhelinsky was among his university friends, later a dermatologist in Vienna. Ettinger got together with him in yet another context: Zhelinsky was a talented artist. It is to him that we are grateful for the only surviving portrait of Ettinger. The 'Cheerful Shlomo' as Ettinger was known among his colleagues, was a frequent guest in the homes of the Maskilim and the wealthy families of Lemberg. He loved spending time in the company of others, and people would enjoy him in return, even if there was some apprehension about his sharp tongue.

At the beginning of 1830, Ettinger completed his studies at the institute, and returned home. He achieved his goal, and could take satisfaction in his accomplishment. Only one thing pained him: his hope to develop his capacity as an artist was not fulfilled. It is true that he did not forsake it entirely, and we hear that even later in life, that he drew a picture of Eichenbaum from memory, to the extent that everyone was amazed at the resemblance. But at this point, it was only a hobby, and no longer an ambition.

But because of this, he uncovered another talent during his time as a student, which he himself, didn't anticipate at the time. Previously, he would orate, saying good words, write epigrams, and comic poems, not suspecting that this had any value. In Lemberg, he discovered the writer in himself. It was here that he began to write his parables, and it was here, very likely, that 'Serkeleh' was created as well.

That the Lemberg Institute granted him the title of 'Mediker,' not 'Doktor,' would have been only half the problem. The Jews of Zamość accepted their educated scion of the city in a very friendly manner, and immediately anointed him as 'Doctor Ettinger.' They would have had complete trust in him. It was however bad, that according to a regulation that was also then in force, a graduate of a foreign advanced school was not permitted to immediately begin a practice in Poland. He first had to take a government examination at Warsaw University. Ettinger began to prepare himself. But before it became possible for him to complete the course, that was required of him, the November Revolution broke out. Who could now think about studying? Zamość was a fortress with a sizeable garrison, and one could reasonably believe that it will be put under siege. Ettinger then decided to leave the city with his family, and to take up residence with in his brother-in-law Yekl's glass works near Janow. The assessment was in fact a correct one, Zamość became a central point of the war operations.

A frightful cholera epidemic broke out in Poland in the summer of 1831. This was the first epidemic in the country, which was brought as a gift by the entering Russian military. The epidemic raged through Janow and the surrounding villages, and the authorities did not know what to do. The number of doctors was small, and even with the greatest effort, it was not in their capacity to attend to all of the sick. The ruling entity became aware that in Gold's glassworks, there is a 'Mediziner,' who, while it is true, did not have a formal diploma from Warsaw, but he had just finished the full course. So Ettinger was summoned, and was ordered to begin handling those sick with cholera.

Ettinger threw himself into his work with his heart and very life. He paid no heed to the danger in which had put himself, he worked day and night, making no distinction between native Pole and Jew, between poor and rich. Many people indeed owed him a debt of gratitude for their very lives.

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The Russian-Polish War came to an end, – Zamość held out longer than all the other points and only surrendered at the very end of 1831 – and Ettinger returned with his family to his home city. Sick patients began to come to him. Once again the question stood before him: what next? According to the regulation, he would now have to go stand for an examination in Warsaw. But this was a long drawn-out affair, and before you know it, there would be no means from which to live. But, in this respect, he had a bit of luck: perhaps for the only time in his life. The regime knew him beforehand from his committed service in Janow. Dr. Brzezinski, the Medical Inspector of the Lublin Province, had a high opinion of him, and looked the other way regarding the fact that Ettinger was not properly credentialed. Brzezinski gave an order to the town pharmacist, that he is to dispense medicaments in accordance with Ettinger's prescriptions, and because of this, it became possible for him to conduct a private practice. Ettinger had good relations with the military doctors – there were no others in Zamość. They would even come for consultations, when he would call them. Quickly, Ettinger was appointed as an inspector of the municipal hospital, in the division for venereal diseases. He also applied himself vigorously to the Jewish hospice, which had been founded by one of the local wealthy people. Ettinger created a good order in that location, took on the obligation of visiting there daily, and look over the sick patients, made his own medicines, in order to save the hospice pharmacy expenses.

Quickly, Dr. Ettinger – which he never called himself, nor did he sign himself in this manner: he didn't want to use a title that his institute had not bestowed upon him – developed a sizeable practice. But he was not overly endowed materially. The patients paid very little. It was generally known that the doctor was someone who made do with less, so the poor gave him nothing, and even the rich were idle in reaching into their pockets, usually two Polish gulden at the highest. He barely made a living for his family, which, no evil-eye intended, continued to grow.

Where he could, he continued to prepare himself for the government examination. At the moment he didn't need this, but his position was nevertheless an uncertain one. All that had to happen was for the inspector or the pharmacist to revoke the boon that had been granted, or a clandestine enemy inform on him, he would be broken and cut off from a livelihood. In 1833 or 1834, he journeyed to Warsaw (his affluent brother-in-law, Hertz Krasnopolsky helped him out with expenses). However, misfortune did not leave his side. He got so sick in Warsaw, that they despaired of his life, and he was already being mourned back in Zamość, but the illness consumed the money that he had brought with him, and in order not to come home to his wife with nothing, he went off to take the examination before he was prepared appropriately. The commission gave him the title of 'Mediziner (Lekarz) of the second degree.' This means a sort of feldscher with the right to heal only external illnesses, not internal ones. It is with this sort of inferior document that Ettinger traveled home, and returned to his old troubles and worries. He continued to practice as he had in the past, because the pharmacist continued to honor his prescriptions. But the fear continued to hang over his head.

His one satisfaction came from writing, from which, god forbid, he never made a cent. It was the opposite, that which he produced on paper and ink, to be written over four or five copies of every work, was perhaps for him a rather substantial outlay, but he had no greater pleasure that sitting down and reading something of his own. And Gotlober happened to come to Zamość in 1837, and contracted cholera there, and was certainly not the only patient to whom Ettinger said:

'What is cholera to you? I will better read my 'Serkeleh' to you.'

'He read to me, and I got better.' Gotlober adds. Others did not enjoy his barbed words as much. Many of his paradigms and parable were written not only concerning the general world, but also directed at living people, and his criticisms were remembered.

The moment and the motivation that brought Ettinger to writing in Yiddish is fixed in a document written in his own hand, which is so relevant to the point, that it is worth reproducing it here verbatim:

'A couple of years ago, I received two small books to read in Lemberg. One was called 'The World Deceived,' and the other, 'Alteli.' Both books had been translated and worked

over from German into Yiddish. The first was called Der Tartif in German, and the other, Robinsohn – I took note of the fact that these books appealed to a large number of people, that is to say, people who were erudite, and also people who were not well-educated. I am of the opinion that the first appealed to them, because they saw something that heretofore had not been written in the Yiddish language, and the other, because they were able to read a storybook. – Whether the books had been written or not, for a number of reasons, I don't want to say , but everyone by themselves will be able to see that at the very least, the plan to write in the vernacular Yiddish was felt within me, wherein I had to immediately try to see if it was within my power to also produce something of this kind and to write in this language. The first things that I wrote were single parables, and little writings (called epigrams in German). I saw that the readership liked them very much, and everything that I wrote got snatched up as it was written, and a number were re-written, but as it happens, with a number of errors and mistakes. As soon as I saw this, I sat down and thought out a lot of parables and epigrams, and at the end, a complete theatrical production. I did not, however, want to rely entirely on myself, and I gave the manuscripts to several people to read over, who have a talent for this, and who were already well-read in many books and other languages, and also to such people who were not educated, and do not know anything but the Yiddish language, in order to get a point of view from many directions. The educated people praised it from their point of view, and the uneducated people from their perspective. Both sides began to make requests of me, asking for more. Their request was to permit my work to be published, but I resolved as follows: I will lay out a plan of the sort, that I will be able to – apart from that which I had already written – to add new things every time, such as theatrical pieces, stories, parables, epigrams, and other things of this kind. – From my end, I was satisfied with this plan, and was prepared to deliver new things, but I want to ask the readership, that in the first book that will be printed, the names of a number of people should be recorded, who wanted to have the book printed. And I promise them, that they will be satisfied. Because I have such a dark nature, that I always put in a great amount of effort to assure that they will be satisfied with me. Now, a theatrical piece will be printed that has five acts, called 'Serkeleh,, or The Yahrzeit for a Brother,' in parables and epigrams. I will see to it that it is printed on good quality paper and with the same font of letters that will make it entirely easy to read, and the names of the people, who will sign the signature page will also be printed in the book.'

It is possible that Ettinger wrote this perspective about his work a little later, in the forties, at the time that he published early-letters in Odessa (see the accompanying note), but there is no doubt, that by 1836-1837 he already had the thought in him to publish his work. I must immediately say, he writes at the beginning of 1837, to an unknown addressee, that I would like to see 'Serkeleh' published as well as the 'Parables.' This would represent some income for me...according to the promise made by Mr. Tughandler, I am hoping to get the approval of the censor in Warsaw.^[4]

At the same time, he also carried with him larger literary plans. He, who constantly copied over German poems, and speeches, who studied Italian, and who wrote the larger majority of his letters in German, did not for one minute give thought to the possibility of exchanging his Yiddish pen for another one. This dominates all facets of his work, and is the sole language of his heart. True, his character Redlich speaks German, but it is not for nothing that the bride Hinde says with an involuntary irony that 'He speaks like a book,' and a book of the Enlightenment must 'speak' in German. This is also the reason that R' David expresses himself in German at moments of great excitement. Apart from that, all the characters in 'Serkeleh,' apart from the comical character Friederika, speak mameloshn, and R' David asks her explicitly: 'Why do you not speak our beloved Yiddish?' The greatest difference between Ettinger and an

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enlightenment author such as Wolfsohn can be seen when we compare their comedies. In 'Leichtsien und Fremmelia,' all the remarks are in German, even on the part of those characters that speak Yiddish. That means that the writer's language is German, and Yiddish has only the value of an ethnographic curiosity. In 'Serkeleh,' it is exactly the opposite, even in the case of Redlich's replies, the remarks are written in Yiddish.

But Ettinger sensed, had to sense, that a Yiddish writer had to be the best, was analogous to his own parable of the flying fish. He can't fly particularly high, because the language itself is somewhat poor, and if the author were to find a means to deal with this, he then has to reckon with an audience who lack even the most elementary [abstract] concepts. Ettinger wanted to fashion in Yiddish, 'a mythology, a cosmic and natural history,' as he articulated himself, and he thought that in the span of a couple of years, he would have such a work completed. But he did not follow the indirect path of many who came later, who would bail themselves out easily with a German word or with a foreign reference. It is especially the translated parables among Ettinger's works (not fables!) and his canticles (not epigrams!), give some sense of this, of how concerned he was to preserve the purity of his meaning. His theatrical pieces (not drama!), consist of presentations (not acts and not even scenes!), and every presentation of several initiations (not scenes, and not entrances!). In place of 'Introduction-delineation' or 'Contents,' we find in his manuscript of parables the words, Parable-Teller. Later, he invented an expression: Zuchzettel. He does not subscribe to the notion that 'The play takes place,' but rather that The Story is in Lemberg.

On May 24, 1843, the renown one-time director of the Beobachter and der Weichsel, Anthony Eisenbaum, and later Director of the Warsaw Teachers' Journal, a good friend of Ettinger, submitted a request to the curator of the Warsaw Teachers Circle, that they should permit the printing of 'Serkeleh,' and the 'Parables.' This type of work, he said, was accessible to all classes of Jews, and they portray in many hues the failings and shortcomings, they portray accurately and humorously the entire Jewish way of life, and for this reason, they can have a special influence (Bardzo zbawienny) on peoples' thinking.

Ettinger meanwhile was hoping to have Tughandler's protection. However, he sorely deceived himself. The strict censors found material that they deemed unsuitable in his understated writing. On the 10^th of August of the same year, the 'Jew Eisenbaum' received a reply from the curator, that after consultation with the Hebrew censor, he is issuing a permission to print the referenced two works, only under the condition, that all the modifications be made that are demanded in the report by the censor's committee.

We do not know how far along Ettinger had reached with his plan to develop a sort of popular-scientific literature in Yiddish. Only a small, tiny fragment survives, that we enter in the footnotes; however, even the intent alone is entirely characteristic of him.

The censors, Tugenhold^[5] and Tchersker didn't just satisfy themselves with erasing individual places. They ordered that entire sections and pieces be altered. The censor-exemplar of the 'Parables,' which is preserved by record, gives testimony to the foolish and small-minded methods used by the censors in wielding their red pencils.

In the 'Parables,' the word 'King' may not be mentioned, as a metaphor for a lion. Because, if the lion is presented in anything but the best possible light, there could be an undertone, or a tome, that kings are not angels. And from there, it is but a single step to the insult of Majesty, and to Republican ideas. 'When I see that exalted people are talking, and they don't know about whom, or what they are saying,' (this is the insult), that is no good: permit just the implication that people in high places can err occasionally, then tomorrow, this could start a revolution. Better to erase the word 'exalted' and that is less provocative. The censor also had a view regarding Jewish questions: that strong attacks by writers of the Haskala against the Hasidim was terrible. Therefore, it is better in the parable, 'The Fly,' one should not

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use the expression, 'Guteh Yiddelach,' and in the 'Assembly,' it certainly should not say: 'The Tzaddik has taken issue with us.' Because, even thought this concerns a different matter, the audience can be led to believe that this is a reference to a Hasidic Rebbe.

Further, the censor is concerned about morals. About 'slippery' themes that do not belong here. Here he has nothing to think over. However, he cannot stand the thought that 'some can write a slanderous poster,' (the writers); the reader cannot become aware, that it is possible to construe that a father can strike a grown child (the response). And what kind of language is this: may rumor mongers be cursed (the insult), or ' ... Burn ..'. Better the chaste Viteleh herself (Viteleh?) Burning, cursing? Forbidden, that cannot be permitted! And in this fashion, the red pencil crosses out entire portions of 'Assut,' and entirely such epigrams as 'The Female,' 'The Doctor Grind.'

That's what they did to the Parables and Canticles. 'Serkeleh,' was mangled even worse.

As soon as the first lines of the 'Vort Fried,' the censor demands their removal: one may not say – do not open your mouth to say bad things! – only goodness may survive in the world all by itself, and in order that the following phrases should make sense, he demands that on the third line, the word 'whereby' be expunged and replaced with 'something.' He demands that the expression 'reinisch, mintz, kreitzer', be replaced with kerblach, groschen, thaler, 'gulden,' in order to bring in the local designation [sic: for currency] rather than the foreign ones ( despite the fact that 'the story is in Lemberg.'). Among the other demands of the censor (in 'Serkeleh,' as seen in the report of the censors Tugenhold and Tchersker to the curator of the Teachers' Circle, about one hundred 'improvements' were made. In the 'Parables,' and 'Canticles,' 'only' about forty) the following are worth taking note of:

1. Removals from the Christian faith: apostate, stratagems for conversion, they request using the term 'gentile,' in place of 'transgressor against Jews,' of 'Khultai,' 'thievery,' 'Christians,' or delete them entirely.
2. Removals regarding the ruling political order: 'Monarch' must be replaced by 'Magnate,' 'Freedom' by 'Sharing,' and even the humorous 'Bird-Freedom' in Frederika's monologue in the last act, with 'Liberation.'
3. Removals having to do with morals: In the phrase, ' He who follows in the steps of his father-in-law, sleeps with the bear,' instead of 'sleeps,' the word 'sits' is put in. Instead of Malka-Green, the censor prefers 'Toyz-green.' Instead of 'a kiss,' 'a pat.' Instead of a 'Shiksa House,' a 'Bad House.' This is also the place for the censor's prohibition against the word 'Poritz' [sic: a nobleman], which is synonymous with a rabble-rouser. In each instance, he requests instead the word, 'Ruler,' or 'Herr.'

'... but your words: send me your book with forty rubles, and your book will get printed, I do not understand this. For I do not want to print the book for free with the modifications that the censor-committee has proposed. Do my characters there speak ill of God, of his Messiah, of the kings of the earth, of their nobility, of their judges, or their overseers, God forbid? Or does my tongue speak evil about the ways of the conventional morality, that these fine folk had to underscore with their red pencils, crossing out, and ruining it from beginning to end, and debasing its beauty, leaving behind a mess of erasure instead of beauty? And furthermore: I know these people, and I know them to be educated people, people who seek knowledge, and they are good-hearted people, and have been at peace with me for always, and I ask, why did they seek to inflict such anger upon me? My book is clean of anything that is not right, and if a shortcoming can be found there, let then let me know what I am guilty of, and I will either expunge it, or fix what is not right, but they must not simply speak out against me! – You also did not let me know the number of copies that would be produced for the forty rubles, that you wrote for me to send to you.'

The remarks concerning the forty rubles show that Ettinger continued to hope that he would be able to rebut the decree of the censor. And that he saw his goal before his eyes – to publish his work – exactly as completed. Once again, this lead to nothing. More details about the reasons are not known to us. It is possible, that new concerns, which pushed themselves in front of Ettinger forced him to forget about the luxury of being a writer.

The moment arrived that Ettinger feared the entire time. The head of the Zamość pharmacy was replaced, and this resulted in the branch under him to be cut away, on which the quasi-legal doctor stood all this time. This was approximately in 1845. A Jew in his forties, responsible for children – he had a total of seven – now, after fifteen years of practice, had to hit the books anew, and here it wasn't a question of the basic energy to study: the examinations were difficult, and the preparation needed a great deal of time, and therefore, money. An there were no loose funds to be found in the house.

Having no choice, once again, he had to approach his brother-in-law in Odessa, and so Ettinger traveled to Odessa. We know that along the way, he visited with Gotlober in Krzemieniec. Wolf Gold did not turn him away this time either, and it was agreed, that Ettinger would travel to Krakow, to take the government examination.

In Krakow, he made his way to the Deacon of the Medical Faculty and receives a cold official answer, even worse than he had anticipated: Seeing that in his Lemberg papers he has no indications of having studied physics and chemistry, he cannot be permitted to take the examination. He has to take these courses anew. True, when the Deacon, who was a decent chess player found out that Ettinger was able to play, he became more lenient. But the best piece of advice that he could give was still a weak one: that Ettinger should approach the Minister with a request showing, that he had lost his Lemberg credentials, rely on his work in the Zamość hospitals, and ask to be released from the examination in the referenced subjects.

The professor offered Ettinger comfort, indicating that the Minister would respond positively to Ettinger's request. However, Petersburg was not in any hurry to provide an answer. Month after month went by. How many times, in his anxiety, did Ettinger feel like throwing it all in and going home. But this would have been possible if he had been traveling to a family that was sympathetic to him. In his case, it was just the opposite, he was certain that they would simply just pour salt on the wounds. His wife didn't write him so much as a single word this entire time, the oldest of the Golds in Zamość, Zeinvill, also looked askance at this peculiar person, for whom the bread always falls with the buttered side down. The only one in the entire family, who wrote to him from time-to-time, and also supported the house a little bit, was one of his nieces.

In the end, he had to make a decision about this fruitless undertaking. He had been away from home for eleven months, living in straitened circumstances, and there were no visible signs of any quick answer. He had news from home that his Disha, may she live, his most beloved little daughter, was not well. His brother-in-law Wolf was being very generous, but open-ended support has its limits, and Ettinger sensed in his letter, that he is becoming impatient. So he waved off the entire plan with his hand, and in the middle of October 1847 traveled back home. In Berdichev, half-way home, he ran out of money again, and once again, he had to approach his brother-in-law for assistance. On the 25^th of November, after a trip of five weeks, he came back to Zamość – he came with nothing.

The new arrival was like a guest. His wife Golda had no sooner become aware that her husband had arrived in the city, when she left home and went to her brother Zeinvill. This was a punishment for Zeinvill as well. He understood that less than everything, that the brother-in-law was responsible in the unsuccessful conclusion of the trip, and as it happens, the brother in Odessa also wrote a warm letter about Ettinger. Zeinvill directed his sister that she would go home. She didn't obey him, and went to one of her friend's house. Three days went by, until she could be persuaded that she should return to her husband and children.

The bloodletting that Ettinger had to put up with from this – which the whole town resounded with from this piquant affair -- one can see even from the restrained, self-controlled letter, that he wrote to Wolf Gold in Odessa. However,

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in finally taking account, the entire matter didn't turn out too badly. He thought that he was returning to an impoverished family, and here it becomes apparent that during the period of his absence, the family funded a stone house for Golda in Zamość, and an added couple of hundred dollars as well. The spice store, which his wife had opened, also wasn't doing badly.

He attempted to practice again, and the pharmacist (Ettinger himself was surprised by this) issued medicaments according to his prescriptions. But this was upset rather quickly, when he purchased a parcel of land, 65 Morg in size, in Zdanów, about four kilometers from Zamość, and took up residence there with his entire family.

Working the land as an ideal of Ettinger's for a long time, and he was pleased that he personally was able to become a colonist, and as it turns out, a good thing emerged from it: since colonists were freed from military service, and this was in the time of Czar Nicholas I, it was no small benefit^[6]. Even if Ettinger, dressed in 'rags,' would exhort the Jews in a various way to serve the king, and to 'go even into fire, in order to carry out the king's plan.'

It was in this manner that Ettinger occupied his land for a period of time, and engaged in the pursuit of agriculture.

However, a time came, when the authorities yet again came to Ettinger and appealed to his medical expertise, willing to ignore the question of his credentials, when in July 1855 in Zamość, a fresh cholera epidemic broke out anew. He did not delay for even a moment, and did not try to engage in any recrimination. The family remained in the village, and he traveled back to the city, moving into the two rooms that he had reserved for his own use in his own house. After this, he returned to the colony.

Ettinger's final years passed by uneventfully, and he no longer gave much thought to literary work. During his last trip to Odessa, he attempted to have programs of his work created – perhaps he hoped that he would derive some income to offset his large expenses – but nothing came of this. After this failure, he lost his 'muse and desire,' as he himself wrote.

The external circumstances for sustenance in Zdanów were actually not at all bad. Income was derived a little from agriculture, a little from medical practice, a little from the rent of the house in Zamość. In Zdanów proper, the Ettingers had five nice rooms. Occasionally guest would come to visit, and important people: once a general came, an engineer, and at one time, the Governor himself. At another time, they were visited by four Rabbis, among them the Tyszowcer [Rebbe], the Rabbi of Zamość, and the Rabbi of the Neustadt.

The guests were very welcome to Ettinger, became they helped to dispel the otherwise difficult rapprochement in the house. Golda continued to remain angered. I t was rare that she exhibited a wifely temperament. Most of the time she remained mad at him. I make no great demands in order to live, [she says], extracting a great sigh from Ettinger. I just want a little family happiness, and that is the one thing that fortune has denied to me. I am a husband, father and owner of my own house, a worker of the land. But it is my fate to bear everyone's sorrow. He did have a small measure of happiness from having married off his son Isaac well.

His health, also, was not the best. His troubles made him sick, and before his time, at the age of fifty years, he refers to himself as 'a feeble, old man.' He begins to think about death. A sign of this, is that he had already prepared his own epitaph, which actually was later used on his grave stone:

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Death

You unsheathed your sword against me
You cruelly cut down your prey
But my soul will mock [death] forever
Because the corner of resurrection will always be before his eyes

Ettinger really didn't break new ground, he was not a rebel from the Jewish tradition. Isaac is true to his religion because he is my son, he writes to a good friend. And the city had the same opinion of him, and this was not only that Rabbis would come and visit him as guests for a while. It is also known as a fact that the Izbicer Rebbe came to Zamość, with his mother to get medical attention from the doctor, and they stayed with Ettinger at his house. This would have been impossible, if the community had even the slightest doubt about the conduct of Jewish ritual in the doctor's house.

Many details and incidents from Ettinger's life have not yet come to the fore, but the portrait of this pure, simple and straightforward Jew stands out clearly before our eyes. The least of his attributes was as a breaker of boundaries. Every letter that he ever sent was first written in draft form, and he worked over the expressions, until he thought that he had gotten his ideas properly raised. He wrote many lengthy greetings-poems in Yiddish, and in German when it was necessary, and if his son, writing from Lublin in a letter says: 'Fraydeleh and her loving husband and little children sent you their heartiest regards,' he would reply: 'Why, my son, do you send regards from our Friend, the Modest, Educated, Grand Lady, Mrs. Fraydeleh Cohen, just like that, without any title, this is not very nice of you in the least.'

But he was a wise man. This form of expression, after all, was a style of the times, like the high collar. And he was a loving man as well. When he would skewer someone, it would hurt, but it was done without malice.

Frontispiece of a Playbill for Serkeleh with Ettinger's Autograph

Ettinger's Grave Stone in the Zamość Cemetery on the Eve of the Hitler Holocaust

Nothing came of this undertaking either. If 'Serkeleh' was printed in Warsaw, it was in the error-ridden style of the edition from Johannesburg; an edition also appeared in Lemberg. Alexander Zederbaum began to print the Parables and Canticles in Kol Mevaser in 1863, and after that, they were printed in the Warsaw Yiddisher Zeitung and in the Yiddishe Volksblatt in Petersburg. They were first published as a collection in 1889 – and in a second edition in 1890 – because of the efforts of Ettinger's son Wilhelm (Yaakov) in Petersburg.

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Serkeleh is being printed for the first time in its entirety in this work.^[7] However, it is not necessary to conclude that the audience is not familiar with this work. Ettinger himself wanted his work to be recognized, since he dedicated a considerable amount of time to writing copies in his tight formal handwriting. Five handwritten manuscripts of 'Serkeleh' are still known to exist today. And how many have been lost?

The Maskilim were inspired by Ettinger's work, and we know that it was not performed only one time on the stage. Regarding one such performance in 1863, in which the role of Serkeleh was played by none other than Abraham Goldfadn, we are told by Papirnow in his memoirs. Zederbaum brings in a second fact, that in Turkish Mohilev (by the Dneister) a group of Maskilim put on this theatrical piece, and the role of Yokhanan the Matchmaker was played by R' Yaakov Eichenbaum. There were many other instances of this nature, and we know of many such instances with certainty.

And after all is said, Ettinger's influence was a minor one, limited within narrow circles. If he had the temperament of a revolutionary, perhaps he would have become the grandfather of our literature. He had the literary capacity for it. If he stands behind Mendele [Mokher Sforim] in talent, he stands higher than him in both detail and the feel that comes with form, even if he wrote thirty years before him. But he was a prisoner of his own character that he could not break through. And so, he has remained the Great-grandfather of Yiddish literature, the little-known, half-forgotten great-grandfather, who in the course of research, we are obligated to present to our readers.

Ettinger died not knowing that better times would come for Yiddish writers. But when he departed this world, his great and influential heir was already born into this world, Shlomo Ettinger died in Zamość in 1856. In 1851, in Zamość, Yitzhak Leib Peretz had already been born.

Footnotes:

1. Author's Footnote: Introduction to “Dr. Shlomo Ettinger's Writings,” published by the Vilna Publishing House of B. Kletskin, 1925. Return
2. The author does not make clear that this may, perhaps, be the maiden name of his wife. Return
3. A currency denomination of the time. Return
4. Author's footnote: Yaakov Tughandler (1794-1871), a well-known activist in the Polish Enlightenment; from 1820 on, he was one of the Jewish censors in Warsaw. He was a good friend of Ettinger's. Return
5. We are seeing two spellings of this name, and believe this to be the same individual as Tughandler. Return
6. Czar Nicholas I was a notorious anti-Semite, who promulgated the infamous ukase requiring that every third Jewish male child in a family be forcibly conscripted into the Russian Army for a twenty-five year term of service. The objective of this plan was to break up the solidarity of the Jewish community, and lead to its eventual assimilation into the Russian mass. It gave rise to the nefarious occupation of khappers (Yiddish, for kidnappers), who typically victimized poorer Jewish families, by grabbing their children, in order to satisfy the quota set by the Czarist regime. Return
7. Author's Footnote: This refers to the book, “Dr. Shlomo Ettinger's Writings,” from which we are extracting the subject matter for this work. Return

As a complement to the work of Dr. Max Weinreich, we bring the work of the Kadosh-historian Dr. Y. Szyfer, which was incorporated into Volume III of the YIVO folios of April-May 1932 (No. 4-5). From both works, one already gets a full picture of Dr. Shlomo Ettinger, whose one-hundredth anniversary fell on 1956, when our Pinkas was in the midst of preparation.

In the biographical Ettinger research of Dr. Weinreich (see his classical Ettinger presentation), we find a row of threads that stretch to Warsaw. It is in this fashion that we become aware from letters and footnotes that Dr. Weinreich introduces at the end of his Ettinger presentation, that Dr. Ettinger was friendly with the well-known Warsaw Maskilim, Yaakov Tugenhold and Aharon-Anthony Eisenbaum, and he corresponded with a friend in Warsaw, one Y. Korngold (compare the letters No. 3,4,12 & 13), Dr. Weinreich also brings us a highly interesting document from the year 1862, in which two sons of Dr. Ettinger, Mikhl and Yaakov are mentioned, and it appears from this, that they were both students of the renown Warsaw Teachers' Seminary at that time, which was, at that time, under the direction of Eisenbaum, and later Tugenhold (compare Dr. Weinreich's Ettinger presentation p. XLI and 590).

Even though we encounter both of Dr. Ettinger's sons in Warsaw after their father's death, we may assume that they came to Warsaw while Dr. Ettinger was still alive. For us, however, of far greater importance is the friendship, firmly

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established by Dr. Weinreich, between Dr. Ettinger and the Warsaw Maskilim. Were these the only threads that connected the author of ‘Serkeleh’ with the Polish capitol city? According to the most recent Ettinger research ( of Kappel, Weinreich and most recently from M. Weiner) it would appear, that Dr. Ettinger did not have more than a few good friends in Warsaw. So the question remains hanging, as to how Dr. Ettinger came to form these friendships? A personal meeting does not make much sense, because it is not known that Dr. Ettinger ever made a trip to Warsaw. Who then, took note of him in Warsaw, and who made the connection between him and the leading Warsaw Maskilim, such as Eisenbaum and Tugenhold? How did he acquire his Warsaw friend Y. Korngold, with whom he later carried on such an intimate correspondence? And in general, how does that very same person, the ‘friend who is a guardian of the word,’ Y. Korngold, who sought out Ettinger – as is described in the revealing letter of 1854 (letter Number 14 in Weinreich's presentation) -- in Zamość about 2-3 years before his death, by which time he was already ‘a feeble, old man?’

All of these accumulated questions would be rhetorical, or ‘fervent wishes,’ if we had not fortuitously come upon material that bears witness to the fact that Dr. Ettinger had an extensive family in Warsaw, and especially one of the most prominent Warsaw families. They, the Warsaw Ettingers, were the protectors of his writings, it was from them that he received the necessary recommendations, and through them, he got to Eisenbaum, Tugenhold and Korngold. The Warsaw Ettingers are, however, interesting for another instance, which is, incidentally, more important that the connections that they created between their Zamość relative and the Warsaw Maskilim. And they are interesting in their own right, as leaders of t6heir generation and as personalities. Their biographies, which we will present here, can serve as a supplement to the basic Ettinger research, which gives an understanding of the ‘race’ from which the author of the ‘Parables’ came from, and similar descendants from the same bloodlines…

Let us then transition to the theme itself.

According to the research of Kappel and Weinreich, Ettinger's parents lived in Warsaw at the time of his birth. His father, Joseph-Yoskeh had rabbinical ordination, and he was offered the pulpit in Frankfurt-Main, but he did not want to leave Warsaw. In addition, it is known that R' Joseph-Yoskeh came from a very prominent family and that his uncle, Yitzhak-Itcheh, was the Rabbi of Chelm. Apart from Joseph-Yoskeh, the Ettinger biographical material makes mention of another son of R' Itcheh, R' Mendel, who was the Rabbi of Leczna, and in whose home, the future author of ‘Serkeleh,’ was raised, after having lost his father as a child. In the Warsaw records, we encounter yet a third son of R' Yitzhak-Itcheh, and this is R' Yekhiel-Mikhl Raver-Ettinger. If Dr. Kappel characterizes the Ettinger family as one of the most prominent in Poland, which ‘gave Poland many Gaonim, Business leaders, Community activists, and Merchants, who carried on substantial business dealings with the Polish nobility of that era,’ such a characteristic only described a foundation, if one stops just at this Warsaw uncle of Dr. Ettinger, at this previously mentioned R' Yekhiel-Meir^[1] Raver-Ettinger, his children and grandchildren. It is only in this branch of the Ettingers that we encounter the Gaonim and Entrepreneurs, Community activists and Merchants. In comparison to R' Yekhiel-Mikhl and his [family], R' Mendel of Leczna appears as a prominent provincial personality, as a weaker offshoot of the Ettinger line.

The following accomplishments are recorded and can be read from the grave stone of R' Yekhiel-Mikhl Raver-Ettinger: ‘A great man among the Jews, he led the community of Jeshurun with righteousness, and faithfully engaged in dealing with matters of the community, a sharp-minded Rabbi.’ And in no way are these exaggerations. As evidence – the further biographical details that we continue to present.

Just like his brothers, Yekhiel-Mikhl was also brought up in the orthodox spirit, and was an ordained Rabbi. In Zamość, where he lived during his youth with his parents, so-called ‘forbidden’ books would fall into his hands, and it is known of him, that he was an accomplished scholar not only in matters of Torah, but also in secular studies. He did not make a living from his rabbinical ordination. He was drawn to commerce, and while still a young man, he went off to Rawa in Mazovia, to seek his fortune. We immediately encounter him among the first of the Jewish merchants who cemented relationships with the newly emerging textile industry in Lodz. He buys raw goods, has them processed by the Lodz weavers, and carries on a trade with the finished goods in Warsaw and ‘New Prussia.’

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At the end of the 18^th century, he settles in Warsaw with his brother, R' Joseph-Yoskeh, the father of Dr. Shlomo Ettinger. At that time, he already had a name as one of the most important and wealthy merchants and entrepreneurs in the land. He measures himself against the wealthy sons of the Warsaw magnate, R' Shmuel Zbitgever, and competes with them on every front, both in business and in community affairs. With the elder Zbitgever and his ‘simple’ sons sitting in the community leadership, it becomes an goad for confrontation, and he will struggle against them until, in the end, he will push them out of the community house. And he will accomplish this by embracing the younger generation of Warsaw Maskilim, who in joining up with him, the contender, anticipating all manner of secular ‘innovations.’ For example, as a non-Zbitgever, he created an expensive homestead, with real salons and expensive furniture. And a library that was filled with rabbinical works and innovative books of the Enlightenment, such that only at the home of the rich Maskil, Mikhl Cohen, could you find a larger collection. The very ‘cream’ of young Warsaw intelligentsia would gather in his salons. The leading thinkers of the young generation of the Enlightenment which at that time appeared in the arena of liberal live would be heard by the steady stream of visitors to his salons: the energetic and exceptionally talented Anthony Eisenbaum, the erudite, but weak-in-character, Yaakov Tugenhold, the Epstein brothers, Herman, Josef and Jan, ‘’ sons from Koscziuszko's army, Yaakov Epstein, the young Jan Glicksberg, the son of the university lecturer, R' Nathan-Mikhl – Manli Glicksberg, the physician David Salmansohn, and the first registered Jewish finance broker on the bourse in Warsaw, Chaim-Heinrich Salmansohn, both descendants of Dr. Shimon Salmansohn, the dermatologist of the last king of Poland, the fiery Maskil, Yitzhak Weinberg, the Hebrew literary scholar, Isaac Kandia, and other such assembled ‘greats of that generation.’ And it was in the salons of Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger that this coterie of Enlightened youth would gather to read ‘forbidden’ books of the Enlightenment, arrange debates, carry on discussions about scientific and literary themes, and from time-to-time, arrange for amatory presentations, theatrical pieces, of the new Hebrew authors. In Ettinger's following, plans were also developed how to rebuild the old community, so that it would be better aligned with the requirements of the new era.

R' Yekhiel-Mikhl's importance in Warsaw grew daily, and he was regarded as the most prominent leader of the city, and in the year 1814, when it was drawing close to the Congress of Vienna, in which the fate of the ‘Duchy of Warsaw’ was to be determined – the Warsaw Jews took advantage of this historical moment to carry out a wide-ranging initiative on behalf of their equality of citizenship. At that time, R' Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger exhibited unusually extensive and broad-based community activity. He finds a way to reach the prominent Senator Novosiltsev, who at that time was to be found in Warsaw, and had obtained the protection of this highly placed man, and he gathers himself up, together with his two close friends, the banker, Wolf-Mikhl Cohen, and the secretary of the community, R' Shakhna Neiding, and they go to Petersburg to see the Czar, Alexander I himself. On July 28, 1814 the delegation presented the Czar, and the future ruler of the ‘Kingdom of Poland,’ a comprehensive memorandum on the limitations to the citizenship rights that are oppressive to Polish Jewry. This same delegation, with R' Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger at its head, also visited the Russian Sovereign, at the time that he came to Paris (July-August-September 1815), and gave him a second memorial about the same issue at an audience.

According to a report from R' Shakhna Neiding, the Czar is supposed to have said to the delegation at the time: ‘I take you under my personal protection, and I will see to improving your circumstances.’ Without looking only at this promise, the delegation continued its efforts: after its audience with the Czar, it went to the Grand Duke Constantine, who at that time happened to be in Paris, and obtained recommendations from him, that they may intervene yet again with the same Czar, and it traveled to Berlin, to prepare their representation when Alexander would come there. In Berlin, R' Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger, and those who accompanied him, took counsel with the local leading personalities of that community and they also met with Novosiltsev, who had arrived from Warsaw, in order to meet the Czar. After turning over yet a new memorial to the Senator about the Jewish question, the delegation immediately departed for Warsaw. They knew that the Czar has to come to the Polish capitol city from Berlin, and they placed hope in the possibility of an audience at the time of the Warsaw stop by the monarch. However, they did not get an audience, and they had to content themselves with a new intervention on the part of the Grand Duke Constantine.

It is easy to imagine how great Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger's authority became as a consequence of all these trips of his, and audiences in Petersburg, Paris and Berlin. He pushes himself into the very foreground of Warsaw Jewry, and in a scant few years, he achieves the highest honors, that was possible for a Polish Jew of that time to dream of obtaining.

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In 1817, together with several of his few friends (such as the Maskil R' Itcheh Rosen, and the Mitnagdim Shlomo-Zalman Posner, Levi Shaulsohn, Shlomo Eiger, and Chaim Davidsohn), take over the ‘strong box’, and he funds the revenue of the empty community treasury from this. A year later, he is selected as a member of the community leadership. He, however, lays that mandate aside, and in a memorandum he declares to the overseeing authorities that he will not sit together with the ‘simpletons’ and their hangers-on, who carry on like big shots, but make the re-organization of the community difficult.

In the year 1823, he is selected as one of the candidates out of whom the administration of the Jewish hospital in Warsaw is to be selected. In 1825, he is nominated by the government to be a member of the ‘Advisory Body’ (Izba Doradcza) which was created by the ‘Jewish Committee’ (Komitet Starozakonych), to work out legal projects on behalf of the government, in connection with the Jewish question. Only very few individuals were accorded this honor from all of Polish Jewry. As a former manager of the ‘strong box,’ he gets involved in the work of the ‘Advisory Body’ to work out the project the hardest of the issues, and he sits in a special sub-committee for ‘questions concerning kosher meat,’ to which belong, apart from him, other Jews from Warsaw, such as the inventor and great mathematician R' Abraham Stern, the manufacturer and the coordinator for the distribution of agricultural work among Jews, R' Shlomo-Zalman Posner, and the ardent Maskil David-Theodore Teplitz.

Very interesting information has come down to us about Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger from the time of the Polish ‘November Revolution’ (1829-1831). At that time, he took part in all the important actions of the Warsaw ‘Dozor Bozniczy’ (community), and at the most dangerous times, he stood on the watch with regards to Jewish interests. So, for example, we hear that he opposed the proposal of several members of the Haskala youth (with the son of the renown Berek Yosselevich at their head), to form a separate Jewish Legion, on the grounds that it implied a sanction of the principle of a ghetto in the army as well. Also, Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger came out strongly against the revolutionary regime, when they decided that they would accept as volunteers, into the ‘National Guard,’ only those Jews who would be willing to shave off their beards and side locks. He did this for political principles, even though he was in favor of a reformed way of life for the masses of the people, and under other circumstances, he was no less sharply opposed to Jewish fanatics, when they attempted to make things difficult for the Maskilim.

Information about one such incident had come down to us from 1826, and it is worth describing this incident here, because it reveals something of Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger's tolerant attitudes.

In that year, a misfortune befell a Maskil from Warsaw, one Marcus Frei, in that his daughter died. Several uncivil scenes took place at the time of the burial. The grave diggers did not want to bury the deceased – the daughter of a ‘trayfnyak,’ a ‘German,’ and the members of the Hevra Kadisha concurred. The ‘German’ was totally distraught. And this was the second time that this sort of uncivil behavior had occurred to him. Two years before this, the same sort of uncivil scenes took place at the time that his son Julius had died. There was an uproar in the city, great unrest. So the poor father made his way to R' Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger, and with him the Maskilim that befriended him, Josef Epstein, and Dr. Leopold Leu, and he lodged a complaint against the Hevra Kadisha. As members of the ‘Advisory Body,’ the made an official demand from the community that an investigation be made, and that the guilty should be severely punished. And that is what happened.

Yekhiel-Mikhl Ettinger died on 16 Tevet 1836. He was survived by four sons: Aharon-Israel, Yitzhak-Asher, Menachem-Mendel and Yaakov-Hillel. The upbringing that they received in their father's house was in the spirit of Enlightened Mitnagdim, who would synthesize Torah with secular knowledge. Yitzhak-Asher and Yaakov-Hillel had rabbinic ordination, and Yaakov-Hillel later became the Rabbi of Minsk. The three brothers that remained in Warsaw, faithfully upheld the tradition of their father, and played an important role in the community life of Warsaw Jewry.

Aharon-Israel Ettinger ran substantial businesses in finished goods. He also gave much of his time to community affairs. In the fiery revolutionary year of 1831, he was selected as a community leader (‘Dozor’). In the years 1839-1841 he was an active member of the budget committee and he comes out against subsidies for the government founded ‘elementary schools for Jews,’ because religious studies were curtailed in them. He died in 1850.

Yitzhak-Asher, also called Itzik Ettinger, was an entrepreneur by calling, and a finance person (in the Polish Acta, he

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is designated as a ‘spekulant.’).We know the following details about his community activities: He is selected to serve in the ‘Dozor’ in 1833, but he declines the position; He is an active member of the community budget committee in 1839; In 1850, we encounter him as a Gabbai in the Hevra Kadisha; Between 1850 and 1853, he is influential, together with R' Chaim Davidsohn and Alexander Rosen as a controller for the funds that were collected across Poland for the Yishuv in the Holy Land; We run into him again in the same capacity in 1860. He married a certain Bluma, who came from the ‘Kloczka’ or ‘Klaczko’ family and he had a son with her (Mendel) and four daughters (Renina, Rosalia, Liba and Rebecca). He married for a second time after his wife died. His second wife (Yetta) was the daughter of a prominent wealthy man in Warsaw (Zimel Epstein). He had five children with her: the son, Mikhl, and four daughters (Taiba, Esther, Chaya, Freydka). Another son of his, Joel, is also mentioned, who died at a young age in 1847. In the year 1`864, he felt so weak that he made out a will. We learn from it, that his estate at one point was worth 175,000 rubles, including the 30 thousand rubles which his second wife had received as an inheritance from her father. From his estate, he designated 13 thousand rubles for various charitable causes and for poor people in the Holy Land.

He lived to a ripe old age, and passed away in 1878. The inscription on his grave stone is full of praise about his thorough knowledge of Torah, -- something that is established by a fact that comes to us from 1849; in that year, he was asked by name, along with other accomplished scholars through the community to work out a response to the German pamphlet against the Talmud, ‘Der Talmud in seiner Nichtdigkeit,’which had been published at that time by the Well-known Warsaw Maskil, Avremeleh Buchner.

Menachem-Mendel Ettinger was also a prominent person in Warsaw. The first record of his community activity dates from 1846: He steps forward as a community delegate and takes part in the military committee of the 3^rd circle, whose purpose was to compile a list of Jews eligible for military service. In the years 1854-1856 he is active as a Warsaw ‘Dozor,’ and at the end of his term, he sees through a decision by the community to invite the famous Rabbi Berish Maiseles as Rabbi of Warsaw. He takes part in community activities in later years as well. He also works on a variety of assistance committees, as an example, in the year 1852, the ‘value committee,’ which was created to provide assistance to poor Jews.

Menachem-Mendel died in the same year of 1878 as did his brother Yitzhak-Asher. A son survived him, who was named for his grandfather, Mikhl (died in the year 1905).

Footnote:

1. A possible misprint. Return

Apart from the well-known uncle of Dr. Shlomo Ettinger, R' Yekhiel-Mikhl Raver-Ettinger, and his children, there resided in Warsaw a brother and sister of the author of ‘Serkeleh.’ Their lives unfold before us as a tragedy, which played itself out in Dr. Shlomo Ettinger's immediate family.

Dr. Shlomo Ettinger's father, Joseph – Yoskeh, as previously mentioned, was the blood brother of the Warsaw magnate and community activist, Rabbi Yekhiel-Mikhl Raver-Ettinger (who used to sign himself as ‘Ettinger’). Joseph-Yoskeh married a certain Yetta, and together with his brother, at the end of the 18^th century, settled in Warsaw. Three children were born to him in Warsaw: the son, Shlomo (born in 1800 or 1803), a daughter Hinde (born in 1802), and a son, Mordechai-Marcus (born in 1810). Joseph-Yoskeh died in either 1810 or 1811, leaving behind orphans that were not provided for. As is known from the biographies by Dr. Kappel and Dr. Weinreich, after his father's death, Shlomo went to live at his uncle R' Mendel, who at that time was the Rabbi of Leczna (not far from Lublin). At that time, he was a young boy between the ages of 8-11. His 8-9 year-old sister, Hinde, and young brother Mordechai-Marcus, stayed with their mother in Warsaw. It would appear that between Yetta and her rich brother-in-law, there were extended relations. She exerted herself on behalf of her youngsters, and when she died herself, a short time after her husband, the children remained under God's oversight…at a distance – for reasons that are not known – from their rich Warsaw uncle's home, and they left the Jewish community. In 1824, Hinde converted to Christianity, being a marriageable young woman of 22 and six years later, she had her younger brother Mordechai-Marcus converted also, who at the time was 20 years old, and was engaged in a printing business having to do with Christian printed works. At the time of her

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conversion, Hinde changed her name to ‘Costanzia,’ and Mordechai assumed the name ‘Marcus.’ Both assumed the Calvinist faith, which was extensively taken up by Jewish converts. This ‘blemish on the family,’ certainly was a cause for why Dr. Shlomo Ettinger held himself at a distance from Warsaw for his entire life, notwithstanding the fact that he had rich and prominent relatives there.

It was different with the children of Dr. Shlomo Ettinger. They, indeed were drawn to the capitol city, and we encounter a number of them in the second half of the 19^th century, that lived and worked in Warsaw.

Of the children that survived Dr. Shlomo Ettinger, the following five are mentioned in the comprehensive Ettinger biography of Dr. Weinreich: The sons, Yitzhak-Ignacy, Yaakov, Mikhl-Michal, and the daughter Maria (married name Goldman) and Disha (married name Szpiro). We know from Dr. Ettinger himself that he had seven children. In letter No. 9, which is printed in Dr. Weinreich's Ettinger presentation (on p. 573), he writes about himself in the year 1847, that he is ‘a misfortunate father of seven poor children.’ The two children, who are not mentioned in his biography, were: Joseph and David. We looked for the grave stone on Joseph's grave in the Warsaw cemetery, and also for a second grave for a granddaughter of Dr. Ettinger, Helena, who was a daughter of David Ettinger.

Here, again, we bring a collection of details about Dr. Ettinger's children, who lived in Warsaw:

Dr. Ettinger's second son, Joseph-Josef, was born in the year 1840, and died on June 28, 1909. When he was young, he studied in Warsaw at the Teachers' Seminary. It was there that he became infected with the spirit of the Enlightenment. Without regard for this, he became the son-in-law of a well-known Warsaw Mitnaged, R' Mordechai Willner, who was a prominent disciple of the Vilna Gaon. Joseph's wife was named Rosalia (born in the year 1853, died in 1912).

Two other sons of Dr. Shlomo Ettinger studied at the Warsaw Teachers' Seminary: Yaakov and Mikhl. A document from the year 1862 is presented in Dr. Weinreich's Ettinger exposition about them, which testifies to the fact that they were in the Teachers' Seminary at that time, and that they took a strong interests in their father's works. They are also recorded in a list of students of the Teachers' Seminary, which was compiled based on the Acts in the archives by the Warsaw researcher, Adolph-Yaakov Cohen. We do not know what they did later in, and we did not find their graves in the Warsaw cemetery.

The fifth son of Dr. Ettinger, Yitzhak-Ignacy, whom he loved ardently, also spent his later years in Warsaw. He got married in 1856, while his father was still alive, to the ‘exceptionally good and wise’ – as he characterized her in a letter to her father-in-law, Dr. Shlomo Ettinger, -- daughter of the head of the Lublin community, R' Simcha Ehrlich. Yitzhak lived in Lublin until 1863. During the revolutionary uprising in that year, he participated in a patriotic demonstration of Poles and because of this, he was exiled to Siberia. When he returned to Poland after 11 years, he took up residence in Warsaw, and died there on September 14, 1887. His grave can be found in the Warsaw cemetery, and on his headstone there is Polish script, in which it explicitly states that he was the ‘son of Dr. Shlomo Ettinger of Zamość.’

We have nothing to add to the details provided by Dr. Weinreich concerning both daughters of Dr. Ettinger. To provide a better overview of our presented material up to now, we present Dr. Ettinger's family tree:

As mentioned above, there is found in the collected letters of Dr. Ettinger, which is presented by Dr. Weinreich in his Ettinger exposition, a German letter from October 25, 1954 [sic: 1854 – a transcription error], which was written by Dr. Ettinger to a friend of his in Warsaw, a certain Y. Korngold (Letter No 14 in the collection). It would appear that he also wrote letter No. 12 to this friend, which according to Dr. Weinreich's assessment, dates from 1848-1850. It is

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possible to extract this from the following three facts:

1. As we can see from letter No .14, Ettinger corresponded with Korngold in German, using thereby not – as is usual – the Hebrew, but specifically the Latin, or Gothic alphabet. Letter No. 12 is written exactly the same way.
2. In both letters, either No. 14 or No. 12, he immediately makes mention at the beginning that he must take leave of his friend, after they had barely made a personal acquaintance. This is evidence that the letters deal with the same person.
3. In letter No. 12, in which the addressee is not mentioned, we find the following statement:
   ‘Es freut mich zu haben, dass sie mit H. Tugenhold in guter Freundschaft leben.’^[ii] ‘ Seeing as Tugenhold – the well-known Enlightened writer, and director of the Warsaw Teachers’ Seminary – lived in Warsaw, we are left to conclude, that the ‘unknown addressee’ of Ettinger's No. 12 letter who enjoyed a ‘good friendship’ with Tugenhold, was from Warsaw.

On the basis of sources from Warsaw, we obtained further facts about Y. Korngold:

First his name, -- what was he called by name? In the address of the previously mentioned letter, the only thing that appears is the first letter of his name. We arrived at the fact that he is the same person as Yehoshua-Yekhezkiel Korngold ben Shabtai. And here is his pedigree:

In the first half of the nineteenth century we find two prominent Korngold families in Warsaw. Both come originally from Krakow, where their progenitor, R' Lieber lived. About R' Lieber, we know that he had the reputation of being a Gaon, and his children and grandchildren took great pride in this association. Lieber's two sons, Moshe Korngold and Yehoshua-Yekhezkiel Korngold, took up residence in Warsaw at the beginning of the 19^th century, and they lived a quiet and unremarkable life there. It was first their children, the grandchildren of R' Lieber, who began to play a role in the community life of Warsaw Jewry. Of special note are: R' Nahum Korngold, the son of Moshe Korngold, and R' Shabtai Yehuda-Leib Korngold, the son of Yehoshua-Yekhezkiel Korngold.

R' Nahum Korngold was a member of the Mitnagdim, and was very close to the Maskilim. He becomes prominent in open community life in the revolutionary year of 1831, when the community calls upon the ‘important family leaders’ to come to meetings, in order to take counsel with regard to important political questions, and R' Nahum Korngold is always invited. When a ‘Jewish National Guard’ is created in Warsaw that year, R' Nahum becomes a member of the guard. This is evidence that he conducted himself in the ‘Berlin’ style, since the national guard took only those Jews into its service who belonged to the graduate intelligentsia, or the wealthy banker or merchant classes, and who did not wear either a beard or side locks. R' Nahum died in 1848. The inscription on his grave stone offers the following praise: ‘The wondrous Rabbi, the magnate, the charitable man, a God-fearing man, a scion of Our Teacher, R' Nahum…’ One of his daughters married Rabbi David-Menachem ben Zvi Soloveitchik of Kobrin.

R' Shabtai Yehuda-Leib was even more important, called in the Acts by his first name, R' Shabtai. His community career also begins in the revolutionary year of 1831.We encounter him in the then responsible and unusually difficult position of a Warsaw ‘Dozor.’ After the failure of the revolution, he was removed from the position of ‘Dozor’ by the Russians, and 17 years went by, until he became prominent again in the oversight authority. During the epidemic of 1887, he distinguished himself by his action in providing aid to stricken Jews. A year later, he becomes a candidate for

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‘Dozor,’ with the full powers of a ‘Dozor.’ He takes part in the sessions of the community leadership, and especially participates in the ongoing issues of the charity section of the division that deals with the cemetery. He is the chairman of the charity section since 1848. He died in 1853. As indicated in the writeup on his headstone, he had rabbinical ordination, and was a considerable Torah scholar.

His two sons also committed themselves to the study of Torah: one named Benjamin, who later became the Rabbi of Grodno, and the second, named for his grandfather, Yehoshua-Yekhezkiel, who is the same person as Dr. Shlomo Ettinger's ‘Very worthy friend,’ Y. Korngold. Benjamin was a Mitnaged like his father, and by contrast, Yehoshua-Yekhezkiel moved himself a little further to the left, closer to the Maskilim. Evidence of this lies in the fact that he corresponded with Ettinger about matters which had great relevance to … critique of the Bible. We were unable to find the grave stone of the friend of Dr. Ettinger.

The author presents sixteen footnotes, and an eleven-page bibliography of primary references containing the works and correspondence of Dr. Shlomo Ettinger. The interested reader is referred to the original text for details.

Footnote:

2. I am made considerably easy of mind to know that you have good, friendly relationships. Return

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