Samson Wertheimer

Samson Wertheimer (* January 17, 1658 in Worms, † August 6, 1724 in Vienna) was an imperial court factor, Chief Rabbi and supporters of Judaism.

Life and work

His family was originally from Worms. Wertheimer, also called Wertheimber, moved in 1684 to Vienna, where he was admitted through the mediation of Samuel Oppenheimer ( 1653-1703 ), the contemporary Viennese court Jews and " Fugger his time " for the financial transactions at the Viennese court. Together with Oppenheimer he supported Emperor Leopold I during the Spanish War of Succession. After the death of Oppenheimer's, he became the sole lender of the Austrian government and appointed imperial court factor. He had a large Talmudic knowledge and had the title of a Hungarian rabbi country. After completion of the Second Siege of Vienna, he lived in Vienna, where he founded one of the wealthiest and most respected families of the Holy Roman Empire. However, because since 1670 a Jewish community in Vienna was no longer permitted (see Jews in Vienna), he practiced the rabbinical functions in Eisenstadt, which was one of the seven municipalities where at the invitation of Paul I. Esterházy Jewish life was welcome. His house in Eisenstadt now houses the Austrian Jewish Museum.

A daughter of Samson Wertheimer lived in Frankfurt and was married to the banker Moses Isaac Leib for May from the influential Frankfurt Jewish family of Kann. Among the students of Samsom Wertheimer belonged to the Talmudist and Kabbalist Jonathan Eybeschuetz.

1708 Samson Wertheimer retired from business money and handed it over to his son Wolf Wertheimer.

After the great fire in the Frankfurt Jewish street from the January 14 1711 Samson Wertheimer wanted to build a four-story, solid stone house in Frankfurt for his stepson Isaac Nathan Oppenheimer. For five years, the City Council refused planning permission. It was not until 1717 could, on multiple pressure of the emperor, to begin with the construction. In 1887 it was demolished.

Until the 19th century, the Wertheimer remained a leader in the money market. The Bank E. & L. Wertheimer was one of the main banks of the city. Even a neo-Gothic, upper-class villa Wertheimer in Frankfurt am Main in Zeppelinallee is received 69 to today.