Johanna Kohn / Hendl Kohn, 29. Adar 5644 (Mittwoch, 26. März 1884)
Anmerkungen
Öhler liest in der 1. Zeile יום ד ערב ניסן (“am 4., dem Abend von Nisan”), was natürlich kaum Sinn macht. Genauso falsch liest er demzufolge in der 2. Zeile das ביום ה als Datumsangabe und übersetzt “begraben … am 5…”.
Richtig ist vielmehr in der 1. Zeile: יום ד ערח ניסן, also “sie starb am Mittwoch, dem Vorabend von Rosch Chodesch Nisan” und (2. Zeile) “… begraben am Donnerstag …”
Hendl (Johanna) Kohn wird in der Inschrift (4. Zeile) als Witwe (אלמנה) bezeichnet, ihr Gatte war Abraham Kohn. Sie starb laut Inschrift (1. Zeile Anfang) in der Stadt Baden (bei Wien).
Biografische Notizen
Sterbematriken: Johanna (Hendl) Kohn, geb. in Mattersdorf, gest. 26. März 1884, mit 72 Jahren an Lungenentzündung, in Baden, Wassergasse 15
Ehemann: Abraham Katz, geh. 26. März 1833, gest. 21. Februar 1847 siehe den Kommentar von Carole Vogel
Personenregister jüdischer Friedhof Mattersburg
Bezueglich “Raaba” meint Prof. Spitzer, es koenne damit die Stadt Gyor = Raab gemeint sind, die ja tatsaechlich auch am Zusammenfluss der Raba und der Rabca gelegen ist. Er will sich aber vorher noch mit Rabbiner Kinstlicher darueber beraten, und ebenso ueber die Identifizierung von “Schapitin”. Wenn ich was Neues darueber hoere, schreibe ich es hier.
Sorry, soll heissen Szombathely.
ja, daran dachten wir auch schon, siehe meinen Kommentar von 11.16h ;)
Könnte shapitin vielleicht Söpte in Ungarn sein? Das liegt im Komitat Vas, im Kreis Syombathely.
I had already considered the Raabau in Styria but I did not think it was close enough to Mattersdorf to be the right place.
Try looking for a place named Raabau that is located between the big and the small Raab. I am not sure of the spelling of these places or the language as I jotted the information down during a phone conversation. To add to the confusion you are dealing with my American-English rendering of a Hungarian, Yiddish, Hebrew, or German name. Pinpointing Shapitin on a map was on my “to do list” as there were more exciting avenues of research that I wanted to pursue first. So we have delved into an area of my expertise that is more like quicksand than solid footing. Tax records may hold the answer as I have a cryptic note that says that initially the local people paid taxes to Shapitin and not to one of the seven major towns. And to add to the mix I also have the town of Farad as a possible synonym for Shapitin.
Yes, Raabau I know, it is located in today’s Austrian federal country Styria! (http://www.raabau.at/).
The differences in rendering the names of Hungarian, Jewish-German or German-Jewish (more often than Yiddish!) or German names I’ve tried to consider ;)
“Farad” I’ve never heard :( but I’m sure that we can solve the problem “Shapitin” soon ;)
Kohn Hendl is my great-great-great-grandmother Johanna (Hendl) Kohn née Müller (also Böhm) who was born circa 1812 in Prague and was orphaned at a young age when her father Meyer Wolf died. She came to Mattersdorf before 1820 with her mother Zelda, because Zelda’s father Jakob Pollak lived there.Johanna had four sisters who also came to Mattersdorf.
On 26 Mar 1833, Johanna married Abraham Kohn, the son of Moshe Mordechai Kohn of Mattersdorf. Their first child, born in July 1835, was a stillborn son. Other children followed: Meyer Wolf (1836-1910), Jakob (1839-1927), Isak Löb (1841-1841); Rosalia (1846-1898); and Sofie (1847-1937). Abraham died from typhus in 1847.
Johanna took over Abraham’s dry goods peddling route in Baden and eventually was given permission to open her a dry goods store in Baden.
A nearly complete translation of her gravestone follows:
Hendl Kohn
Her soul deported in the city of Baden on Wednesday the day before Rosh Kodesh Nissan. She was brought here to be buried with her fathers on Thursday 5644. Here lies the widow, modest and respectable. A woman of valor, Mrs. Hendl. May peace be upon her, the wife of the precious honorable Avraham Kohn Z’L. She was a businesswoman to bring sustenance to her children, young orphans after the death of her husband when she was in her youth. She gave from her bread to the poor. And to the destitute, she stretched out her hand. Her ways were ways of pleasantness and awe of God was her path. She guided her children to go in the path of the awe of God, . Her children will arise and praise her and in the gates they will also praise her actions, all that knew her. To the mount of God she went up to reap the fruit of her actions. Her soul will rest in the shadow in Eden with her ancestors until the time of the coming of the righteous messiah. The earth will cover her glory and beauty from before our eyes. The name of her mother is Zelda.
Great! Thank you very much for the information and the translation!
“Jacob Pollak sen.” was “Gemeindevorsteher”, ראש קהל from 1826-1829, most likely the above mentioned “Jakob Pollak”.
(Fürstl. Esterházysches Archiv Forchtenstein, Banntaidingbuch der Grafschaft Forchtenstein, Prot. Nr. 7545, zitiert in: Beiträge zur Geschichte der Mattersdorfer Judengemeinde im 18. und in der 1. Hälfte des 19. Jahrhunderts, v. Fritz Hodik, 1975)
In the early 1800s, there were three contemporaries who appear in the secular records with the name Jakob Pollak. I am not sure which of the three Jakob Pollaks was the Gemeindevorsteher of Mattersdorf from 1826-1829. The first two Jakob Pollak in the list below are related but their exact relationship is unclear. In the Hebrew and/or Yiddish records they appear as:
(1) Koppel Shapitin. Koppel lived from circa 1765 to 14 Sep 1836. His wife’s name was Mali, He had a son named Yisroel Pollak (born perhaps in 1790) who might have been the Israel Pollak who was the Gemeindevorsteher of Mattersdorf from 1823-1824.
(2) Yaakov Shapitin died before 1836. He was the son of Yisroel Shapitin who died before 1786. This Jakob Pollak’s wife was Rikila Kohn. This Jakob Pollak was also the father of Zelde Müller née Pollak, the mother of Hendl Kohn.
(3) Yaakov Eibenitz was born circa 1772 in Eibenitz and died in 1837 in Mattersdorf. He was also known as Yaakov Bocher. His wife was Fradel Rosenberger.
For those not familiar with the local geography, Shapitin was a village near Mattersdorf . Perhaps the first two Jakob Pollaks lived in Shapitin before they came to Mattersdorf.
Dear Carol,
you write: “Shapitin was a village near Mattersdorf ” and we think, that we are familiar with the local geography.
But we have no idea which village that could be…? Near Mattersdorf/Mattersburg (today) we find “Schattendorf” or in Hungary “Sopron”, but no village named “Schapitin” or similar.
Are you sure or why are you sure that SCHAPITIN is a village? And which village/town is this today?
In today’s Hungary near Szombathely is a town “Söpte” (you spell the S as German SCH), but this is not so near Mattersdorf …
Because when I read “Schapitin” and know that there is a hebrew source, I’d associate the aramaic word for judge שפטין, (the radix שפט) so his name was in German “Richter” …???
Maybe the problem is that the definition of “local” from my American perspective covers a much greater area than the concept of local from a European viewpoint? According to my notes, Shapitin was in the vicinity of Kaposvár and Mihaly. I didn’t make a note of my source on this but it is likely Wachstein in his Eisenstadt book.
hmmm, thx … could not find it in Wachstein (Eisenstadt) and not as a town/village in comitatus Somogy … but I’ll keep on searching!
Interessantes übrigens zum Namen “Hendl” etc. schreibt meine Kollegin aus St. Pölten, Martha Keil:
http://ojm.at/hendl
lt.Sterbebuch: Kohn Johanna, 72 Jahre
Die Matriken bestätigen Baden als Ort, in dem sie starb, und zwar an einer Lungenentzündung.
Das mit der Punktierung funktioniert hier offenbar nicht, also nochmals ohne:
הינדל קאהן ע״ה
Hallo Yoav, also ich habs halt schon bewusst so übernommen und zwar aus folgendem Grund:
Hier auf den heute burgenländischen jüdischen Friedhöfen finden wir sehr häufig den Namen HENDL so geschrieben: הענדל … , eben auch viel (!) öfter als wie hier הינדל , möglich, dass Öhler dies wusste, obwohl ich bei Öhler nicht wirklich weiß, was er wusste, wenn ich mir so manche Abschrift anseh ;)
So lange ich nicht sicher weiß, welche Quellen er zur Verfügung hatte und daher welchen möglichen Grund “HENDL” zu schreiben, übernehm ich es, wir sind aber dran, genau das zu klären …
Tut mir leid wg. der Vokalisierung, klappt einfach nicht bei WP, falls ich mal auf den Trick draufkommen sollt, tu ich ihn gleich kund ;)
Seine Handschrift find ich jedenfalls ganz süß – bei ihm ist jede Zeile gleich eine Überschrift.
;) seh ich ähnlich!
Dachte ja erst, dass er einen Assistenten hatte, der die Abschriften machte (so wie Wachstein beim alten jüdischen Friedhof in Eisenstadt). Aber 44 waren wohl kaum mehr mögliche Assistenten in Wien, und in Mattersburg jedenfalls ganz sicher nicht!
Außerdem scheint mir die Schrift schon eher jene eines älteren Mannes zu sein, meinst du nicht auch?
Öhler war damals etwa 66 und ganz offenbar fit, denn wie im Einleitungsbeitrag geschrieben, nach 45 wurde er wieder beauftragt mit dem Aufbau der jüdischen Schulen … umso verwunderlicher doch so manche Abschrift …?
Die Vokalisierung sollte ab sofort funktionieren, hab den “Übeltäter” gefunden, der es verhindert hat ;)
z.B.: אָ