Town: Schnaittach, Bavaria

Jewish Communal Register from late 18th to early 19th century
(translated in 1994)


The document was apparently written by people who did not have a firm
command of Hebrew. They made grammatical mistakes (marked with an
exclamation point in the text) as well as inserted German words in
places. The footnotes have been valuable in helping understand the
text. I insert footnote comments into the text in parentheses.

Where I couldn't decipher something, I listed it as ???. Here's the
translation of the section you marked. I'll update you if I ever learn
more about the untranslated acronyms.

- eldad

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Table of Contents

Foreword xi
Symbols and Abbreviations xiii

Story of the Community of Schnaittach

Chapter 1: The vicinity of Schnaittach - general background 3
Chapter 2: The story of the community - 6
History of the community 6
Relations with the environs 11
Chapter 3: The state of ??? 15
Chapter 4: Rabbis of the community 23
List of Rabbis of Schnaittach 23
The Rabbi and his status 24
The Rabbis 29
Spiritual Leaders 41
Chapter 5: Representatives of the community 44
Operations of Elections 44
The Elections 44
The Representatives 45
Presidents of the Community 48
Leaders of the Community 49
Meetings of the Community Council 49
Dues Collectors 51
Secretaries of Land 54
Secretaries of Charity 55
Secretaries for the Land of Israel 56
Chapter 6: Communal Institutions 56
Synagogue 59
Teachers [in Heder -trans.] 60
Yeshiva 61
Cemetery 62
Chapter 7: Taxes 64
Chapter 8: Economic Situation 70
Chapter 9: Social Structure of the Community 76
Afterword 80
pictures

Communal Register of Schnaittach

Introduction 91
Scope of the register 91
Order of the records 92
Fragmentary records 94
Language 94
Period covered by the records 96
Text of the Register 97

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[96 page 1] With the Lord's help, Schnaittach, from the luminous Sabbath to
the first day of Hol HaMo'ed Sukkot 5571 (fn. 166, October 15, 1810).

(new paragraph) True delight to record and seal the appointment of the
heads of the "thousands" of Israel in our community, may it live and be
well, by the opinion of the majority, the selection of Rabbi and
President of the Rabbinical court, may the Lord preserve him, and with
him 6 colleagues elected from the community, may it live and be well, as
accustomed by lot.

And here are the men that were selected each for his assignment and his
term, from now until the next term.

Is he not scholarly, the honored rabbi, Leib, son of the holy and
honored rabbi Simeon of blessed memory ??? buried here(!)(fn. 167
clarifies Hebrew grammar), as President and sole leader.

Is he not precious, the honorable Mordecai son of Abraham Kohen (fn.
168 his only appointment in the community), and, is he not precious, the
honorable, Joseph son of Zusman Kohen (fn. 169 his first appointment in
the community), before a large crowd.

Is he not the honored rabbi, Rabbi Zusman, son of Mr. Floss (fn. 170
his only appointment in the community), and, is he not the honored
rabbi, Isaac son of the renowned scholar, Rabbi Laemel Baer Kohen (fn.
171 his only communal appointment, listed as dues collector in 1810)
collectors for our community and the state.

(new paragraph) President and leader (of the community), Rabbi Leib (fn.
172 clarifies abbrev.) with 4 other leaders (fn. 173 clarifies
abbrev.) of the community previously mentioned went to Landgericht (fn.
174 notes that this is the district court) in Plecht-Varden as appointed.

And the President and leader (of the community) and the leaders mentioned
above used their strength and energy to follow their assigned duties, as
always, as is written (!) in the by-laws of the community, may it live and
be well.

And now they are diligently occupied in duties of the communal trustees,
and their salary is from the one who created them with great blessing
for all their many deeds, and all members of our community sat in
security, calmness, peace and joy.

(new paragraph) the same evening.

(new paragraph) The holy Meir son of President Huna, mouth of our community
and the state, and the holy community of Salzbuch may the Lord found it
well.




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Assessment records of Schnaittach, Germany. These included raw
valuation of cash, property, goods, 3 months of firewood and jewelry.
(p107).

Lists showing dates of assessment and valuation:

May 15, 1769 The rabbi Mr. Laemel Baer Katz (his name appears in the
list but no amount is given) (p 109)

Dec 31, 1775 ditto 650 gold pieces (p 118)
Apr 4, 1782 ditto 650 gold pieces (p 121)
Apr 7, 1790 ditto 600 gold pieces (p 126)
Apr 20, 1794 ditto 750 gold pieces (p 295)
Apr 3, 1796 ditto 450 gold pieces (p 300)
Oct 27, 1801 ditto 1000 gold pieces (p 303)
Oct 26, 1804 ditto 1000 gold pieces (p 307)

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Summary of text on pp 112 - 114
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A community meeting was held on Sunday, Nov 1, 1772 regarding
reorganizing the community leadership to have 11 officials:
4 administrative chiefs
2 tax collectors
3 land tax collectors
This was a hotly contested issue among the community. Among the leaders
encouraging this change was Laemel Baer (note 136). This proposal was
not carried.


Translation of footnote 136:
---------------------------

Very likely this refers to Laemel Baer Katz, who is listed as one of the
exceptional leaders of the community. He is mentioned in property
assessment records in 1769 (p 109) to 1807 (p 310). In 1804 he signed an
invoice in the assessment records. Oddly he is never listed in the
records as serving in an official capacity. The last mention of him was
in 1823 in connection with selling seats in the synagogue.

All content on these pages is the original work of EM Ganin.

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