Badchen Badge
THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA
almost all of the reasons advanced by Reuchlin for spreading a knowledge of the Hebrew tongue; viz., religious motives, Hebrew being the language in which God first revealed His will to mankind the difficulty of translating accurately from one language to another, and the danger of perpetuating errors once committed in translation. Furthermore, he was animated by the true philological spirit, and sought to develop the comparative study of lan;
guages generally. remarkable, considering the time in which he though Christianity and the spread of it throughout the world were, of course, all in all to Bacon, yet he has not in all his writings a single disparaging word about the Jews. He even deprecates the attempt to convert them; being content that that event should await the conversion of the rest of mankind. Moreover, he eagerly sought the aid of Jews in studying the Biblical language; and he had even a good word to say for the Jews who lived at the time of the birth of Christianity. When it is remembered that before him there were probably not three Christian theologians who could read the Hebrew Bible in the original, a large measure of commendation must be accorded Bacon for his acquisiIt is
flourished, that
tions of
Hebrew
learning.
Bibliography S. A. Hirsch, Early English Hebraists Roger Bacon and His Predecessors, in Jewish Quarterly Review, xii. 34-88; E. Charles, Roger Bacon, So Vie, Ses Ouvrages,
Ses Doctrines, d'apri's des Textcx Inedits,
18151;
Schneider, K.
Roger Bacon, eine Monographic, Augsburg, 1873; J. Ingram, On the Opus Majus of Bacon, Dublin, 1858. K. M. Co.
Jews
visiting this health-resort in
was granted
summer.
A
in 1820 to
Heinrich Herz from Szerdahely, who likewise erected a restaurant and a house of worship. There was, however, no permanent settlement until 1861, when the right of residence in any part of the country and freedom of trade were granted to all Austrian Jews. The first association for the support of the sick was formed in 1868, and grew so rapidly that it determined to erect a synagogue, buying a house for The authorities sanctioned the mainthe purpose. tenance of a synagogue only under the condition that an incorporated congregation (Kultus-Verein) be established for
its
difficulties which arose from the opposition of the Orthodox, the rabbi and the presidents succeeded in establishing harmony and in securing a steady growth of the congregation. The following Jewish organizations exist in Baden a Hebrah Kaddishah, already mentioned a Talmud Torah school, with three teachers; a Bet haMidrash, in which a Talmudic scholar is appointed to deliver lectures daily; a Women's Association; a committee for the support of the strangers who visit the city for the sake of their health, and a branch In ritual matters of the Jewish Alliance in Vienna. but it has made the congregation is conservative some concessions to the demands of the times. The number of Jews in Baden exceeds a thousand. Since 1894 the newly established congregation of Neunkirchen, Lower Austria, is ministered to by the
some
rabbi of Baden. Bibliography: W. Reich, Baclcnhel Wien, Baden,
W.
BADEN, GRAND DUCHY OF
After the expulsion of the Jews from Lower Austria in 1670, none lived in Baden until 1805, when the Jew Isaac Schischa, who had formerly lived in Mattersdorf, Hungary, succeeded in obtaining permission for himself, his family, and servants to reside there permanently. Schischa obtained permission to start a restaurant; and he also improvised a place of worship similar permission
agogue, was subventioned by the Jewish Alliance in Vienna from 1872 to 1877. At this time eighty Jewish families resided permanently in Baden. In spite of impediments put in their way by the municipal authorities, the Jewish residents of Baden succeeded in obtaining recognition by the government as a legally constituted congregation, and with such recognition was accorded the right to assess its members (June 10, 1878). It was determined to appoint a rabbi, and on Feb. 6, 1880, Wilhelm Reich was installed in the office. After
D.
BADCHEN. See Badtian. BADEN: City in Lower Austria.
for
424
management.
The synagogue which was erected in 1871 proved too small for the growing numbers of the congregation, and Jacob L. Pollak. together with Max Mandel, and through the financial aid of Jews elsewhere, erected on the same site a larger synagogue with a gallery and five hundred and seventeen seats. In 1878 the synagogue was dedicated. Pollak and Mandel were joined bj' Anton Schneider, a younger man, and together they founded the Hebrah Kaddishah. The first interment took place August, 1873. Sabbath-school, established in the former small syn-
A
1900.
Rki.
A state of empire, bounded on the north by Bavaiir Weinberg, ria and Hesse on the east by Bavaria, and Hohenzollern on the south by Switzerland, and on the west by Alsace-Lorraine and Rhenish Owing to the absence of any large or Bavaria. ancient cities in Baden, few Jews lived there in olden times. Among the places where persecutions took place may be mentioned especially Lauda on the Tauber (1235, 1298, 1337, 1349), Tauberbischofsheim(1235, 1298, 1337, 1349), Pforzheim (1267, 1349), Freiburg (1349), Bretten (1337, 1349), Uebeiiingen the
German
W
Constance (1326, 1349), Heidelberg 1349), Ettlingen (1349), Durlach (1349). In consequence of the edict of King Wenzel, who canceled the debts owed to the Jews, the latter in many cities of Baden suffered greatly. In 1390 they were banished by Ruprecht II. from Heidelberg in 1430 they were burned at Lindau, Ravensburg, and Ueber lingen and in the following year they barely escaped a similar fate at Constance. In 1422 the emperor, for the purpose of exterminating heretics in Bohemia, sought to extort from the Jews the socalled " third penny. " After 1524 many Jews found refuge in the margravate of Baden, but they were banished thence by the margrave Philipp in 1584, to return, however, in 1593. In 1550 there were resident in the electoral palatinate about 155 Jews and in 1605 there were about 13 Jewish families in the margravate. In 1608 a general edict of banishment was issued against the Jews but by the proclamation of 1809 they were finally recognized as forming (1322,
(1349),
an independent
sect.
The administration
of each congregation
is
con-
