J. Pierpoint Morgan, Jr. inherited thousands of objets d’art from his famous financier
father, which he gifted to the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art in 1917. One item
of interest to the Jewish community is a beautiful, tall silver becher from Austria,
adorned with engravings of the 12 Shevatim, which had belonged to Behrend Lehmann, who was also known as Yissochor Berman Segal.
Behrend Lehmann (27 Nissan 1661–24 Tammuz 1730), a shtadlan (court Jew) from
Germany, was one of the most outstanding Jews of his time. It was Lehmann’s financial prowess and diplomatic efforts that enabled Augustus of Saxony to be declared king of Poland in 1697. The combined Kingdom of Poland and Grand Duchy of Lithuania was the largest and most populous country in the world at that time.
A Vacant Throne
Poland’s King John III (Sobieski) died in 1696, leaving his throne vacant and unclaimed. Many rulers had their eyes on the throne, including King Louis XIV of France, King Charles XII of Sweden and the Austrian Emperor.
All of them hoped to fill the vacuum with their princely families, such as the Radziwills, Jablonkis, and Lubomirskis. King Charles XII, an aggressive and vicious ruler, embarked upon one successful military campaign after another, thereby terrorizing Northern Europe. In response, the rulers of Europe forged an alliance with Czar Peter the Great of Russia to block “The Swedish Lion” from making further
inroads into Europe.
Augustus of Saxony utilized Behrend Lehmann as his emissary to capture the
Polish throne. While the different rulersof Europe conspired against each other,
Behrend Lehmann, in conjunction with Count Heinrich Jacob von Flemming,
won over key noblemen who were electors, nobles who had the power to
vote for the king. Due to Lehmann’s efforts, they voted to bestow the crown
of Poland on Augustus. It was claimed that Lehmann was able to win them over by raising an enormous sum — 10 million thaler —which at that time was the equivalent of several billion dollars! He obtained this money from a variety of sources, including several family members, Wolf Goldschmidt in Amsterdam,
some Jews in Prague, and his Jewish and non-Jewish creditors.
Minister of Finance and DiplomatPar Excellence
Behrand Lehmann’s success naturally won him the new king’s favor.
Lehmann was entrusted with managing King Augustus’s financial affairs. He provided arms and provisions for the King’s armies, purchased diamonds and jewelry for the palace, and bought and sold large country estates for his royal master.
In 1704 “The Swedish Lion” invaded Poland. He removed Augustus
from the Polish throne and enthroned his own Polish favorite. But Augustus
of Saxony had signed treaties with Denmark and Russia to oppose the
Swedish threat. In 1709, through the financial and diplomatic efforts
of Behrend Lehmann after Russia’s victory over the Swedes at Poltava, Ukraine, Augustus was reinstated as Poland’s king.
Despite the fact that Lehmann did much on behalf of the Polish sovereign,
King Augustus would humiliate him for being a practicing Jew. On one
occasion in front of the court in Warsaw, Behrend Lehmann was asked to cut off
his beard voluntarily and promised to be compensated 5,000 thalers to do it.
When Behrend Lehmann refused to comply, the King had it cut off forcibly!
Who was Behrend Lehmann?
Yissochor Berman Segal (Lehmann) from a meyuchasdig family. His
great-grandfather, Kosmann Moshe HaLevi, was Rabbi of the German city
of Essen, and his father and grandfather were Rabbanim as well. His father was a noted talmid chacham. Because of the persecution of the Jews in Essen, the
Lehmanns moved to Halberstadt, where Behrend was born.
Behrend Lehmann was a talented businessman. There is documentary
evidence that at the age of 26 he did business at the Leipzig Trade Fair,
where he subsequently became a regular visitor when it was in session
three times a year. He was married to Miriam, a daughter of Reb Yoel
(Alexander) ben Yehudah, the president of the Jewish community of
Halberstadt. From his father-in-law, Lehmann acquired his protected status
as a Schutzjude, a special rank granted by the royal courts. (Schutzjuden’s
rights entitled them to live in certain cities, such as Vienna, whereas other
Jews could visit the cities for a few hours only if they obtained a special
permit to do so.) After his oldest child, a son, was born, he built his first home
in the Jewish quarter of Halberstadt at Bakenstraße 37.
In 1707 Lehmann’s wife, Miriam, died. Shortly thereafter he married Channeleh, daughter of Mendel Oppenheim-Beer, the president of the Jewish community of Frankfurt on Main.
(Channeleh’s brother was Dayan Rabbi Eliyahu Oppenheim Beer.) After his remarriage, Behrend Lehmann added an entire complex of buildings that extended the size of his home. He had offices as well as some private space for his growing
family on these premises. There were also a team of servants, a warehouse and a wine cellar. Lehmann, who provided shelter for six poor Jewish families, was one of the three parnassim of the Halberstadt community.
In 1708, Behrend Lehmann established a Dresden branch of his Halberstadt business, in which his then-18-year-old eldest son, Lehmann Behrend, worked together with him and his brother-in-law, Jonas Meyer. The Lehmanns and Meyers were the only Schutzjuden (protected Jews) in all of Saxony.
Behrend Lehmann used his tremendous wealth for the good of his brethren, both Polish and German Jewry.
By 1723, Behrend Lehmann’s business had branched out to Hannover, Vienna, Amsterdam, Dresden, and Hamburg. These offices were run by various members of the Lehmann family, including his brother Herz Lehmann, and eventually his sons
Lehmann Behrend, Elias Behrend and Kosman Behrend. It is believed that the Rothschild family empire was inspired by the model of Behrend Lehmann’s operation of an international bank.
Builder of Shuls and a Yeshivah
Behrend Lehmann built magnificent shuls in Halberstadt, Cracow, Lissau, and Berlin. To the Jewish community in Berlin he gave the funds for a shul that was built on Heiterreutergasse, but he claimed the latter was a loan. He forewent the principal of the loan, but he wanted the proceeds of the interest from the loan to be used to support a special klaus (beis medrash)in Halberstadt.
The late scholar and philanthropist Manfred Lehmann,* who collected many documents from the archives of the Jewish community of Halberstadt, quotes from a letter Behrend Lehmann wrote dated February 14, 1698, to the
ruler of Brandenburg:
Jews living in your land used to send their children to Poland, at great expense, for their Hebrew education. This is no longer possible, and I am therefore appealing to Your Excellency to permit me to establish the so-called “house of study,” to be built in Halberstadt at my expense, in which four learned scholars, whom I will support, will
teach not only rich but also poor children in the Hebrew language. And since these four scholars are poor — not being involved in commerce or other trade — but only
depend on their teaching profession, I humbly solicit that they be exempt from public taxation.
Frederic II responded by instructing the government of Halberstadt: “As to the request of the royal Polish resident Behrand Lehmann for the establishment of a Jewish house of study, or Hebrew language school, it is recommended by me
for your approval.”
The government seems to have taken several years to approve the request, and in 1703 the klaus was established. The klaus remained a distinguished center of Judaism until it was destroyed in 1938, along with the majestic synagogue in
Halberstadt that Lehmann had built.
Another Important Role in Halberstadt
On one of his many trips as a shtadlan, Behrend Lehmann met Rabbi Zvi Hirsch, known as the Charif (sharp one), who was the Av Beis Din in Bialeh, and he brought him to Halberstadt to head the yeshivah there.
Rabbi Avraham Stern (in Melitzei Esh) describes how Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch was known throughout the world for his genius, and the communities of Brisk, Cracow, and Lemberg pleaded with him to serve as Av Beis Din in their communities. But
Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch did not want to leave his home in Bialeh, and only acquiesced to relocate to Halberstadt at the request of the tzaddik and gvir Behrend Lehmann. Rabbi Hirsch lived in Halberstadt until his passing 30 years later (in 1748) .
The Melitzei Esh describes how thousands of students
streamed to Halberstadt from all over the world to learn under the Charif, Rabbi Tzvi Hirsch, and almost all subsequent Gedolei Hador were former talmidim of the Halberstadt Yeshiva. He enumerates quite a number, including Harav
Moshe Charif of Brisk, Av Beis Din of Pressburg, Harav Akiva Eiger (the elder), and Harav Aryeh Leib, the son of the Pnei Yehoshua, who served as Av Beis Din of Hanover and was the mechaber of Pnei Aryeh. The klaus was located at Rosenwinkel
18.
Publisher of the Talmud
When the Dessau court Jew, Moshe Benyamin Wolff, a descendant of Rabbi Moshe Isserles (the Rama), ran into financial difficulty with his plan to have the Babylonian Talmud printed, Behrend Lehmann took over the project and obtained the permit to
print it. From 1697 to 1699, 2,000 copies of a 12-volume edition was produced in
Frankfurt (Oder), and Behrend Lehman distributed free copies to many Jewish
communities and Rabbanim.
The Thirty Years’ War and the terrible pogroms of Tach V’tat in 1648 had wiped out complete Jewish communities and with them many valuable sefarim. The following is a haskamah on the publication of the Gemara by Rav Naftali ben Yitzchak of Frankfurt/Oder:
Our world has turned into a tohu vavohu. Twenty men had to use one tallis and one Gemara. Each day the sefarim become fewer. We faced the danger of the Torah, G-d forbid, being forgotten. There were no means, and no hope to have the Talmud reprinted…. But behold, there was one man of greatest Jewish spirit who
promised that he would shun no expense, even if it would cost him tens of thousands of gold pieces, to reprint the entire Talmud, with Rashi and Tosafos. It was the great
prince, benefactor and leader Reb Issachar Berman, son of Reb Yehudah Lima, the son-in-law of the deceased leader,our teacher and Rabbi, Reb Josel from Halberstadt ….
There is another haskamah, written by Harav Yosef Shmuel of Cracow. There was no more than once copy of a Talmud in a city. Many tried to reprint it but failed, until Hashem inspired that prince, leader and parnas Reb Berman of Halberstadt;
he put himself at work personally for Hashem’s glory and for the honor of the Torah to print the Talmud on fine paper and good type, and engaged talmidei chachaim
to supervise the work [in order] to avoid any mistake or corruptions of the text.
Owner of a Castle
When Behrend Lehmann was not repaid a loan from a nobleman, he would be forced to foreclose on the latter’s property. It was through this manner that Lehman became the owner of the glorious castle of Seeburg, with 13 surrounding
villages. Until a financial arrangement was settled with the
owner, Behrend Lehmann lived for a time in that castle.It was in this same manner of foreclosing on loans due him that Behrend Lehmann came into the
possession of the entire Polish province of Lissau in Posen, which comprised
the districts of Reisen, Luschwitz, Grune, Strieswitz, and Lasswitz.
Thus, Behrend Lehmann became the lord over a very large population. Lissau was famous for its talmidei chachamim, and Lehmann sent them throughout Germany to raise the level of Torah learning in the land. When Behrend Lehmann was given the right to purchase a beautiful residence in Dresden, he turned it over
to his son and brother-in-law, who moved in together with Rabbanim, a
shochet, a sofer and melamdim. He supported many poor kallahs
and gave couples money to establish new homes.
Behrend Lehmann was niftar in 1730 and is buried in Halberstadt. More than a century later, in a teshuvah, Harav Zevel Eiger referred to Behrend Lehmann
as “the tzaddik whose memory will never be forgotten.”
Today there is a Behrend Lehmann museum in Halberstadt commemorating this great man. Sadly, even though it is located in the building where the klaus (yeshivah) had eventually relocated, it was founded in 2001 by the Halberstadt-based Moses Mendelssohn Akademie, “which promotes tolerance and intercultural communication,” a group disconnected from Lehmann’s loyalty to Torah. The building contains the severalhundred-year-old Halberstadt mikveh, which was in use until 1938.
*Lehmann was a common German name, and it seems Manfred Lehmann was not a
relation of Behrend Lehmann.
Inyan Magazine Nov. 11 2015, Cheshvan 29 5776