by Pearl Herzog
The first Purim ever to be celebrated with the eating of hamantashen made
with povidl (prune and plum jam) is believed to have taken place in 1731 in the
Czech city of Mladá Boleslav (called Bumsla in Yiddish and Jungbunzlau in German). The institution of inserting povidl into Czech hamantashen was a result of the Jewish
community’s celebration, on 10 Adar of that year, of the salvation of the Brandeis family of Mladá Boleslav that had been imprisoned on account of a jar of povidl.
Origin of Poppy-Seed Hamantashen
Prior to 1731, hamantashen with poppy seeds (mohn) had been a popular Purim food for at least several centuries. (It is mentioned as early as the eleventh century in the Machzor Vitry). The name “hamantashen” developed from the words
“mohn tashen” (pockets of poppy seeds) when people began to prefix Haman’s name to the food. Poppy seeds are what Esther Hamalkah is said to have eaten with nuts — the only kosher food to which she had access while living in the palace as queen to
King Achashverosh. It is believed that the mohn tashen were actually a form of
kreplach, which were a staple of the Purim seudah popularly quoted in the Yiddish expression: “Ohn kneidlach iz nisht ken Pesach; ohn kreplach iz nisht ken Purim — Without kneidlach, it can’t be Pesach; without kreplach, it is not Purim.”
Kreplach, the three-cornered, rolled dough wrapped around meat, were eaten three times a year: on Erev Yom Kippur, Hoshana Rabbah and Purim. On all three days, unlike the other Yamim Tovim when work is forbidden, there is no explicit
prohibition to abstain from work; so the kreplach in which meat
is hidden alludes to the concealed name of the Yom Tov.
Interestingly, the three holidays on which kreplach are eaten also have in common some form of hitting: the klapping of Al Chet on Erev Yom Kippur, the beating of the aravos on Hoshana Rabbah, and the banging of the noisemakers to obliterate the
name of Haman.
The Sale of Povidl to a Bookbinder’s Family
And now to our story! On 4 Shevat 5491/1731, the daughter of a gentile bookbinder purchased a jar of povidl from the Jewish grocer, David Brandeis. Unlike jam or marmalade, or the German plum purée powidl, it had absolutely no additives, jelling agents or additional sweeteners. Czech povidl was made from prunes and plums harvested after the first frost in order to ensure they contained enough sugar. It would be cooked several hours in order to achieve its consistency and sweet taste.
In Bohemia as well as in Austria, this povidl was used as an ingredient in cakes or rolls, or eaten as a sandwich spread. The gentile bookbinder, who suffered from tuberculosis, died several days after his daughter had brought this prune jam home.
In addition, several other members of the family claimed to be sick. Some slanderers began to claim that this gentile family was poisoned by the Jew David Brandeis. An investigation was initiated by the municipality and it was determined that
since both the bookbinder who had passed away and the family members who reported being sick had partaken of this povidl, the jam must have been poisoned. The grocery store was ordered closed and David Brandeis, his wife and son were arrested and placed in the prison of their town, Mladá Boleslav.
Mladá Boleslav, Jerusalem on the Jizera
Called Jerusalem on the Jizera, Mladá Boleslav is situated on the left bank of the Jizera River, about thirty miles northeast of Prague. It once boasted a large Jewish community that constituted 20 percent of its population. Many of the Jews
who lived there had emigrated from Poland or were refugees from Vienna, after they had been expelled by Leopold I in the seventeenth century. Jacob Bashevi von Treuenberg, a wealthy court Jew and a close friend of the Tosafos Yom Tov, is buried
in the Jewish cemetery of Mladá Boleslav. He was the first Jew to be ennobled in the Hapsburg monarchy for his financial contributions to Emperor Ferdinand II during the Thirty Years’ War. He passed away in 1634.
Among the prominent Rabbanim who served in Mladá Boleslav was Harav Moshe Yitzchak Shapiro, father-in-law of Harav Yonasan Eibeschutz, as well as Harav Yonasan Eibeschutz himself, who became Rav of that city in 1708 at the young age of
eighteen. He served as Rav in Mladá Boleslav for three years. Harav Yonah Landsofer (Landschreiber) (1678–1712), also from Mladá Boleslav, was the author of several works including Tzavaah; Me’il Tzedakah; and Kanfei Yonah, Chiddushim on
Shulchan Aruch–Yoreh De’ah.
In 1731, when our story takes place, the Rav of the city was Harav Moshe HaLevi Brandeis, also known as Rav Moshe Charif. He had come fourteen years earlier to serve as Chief Rabbi of Mladá Boleslav. He had been a talmid of the yeshivah
of Harav Abraham Broda in Prague, and then headed a yeshivah in Fürth, Bavaria, which was supported by his wealthy father-in-law, Gabriel Halevi.
It is evident from the chashuve Rabbanim who made their home in Mladá Boleslav that the Jewish community was a very prominent one. It is not clear whether the David Brandeis who operated the grocery store was related to the Rav of the city. There were a number of people who took on the name Brandeis because there was a
city not far from Mladá Boleslav called “Brandeis” in German. (The city in Czech is called Brandýs nad Labem-Stará
Boleslav.)
Exoneration of David Brandeis
After a careful investigation by the municipal authorities and later by the Court of Appeal at Prague, it was found that the bookbinder’s death had been due to consumption and had nothing to do with the povidl he ate several days before
his demise. The prosecution dropped the charges and David Brandeis and his family were released from jail, four days before Purim. The city celebrated the acquittal of David Brandeis with hamantashen made with povidl. David Brandeis recorded the
events in a Hebrew megillah, which he titled Shir Hamaalos l’David. Brandeis requested that all his descendants “read thisscroll every year on 10 Adar and make that day one of rejoicing and gladness.”
The custom of Purim povidl was still observed by the descendants of David Brandeis in the nineteenth century.
Mladá Boleslav Today
Today there is no Jewish community in this once-thriving Jewish town. In January 1942, the Nazis ordered more than a thousand Jews from Mladá Boleslav and the surrounding areas to assemble in the old castle of the city; they were initially
deported to Terezín and later sent to a number of concentration
camps. After the Holocaust, a small congregation was reestablished in Mladá Boleslav, which was administered by the Prague Jewish community. However, its activities ceased in the
1950s.
The city is now famous for having become very wealthy because it serves as the central headquarters of the Skoda automobile company. Mladá Boleslav, or Bumsla, as it was known among Yidden, is
no longer a makom Torah. It certainly is not the Jerusalem on the Jizera it once was. But when we eat our hamantashen made with prunes this Purim, let us at least have in mind their origin and their connection to this Moravian city.
Inyan Magazine of HaModia
6 Adar 5775, February 25, 2015