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Jewish Community News

May 2004

This Month in Jewish History: May

by Alexis Rubin

May: Famous rabbi attacked in France;
Frederick William of Prussia grants protection;
Adolphus Solomons founds Red Cross with Clara Barton

Rameru, France, May 8, 1147

Marking a turning point in Christian-Jewish relations, the Crusades ushered in a millennium in which anti-Jewish prejudice and discrimination frequently spilled over into persecution and violence. No Jewish community along the Crusaders’ line of march was safe. No Jew, not even Rabbi Jacob ben Meir, considered the greatest rabbinical scholar of his time, was immune from attack. Known as Rabbenu Tam (“Our master, the perfect one”), ben Meir used his mastery of Talmudic knowledge to guide Ashkenazi Jewry’s communal and spiritual development.

On May 8, 1147, a group of Frenchmen setting out on the Second Crusade chanced upon Rabbenu Tam. The brigands cornered the rabbi and stabbed him multiple times, reportedly shouting “… we are going to wound you just as you Jews inflicted five wounds on [Jesus].”

Descriptions of what followed differ in some details. According to one account, a brave knight of Tam’s acquaintance heroically drove off the attackers. Another version claimed that an important Christian official witnessed the stabbings and came to Tam’s rescue after the rabbi bribed him with a horse worth five gold pieces. Undeterred by the attack, Rabbenu Tam continued pursuing religious scholarship and issuing decisions based on Halakah (Jewish law). His rulings not only developed orderly means of settling communal disputes, but also emphasized Jewish unity in the face of external threats.

Potsdam, Brandenburg (Prussia), May 21, 1671

Desiring to take advantage of Jewish business acumen and the resulting revenue it could bring, Frederick William, the “Great Elector” of Prussia, chose to readmit Jews into his realm. He gave fifty selected Jewish families who had been part of a recent expulsion from Vienna permission to settle in Brandenburg. These families moved to Berlin and other cities where, for more than one hundred years, Jews had been forbidden to reside. His agenda, however, was more complex than filling his treasury. He intended to use the Jews as pawns in his struggle to destroy the outmoded trade guild system and to gain economic control over the independent-minded burghers.

On May 21, 1671, Frederick William issued a Patent and Letter of Protection to the specially-chosen families that regulated their behavior, how they did business, and the manner in which they conducted their religious services. It encouraged them to “have public shops and booths, to sell and to retail cloth,… new and old clothes… [and] wool and groceries.” Knowing that Christian businessmen would resent Jewish competition, he ordered his subjects “to treat them fairly… [not] to affront them or molest them…” For the next 262 years, Prussia’s Jewish community helped Germany become one of the world’s most progressive nations. The rise of Hitler brought this mutually beneficial situation to an end.

Adolphus Solomons founds Red Cross with Clara Barton

Born in New York City in 1826, Adolphus Simeon Solomons relocated to Washington, D.C., in 1859, where he pursued a variety of careers. He printed government materials, ran a bookstore, managed a photograph gallery, and, in 1871, was elected to the District’s House of Delegates. His true calling, however, was working to improve the lives of others. He served for two decades as director of the Columbia Hospital and sat on the executive boards of a number of health institutions. As a devout Jew dedicated to the welfare and survival of the Jewish people, he helped found New York City’s Jews’ Hospital, now known as Mt. Sinai Hospital. His interests included supporting rabbinical and Jewish teacher training at the Jewish Theological Seminary, where he briefly served as acting president.

On May 21, 1881, Solomons made perhaps his greatest contribution to the welfare of Americans as a whole, although few people associate his name with the organization he helped create. On that day, he and Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross. Solomons served as Barton’s second-in-command for 12 years and represented the American branch at International Red Cross conventions in Geneva. In 1887, he was elected the convention’s vice- president. Today, Solomons’ activity remains largely unknown, but Barton recognized his valuable work when she referred to him as “my good vice-president and kind counselor.”

Alexis Rubin is a Jewish history teacher, writer, researcher and syndicated columnist. Her articles, essays and book reviews have appeared in historical journals, Jewish women's magazines and community newspapers in the U.S. and in Canada.

This Month in Jewish History