SOULTZMATT
The community of Soultzmatt died in 1940 with the expulsion of the last Jews by the Germans. This community, which represented a tenth of the population of the town in 1850 (311 Jews) built at that time a synagogue to replace the one that was built in 1808. It was destroyed by the Germans between 1940 and 1945. Soultzmatt was seat of rabbinate until 1910.
In 1945 came back the following refugees or Jewish prisoners:
- Mr. Alfred Lévy, his son Roger and his daughter Julianne
- Mr. Gabriel Bloch hazan honorary of the community
- Mr & Mrs Dreyfus and their daughter Yvonne future wife Ginsburger (Hattstatt)
- Léon Weil and his sister Line (hospitalized in Pfastatt)
- Mr. Ginsburger says "American" and his sister
- Mr. & Mrs. André Meyer and their undersigned son.
LOOK AT THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF SOULTZMATT
CRADLE OF THE DREYFUS
by Denis INGOLD
with the kind permission of the Author
A Jewish family from 1612
Remains of the Soultzmatt synagogue - © Henri MeyerIn the Middle Ages, the city of Rouffach, capital of Haut-Mundat, which included the village of Sudtzmatt, housed a Jewish community between its walls at the end of the 13th century. It is from this period that dates the medieval synagogue of the city of which there remains important vestiges. After massacring their Jewish citizens twice (in 1309 and in 1338), the Rouffach burghers permanently closed their doors to the Jews in 1472 by obtaining from their lord, the bishop of Strasbourg, a privilege guaranteeing that in the future neither he nor his successors would allow any Jew to settle in the city. The only locality of the Bailiwick of Rouffach where the Jews will once again be allowed to reside before the Revolution, will be Soultzmatt, although the privilege of 1472 applied to all the localities of the Upper Mundat - "in Stätt, Dörfer oder im Lande" .
In 1608, Archduke Leopold of Austria (1586-1632) succeeded Cardinal Charles of Lorraine as Prince-Bishop of Strasbourg. In 1613, he enacted a "Judenordnung" (settlement concerning Jews) which granted modest but revocable rights to the fifty or so Jewish families domiciled in his lands. A "State of the Jews established above in the Bishopric of Strasbourg" (2), an undated but contemporary count of the aforementioned "Judenordnung", which begins with the three communes of the Upper Mundat where Jews were established from the beginning of the 17th century: Soultz, where lived "Toterus" (3), Soultzmatt, where resided a certain Moses (Mossen), and Wettolsheim, which already counted three Jewish families. The other Jews of the Bishopric lived in Lower Alsace and only two on the right bank of the Rhine.
The seigneurial accounts of the Upper Mundat (4) confirm the presence of a Jewish family in Soultzmatt as early as 1612: "Moses Drefus der Jud zue Sultzmatt für ein gantz Jahr 6 goltgulden thuen XII L". The head of the family was therefore called Moses Dreyfus and paid 6 birch florins to the bishop for the right of residence (Judensatzgeld), ie 12 pounds. The accounts of 1616 specify that each florin should have the value of 28 batzen and therefore that the 6 florins were 14 pounds, but this sum is reduced to £ 12 in the following accounts. The other Jews of the Upper Mundat paid between 8 florins (10 livres) and 15 florins (18 £ 15 sous) (5).
In 1616, a second Jewish family, whose chief was a member of the Levite caste, was domiciled in Soultzmatt: the Jew Levi paid 8 florins or 10 pounds of "Satzgeld" to the bishop. The accounts of 1620 mention in addition to "Moÿses Dreÿfuosz" and "Levi", the son of the said Moses, "obigen Moÿses Sohn", who paid 18 £ 15 s. In 1626, Moses was dead: his widow, Anna of the Moysze wittib, paid the 6 florins of gold that her husband had paid until then. Four other heads of families paid 18 £ 15 to the bishop, their protector: Meyer Levi, Lazarus, Abraham, and a "Samuel Drefuosz" who was to be the son of Moses above. A sixth Jew of Soultzmatt, "Schey" or Isaiah, paid 37 £ 10s for two years that year.
In 1631, on the eve of the Swedish invasion, the Jewish community of Soultzmatt had five family heads: Meyer Levi, Lazarus, Abraham, "Abraham Drefuosz" who paid 6 gold florins, and Schey.
Origin of the Soultzmatt Dreyfus: Troyes via Switzerland?
These names are found in the toll accounts of Bergheim and Cernay, analyzed by Dr. Moses Ginsburger (6). On 31 January 1623, for example, Mayer, Samuell and Moyses de Soultzmatt, on horseback all three, paid 30 kreutzer tolls at Cernay, while 20 January of the previous year, "Marion", beggar of the the same place ("ein Bettelter Juedt ... von Sultzmatt") had paid the same sum for himself, on foot, and the five children who accompanied him.
The Issenheim toll accounts for 1629 mention a David, a poor Jew of Soultzmatt, who was not on the list of Jews admitted to residence. The same was true of Isaac, Jacob, Josep, Leyes (Elijah) and Salman, five beggars whose names Dr. Ginsburger noted in the toll accounts of Bergheim between 1628 and 1632. In one case, the toll accounts specify the kind of goods declared at the toll: 3 quintals of cheese, transported by "Schieh" (Schey, Isaiah) of Soultzmatt (7).
In his study The Names of Israelites in France, Paul Lévy proposes three etymologies for the name "Dreyfus". According to him, the family comes from either Trier in Germany (Trevs in Hebrew), Troyes in Aube (Trivouch in Hebrew), or Trévoux in Ain (Trevôt in Hebrew) (8). Proponents of the second etymology attached the Dreyfus to the descendants of the famous Talmudist Rashi of Troyes by the dynasty of Treves who provided great rabbis to France and other countries (9). According to the Encyclopaedia Judaica, Mattathias Treves was appointed Rabbi of Paris by the King of France in 1363 and his son Johanan ben Rabbi Matityahu (1) succeeded him in 1385.
After the expulsion of the Jews from France (1394), we find the name in Alsace: in 1418, Rabbi Joseph Treves lived in Selestat, where his son Samuel succeeded him as rabbi and in 1470, Lazarus Treves de Selestat was received "bourgeois of the room "by the Duke of Lorraine, at the same time as" Master Simon de Trieves "of Dambach. In this last locality, which belonged to the bishop of Strasbourg like Soultzmatt, one notes the presence of a Michel Dreyfus and a Mathis Schweitzer between 1621 and 1631 (11). These two Jews were perhaps of the same family and related to Moses Dreyfus of Soulzmatt. Dreyfus Schweitzer or Dreyfus from Switzerland are found elsewhere: in 1624 a Koppel Schweitzer bought a house in Bergholtz, where, after the Thirty Years' War, Koppel Dreyfus de Guebwiller (12) still had a house in ruins, and an inscription of 1703 at Rastatt, on the other side of the Rhine, mentions a Mathias Schweizer of the family (mishpa'ha) Dreyfus (13).
It is therefore likely that the Dreyfus, descendants of the Treves from Troyes or Trier, lived for some time in Switzerland, before returning to Alsace in the 17th century. Endingen, which was part of the "Media Schwitz", is also the birthplace of a Dreifuss family, headed by Federal Councilor Ruth Dreifuss, who presided over Switzerland in 1999. Her oldest known ancestor was Götsch "Trifus". .
At the end of the 17th century, the surname Dreyfus was also sometimes written "Trifus" in Alsace, which reflected the pronunciation. In Hebrew, the name was written "Drivouch" (register of the cemetery of Hégenheim, 1702) or "Trivs" (stele of Abraham Dreyfus, great-grandfather of Captain Dreyfus, Rixheim, 1810), non-vocalized spelling.
Ten families in 1688, fifteen in 1700
In the aftermath of the Thirty Years' War, in 1653, a new family name appeared at Soultzmatt: Samuel Bernheimb, presumably from Burgbernheim or Mainbemheim in Franconia, lived in the village with Lazarus and his son Isaac, and David came down from Moses Dreyfus. Two years before, several Jews were still refugees in Rouffach: Marx Hindelfinger, who paid the rights of protection for 6 months, Lazarus "Bockh" (= Bloch?), And the widow and son-in-law of a Lehman. The accounts of 1651 also mention Samuel Bernhaimb, without specifying his home and a Lazarus and a Samuel and a David of Soultzmatt, without indication of surname. A Samuel was already a refugee in Rouffach in 1648, according to Bartenheim's toll accounts (14) and in 1655, Samuel de Soultzmatt was accused of having bought objects stolen from a nobleman in Schaffhausen four years earlier (15). In 1662, only Samuel Bernheim, David (Dreyfus) and his son-in-law Moyse still lived in Soultzmatt. David paid 12, books to the bishop, the other two, 21 p. In 1670, Bernheim was still living in Soultzmatt with his son-in-law Moses, but David Dreyfus had died in the meantime.
Four new heads of household paid the protection fees: Meyerlin, Moses, Scholum (Solomon) and Nathan, all Dreyfus, except the last. On May 7, 1688, the following heads of families came to Rouffach to prove their residency (16):
Samuel Bernheimb, whose letters patent ("patent") of protection were dated April 28, 1665.
his son-in-law Moses "the little one", idem.
Nathan "Kiffnig", who was a Levite, ditto.
Moÿses Dreÿfuesz, idem.
Meÿerlin Dreÿfuesz, idem.
Scholum Dreÿfuesz, who had lived in Soultzmatt for about 23 years and had inherited letters patent from his father (David) at the same time as the house.
Lepp Bernheimb, "son of old Samuel", who had paid his "entrance" and the protection rights of that year, but still had no protection letters ("Schirmpatent").
Moises Levi, son of Nathan, idem.
Moises Drefuzz, son of Meyerlin, who had married in 1687 and had paid his "entrance".
Meyer Dreÿfuesz, son of Moises, who had just married and wanted to live with his father by offering to pay the rights of reception and protection like the others.
The Jewish community of Soultzmatt thus counted ten families including five Dreyfus families.
Twelve years later, she had fifteen families, including seven Dreyfus families.
Moyses Dreyfues "the old".
Moyse Dreyfues the young
Meyerlin Dreyfues
Scholem Dreyfues
Wolff Dreyfues
Salomon Dreyfues
Habraham Dreyfues (great-great-grandfather of Captain Alfred Dreyfus).
Leman Block (Bloch)
Lazarus Block
Natan Lévy
Moyses Lévy
Leb Bernheimb (died October 3, 1726)
Ellias Lévy
Salomon Bernheimb.
Hirtz Hechinger (17)
About fifteen circumcisions in 20 years
The circumcision register (Mohelbuch) of the itinerant Rabbi Simon Blum (18) mentions fourteen male children of Soultzmatt circumcised between 1668 and 1690. In none of the other communities mentioned, the Circumcision Rabbi practiced so many circumcisions during the same period. Unfortunately, it does not indicate family names in acts of circumcision (which are the equivalent of baptisms of Christians). Only members of the Levy family are entitled to the mention "Segal" which indicates that they are part of the tribe of Levites or priests of Israel.
Thus, on June 28, 1672, Eli, son of "Nathan Segal" (Levy), was circumcised on the knees of Koppel (Dreyfus de Guebwiller), grandfather of the wife of the mohel (circumciser). On July 9, 1677, Meir, another son of Nathan, was circumcised on the knees of Moses (Dreyfus?), Brother-in-law of the father. Nathan Lévy had another brother-in-law, Meïr (Dreyfus?), Who was the godfather (sandak) of his son Jacob, circumcised on May 26, 1680. Finally, on January 19, 1687, Nathan
Levy served as godfather to his grandson David, son of "Moses Segal" aka Levy. According to Jacob's act of circumcision, Nathan, the father, was the "mehutan" of Rabbi Blum, that is to say, he was the father-in-law of one of his children.
Although their name is not indicated, the Bernheims are easily identifiable in the Mohelbuch. On December 7, 1685, Leib (Bernheim) had a son named Schimschon (Samson) circumcised on the knees of his father Samuel, the first of the name; on December 7th, 1686, another son, named Meir, on the knees of Wolf (Wexler, agent of the Jews of the Upper Mundat and Murbach); finally, on January 18, 1689, a third, named Moses, on the knees of his brother-in-law Moses. The latter was to be Moses "the little", quoted as son-in-law of Samuel Bernheim in 1670 and 1688. It is probably him who had a son named Eliezer dit Lasé circumcised on November 1, 1668, on the knees of Lasé de Mutzig (his place of origin ?). It was to bear the surname Bloch, since in 1700 there are two "Block", including Lazarus, on the list of Jewish taxpayers of Soultmatt. The surname "Bloch" came from the Polish Wloch, Slavic form of the German surname "Walch" which designated the French Jews (19).
Samuel Bernheim had another son-in-law whose name does not appear on Soultzmatt's list of Jews: Eli, who had his son Menachm said Moling, on January 15, 1673, on the knees of his father-in-law "Schmuel ". In the act of circumcision of his other son, Schimschon (December 17, 1675), Eli is cited as the brother of another Samuel, perhaps the one Rabbi Blum unites to Sara in 1676 (20).
The other acts visibly relate to the Dreyfus family, the first Jewish family in the town. On June 3, 1674, Simon Blum circumcised Abraham said Aberlin, son of Moshe (Moses Dreyfus) on the knees of Eli Jungholtz. The child was 9 or 10 days old and not 8 days old, as the tradition required, as the ceremony took place in Rouffach, where the parents were refugees because of Holland's "war troubles". We will see that Abraham was the direct ancestor of Captain Alfred Dreyfus. As early as August 29, 1671, Moses Dreyfus had a son named Samson circumcised on the lap of his brother-in-law Jechiel of Steinbrunn. In 1708, this Samson Dreyfus paid 27 pounds to the Lord of Soultzmatt for his "entry" and 13 £ 10s. for 6 months of protection (21). On June 20, 1683, Meir (Meyer or Meyerlin Dreyfus) circumcised a son named Mathityahou. The seigneurial accounts mention this Mathias or Matz Dreyfus from 1707, date of his marriage and his "entry" into the community. Finally, on March 11, 1689, "Mosche ben Meir" had a son named David on the knees of his father, Meyerlin Dreyfus, circumcised.
The register of circumcision of Simon Blum was continued in the 18th century by his son Hirtz Blum, communal rabbi of Uffholtz. There are no more circumcision acts concerning Soultzmatt, the Jewish community of the borough probably having its own mohel, but a certain number of acts of marriages which are recorded in the Mohelbuch prove that the Jews of Soultzmatt circumcised by the Rabbi Simon Blum or their descendants, continued to appeal to the Blum family for special occasions, Soultzmatt being deprived of communal rabbi despite the importance of his Jewish community.
Among the Soultzmattois weddings celebrated by the Rabbi of Uffholtz are those of:
- David (Bernheim), son of Jehuda Leib, and Gitel Bloch, daughter of Lasi or Lazarus (Bloch), both of Soultzmatt (July 14, 1723).
- Meir, son of Abraham (Dreyfus), and Reis (Bloch) of Rixheim, daughter of Mendel, great-great-grandfather of Captain Dreyfus (July 14, 1723).
- Schalom (Solomon), son of Schimson (Samson Dreyfus), and Blimel, daughter of Menachem Segal or Levy (December 24, 1738).
The rabbi of Uffholtz was also called on other occasions: when David Dreyfus, son of Mathias de Soultzmatt, recognized that his wife owed 100 pounds in 1740, he had the act written by Rabbi Hirtz of Uffholtz. (22).
A Dreyfus, priest of Soultzmatt around 1730
On November 16, 1692, Murbach was baptized "a Jew and his wife". The neophyte Amarin was called in honor of the dean of the Murbach chapter (23). This converted Jew settled in Gueberschwihr (village of the bailiwick of Rouffach) where his son Jean-Michel, son of "Marin Guillaume Dreyfues" and Marie Elisabeth Hildebrand (24) were born. Jean-Michel Dreyfus or "Trifus" as he preferred to be called, was ordained a priest in 1726 and administered the parish of Rorschwihr, before becoming a chaplain at Soultzmatt in 1731. He died on August 19, 1762, at the age of 67 and was buried in the choir of the Saint-Michel chapel of the Soultzmatt cemetery. In the inventory of his estate (25) his name is written "Triffus" or "Trifus" phonetic graph that we also noted in a document of the Episcopal Regency of Saverne, which quotes "Moyses Trifus" and his fellow citizen "Lövel "(Bérnheim) among the recalcitrant subjects who had not gone to the general assembly of the Jews of the bishopric of Strasbourg, meeting at Dambach in 1694 (26).
Jean-Michel Dreyfus-Trifus had three brothers: Bartholomew, locksmith in Bruyere in Lorraine (who signs "Drifues"), Marin "Triffus", winemaker, and Charles "Treiffus", tailor, the last two domiciled in Soultzmatt in 1762. He It is probable that Marin Guillaume Dreyfus, their father, was a Jew of Soultzmatt before his conversion, since his wife bore the same name as the clerk of the Soultzmatt valley in 1673.
A tolerated minority but unloved
The presence of a religious minority in this country's peasant population, which traded horses and cattle and practiced mortgages so fatal to their ancestors, was not without its problems. It must be said that the clergy of the time did not sin through an excess of tolerance and Christian charity vis-à-vis these children of Abraham. In 1653, the priest of Rouffach complained to the city council that the Jews came to offer his parishioners "all kinds of goods" at the end of the mass. This complaint was reiterated in 1690 and brought before the Sovereign Council of Alsace, which forbids Jewish merchants on pain of a fine of 100 pounds, to go to towns and villages, on Sundays and holidays, to indulge in it. to trade (27). Jews were accused of "diverting the parishioners from divine service by the traffic they make with the inhabitants, and even with great scandal, as they did at Rouffach on Corpus Christi, and in several other places, the days of solemn feasts, taking pleasure in despising all the holy ceremonies of the Church, not wishing to recognize any feast that their Sabbath ... "(28).
In fact scandal caused by the Jews in Rouffach, that year, the judicial register of the city alludes to two commonplace incidents: the son of Meyerlin (Dreyfus) and Samuel (Bernheim) of Soultzmatt were sentenced to provide a pound of wax at the church for walking through the city with a butcher's knife (Schechmesser), the first on the day of the Nativity of Our Lady, the second at Corpus Christi, seeking to slaughter cattle or chickens according to the Jewish rite (September 12 and November 29, 1690) (29). As early as 1620, a Jew from Wettolsheirn had been sentenced to a fine of 20 guilders for slaughtering an ox and cutting it into pieces on a Sunday, "despite the defenses of the priest and the cries of the people, which had caused rumor and scandal "(30).
In 1692, the Jewish community of Soultzmatt submitted a petition to the bailiff of Rouffach to complain about the priest of the place "who wants to prevent them from holding a synagogue and forbids Christian midwives to minister to Jews in childbirth". The bailiff sent the complaint to the Regency of Saverne, telling him that he had spoken to the priest and "represented to him that the Jews were under the protection of the bishopric and therefore allowed to live according to their laws". These "representations" (remonstrances) had neither touched nor converted the priest's spirit ", so that the Regency was obliged to intervene by sending a letter to the priest to" urge him to reduce his zeal, which is too unlimited and "order him to leave the Jews alone".
In 1714, bailiff Scheppelin de Rouffach banned Christian Soultzmatt under penalty of 10 ECU fine to light the fire and candles in the homes of the Jews of the town during their Sabbath, where all work is prohibited. The Regency intervened on behalf of the Jews there too (31). In 1716, Hirtz Reinau, Rabbi of Soultz, petitioned the Regency of Saverne on behalf of the Jews of the Upper Mundat to complain of insults and violence suffered daily by them (32).
On August 1, 1718, a Jew from the Black Forest, accused of stealing 500 florins from a house, was hanged in Gueberschwihr, a village in the bailiwick of Rouffach. The canon of Murbach who reports the event in his diary (33), was impressed by the courage of this unfortunate, who "marched to the torture as if a wedding awaited him at the end of this funeral journey, all dressed in white, escorted of rabbis and chanting I do not know what text of the Talmud ". The chronicle of the Dominicans of Guebwiller specifies that "this hardened Jew" refused the presence of Catholic priests and that the priests of Rouffach and Gueberschwihr tried in vain to convert him, the last named being called "suborneur of people". A rabbi or schoolmaster attended the convict, who died after repeating "Adonay, oh Adonay ...".
More than 200 souls in 1784
Between 1700 and 1750, the Jewish community of Soultzmatt hardly developed, since the number of families under the protection of the bishopric only goes from fifteen to sixteen (but in 1715, there were 18 heads of families in the seigneurial accounts) . The commune had obviously obtained that the number of Jews admitted to residence was limited. The seigneurial accounts of 1707 contain the following annotation: "And to unload the said place of Soultzmatt, the accountant will oblige four families (Jews of the place) to go and settle in Rouffach". In 1717, Samson Bernheim is called "de Rouffach" in a count of the notary of the city. But Rouffach contested to the bishop the right to establish and dismiss the Jews wherever he wished: the city relied on the privileges of the former bishops and emperors "to be unable to be forced to receive Jews" (34) and the bishop finally gave up his pretensions, tired of war (1703-1727).
When we look closely at the list of Jewish heads of the Soultzmatt family in the seigneurial accounts of 1750, we see that not only has their number not increased significantly since the beginning of the century, but that family names are the most important. even with two exceptions (35), proof that the bishop had refrained from receiving foreign Jews. Of the sixteen heads of families counted, six were Bernheims, five of the Dreyfus, two of the Lévy, and only one Bloch family remained.
On the other hand, between 1750 and 1789, the number of Jews living in Soultzmatt more than doubled, from 16 families in 1750 to 18 in 1760, 25 in 1770 (36) 36 in 1780 (37), and 41 in 1784 ( 38). The seigneurial accounts, which provided us with the first three digits, only very imperfectly reflect this increase since those of 1785 mention only 24 heads of family, a little more than half of the heads of households enumerated in 1784, during the enumeration. general of the Jews of Alsace. Similarly, in 1779, seigneurial accounts cite 17 heads of household, while the state of Soultzmatt heads of household who had the right of burial at the cemetery of Jungholtz includes 29 names (39) and the state of 1780 speaks of 36 families and 159 individuals (40). This last figure agrees with the figure provided by another document, the following year: in 1781, the population of Soultzmatt included 1,744 Christians and 160 Jews (41) who represented about 9% of the population. If the figures provided by the seigniorial accounts and the other documents that we have just quoted are lower than those provided by the General Enumeration of 1784, it is because they did not take into account a certain number of poor families, or even insolvent, who did not pay the rights of protection or resided more or less illegally in the community.
Of the 41 families in the General Enumeration of 1784, there were six Bernheim families, eight Levy families, eleven Dreyfus families, five Bloch families, two Kahn families, and two Weil families. Apart from the Alexander family, already attested in 1750, the others were new families and bore the following surnames: Wahl, Wormser, Schwob, Löw and Hirsch, the latter two being described as "poor".
In 1780, the forty or so Jewish families of Soultzmatt owned 25 houses in the village (42). The Jewish marriage contracts awarded to Soultzmatt (43) allude to the houses owned by the parents of the new spouses, houses which they often promised half to their son in the contract. Thus, in 1738, Elie Levy, son of Nathan, brought half of a house in marriage to his son Nathan. In 1763, Alexandre Marx also brought his son Marx Alexandre, half a house and committed to house the couple all his life. Abraham, son of Judah Katz, is only entitled to a quarter of a house, the other three quarters belonging to his brothers (1787). In contrast, Samuel Bernheim, son of Samson, brings an entire house and 1000 pounds to his son Leib in 1766, and 1000 crowns and two houses to his other son Solomon in 1773, promising to put in state, the largest. In 1769, Nathan Levy, son of Elijah, brought his son Elie "a garden to build a house and a stable", pledging to house the couple for four years and feed for a year. To his other son Joseph, Nathan brings, in 1774, "a piece of land in his court on condition that his son builds in six years at most". In 1776, the scholar Benjamin "Wolff" brings to his son Moïse Weil a house with a third of garden and "288 pounds for his son to acquire the right to live in Soultzmatt".
A well organized community
The village of Soultzmatt; in red, the location of the synagogue
The marriage contract of David Dreyfus the young son of Schalom, son of Samson, alludes to the synagogue of the town in 1773: the father of the new husband brought to his son 3600 books, a house and "two places in the synagogue" one for him and one for his wife.
In 1784, Lehmann Schwob, aka Leïma ben Sender (44), was a cantor or hazan at the Soultzmatt synagogue. His predecessor was the "haver" Moses Lemle, cantor, who had a son Abraham circumcised on September 1, 1774, by the "mohel" of Hattstatt, on the knees of the attendant Schalom (Salomon Dreyfus). The term "haver" that preceded his name was an honorific title attributed to a scholar versed in the Torah: Wolf Weill, son of "Rabbi Moses", was also entitled to this title (45).
There was no communal rabbi at Soultzmatt before the Revolution: the seigneurial rabbi of Haut-Mundat, Baer Lehmann de Soultz, was called upon. The latter drafted the marriage contract of Marx Alexander in 1763, probably after having united the couple, and on October 12, 1769, he furnished the authorities of the Upper Mundat with a marriage certificate attesting that Lehmann Bloch of Soultzmatt had married on December 19, 1765, Lob Berheim, February 2, 1766, and Elias Levy, October 9, 1769 (46).
The synagogal worship was presided over by an officiating minister, a function that could be assumed by a simple faithful with the required skills or by a professional cantor. In 1771, a certain Yehochoua Leib, son of Jonah, was cited as minister-officiant in the marriage contract of Reichel Weil of Soultzmatt and Aron Spira of Jungholtz (47). He was also "scribe of the holy books" according to the same source, "sofer" in Hebrew, responsible for copying the sacred texts. On April 26, 1775, Lazare Hess, "mohel" of Hattstatt (48) circumcised Jonah, son of this "Leib Sofer", who was from Anspach in Germany.
The Enumeration of 1784 mentions at the end of the list a single schoolmaster named Abraham Lévy. The seigneurial accounts of 1750 and 1751 already allude to a schoolmaster (a term sometimes synonymous with rabbi). The authorities of the Upper Mundat required "a certificate attesting that the schoolmaster has no separate household".
At the head of the Jewish community (kehila) of the village, there were one or two attendants. The state of the heads of the family of Soultzmatt who had right of burial with Jungholtz in 1779, mentions two attendants: Samuel Bernheim and Meyer Levy (49). The feudal accounts cite Nathan Lévy as "provost" of the Jews in 1764 and 1766. His predecessor was Emanuel Lévy, who died in 1754 (50). His successor was Schalom Dreyfus, who died in 1778: he is mentioned as "parnas" (president of the Hebrew community) in the marriage contract of Rachel Weil in 1771 and in the acts of circumcision of 1774 and 1775 (51). In 1806, the prefect of Haut-Rhin proposed the son of Schalom, Leib Dreyfus, "capitalist owner" (52) Soultzmatt, to be part of the assembly of notables responsible for preparing the meeting of the Great Sanhedrin ordered by Napoleon in view to organize the Israelite worship in
France (53). This is probably the same Lieb Dreyfus who was part of (as president of his community?) The Jungholtz Regional Cemetery Board of Directors until his death in 1809 (54).
The Jews of Soultzmatt buried their dead at the Jungholtz cemetery and did not create their own communal cemetery like other Jewish communities during and after the Revolution.
I. J. AT
