The Denver Jewish news., 1920-03-31
Princes Who Have Sufficien,
Leisure
Continued from Page one.)

which the house can AFFORD for the
dinner table Only one little howell
formed an exception. Its chimney did
not smoke The Duke was anxious to
know the reason and called Mordkhe.
the owner, out asking in his blunt mill
tary manner why he did not celebrate
along with the rest of the Jews. Mord:
Iihe replied sadly: Your Highness.
have nothing to cook Never mind. said
the Duke you go to Schmidt's store
and buy me cloth for a hunting suit.
and let him pay you the commission.
This man was known as a bitter en-
emy of the Jews who had sworn that
no Jew should ever enter his premises.
MoIdkhe began TO stammcr something
to this effect, but the Duke would not
listen. You go. he said. SO Mordklic
went and the Duke followed. No soon
err had the poor Jew shut the door Of
the store behind himself. when it was
violently thrown open. and the jew
was kicked out, humping against the
DuhC WIN s"oie thN ahoSt '.''SN''''''
"Donnerwetters" upon the head of the
frightened merchant .'W'hy. this is
the way. my subjects are treated.
shall not allow such rudepess, even If
done to Jews who are as dear to my
fatheriy heart as the rest of my sub
jects. You pay this innocent man at
ONCE 10 thalers damages, and Kreuz-
ockschwerenoether. If such
thing happens again you'll go to
Jail" The merchant handed Mordkhc
the ten thalers, and the Duke said
with smile: now, Mordkhe. go home.
and lass oOuh roochen.''
The movement for better education
Cfthe Jewish youth which began with
Mendelssohn found in Dcssau and
among the family of his teacher, Rabbi
David Fraenkcl, sympathetic support.
In Dessau one of the first modern
schools was opened. named for Duke
Franz who was its patron, and the
principal of the school was another
David Fraenkcl. nephew of Mendels-
sOhn's teacher. This David Fraenkcl
was also the editor of the first Jewish
periodical published in the German
language. 1t was called Sulamith with
allusion to II Sam. 90 10. for it should
work for peaceful progress in Juda-
ism. The court encouraged this work
also. The duchess compIimentcd the
editor and sent him present
This work of "civilizing the Jews"
was one of the main concerns of the
small sovereigns in the Thuringian
states. Among them the duchies of
Saxe-Weimar and SaXe-AIeiningcn
stand foremost as types of autocratic
lut benevolent paternalism. Following
the example of Napoleon whom these
princelings liked TO initiate. they gave
Il constitution to their Jewish sub
3ects. regulating the election of trustees
and reserving to themselves the az
rointment of the '1.andrabbincr" who
was state official and whose salary,
tho collected from the Jewish congrc-
Sutlols, was pdht "! tne stHlc liFaN-
ury. His appointment was for life.
and it is sometimes comical to read
his commission. The commission even
10 Solomon uerXhcimcr in 1851 when
he was appointed Landrabbincr von
t-Bernburg. cnumeratcs with the
minutcst details. how he shall preach
conduct his school. keep book of his
pastoral visits. and in the end adj
monishes him to always conduct hilu-
self so that he shall never forget that
he must give account of his actions
TO the judge Of the universe to whom
all of us at one time must answer for
cur deeds.
One of the main concerns IF these
busy princes was to raise the Jews
to the standard of our civilization"
abrogation of abuses which have mar
red the beauty Of the pure Mosaic re-
ligion.' This is emphasized in the
commission of Joseph Hoffman who i'll
1880 was appointed LaudrabbinGr of
SaXc-Meiningcn. He WIS told to see
to il that German should by and by be-
come the language Of public service
and in general that the Jews should