Rispa Hendlin Oppenheimer (Hendlin Oppenheimer) - From Nancy High: Possible Help from Rabbi Jair

We were talking about Vogelin and Hendlin, daughters of Daniel Jechiel Oppenheim, and “their” husband, Moses Oppenheim. Hendlin is the second grave in Volume II of Wachstein Wien. On page two of that work, Wachstein lists some factoids provided by other researchers and analyzes them for accuracy. The issue is: Who was the important Moses Oppenheim who lived in Heidelberg in 1691? Most of the residents of Heidelberg were Oppenheims, and by that time there were Pfalz branches and sub-branches (like the Kaub branch) as well as several people whose families had already settled in Wien or Worms or even Oettingen, but who lived in Heidelberg part of the time. One thing we know with certainty about Moses and Hendlin is that her entry on page 21 of the Worms Memorbuch “Ritspah Hendlin bt hPvM hr'r Jechiel Oppenheim (nptrt Wien Adar I TN"V - 1696)” is followed by that of her daughter: “Sarle bt hakatzin PvM hr'r Moshe Oppenheim (nptrt bk'k Pressburg TN"Ch)”. That, as well as other clues, leaves no room for doubt that the Moses Oppenheim in question is the one who was son of Simon Wolf and brother of Samuel Oppenheim of Wien. He was a parnas of the Pfalz and of the congregation of Fuerth, and died in Heidelberg on 11 Av 1701 and was buried in Worms.

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But in looking at the rest of Wachstein’s evaluations, we see him struggling with something from Kaufmann’s biography of Rabbi Jair Chaim Bacharach, whose daughter, Dobrush, was married to a Salomon Oppenheim. In Bacharach’s Chavot Jair, he describes himself as living (as a refugee from the burning of Worms) in Heidelberg, where his daughter lived. He specifies that he is living in the home of his mechuten, the important and wealthy parnas Moshe Oppenheim. As I am sure many others have done, I took this to mean that this Moshe is the father of Salomon, husband of Dobrush. Wachstein, ever vigilant, points out that Rabbi Jair is already the mechuten of that Moshe Oppenheim, because a different daughter, Chava, is married to Moses’s son, Loeb.

On page 2 of Wachstein Wien II, Wachstein explains this thoroughly, and points out that Bacharach does not say Moses is Dobrush’s father-in-law. The only place where he is mistaken, and this is only because he did not have the Worms material which is now available, is in thinking that “Moshe Shneor” was not the usual name for a Suskind in the Oppenheim family. In fact, all of the references we have (so far) to Suskind Oppenheims in that era call them “Moshe Shneor”.

In any case, Dobrush and Salomon are buried in Worms, near Rabbi Jair, in Epidat wrm-1217 and 1218. Salomon’s father is called “Moshe Shneor” on that gravestone. He shows as “Loeb Moshe Schneur on Geni Geni - Loeb Moshe Schneur Oppenheim (1635-1701)- Heidelberg but that entry has other issues as well. What would be wonderful would be if this Moshe Shneor were one and the same with the grandfather of “Jud Suess”, but I don’t even know if the timing works for that, and, anyway, I don’t think I want to go there, at least for the moment.

Be that as it may, he focuses us back on an important issue: the idea that (Rizpah) Hendlin was married to the widower of her sister, Vogelin. I am happy to say that I think the entire idea was based on a false reading. Until today, I assumed there had been a first wife for Moses and that she was either named Vogel without being Hendlin’s sister OR that she was a sister of Hendlin but was not named Vogel. However, what may have happened is that because two Vogelin Oppenheims died within a few months of each other in 1661 (Epidat wrm-39 and wrm-1257) and are in the Worms Memorbuch six entries apart, someone saw the one who was Daniel Jechiel’s daughter as the one who was married to Moses Oppenheim. Happily for us, but not for Moses, he died within a month of his wife, bore the patronymic of Salomon, and was definitely not the Moses who married Hendlin. I’ll keep searching for more verification of this idea, because, of course, it is based on very circumstantial evidence. All I can say is that the identical thing happened with two Telzes in the Worms Memorbuch who got attributed to opposite husbands – an issue I will drive you crazy with some other time.

Nancy

Rispa Hendlin Oppenheimer
Voegelin Weisel
Loeb Moshe Schneur Oppenheim
Daniel Jechiel Oppenheim-Heidelberg, Münzjude zu Oettingen
Sarla Oppenheimer
Rabbi Yair Chayim Bachrach, ״Chavat Yair"
Dvorah Oppenheimer (Bachrach)
Salomon Moses Oppenheimer
Loeb Moshe Schneur Oppenheim