The Jews of Borculo
List of names of genealogical relevance mentioned in the article (in order of appearance):-1)-Till the end of the 18th century:-
Joost Israels(butcher), Joseph Sanders, Elias Moses, Samuel from Eibergen, Herz Meijer, Eliazar Elias( son of Elias Moses), Moses Simons Heyman, Salomon Heyman and Abraham Heyman(brothers), Eleazar (Eliezer, Elias) Pool (physician), Samuel Pool (his son), Marcus Pool (his father), Hartog Philips (butcher), Meyer Elzas, Abraham Elzas and Vogeltje Vredenburg (his parents), Rabbi Simon Philip de Vries (Neede), Salomon Bendix, Joseph Zacharias, Berendine Joseph (daughter), Philip Simon (de Vries).
2)-19th century:-
[Also part of the names mentioned in 1)]
Marcus Elias, Sibilia Jordaan, Hartog Philips ( butcher), Magdalena Israels, Salomon Rozendaal, Dina Clara Philips, Eleazer (Eliazar) Wolf Leverpoll ( Lippe, Liverpol), Leentje Smool.
3)-20th century:-
Meyer Leverpoll, L. Borstrok(chazzan), Van de Kamp (widow),
Family Names:- Salomons, Hartog, Berg, Spanjar, Meijer, Schlosser, Heijmans, Jacobs, Rubens, Roosendaal.
4)-20th century (after the Second World War):-
D. Colthof, M. Elzas, Mrs. B. Poppers-Prins ( Winterswijk), M. Seijffers (Rotterdam).
5)-List of 20 religious education teachers from 1820-1972:-
See Religious Education
And:- 3 layman teachers (Talmud Tora):- Mozes Elzas , Josef Hartog , Nathan Elzas .
Introduction
It was generally known within Jewish circles that Borculo of the 19th century until 1942 was one of the most important and sociable small-town communities( kehillot) in the Mediene It was a religious place and there existed much Jewish scholarship which was conveyed through the leadership of 'lamdoniem' (scholars).
Already in the 17th century Jews could settle in Borculo, as well as in the neighboring towns of Eibergen, Groenlo, Lochem and Neede. The Jewish community of Neede was added to the one in Eibergen in 1813.
In 1642 the 'Jew of Nede" was allowed to enter the Court of Borculo against a yearly payment of 6 guilders. The following year there was mention of his name: "Moyses Isack, Jew of Nede".
Butcher Joost Israels was the first Jew who received permission from the magistrate of Borculo to settle there if he paid a yearly sum of 6 guilders (plus a fat goose).
Apart from the above mentioned Joost Israels who was butcher and had permission to settle during the years 1643-1650, the following names are also known: Joseph Sanders and Elias Moses, Samuel from Eibergen, Meijer the Jew, Herz Meijer and Hester 'the Jewess" who was, however, not asked to supply a fat goose.
After the outbreak of the Second English War, the Bishop of Munster conquered the Eastern part of the Netherlands, though only for a short period. The Jews had already left because of threat of war.
It is known that Eliazar Elias, son of Elias Moses, was the first Ashkenasi Jew who obtained citizenship in Amersfoort (September 6th, 1669).
In Mei 1674 the Bishop of Munster left again and the town and seigniory were attached to the County of Zutphen.
End 17th and 18th Century
In 1677 shopkeeper Moses Simons Heyman settled in Borculo; he died in 1709. He paid for his shop a town- or shopkeeper's tax of 2 guilders per year, which was later raised to 4 guilders. Salomon Heyman moved from Borculo to Doesburg, where he operated the local pawnshop around 1684. His brother Abraham Heyman started a shop in 1713 and in 1719 his brother Joost joined the business. It is not clear from the municipal accounts in which articles they dealt. Not all the occupations of the Jews are known, but one of them was a glazier.
In 1769 (or 1763) the physician Eleazar (Eliezer, Elias) Pool settled in Borculo. The Pool family fled at the time from Poland to Amsterdam because of the progroms. Their son Samuel was born there in 1774 and later became a surgeon. His daughter was born in1783. Eleazar came from a lineage of physicians. His father Marcus was already a physician before 1754 in Hengelo and his brother was doctor in Ootmarsum. The story goes that Elias Pool was called to The Hague in order to treat one of the daughters of the stadtholders of the House of Orange. He appeared in The Hague in the clothes which he usually wore in Borculo, so one of the doctors asked in Latin: "What business has this peasant here?", whereupon Elias replied in the same language: "Even a peasant can heal a patient as long as he knows something about medicine".
Many names of Borculo Jews from the 18th century, mostly poor tradesmen or butchers, have remained on record.
Around 1787 butcher Hartog Philips came to Borculo. In 1798 he was one of the twenty citizens in Borculo with the right to vote.
One of the most well known Jews from Borculo was Meyer Elzas. He was born out of the marriage of Abraham Elzas and Vogeltje Vredenburg. The couple came from Lochem. He established the world-renowned parchment factory in Borculo at the Weemdijk and later moved it to the Pagendijk.
19th century
Various family names like Meijer, Philip, Elzas, Elias, Hartog were recorded by the Jews at the beginning of the 19th century.
In 1810 about forty Jewish families lived in Borculo. Forty years later, in 1850, the amount had risen to 100 families.
Marcus Elias, married to Sibilia Jordaan, son David and daughter Saartjen.
Hartog Philips, butcher, married to Magdalena Israels with 10 children.
Salomon Rozendaal, married to Dina Clara Philips.
Eleazer Wolf Leverpoll, originating from Poland, original name Eliazar.
Lippe, say Liverpoll, married to Leentje Smool whom he had left behind in Poland.
20th century
As mentioned before, until 1942 the Jewish community Borculo was generally known as an important and religious community where knowledge of Judaism was taught (passed on) and where Jewish life flourished intensely. Several members of the Kehilla acquired the title of chower because of this. From the well-known family Elzas 2 members became aldermen of the municipality of Borculo.
Synagogue building
Until 1840 they assembled in a house synagogue, but on 5 Nissan 5600 (1840) the corner stone was laid on Wever Street for a real synagogue by Vogeltje Abrahams Vredenburg, the wife of Abraham Elzas.
Because the building was in a bad state of repair, it was decided in 1877 to put up a new building. As many people wanted to lay the corner stone, it was decided to sell this ceremony by auction, to the highest bidder. The stone was laid by Meyer Leverpoll, son of chower Eliezer de Leviet, who had offered the highest bid, namely 40 guilders.
The new synagogue with a mikveh was built on the same place as the old synagogue.
Not much is known until 1910. Since that year L. Borstrok was chazzan and shochet. The widow Van de Kamp was put in charge of the care of the mikveh. In 1919 it was decided to refurbish the synagogue.
The hurricane of 1925, which had caused great damage to the Catholic- and Reformed churches, had done only small damage to the synagogue and cemetery. Restoration work cost only 200 guilders. Nevertheless the schoolroom and assembly hall above were completely destroyed. Not one house was left undamaged – the houses and businesses of families Salomons, Hartog, Berg, Spanjar, Meijer, Schlosser, Heijmans and Goschalk were badly damaged. On that very hot, disastrous day of gales some families went to Groenlo, bought lemonade and sold it to the thirsty citizens of Borculo! That was pure Jewish chotzpe to turn something bad into something good. The affected people were rendered assistance through provincial, national and international campaigns.
In 1926 a new school and apartment for the chazzan were built at the Korte Wal.
In 1942 Dutch sympathizers of the Germans burnt the synagogue. The Torah scrolls and ritual objects had, however, been brought to a safe place beforehand (in the fire brigade station). Almost half of the Jewish inhabitants had succeeded to go into hiding.
After the Second World War the synagogue turned out to be badly damaged and the cost of repair was too high for the members of the community (60). It was therefore decided to sell the building and to convert the school building dating from 1928 into a synagogue. Until the completion services were held at the home of D. Colthof. M. Elzas inaugurated the new synagogue. On this occasion Louis Meyer received the title of chower from the Chief Rabbi because of his outstanding work during several decades, among others as chazzan and ba'al tekiye on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. Messrs. Colthof and Meijer died in 1976.
The erstwhile school building served as synagogue until 1980. In that year the community was dissolved and added to Winterswijk.
Regulation
In 1862 the community management formulated a Regulation consisting of 129 articles. These included rules about: management, management of the poor, extent, church functionaries, income, funerals, religious education and order in the synagogue.
In 1896 a domestic regulation was added about, among others synagogue order (?), wedding consecrations, collection of monies for the poor and the upkeep of birth, wedding and death registers.
Religious Education
During about 150 years there were 20 religious education teachers in Borculo:
David Marcus Elias 1820-1832
Levie de Lange 1855-1861
Mozes Nathan Swaap 1861-1862
Abraham Boas 1864-1869
Levie Schweiger 1866-1873
Eliazar van Tijn 1877-1878
Mozes Emanuel de Wolff 1879-1880
Salomon Meier Schaap 1880-1886
Izaak Davidson 1888-1889
Berend van Rhijn 1889-1894
Hartog Frank 1894-1895
Maurits Frank 1894-1898
Levie Frank 1898-1903
Abraham Emanuel Kwetser 1903-1907
Lion Borstrok 1910-1916
Salomon Jacob Kopelman 1916-1919
David Schielaar 1919-1920
Hartog de Vries 1920-1931
Hartog Noot 1932-1940
Barend Salomo Noot 1962-1972
The children had to rattle off the brachot, chumash and tefiloth during the lessons. They also had to learn how to read difficult works like the Shulchan Aruch (law codex), Rashi (Talmud commentary) and the neginot (the phonetic symbols for these).
In 1945 it turned out that 5 boys and 1 girl were still alive
After 1945 Mrs. B. Poppers-Prins of Winterswijk taught these children for a while and after her departure to Israel, M. Seijffers of Rotterdam. The lessons were stopped when there were no children left.
Cemeteries
From excavations it became clear that the first cemetery was probably situated at the Lange Wal. It is not known when this cemetery was taken into use. It is known, however, that in 1820 a different location was being sought. This location was found at the Deugenweerd.
In 1823 an interested person who wanted to garden at the Lange Wal, received a negative reply to his request because: "The Jewish Nation has a cemetery at that place since time immemorial and it is managed by Mr. Pols". It is certain that at that time Jewish deceased were in practice already being buried at the Deugdenweerd. All this was as a result of the Lange Wal lying low, just next to the river Berkel. A stone at the Lange Wal with an inscription was a reminder of the cemetery until far into the previous century. There remain two funeral registers; one from the period 1870-1899 with 80 Jews and one from the period of 1900-1970 with 103 Jews. The oldest register has disappeared.
The cemetery was restored in 1989; the municipality looks after its upkeep.
Professions and Businesses
From the 17th century until our time Jews mainly had the following professions: slaughterers, butchers, tradesmen and shopkeepers. However, there were also physicians in the Pool family and there was the well-known parchment factory of Elzas. Eventually this factory was transferred to Ireland, but the "Perkamentlaantje" (parchment lane) is still a reminder of the factory of Elzas.
Societies
1. The gentlemen's society "Gnattereth Bagoeriem Gemiloeth Gasadiem".
This society was established on March 9th, 1881 and the first chairman was M Hartog. The goal of this society was to give religious assistance to persons who had fallen ill and to the dying, also to hold religious services after their demise, including the seven days of mourning. They also held a religious service on the first evening of Shavuoth and on the seventh evening of Sukkoth.
In 1913 the name was changed into "Ateres Bachoeriem Gemilas Chasidiem". At that time there were 50 members. The last meeting was held on February 1941.
2. Talmud Torah
Jozef Hartog and Abraham Elzas established this in 1864. Borculo became known among Jews in the Netherlands, as the place with the highest number of Jews who had much knowledge of Judaism.
Very special was the announcement that through a new regulation in 1874, also women would be admitted to become contributing members. During that meeting the ladies Heymans, Jacobs, Rubens, Hartog, Meyer and Roosendaal were admitted.
To give an idea of the activities of Talmud Torah, here below is a text from a summary by Mr. Abraham Elzas, who lived in Dublin, Ireland after the war:
"The study of the Bible and the Talmud had an important place in Jewish Borculo. During the week, studies took place every evening, with Saturday being the exception because then people studied alone, during the day.
From around 1920 – 1940 the chevra's evening began at 6.30 with translating parts of the Pentateuch, with commentaries. Evening prayers were held at 7.30 and after that they dealt with the Prophets for half an hour.
On Saturday mornings the Talmud was studied and in the afternoon there was a weekly sermon about the Pentateuch. Three laymen teachers were excelled to such a degree that the Chief Rabbi gave them the exceptional title “Moreine”.
They were Mozes Elzas (1806-1925)
Josef Hartog (1850-1925)
Nathan Elzas (1875-1960)”
Thus far the piece by Abraham Elzas.
3. The youth organization "Agiedas Achim".
It was established in 1910 in order to advance religiousness. After its organization it had 71 members.
4. The women's society "Hadras Moshiem", established in 1893, had 28 members.
5. The theater society "Unity is our Goal" was established in 1906.
There existed Jewish dance institutes and each year rural parties were organized which the Jews called a 'sjadjendagen" shadchen days, a kind of marriage market. For Pesach the farmers in the surroundings, who were clients of the Jewish merchants, received matzot and this was much appreciated.
Rabbi Simon Philip de Vries from Neede
A "Schutzbrief" is known to exist with respect to Salomon Bendix, whose daughter came to live in Neede in 1760 and who got married to Joseph Zacharias. Their daughter Berendine married Philip Simon who in 1812 acquired the name of De Vries. He was the progenitor of Rabbi de Vries.
There was no Jewish community in Neede. Therefore Simon and his brother Nathan went on foot to Borculo to get lessons in religion. The distance was about one hour and fifteen minutes.
Sources: -
1)- Laansma, S. Titel De joodse gemeente te Borculo , Walburg Pers, Zutphen, 1978
2)-Hans Kooger-Het Oude Volk-Kroniek van joods leven in de Achterhoek, Liemers en het grensgebied-Staring Instituut/Mr.H.J.Steenbergenstichting,
Doetinchem ,2001-pag.234 till 240 with 32 reference notes
Extracted from sources by Bob Engelsman & Yael (Lotje) Ben Lev-de Jong].
Translation from Dutch into English:- Nina Mayer
End editing English:- Trudi Asscher
Coordinating of final version:- Ben Noach
Search the Web Site
Search All genealogy family trees / Northern
province database / Ashkenazi Amsterdam database / The Nijmegen
family trees / The regional family trees /The whole
http://dutchjewry.org website:
REMARK:- Please note that the search results give all instances where the requested search string figures in the databases.So not only the name of the location, but also persons, that bear the name of the town or the village, are included in the results returned.
